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Music Man StingRay

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Bass Guitar

Music Man StingRay

Music Man · StingRay

Price: 18 EUR – 10.202 EUR

Price history 04.09.2026 19.09.2026
Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

Availability: 9/10 (Common)

The first mass-produced bass guitar with an onboard active preamp, giving it a distinctively bright, punchy voice that became a defining sound of funk and slap bass playing from the late 1970s onward.

Where available? Go to the best price – 18 EUR About this instrument

About the Music Man StingRay

The current StingRay pairs an ash body with a roasted maple neck at a 34-inch scale, 22 stainless steel frets, and the model's recognizable oval pickguard and 3+1 headstock layout (three tuners on one side, one on the other). A single humbucking pickup feeds an 18-volt, 3-band active preamp - bass, midrange, and treble - built into a control plate beneath the pickguard, a layout descended directly from the original circuit design.

Hardware includes lightweight aluminum components chosen to keep the instrument balanced, along with a sculpted neck joint and rounded forearm contour aimed at playing comfort. The active preamp remains the defining feature of the design: it allows a wider frequency response and higher output than a passive bass circuit, producing the bright, cutting tone the StingRay has been associated with since its introduction.

Where to buy

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Source: https://reverb.com/item/100397049-1982-music-man-stingray-4h-vintage-bass-sunburst-pre-ernie-ball

Sound character of the Music Man StingRay

The current StingRay's bridge-position humbucker paired with active 3-band EQ is the source of its punchy, aggressive, articulate low end - a distinctly different formula from a passive Fender-style bass, built around humbucker output and onboard tone shaping.

Punchy Aggressive Midrange-forward

Technical data for the Music Man StingRay

Body Ash
Neck Roasted maple
Scale length 34"
Frets 22 stainless steel
Pickup Single humbucker
Electronics 18V 3-band active preamp (bass/mid/treble)
Headstock 3+1 layout
Introduced 1976

Price history for the Music Man StingRay

Cheapest seen: 18 EUR  ·  Most expensive seen: 10.202 EUR

10.202 EUR18 EUR 04.09.2026 12.09.202615.09.202617.09.2026 19.09.2026
Cheapest seen Most expensive seen

The history of the Music Man StingRay

The StingRay was introduced in 1976, designed by Leo Fender, Tom Walker, and Forrest White at Music Man with input from bassist Sterling Ball, and was the first production four-string bass to include an onboard active equalizer. Tom Walker, an electrical engineer, developed the active preamp circuit specifically to give the instrument a louder, brighter signal than passive basses of the time could produce, at a period when Fender's own Precision and Jazz Bass designs still relied entirely on passive electronics.

That active-EQ design, combined with the StingRay's humbucking pickup and bright tonal character, made it a favored instrument in funk, disco, and slap-bass playing from the late 1970s onward, and it has remained in continuous production with periodic hardware and electronics updates ever since - one of the most recognizable bass guitar designs never to have been directly associated with Leo Fender's earlier company, despite his direct involvement in creating it.

Related guides

  • Active vs. Passive Electronics: How They Differ in Sound View details
  • Precision Bass vs. Jazz Bass: Comparing the Classic Body Styles View details
  • 4-String vs. 5-String: What Beginners Actually Need View details

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