Stingray Series 1

[Danny Bryant]

Well, it’s taken me 20 plus years to find the holy grail of tone but it’s finally in my hands. After many hoops and hurdles it’s happened. Bought a set of Series 1 pickups complete with dummy pickup on Reverb. Found a Series 1 pre on the Bay and it has arrived. Installation will be complete this afternoon. Pics and tone samples to follow. Frankenstein’s monster lives!

[hammer]

Please provide us with an assessment of how it works out, and of course, photos.

[bigredbass]

Of course this is a different animal, but I've ALWAYS thought that should the Mothership ever revisit the Activator replacement pickup line, #1 on my list would be a FatBoy installed in a MusicMan shell as a drop-in for Stingrays, 4- and 5-string.  I have NO doubt that would be monstrous.  Don't know the arrangements / licensing EBMM might require, but if it was do-able reasonably, it would be one hell of a step-up.

[gearhed289]

Sounds like my kind of project. Looking forward to pics and sound clips!

[BeenDown139]

i've owned a pretty full spectrum of basses over my career, but never a stingray.  i used to tell one of my ex's that no matter what kind of bass i play, i always sound like me.  not so with the stingray - no matter how i played one, i always sounded like flea (not that there's anything wrong with that).  not exactly my cup of tea, so i never took the plunge.  i'll be interested in hearing how your frankenstein sounds.

[growlypants]

Like anything else, you have to be careful.  I owned a Stingray that had this unbelievable dead spot right on the G string, 5th fret.  Needless to say, I sold it pretty quick.  (It was a pre-Ernie Ball 4 string, blonde w/maple.)

[StephenR]

Cool project! Look forward to seeing, and hopefully hearing a Stingray with Series electronics.

I certainly never sounded like Flea when playing my Stingray. When I got my first Alembic in 1983 I put the Stingray in the closet which is where it has lived ever since. When I was playing it regularly I had never even heard of Flea because it was pre-Red Hot Chili Peppers but I could never sound like him even after hearing him play. I love the low end on my Stingray but find the G string to be thin sounding. Still, for some the Stingray is the Holy Grail of sound. I had an Alembic pickup here that I considered trying to put in the Stingray and in retrospect I am glad to have left well-enough alone. I have a 1977 Stingray that is still all stock with the original frets and case. Swapping out the pickup and electronics would have killed the resale value, something that was not even apparent at the time. The "vintage" instrument boom and hefty price increases were still yet to come. Someday I really should sell the Stingray as I haven't played four-string bass since the mid-80s.