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Help! N2meBD Sterling 5HS Unfinished Maple Neck Question too

tunaman4u2

tunaman4u2

Well-known member
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May 22, 2011
Messages
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Location
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MMM... maple neck! Ash body!

ry%3D480


Will go well with this ...

ry%3D480


Was all ready to give it a go today but the unfinished neck could use a clean & maybe the whole oil job. This bass is probably a year old or so, how often should that be done?
This link doesn't give a time table
How do I clean and maintain my Music Man neck?

I gotta look through this video as well
Reviews to come when its clean & strung up!
 
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I like giving a used bass a good cleaning to get the previous owners dirt off of it and whenever I put new strings on. Otherwise. I just give it a quick wipe down after playing. The used one I just bought arrived quite grimy so I broke out the murphys and gave it a good scrubing. Then waxed it and put new coated slinkys on. Night and day difference.
 
Review time

ry%3D480


Yeah I screwed up the process a bit on the neck but its good now. Its great to oil & wax! I dont mind the maintenance at all, took no time !

LOVE the "unfinished" neck feel. Thin layer of wax\oil from the factory & a bit more after I followed the video. Feels fast. Oh how I missed maple... the aggression, the high end, the clarity OR is it the ash?

REGARDLESS... its a total beast. Is a VERY different flair from my Sterling 5HH PDN & Bongo in all settings. I can get it warm with the middle setting & a bit with the bridge & neck single coil. This being a HS I'm partial to want to utilize the SC settings. I really like them both, you do get that volume drop but I will cut back the volume on the other settings. The neck single coil is great, passive vibe with some a flair of active aggression. The bridge SC is all out... its like the bridge H with the lows cut.
The other settings that are the same in the HH are the same on the HS... the only difference is you can really tell maple\ash vs pau ferro\mahogany. Theres more definition in all of them with this maple\ash combo which makes the 3 seem much more different. Coils 2&3 vs coils 1&4 in the PDN HH dont sound terribly different & they are both warm (When I had a regular Sterling HH the difference was more pronounced). Coils 2&3 on the HS are much more aggressive then either of those on the HH & thats why I bought this... to have more aggressive settings

If I were to have only 1... a HS or a HH Its still the HH by far. I like the consistent volume between the pickup selector.

This bass WONT be in the keeper for life club. If another "WOW" PDN comes along or a new model this would be the guy to go. As of now... the only bass I feel comfortable with & is so versatile on the fly for a cover band is a Sterling so its great to have one with a warm bias & aggressive bias!
 
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The SLAP tone on this 5HS single coil bridge crushes the 5HH. Not sure if its the single coil, body wood or maple neck.... regardless its fantastic! Also noticed the volume drop at the SC bridge vs the others is not nearly as large as the SC neck.

That said... the other tones were really close "in the mix" I do have it up for sale in the Boston area craigslist as its just too close to the Sterling 5HH... I may opt for a Big Al 5 SSS for a change in looks \ 4 band EQ, active passive. In the meantime I will absolutely enjoy keeping this around.
 
The single coil (neck) will always be a little quieter, and it also applies to most HH basses as well to be honest. It also applies to the Big Al SSS.

The neck pups on most basses tend to have a more warm/less focussed/more hollow tone. It's cool, I like it, but bridge H/S pups will ALWAYS sound louder as they are right near the bridge and are picking up way more mids that cut through, and mids as we all know make any bass at the same volume sound louder.

:)

I love the HS and HH basses.
 
I have a ceramic-era Stingray 5HS, and it has to be one of the most versatile basses I have ever played. These have the same electronics as the current-era Sterling 5s. I have found it to be FAR more versatile than the Stingray HH's and Sterling HH's that I try out. The middle position especially is useful. So smooth and full. It's my standard rehearsal and gigging bass currently.

And yes, the single coil by itself (i've been told it is a stacked humbucker) is a bit lower in output, but gets such a nice airy sound.
 
Its nice, it crushes my HH PDN in slap although I could use some fresh Cobalts... aside from the high end sparkle the tone is so good still I've been reluctant to change em.
 
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