I've been in several music stores and the people there state that the pre EB stingrays are way better than today's. I don't own a Stingray but I do own a Sterling. I think it's a damn nice bass, but I don't have any experience for older basses to understand their statement of pre EB basses. Is there a difference at all, didn't the pickup design and EQ stay the same in the change over to EB? Is anything different? Beside the 3 bolt neck to 6, and the 2EQ to 3.
- Thread starter mro
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bovinehost
Administrator
Well, for post number 1000, I get to offer my opinion yet again on the pre-EB versus post-EB question.
Odds are that many of those talkative salespeople and loiterers have never owned or played a pre-EB. They are parrots, sheep, slaves to the cult that has grown around any guitar considered even remotely 'vintage'.
Here is what I think, in a nutshell. Vintage ain't always better. Methods improve, quality control improves, people and companies learn new things as time goes by.
The pre-EB basses are, by and large, fine instruments. I have owned my fair share of them, even back before there was such a term as "pre-EB". Most of them were very good. Some of them were mediocre. A few were dogs.
Modern-era Stingrays are every bit as good - and in some cases, much better - than the pre-EB basses. Certainly the finish work is better, as is the fretwork and quality control.
It's just that they do sound a bit different, which is to be expected with any bass that's now working on 30 years old. Better? Maybe, sometimes, depending on what you think you want to hear or maybe even what you DO hear. Pre-EB basses were, as I've said, fine instruments.
But better than modern Stingrays? Nah. Mojo is in the mind of the beholder. You can't buy it, you can't invent it, you can't have it passed on to you in a bass or a guitar or a glockenspiel. As a friend of mine says, "Mojo is non-transferrable."
And that's another thing is with these old basses - the Mojo Factor. We want to believe in the mystery, that being played for years in nasty bars and dives or even on a big stage in front of thousands of adoring fans will somehow transfer that intangible something INTO the instrument, and that it will also somehow benefit US, the new owners of these instruments.
Horse doo-doo. It is complete horse doo-doo.
When someone says that pre-EB basses are "better", ask them to be specific. What part made the difference? The necks? The bodies? They're still made with wood. The hardware? Was the hardware better? It's all metal, isn't it? I know what the differences really are, and a few guys here on this forum know the answers, too - and how MINIMAL the audible difference really is.
Your tone is in YOU, not in the bass. Yes, the bass plays a part, but it's up to YOU to get it out, to make it heard. Use your head, your heart, your ears and your hands and don't ever expect a particular instrument to be the means by which you find The Sound In Your Head.
The right tools help, but you're an artist. Do you care what brushes were used to paint the Mona Lisa?
There, I'm done, and I actually said "horse doo-doo" in post number 1000.
Have at me, mateys!
Odds are that many of those talkative salespeople and loiterers have never owned or played a pre-EB. They are parrots, sheep, slaves to the cult that has grown around any guitar considered even remotely 'vintage'.
Here is what I think, in a nutshell. Vintage ain't always better. Methods improve, quality control improves, people and companies learn new things as time goes by.
The pre-EB basses are, by and large, fine instruments. I have owned my fair share of them, even back before there was such a term as "pre-EB". Most of them were very good. Some of them were mediocre. A few were dogs.
Modern-era Stingrays are every bit as good - and in some cases, much better - than the pre-EB basses. Certainly the finish work is better, as is the fretwork and quality control.
It's just that they do sound a bit different, which is to be expected with any bass that's now working on 30 years old. Better? Maybe, sometimes, depending on what you think you want to hear or maybe even what you DO hear. Pre-EB basses were, as I've said, fine instruments.
But better than modern Stingrays? Nah. Mojo is in the mind of the beholder. You can't buy it, you can't invent it, you can't have it passed on to you in a bass or a guitar or a glockenspiel. As a friend of mine says, "Mojo is non-transferrable."
And that's another thing is with these old basses - the Mojo Factor. We want to believe in the mystery, that being played for years in nasty bars and dives or even on a big stage in front of thousands of adoring fans will somehow transfer that intangible something INTO the instrument, and that it will also somehow benefit US, the new owners of these instruments.
Horse doo-doo. It is complete horse doo-doo.
When someone says that pre-EB basses are "better", ask them to be specific. What part made the difference? The necks? The bodies? They're still made with wood. The hardware? Was the hardware better? It's all metal, isn't it? I know what the differences really are, and a few guys here on this forum know the answers, too - and how MINIMAL the audible difference really is.
Your tone is in YOU, not in the bass. Yes, the bass plays a part, but it's up to YOU to get it out, to make it heard. Use your head, your heart, your ears and your hands and don't ever expect a particular instrument to be the means by which you find The Sound In Your Head.
The right tools help, but you're an artist. Do you care what brushes were used to paint the Mona Lisa?
There, I'm done, and I actually said "horse doo-doo" in post number 1000.
Have at me, mateys!
That was very well put. Great answer. 
I do know the tone is part of me as well as the bass. I just never understood the big difference in vintage vs new as far as MM is concerned. I have my Sterling on ebay right now because I want a Stingray,I need the wider neck.Thanks again Bovine! your 1000th post was true to heart indeed.
I do know the tone is part of me as well as the bass. I just never understood the big difference in vintage vs new as far as MM is concerned. I have my Sterling on ebay right now because I want a Stingray,I need the wider neck.Thanks again Bovine! your 1000th post was true to heart indeed.
Jean-Frédéric
Well-known member
Yup he did post a
Deep
Thoughtfull
..post.
Deep
Thoughtfull
..post.
Bassplyr
Well-known member
Jack, nice one! Now what about pre EB Bongo's?
Mobay45
Well-known member
Bassplyr said:
Pre EB bongos -
http://www.music123.com/CB-3600-Player-Series-Tunable-Bongos-i67890.music
uvapete
Well-known member
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIm in Tune
Right in Tune
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIm in TUUUUUUUUUUUUUNE
and I'm gonna TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUne
RIGHT IN ON YOU!
you know why?
Becuase the tune is in me.
Right in Tune
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIm in TUUUUUUUUUUUUUNE
and I'm gonna TUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUne
RIGHT IN ON YOU!
you know why?
Becuase the tune is in me.
