Musicman StingRay Special 5 HH Burnt Ends (pre-owned)

StingRay Special 5 HH — Burnt Ends, 2023

The StingRay, rebuilt

This is the StingRay Special 5 HH from Ernie Ball Music Man, out of San Luis Obispo, California. The StingRay is basically the bass that put active electronics in working musicians’ hands. The Special, however, is the version where Ernie Ball went back and rebuilt the whole thing from the inside out.

For example, you get lighter body contours and a five-bolt sculpted neck joint you can actually play past. In addition, there are stainless frets and a roasted maple neck in oil and wax instead of gloss. The neodymium-loaded pickups run on 18 volts as well. In short, it’s everything that made a StingRay a StingRay, with the old compromises quietly fixed.

Why the HH

This is the HH, the two-pickup version. Specifically, it has a second humbucker up in the neck position and a five-way blade selector instead of the three-way toggle.

For me personally, that one change is the big one, because the StingRay goes from a one-voice specialist to a bass that will cover a whole set. For instance, you get the classic bridge bark and a fat neck-pickup voice, somewhere between a Precision and a good Jazz neck. Moreover, the two together give you the biggest, widest sound in the range.

Burnt Ends, December 2023

This one left the factory in San Luis Obispo in December 2023. Burnt Ends is a deep two-tone burst, from near-black at the edges to bare amber ash through the middle.

In addition, it has a tortoise shell pickguard and chrome hardware. I really like this finish on a Special, because it makes it look like an instrument and not just a colour. Rosewood board, 98% mint, and it comes in the original Mono gigbag.

Body, Neck & Woods

Ash body

The body is ash, and on a StingRay that’s not just a spec-sheet detail. In fact, it’s where the sound comes from.

Ash gives you the fast attack, the hard low-mid bark and the tight, focused note. As a result, a StingRay cuts through a loud band without any help from the amp.

Burnt Ends is a translucent finish, so you can see exactly what you’re getting. Specifically, there’s open, straight grain running the length of the body, with the burst pulled in just far enough to frame it. Furthermore, the Special’s rounded contours make a real difference against your ribs and forearm, compared to the older, squarer StingRay body.

Roasted maple neck

The neck is roasted maple, finished in gunstock oil and hand-rubbed wax rather than gloss. Roasting drives the moisture out of the wood, which means that the neck is more stable through temperature and humidity swings. As a result, it also has a drier, more immediate response.

The oil-and-wax finish is the part you notice first. Basically, it feels like bare wood, and your hand doesn’t stick to it under stage lights. Moreover, it never gets that tacky drag a glossed neck gets.

The rosewood fingerboard takes a little of the glassiness off the top end. Likewise, it adds warmth without slowing the attack down. In my opinion that’s worth having on an HH in particular, because the neck pickup already does a lot of the heavy lifting down low.

Frets, nut and scale

There are twenty-two stainless steel frets on an 11-inch radius board. That’s flatter than a vintage Fender, so bends and fast lines don’t choke out. Besides, stainless means they won’t wear the way nickel-silver does.

The nut is graphite, which keeps the open strings from binding when you tune. It’s a 34-inch scale with a 44.5 mm nut, widening to 69.9 mm at the last fret. In other words, string spacing and setup are completely standard.

The low B still comes back tight, however. Above all, that’s down to the five-bolt sculpted joint clamping the neck into the body. As a result, you can get up over the heel without fighting it.

Condition

Condition

98% mint. This bass has barely been out of its bag. In fact, there’s no fret wear, no buckle rash and no finish checking. Moreover, the roasted maple neck still has its factory oil-and-wax feel.

Everything on it is original, and on a Music Man that matters. Specifically, that’s both neodymium pickups, the 18-volt preamp and the five-way selector. Likewise, the bridge and the tuners are exactly as they left San Luis Obispo.

Tested and set up

The electronics all work as they should, across the full range of the EQ and in every position of the selector. In addition, it comes with the original Mono gigbag, and it’s set up and ready to play.

Want closer photos of any detail before you commit? Just ask and we’ll send them over.

Electronics, Sound & Feel

Neodymium humbuckers

Both pickups are Music Man humbuckers with neodymium magnets instead of alnico. Neodymium is a much stronger magnet. As a result, you get more output and a wider frequency response from the same size pickup.

Basically, the top end opens up and the bottom stays tight. In fact, the whole thing sounds faster and more three-dimensional than a classic StingRay pickup. However, it’s still a StingRay, that’s for sure, because the hard, nasal midrange bark is right where it’s always been.

The five-way blade

For me, the five-way blade is what you’re really buying. Position one is the bridge humbucker on its own. In other words, it’s the classic StingRay sound, scooped and punchy.

Position five is the neck humbucker alone, and that’s the one most players coming from a single-pickup Ray fall for. Specifically, it’s thick, round and centred, kind of like an open-sounding Precision. Therefore this is where a StingRay finally sits underneath a track instead of on top of it.

Position three runs both humbuckers together for the biggest sound in the bass. For example, you get huge lows and a wide top. That’s the setting for gospel, worship and anything where you need to fill the room.

Positions two and four bring in the coil pairings between them. They’re thinner and more vocal, with a touch less output. However, they have a clarity that cuts through dense arrangements, where a full humbucker would just add mud.

18-volt preamp

The three-band preamp runs on 18 volts instead of the usual nine, and you can hear the extra headroom. For instance, you can push the bass and treble a long way before a hard slap gets brittle or farts out.

The controls are volume, treble, mid and bass. Above all, the mid control is the one to learn. Cut it and you’re in slap territory. In contrast, push it and you carve out space in a mix that no amp EQ will find for you.

Furthermore, with two pickups feeding it, the EQ has a lot more raw material to work with than on the single-humbucker version.

What’s not to like?

My advice is this: if you already know you want a StingRay, and you want it to be the only bass you carry, the HH is the one to get. You keep the bark, and you gain a real second voice in the neck pickup.

Moreover, the Special’s modern neck, stainless frets and sculpted joint make it much easier to live with than any StingRay 5 before it. Finally, a mint 2023 example with the original bag saves you a serious amount over the same bass new. So, what’s not to like?