Stingray 5 at Cosmo

I played another one of these the other day. This one was quite nice sounding and reasonably priced. The kicker though was that it had one hell of a ding in it and it didn't have a case (it was used). That said, there was much that went in its favour. It was an ash body with a one piece maple neck and fretboard which is a very bright combination. It's a nice antidote in that sense to the alder, mahogany, and basswood bodies and rosewood 'boards that dominate my collection right now. Everything that I have right now does an excellent job of sounding warm and thuddy. (Is "thuddy" a useful descriptor?) I can pull out some nice mid-rangey growl from my Jazz, but that's about the most agressive I can be without engaging the Big Muff. A Stingray would be in another category in that regard. The ash-maple combination would have nice highs, either for a useful slap tone (Jay is laughing at that right now) or perhaps a more agressive, overdriven pick tone. In general, I could make things sound more "modern" I think. At the same time, ash can be bloody heavy and I've noticed that Ernie Ball is one of the worst offenders in the category of heavy-ass ash basses. I've picked up more than a few 'Rays that had a weight that was frankly astonishing and painful. Nothing over a half-hour gigging with these, thank you. This bass however, I noticed was surprisingly light. A nice change.