Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay5 Special H Maple Fingerboard Electric Bass Black

I play multi-genre rock, dance, R&B, funk, this bass delivers. Excellent playability and sound. Satin finish on neck and ebony fingerboard are so nice. SOUND? no gig goes by where someone doesn't compliment the sound of this bass. FOH engineers, musicians in crowd, tipsy civilians.

Beautiful looking bass. But several issues out of the box: Truss rod nut was 100% loose. Unplayable until adjusted. Top nut was not finished (filed down), leaving a sharp corner at the G string. 2 of 3 bridge saddles couldn't be lowered fully due to the adjustment screw binding at the top part of the saddle (saddles are cylinders instead of solid, like most other manufacturers use). Once set up (excluding optimal bridge - see above), it played and sounded very good. But nothing to write home about. Returned it to GC. Will wait for the Fender American Pro due in May.

This stingray bass, is, without a doubt the best bass guitar I have ever played. I originally bought it before me and my band went on tour so I was expecting a solid instrument, but boy, it delivered so much more. I have never played a more versatile, comfortable instrument. However, my one point against it is the price. The only other 5 string option is from Music Man is the sterling for a few hundred dollars. That's a huge jump! I dunno, I just feel like there should be a mid-range option for the basses. Otherwise, absolutely fantastic instrument.

I really like the feel of the instrument. The roasted maple really makes the neck feel great. The contoured neck heel allows easy access to the upper frets. The new 18v preamp gives you a lot of headroom and much more variety of sounds.The extra contours of the body really makes it lighter than the previous versions. I really like this version better than the '90 StingRay 5 I used to own.

My first 5-string was a '90 StingRay 5, and I ended up selling it years ago, and I've regretted it ever since. I'm glad I purchased this latest version of the StingRay 5, because the improvements they've done on this bass has really made this a much better instrument, IMO. Such as the neck joint is more contoured, making the upper register easier to reach. The increased bevels on the body has made it more comfortable and along with the new hardware, it is lighter overall. The 18v 3-band preamp has so much more headroom and versatility than my previous one, and is very "musical". They changed the magnets in the pickup from alnico to neodymium, which seems to smooth out the tone a little, but you can still get that MusicMan "snarl" with the preamp. One thing that impressed me was the single coil mode of this new pickup is very useable, which was something that I didn't like about the old one. And I really like the look and feel of the roasted maple neck. If you have had the impression in the past that this bass is a "one-trick pony", then you owe it to yourself to try this new "Special" out. You'll be glad you did!

I've had this bass for about a month and it's genuinely inspiring to play.The burnt maple neck is super smooth to play and smells like syrup, hope that never goes away. I picked up the natural wood version and it is really a quite beautiful piece of art, but to me, the sound makes it worth the stretch in cost.