Jim Jim Jeree
Member
I'm finally done! I'll provide a short summary, followed by a more details about what I learned along the way.
Modifications:
The Stingray II is my perfect ergonomic and aesthetic guitar. I love the body shape, the neck profile, the tuning stability, and the way it looks. I had a Stingray short scale bass at one point, and I loved the look of it. Needless to say, I was stoked when they finally released a guitar version.
The guitar sounds great, but there were a few things that didn't suit my tastes. The stock treble bleed configuration isn't to my liking. The sound gets a little anemic past about 7 on the volume knob. I personally like to have a broader range of control. It also made it harder to clean up the sound from the guitar for rhythm playing while keeping the clarity up. I have no doubt that this could be done with pedals and amp adjustments. I just like using my volume knob.
Because the ergonomics and aesthetics are so right for me, it's the guitar I always grab from my rack for songwriting. I wanted to make the guitar more versatile so that I could do more with it. So that put me on the journey to do the modifications above.
The Mythos variable treble bleed and selectable tone cap worked out great. I knew the sound I wanted, but I had no idea which treble bleed configuration I wanted to use. Huge shout out to @DrKev and his treble bleed mod roundup article. I was going back and forth between Cap only and the TV 150k/1000pf settings, but I wasn't happy with the trade offs for either. At the end of his article he called out that he liked 150k/560pf for his Silo. The Mythos kit had a JS/*Berg 150k/680pf that was close, and it was perfect! It has a wider range than Cap only, but also a smoother volume taper than the TV 150k/1000pf. For the tone knob, I landed on the same stock tone cap configuration of .022uf.
Will I ever touch these settings again? Who knows, but they let me find what I liked with convenience, so they were worth it to me!
Modifications:
- Two Music Man 500k Push/Push Potentiometers (audio taper)
- Series/Parallel Switching with a dedicated push/push pot for each humbucker
- Mythos Variable Treble Bleed and Selectable Tone Cap
- Parallel switching gives me access to a sound with more clarity for rhythm playing
- I found my ideal treble bleed configuration (JS/*Berg 150k/680pf)
- You have to remove the PCB, as Music Man confirmed that it wasn't designed to be adaptable for this type of switching
- My tech mentioned that the push/push potentiometers were made for a PCB, so he had to do some extra work to keep the solder points clean
- The volume and tone knobs sit higher on the pot shafts, resulting in a minor wobble if you actively try to push them side to side
- You may want to consider quality push/pull pots
The Stingray II is my perfect ergonomic and aesthetic guitar. I love the body shape, the neck profile, the tuning stability, and the way it looks. I had a Stingray short scale bass at one point, and I loved the look of it. Needless to say, I was stoked when they finally released a guitar version.
The guitar sounds great, but there were a few things that didn't suit my tastes. The stock treble bleed configuration isn't to my liking. The sound gets a little anemic past about 7 on the volume knob. I personally like to have a broader range of control. It also made it harder to clean up the sound from the guitar for rhythm playing while keeping the clarity up. I have no doubt that this could be done with pedals and amp adjustments. I just like using my volume knob.
Because the ergonomics and aesthetics are so right for me, it's the guitar I always grab from my rack for songwriting. I wanted to make the guitar more versatile so that I could do more with it. So that put me on the journey to do the modifications above.
The Mythos variable treble bleed and selectable tone cap worked out great. I knew the sound I wanted, but I had no idea which treble bleed configuration I wanted to use. Huge shout out to @DrKev and his treble bleed mod roundup article. I was going back and forth between Cap only and the TV 150k/1000pf settings, but I wasn't happy with the trade offs for either. At the end of his article he called out that he liked 150k/560pf for his Silo. The Mythos kit had a JS/*Berg 150k/680pf that was close, and it was perfect! It has a wider range than Cap only, but also a smoother volume taper than the TV 150k/1000pf. For the tone knob, I landed on the same stock tone cap configuration of .022uf.
Will I ever touch these settings again? Who knows, but they let me find what I liked with convenience, so they were worth it to me!
