Greetings
My name's Nick and I decided about 18 months ago that I wanted to buy a Sterling SUB Ray5. I doubt I'll ever be able to afford a "real" Stingray, and the Ray5 sounds nice. Anyway, Sterling / Musicman struck troubled waters with the CITES restriction on Rosewood and there were no SUB basses anywhere in Oz, and likely none in the near future.
Then I found Pitbull Guitars advertised by Guns and Guitars on Youtube. After a bit of research, I decided to build a Ray5 with a few added extra features from some of the best basses I've ever played.
At this stage, it's a MMB-5 kit with the following planned upgrades:
- Neck / headstock off the BG-46 kit
- Wiring and hardware from the IB-5 kit
- Added Jazz bass picked up in the neck position
- Series/Parallel/South coil switch on the MM pickup
- Mahogany Body
- Maple neck
- 24 Fret ebony fretboard
- Pacific blue sunburst body
If I can figure it out, I'm going to wire it for stereo output too like the "Rick-o-sound" on the Rickenbacker 4003.
The ship is still on its way, but I'll start my build diary as soon as it arrives.
I'm seeking some inspiration though. With a blue/black stained body and ebony fretboard, I'm not sure if I'll stain the neck or leave it natural. What do you guys think?
Regards
Nick