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Stingray vs. Sterling: is there a diffence?


shnoogumz

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sorry if this is a n00b question, I don't know very much about basses. I wanna get a Music Man, but I'm not sure whether I should get a Stingray or a Sterling. is there any real noticeable difference, or are they pretty similar?

 

any help would be appreciated :)

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They are very different. The Sterling has a smaller and lighter body, smaller neck, smaller headstock, slightly different shaped pickguard, a pickup selector switch and no control plate.

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Question: does Ernie Ball make a 5 string Sterling? And why is the pickguard on the 5 string Stingray so wildly different? I love the egg-shell shaped pickguard. Why can't they keep it for their 5vers?:confused:

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beside the neck and a smaller/lighter body, the pickups are different

SR: alnico in parallel

Sterling: ceramic with phantom coil, with a switch for Serial/Single coil/Parallel

 

there is not sterling 5 at the moment, but the SR5 is closer to the sterling than to the stingray... (Ceramic PU with the sterling switch)

somewhere a saw a history about ErnieBall and the creation of the SR5, they made so many changes that they though that they should do a 4 string version... but to change the classic SR was too much, so they end up using that on the sterling....

(the pickguard was based on the silhuette guitar)

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I believe that there's a Sterling 5 in the oven for winter NAMM.

 

Since the SR5 so closely mirrors the aesthetics of the Silhouette guitar, the pickguard was a logical choice. I like the body design and pickguard, but hate the headstock.

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The Sterling tone is considerably more "mid-rangey" as compared to the Stingray. With the bigger body, the Stingray just has a more solid bottom-end to it. There's "more meat" on the Stingray, giving it "more meat." That's about as good as I can describe the difference.

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To my ear-

 

Sterling holds more bark, 'Ray holds more bite.

 

I didn't feel comfortable with the Sterling, due to the reduced body size, but I didn't get to play it while standing.

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yeah they have been out of production for a while, every time I see one i've got no cash for it and now I do have some moolah... can't find one of the suckers!

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Question: does Ernie Ball make a 5 string Sterling? And why is the pickguard on the 5 string Stingray so wildly different? I love the egg-shell shaped pickguard. Why can't they keep it for their 5vers?
:confused:

The Stingray V is actually a Sterling V but when they got out the Sterling didn't exist yet so they named it Stingray.

For a "true" Stingray V, you want to look for the SUB Stingray V.

164-big-basse-music-man-SUB-5.jpg

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