Another American Vintage
This is the oldest electric bass of mine, Music Man Stingray Bass 1977. This bass has come to me in pretty good condition with no replacement parts. However, the original frets were thin and they’ve almost gone around 2010, so I asked a repair shop to replace them. Since this unique one piece maple neck with lacquer finished, I had been looking for the right person who has skills for maintaining vintage instruments for many years. It cost me over 1000 dollars for fret replacement, refinishing and setting up, but I was happy because it was worth it.
The other unique feature of this bass is the poplar wood body. Music Man used it for sunburst color only. The sound is unlike both ash and alder. I think brighter than alder, less sustain than ash, something like that. I believe this wood option was an alternative for alder, so that worked well. It’s hard to define which wood is applied by listening to the record because of the strong character of pickup and circuit while play-feeling is very different.
According to the Music Man Bass Global, my bass serial # is on the list of 1977.
How The Instrument Sounds
I will update some sound clips soon.
The First Active Circuit Bass
You may know this Stingray Bass is the first one installed onboard preamp electronics, a transistor amplifier powered by 9V battery, the battery cavity is on the back. The controllers are volume, treble and bass. Unlike the current models, the preamp boosts bass frequency only. That means treble knob works roll off only, just like other fender passive circuits. I think this configuration makes the battery live longer, hardly seen mechanical troubles. At least I have no trouble over 20 years anyway.
Now let’s think about why Leo Fender developed Stingray Bass with a large Humbucker pickup with battery powered tone controller. I believe he wanted simply a more fat, heavy “bass” sound.
Around the1960’s the beginnings of the electric bass era, bass amps were not good. They are somehow just extended versions of guitar amps. In my opinion, before SWR amps, they were not good enough to provide the real low end of the electric bass sound. Music Man developed a really fat sound compared to a nice clean sound of Fender Basses. They needed more bass frequency, roll off for treble was still enough controllable for the bass amps in those days.
And guess what? After Stingray Bass came out, the bass amp innovation began. They wanted to play the bass with full boost! Just like V8 engines and fat stabilizers!
The Sound of Quincy Jones Records
The character of the bass is easy to define by listening. I believe the most familiar tone for the public is Louis Johnson playing maple fingerboard with ash body. He was the first call player for Quincy Jones production including Michael Jackson’s albums, Off The Wall and Thriller. Louis also played Stingray Bass on Quincy’s albumsThe Dude, the famous charity single We Are the World, another memorial single I’ll Be Good To You featuring Ray Charles and Chaka Khan. Louis had the unit with his brother George The Brothers Johnson, he played Stingray Bass after the album Blam! In 1978. The famous disco hit Stomp! 1980 made Louis and Stingray sound much more popular. Stingray got the place of the funky dance bass. Louis also played Stingray on Herbie Hancock’s funky album Lite Me Up, which credit shows a lot of familiar members of Quincy Jones productions.
Another interesting thing to me is my favorite Carol Kaye was hired by Music Man to produce a demo for the Stingray Bass. As you know, she is one of the finest bass players for Quincy Jones and the style I was looking for many years since I was a kid. So It’s undeniable to have Stingray Bass in my career. I think Carol and Louis must have met in the same studio for the album I Heard That!, both played Fender Precision Bass at that time. Quincy loved the punchy tone of Precision Bass instead of Jazz Bass, maybe it’s closer to the double bass sound, which was succeeded by Music Man Stingray Bass.
Other Iconic Players
Pino Palladino plays the fretless type, rosewood fingerboard with poplar wood body. He mostly plays his Precision recently, I guess. You can listen to Pino’s on Paul Young’s great hit Everytime You Go Away.
Bernard Edwards, another established disco bass player in the 1970s, played Stingray Bass after Chic’s third studio album Risqué 1979. He played Stingray maple fingerboard with ash body, produced various tones with finger picking, slapping and pick (like Carol Kaye does). In his last show in Tokyo 1996 he still chose an old vintage Stingray as his partner, which means a lot. He loved the old one better than the new.
Discover Vintage
The interesting thing about playing vintage instruments is being able to hear the stories. Some of them are legendary records made by successful players. Some of them are triumphs of engineer’s works with passion for exploring better sounds. Well, I know any better playing doesn’t have to be done by any good instruments. I remember once my bass teacher in Boston said that the instrument doesn’t speak itself, players let them do.
However, a good instrument makes you a better player not only by the sound but also its playability. And those vintage instruments have many reasons to exist, to be loved and to be played. Yes, they need to be played as long as possible. Displaying in a showcase or storing in a closet doesn’t mean anything. Repair any parts if they’re needed and play it in modern environments such as better amps, pedals and recording equipment.
