The MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar is an electric bass guitar produced by MusicMan Inc. This company was actually founded by two former employees of Fender, which was then one of the leading guitar manufacturers. Along with Walker and Sterling Ball, Leo Fender designed the MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar in 1976.
The MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar is similar in appearance to the Fender Precision Bass Guitar, but features great innovations. One of the innovations is the “soapbar” humbucking pick-up, along with the Stingray’s 3-band equalizer. This equalizer enables the MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar to boost, low, mid range, and high frequencies. This was indeed a major breakthrough for the Stingray since no other electric bass guitars without active preamps have this capability before.
Aside from these electronic advancements, the MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar has a classic, heavy satin finish on the back of the neck for the players hand to conveniently slide up and down while playing. Moreover, the MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar comes with a separate control plate and a pick guard that is egg shaped. Apart from these physical features, the most prominent physical feature of this guitar is the “3+1” headstock with which the three tuning machines are situated.
Over the years, modifications on the MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar were made. One of the primary modifications done was the omission of the string-through-body stringing at the bridge, and the adjustable string mutes. However, for the 30th anniversary in 2006, MusicMan produced a Stingray which features the string-through-body design. Furthermore, it uses solid mahogany for the body with a Crimson Red Transparent finish.
Other modifications of the MusicMan Stingray Bass Guitar include a 5-string version with a distinctive truss-rod neck adjustment using a highly rust and corrosion resistant washer. These modifications made the neck adjustment of the Stingray easier.
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