48 Years Later: 1976 Music Man Sting Ray 1

[@RequiemDead]

My friend, you are collecting the infinity stones of Dad rock machines. LOVE IT!!!

[@damianhollier8234]

Dude, thank you so much for posting this video. I have this very guitar which happens to be the very first electric guitar I ever bought circa 1987-88. What’s more is, I bought this guitar brand new with its original case from a pawnshop who acquired it from a local music store that had gone under. I would never consider myself an actual guitar player, which means, my music man stingray is still virtually brand new. It’s never seen a gig… total couch strummer. I really appreciate you explaining all of the electronics, pick up selection, switch, and everything Leo engineered into this guitar. Cool video, my dude!

[@bks252]

I have a 1983 MusicMan Stingray bass and I still play it all the time.

[@sinakaedwards2009]

Crazy how the humbuckers look just like the one they put in the stingray bass.

[@ThatRedHusky]

That thing is drop dead gorgeous

[@christopherweise438]

I didn't even know those existed. That Stingray and the Gibson RD were the bright spots from the 70's.

[@xavierstilions]

Yeah that and pretty much anything that came out of the matsumoku factory. 70's guitars are sick dude, i've played a 78' Vantage VP700 for years now!

[@johnish1843]

Awesome guitar! Definitely a piece of music history. Sweetwater is amazing. I drive an hour and a half to get there, but well worth it!

[@BandrewScott]

Beautiful guitar. Congrats on the pick up and getting it back in working order.

[@myeyesarewaiting]

That's the one that got away for me... There was one for £450 in a guitar shop in Glasgow in '98, I think it was. Way beyond what my teenage self could ever afford. It haunts me still!

[@whoisdin]

Alternatively, in Montreal in '99, I bought a BC Rich Warlock ACRYLIC. Way beyond what my teenage self should've ever afforded. It haunts me still! But I say, as long as you're still playing guitar of course, to not let up... you never know what my cross paths with you again.

[@finger3357]

this design is so timeless

[@JacquesButlerMusic]

My favourite guitar - currently own 4 of these 🤣

[@RiffsAndBeards]

WHOA!

[@sinakaedwards2009]

Dude, the riff you played during the 6-minute mark of the video reminded me of 90s style music. I think that guitar may be the coolest guitar I have seen.

[@IanOnTheDL]

I love the shrunken Stingray bass looking pickups

[@hampussoderberg1129]

I just saw one in a store in Stockholm a few weeks back and though “never seen one like that”. Nice coincidence to get to know more about it.

[@mastershake0505]

Wow dude! So cool they went above and beyond to make that thing perfect

[@greendayray]

It’s pretty cool they mimicked the original wear. I personally wouldn’t want any neck to be refinished or re planed unless they really had to, since it would take away the years of natural wear. I can’t really afford a relic job on top of a refret, so that’s awesome they did that for you.

[@papasmamas1]

Love this vintage Stingray. Looks great with the maple fretboard, and with the metal control plate looks like something Fender would make.

[@ssiowi]

Thanks Fluff; respect to you and Sweetwater for loving this timeless, priceless beauty. Much envy here; hi from PDX, OR.

[@Furtheronmusic]

I remember drooling over these in a local music store when they originally came out.

[@robertdonosobuchner3129]

Great story, great guitar!

[@hughbarton5743]

Had one exactly like yours in the early 80s, belonged to a Baptist minister. Loved it; weighed a ton but exquisitely beautiful fit & finish...and what an instrument. Finally replaced it with a Guild Polaris GS...another sweetie!!

[@allworksnew]

That's like night and day bruh

[@hughbarton5743]

Guilty as charged! My guitar rack always has at least 50% " What the neck is that? " provoking. But you know, I have always felt that playing various oddball instruments is good for you. Thanks for your thoughts.

[@johnnyashtray]

Sweetwater FTW!

[@jasonshaffer7516]

All I can really say is, WOW!

[@timothymassie6293]

That’s a keeper 👍🏻

[@IsabellaCatherine19XX]

What a cool guitar! I didn't know Stingrays were that old! Just wow.

[@nicholastotoro7721]

Very cool guitar! Funny, the more they change, the more they stay the same! Nitro can be tricky, makes sense. The finish gets brittle over the years. You can use a razor to minimize anything that flakes off the fretboard, but it's still tricky. Aperio Guitars in Georgia does fantastic SS refrets. I couldn't stand how Fender in the '90's would put the finish OVER the frets. Guess Leo was also doing that in the '70's... ?

[@dannystarkridesfixed]

Very nice interesting and fun story. Wasn’t aware of it being that old pre - music man. Cool stuff to have the original version of the guitar.

[@stockholm1752]

‘70s guitars are the coolest. I don’t know why. They just are.

[@YokRzeznic]

Wanted one of these for a while, they seem like the F100 of guitars.

[@joelmahan]

Those are great-I use the out of phase for complex chords to clean up heavy distortion 😎

[@damienalvarez2957]

Leo definitely made that into a studio workhorse. What a cool guitar!

[@TribalGuitars]

Great vid, great story, and awesome guitar!🤘

[@johnfinlay4963]

Sounds amazing . I love Sweetwater . They are clearly #1 . That guitar is super cool . 👍🤘🏻

[@Cpmnk]

It has really vintage sounding pickups. Thats cool af

[@ibanezleftyclub]

That thing is like a piece of furniture from the 70’s, probably weighs as much too lol so much amazing tones from it.

[@michaellandrumguitar]

Looks great has a lot of low end sound

[@PedalBattle]

Very cool looking instrument

[@stephenperlowski4738]

Paul Barrere of Little Feat played these back in the 70s. Such a cool guitar!

[@BaBaBaBenny]

I had a '78 Sabre for a bit, beat to hell, warmoth replacement neck, gorgeous piece of ash (lol) just like this one. I wish I could've held onto it but i just don't get on with strat shapes.

[@Starch1b2c3d4a]

That neck looks really cool

[@josephezell2817]

Cool ass guitar man! ❤

[@jrutherfordium]

I think those early Music Man's came with very low frets back then. I have a 1978 StingRay II which I got new when I was 15, played for 3 years until I moved on to a Strat, after which it literally remained in the case for the next 40 years (basically forgot I had it). When I took it out a couple years ago, the first thing I noticed was how low the frets were (and not because of extreme usage, the fretboard still looks new). No buzzing though, super easy to play, a nice alternative to the medium jumbo frets I have on my more recent guitars.

[@Bhallmed]

That’s a good looking guitar

[@allenmitchell09]

I can see a lot of the design cues have carried through to today. Like having 2 screws on one side of the pickup and 1 on the other. The crazy control plate shape…

[@allenmitchell09]

And the bridge with the “shelf” at the back.

[@nickm.9474]

If only they took pictures of the neck before they stripped it. Haha. In the end they did a great job. Super cool guitar!!!

[@Aspkkr]

Very nice find, I was never into Stingrays until I bought one from Jared Dines. It has become one of my favorite guitars to play, I don't think he played it a lot cause it looks pretty much new. If you talk to him tell him he owes me a signature lol. Edit: Autograph not signature.

[@BXGuitars]

Glad you had good luck with Sweetwater. Unfortunately their "techs" absolutely butchered my ESP Horizon to where I had to take it to someone else to fix it after an abysmal plek job and setup.

[@stealingtomorrowband]

I like the natural wood. That's def a pretty cool ass guitar and i would totally rock it . I'd like to have the money and be able to find a Warwick from 83-84..

[@jrb92163]

Really……I love when everyone says this guitar is so wonderful. Yet it’s not their # 1 or we never seen it before

[@IDGAF_PLUS]

Good morning!

[@patrickvanvlooten]

It oozes mojo!

[@TVoltG]

I love this guitar. My step father had this model. Unfortunately my step brother sold it when he passed and didn't tell me he was selling it. I so wanted it. 😢

[@ThatBaritoneGuitarGuy]

The pickguard is not yellowed. Did the previous owner put on a new pickguard?

[@3J_Music]

Was that one listed on Reverb? I was seriously considering one of those as a birth year guitar a while back. That's really cool

[@guyfawkes8873]

Is that a legit bass style humbucker pickup? Wtf I need this too!

[@lockedowng]

That's a cool watch. Is it a Hamilton? Stingrays are rad in any form too.

[@crosswalklarry]

Cheers to Sweetwater. Jeers to Ernie Ball.

[@chadwickcore]

Fluff: this is awesome!!! Also fluff: where are the Seymour Duncans and the 2x4 headstock?!?! And why is there a tone knob?!?!?!?!

[@russellzauner]

oh lord next he's gonna show up with an original sabre

[@wiifrisbee5267]

Traded for the exact same guitar a few months ago and hated everything about it. Mainly the tiny frets and super bright pickups. I ended up selling it to guitar center for $700 like an idiot haha

[@davidhaegens]

shit yeah

[@FranMjolnir]

How was there an active circuit in the 70’s? We were cavemen in those days.

[@DavidMadeira29]

My Phone from 2017 is almost sleeping by Summer of 2024. Namastè.

[@greendayray]

Why does nobody ever say how much it cost them to have sweetwater do fretwork? Not that I’m mailing my damn guitar for a fret job…just curious

[@RiffsAndBeards]

Cause it varies pretty widely depending on finish, plek or no plek, etc

[@greendayray]

@@RiffsAndBeards ballpark without plek? I’m guessing it’s not cheap since most places I know are $450 and up these days. Btw, love your content Fluff 👍

[@BXGuitars]

@@greendayray On their website it shows $649-$749

[@greendayray]

@@BXGuitars oof…good thing I have multiple guitars

[@timwhite5562]

"its poly these days…" I have grown to hate this term. Poly-what? Polyurethane or Polyester? They're two wildly different finishes. I was born in the same year as this. Christ, 48 years? F'ck, I always assumed I'd have dead for at least a decade by now, I kinda wagered on it. I blame f ing Obama 🤬. I bought back an 08 Eric Johnson Strat that I had sold 8 years before. The guy had the frets plek'd, but gave it an insane fall away. I repaired guitars for 25 years. I've done hundreds, if not a thousand refrets. I'll give it a very slight fall away past the 12th fret so the frets will be lower by a hair's breath, and it won't fret out when you bend. This thing however started at the first fret, and got progressively lower until it passed the 15th fret where it was basically down to the lacquer. I had to regret it where I realized what happened: the neck pocket had somehow gotten out of wack, and it needed to be shimmed to raise the pocket on the neck side. Instead of a $3 shim, he had them compound the frets to compensate. I can't stress how staggeringly stupid this is, for obvious reasons. It necessitated doing an entire refret, not only costing you $400 to address a problem you spent $250 to create by having it plek'd, AND you kill the resale value. I don't ever plan on selling the guitar, I spent 8 years trying to get it back after realizing it's "the one," so resale isn't a concern, and I was able to do the refret myself (which was a nightmare to get the low frets out

[@GreatPlanet-c7o]

Nobody calls you Sting-ray.

[@extraordinary_ordinary]

That relic job looks weird. The bare maple looks too clean. If it was naturally relic'd there would be dirt and grime worked into the wood. I would have just skipped the relic job and left the neck after it was redone.