Limited Edition Silverburst EBMM Stingray RS Demo/Review

[The Raven]

What's up everybody!

This is my latest song/demo/review video featuring this awesome Music Man Stingray RS "The Governor". To say this guitar is incredible would be an understatement.

As usual, all tones in the video are Axe Fx III and @York Audio IR's (I do try other IR's I swear, but the York's just sound "right" to me every single time). No post processing on the guitars at all aside from some limiting to get the overall video at YouTube's preferred loudness levels.

The short version: If it wasn't obvious enough from above, I love this guitar. I would gladly own a dozen or more stingrays in different colors and pickup configuration, and this shape is now up there for me with the Tele and Les Paul as one of my favorite guitar shapes of all time. If you haven't checked out a Stingray, and you are a fan of EBMM, you definitely should. The neck on this one can be divisive, but I personally love it, and as of now it's my 2nd favorite Music Man neck (the Valentine being my favorite).

Let me know what you guys think and if you have any questions.

 

[York Audio]

Your clips sound great, as usual. How are you getting along with the stock pickups in that guitar? I bought an early version of the EBMM Stingray and the pickups were SUPER bright, but yours doesn’t seem to have the shrill top end mine had before swapping out the pickups.

 

[Sfalsetto]

Great to see another Governor owner around! Great video and really nice tones. Couldn’t agree more on the Stingrays, just love them. My 3 definitely get more play than anything else. I have other guitars that I feel “should” be my favorites, but the Stingrays just have a feel that I really vibe with.

Like Justin, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the pickups. Those were the first thing to go for me. They left a lot to be desired in my opinion. I have a jazz in the neck and Suhr Aldrich in the bridge on all 3 of mine.


Enjoy and happy playing!

 

[The Raven]

@York Audio and @Sfalsetto I'm glad you guys liked the tones!

In regards to the pickups, I personally enjoy them quite a bit, though I can understand why a lot of people would swap them out. They give me something a little bit different than my other guitars. Like I mentioned in the video, they are actually pretty balanced across the frequency spectrum, at least to my ears when listening to the DI and amped clips. The high end is rolled off right at the point where you still get a good amount of cut, but it doesn't kill me when I play the upper frets, even on the Plexis and Voxes. And I tend to run Treble and presence up a bit because I like brighter tones.

From what I've seen in other discussions about the Stingray RS, I've heard it said that the pickups are "boring" which is likely due to how balanced they are combined with the lower output. They aren't really giving much of a push in any one area, so they lack some of the "mojo/sauce" you get with most vintage or modern humbuckers. Personally, I dig that, which is surprising because I haven't really gotten along with more modern pickups that are billed as being "balanced" because I think that usually translates to "sterile." If I had to sum it up I'd say they are balanced with a skew to the vintage side rather than the more modern sterile kind of balanced. Thanks to the lower output, I find I can dig into these more with cleans and just get a nice amount of that subtle humbucker "squish" without a compressor and without the amp breaking up too much

Justin, Was yours an RS or the OG run they did with the regular maple necks? I'm wondering if they tweaked the pickups for the RS models. What did you end up swapping to?

@Sfalsetto (don't know your real name sorry), I'm definitely envious of your Stingray collection and I definitely want to get more. If I pick another one up, I'd experiment with different pickups in it, but I think I'm going to keep the Governor stock since I am vibing with these pickups. What pickups do you have in the turquoise and the white Stingray?

 

[York Audio]

@York Audio and @Sfalsetto I'm glad you guys liked the tones!

In regards to the pickups, I personally enjoy them quite a bit, though I can understand why a lot of people would swap them out. They give me something a little bit different than my other guitars. Like I mentioned in the video, they are actually pretty balanced across the frequency spectrum, at least to my ears when listening to the DI and amped clips. The high end is rolled off right at the point where you still get a good amount of cut, but it doesn't kill me when I play the upper frets, even on the Plexis and Voxes. And I tend to run Treble and presence up a bit because I like brighter tones.

From what I've seen in other discussions about the Stingray RS, I've heard it said that the pickups are "boring" which is likely due to how balanced they are combined with the lower output. They aren't really giving much of a push in any one area, so they lack some of the "mojo/sauce" you get with most vintage or modern humbuckers. Personally, I dig that, which is surprising because I haven't really gotten along with more modern pickups that are billed as being "balanced" because I think that usually translates to "sterile." If I had to sum it up I'd say they are balanced with a skew to the vintage side rather than the more modern sterile kind of balanced. Thanks to the lower output, I find I can dig into these more with cleans and just get a nice amount of that subtle humbucker "squish" without a compressor and without the amp breaking up too much

Justin, Was your an RS or to OG run they did with the regular maple necks? I'm wondering if they tweaked the pickups for the RS models. What did you end up swapping to?

@Sfalsetto (don't know your real name sorry), I'm definitely envious of your Stingray collection and I definitely want to get more. If I pick another one up, I'd experiment with different pickups in it, but I think I'm going to keep the Governor stock since I am vibing with these pickups. What pickups do you have in the turquoise and the white Stingray?

That’s interesting to hear about your pickups. I think mine is an OG HH version made the first year or two with a plain maple neck and rosewood fretboard. The pickups in mine are pretty hot and have way more top end than any of my other humbucker guitars, so they may have changed pickup specs somewhere along the line. I think I ended up putting in a Lollar Imperial or a Bare Knuckle Mule in the bridge. The pickup spacing is weird on those guitars. The pole pieces are F-spaced, but the pickup is a normal-sized humbucker. I bought some Trembucker Duncans for it to have the right pole spacing, but the pickups are too wide for the Stingray’s pickup mounts.

 

[The Raven]

That’s interesting to hear about your pickups. I think mine is an OG HH version made the first year or two with a plain maple neck and rosewood fretboard. The pickups in mine are pretty hot and have way more top end than any of my other humbucker guitars, so they may have changed pickup specs somewhere along the line. I think I ended up putting in a Lollar Imperial or a Bare Knuckle Mule in the bridge. The pickup spacing is weird on those guitars. The pole pieces are F-spaced, but the pickup is a normal-sized humbucker. I bought some Trembucker Duncans for it to have the right pole spacing, but the pickups are too wide for the Stingray’s pickup mounts.

That is really weird about the spacing and I’ve never heard of a company doing that before. I just assumed the bridged would be F spaced, so thats good to know if I ever get another stingray and decide to swap pickups on it.

These pickups weren’t very hot at all like i said. My EBMM Valentine actually pushes the amps more without the boost engaged, and since they wind these pickups in house, I’m also wondering if there’s variation between sets.