Stingray Weak G?

dustinymichaels

dustinymichaels

Supporting Member
Dec 18, 2023
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Southwest Michigan
#1
I have a suspicion that this will get crushed and it has probably been a discussion before. My response to another thread inspired me to bring up this topic. Please be pleasant and this is the first time I'm starting a discussion. Here is my original response:

"I've never had a problem with a weak G string on my Stingrays but this is something people mention all the time. What's the reality of this complaint? Or is it more of a grievance that people like to subscribe to?"

Are there eras where the weak G is often a concern? Is it a alnico vs. ceramic thing? It would be beneficial if people can support their perspective with data. i.e. "When Ernie Ball took over..." or, "With the contours back in..." Thanks!
 
#4
Mine had imbalance between strings. I pushed the pole pieces a bit higher on the weak strings and that seemed to solve it.

Also a dead spot on the G at about C#, and that never went away.

Edit to add- mine was a 1990s, in case the pups are different on OPs model.
 
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#5
Killing Floor said:
The rear of the model wouldn't necessarily be a factor. Can you raise the high side? Each string has different mass so there are always some differences but shouldn't be too much.

You didn't mention what strings you use.
Click to expand...
These days I’ve been enjoying Ernie balls group 3 and 4. Historically I’ve always used roto sound sm77s.
I’ve not had the weak g spot. I’m inquiring as to where this opinion comes from and if it can be backed up.
 
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#6
dustinymichaels said:
These days I’ve been enjoying Ernie balls group 3 and 4. Historically I’ve always used roto sound sm77s.
I’ve not had the weak g spot. I’m inquiring as to where this opinion comes from and if it can be backed up.
Click to expand...
No more than any other bass. G will always have less mass than other strings. But Rays don’t have an unusual malady.
 
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#8
I had a ''weak'' G string Stingray. It means that G string was quieter than the other 3 strings. It was on 2015 Stingray 3EQ Crimson Stealth. Beautiful instrument but unusable. In addition to the weak G string, it also had a dull E string (it sounded old compared to the others), and it weighted unbearable 4.8kg.

Regarding weak G string, some says it is due to bad alignment of pickup poles with G string. It is true that G string wasn't on the center of the pickup pole, but it wasn't what caused the problem IMHO. I align it on the bridge with some tools, but sound wasn't louder or better in any way.

My humble opinion is that the weak G string comes from the bridge material, the nut material and the fretboard material, in fact from the bad materials of those components or errors in them, because not every piece of Stignray has them, but I played more than one of mine.

Anyway, all of those problems are solved at 2018 with the Stingray Special, although I would love to have bridge with muters and 2EQ option on a Special.
 
#10
I've owned 30 Musicmans, and brokered deals for probably 30 more. No weak Gs.

I've always felt it's the way people eq their amps. I set lots of mids and bump a fair amount of treble in my amps...I'm not a flat eq'r

And yes the alnico Ernie Ball SR4 pickup, you can push the poles up and down to make different strings hotter.
 
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#11
Never had a weak G in any of the string rays I've owned, but they have all been 5 strings, and it's seems this issue was for the 4 string pre special models. Even then it seems rarer.

The new electronics in the Stingray Special make the response across strings very even, and haven't seen a weak G complaint about any Stingray Special.
 
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#12
One of the basic premises of the Stingray design is that you can make up for the loss of low end that occurs from the pickup being moved closer to the bridge - with EQ in the preamp . When you set the knobs all at noon on a Stingray, the electrical response of the preamp is not even close to flat - it is scooped, with a bunch of gain at very low frequencies. So far, so good, but....there's a catch. The loss of low frequencies is a wavelength phenomenon, not strictly a frequency phenomenon. What that means is that the EQ that you need to correct for the pickup's position is different on every string - to compensate the G string you need as much boost on it at 98 Hz (it's lowest note) as you do on the E string at 41 Hz (the low E). But ...you only have one preamp - you can't fix every string perfectly; you have to compromise as to the EQ that you use, and be OK that it isn't going to be "correct" on every string.

The most obvious thing to do is make sure the instrument has a solid bottom end on the lowest strings - it's a bass guitar, it should have good fundamentals for the strings that don't duplicate the guitar range. That compromise, however means that the higher strings (the G in particular - it's the highest, so it's the one where the EQ is the least appropriate)) will not have the proper eq to compensate for the pickup position. So the instrument is solid on the E and A strings, OK...ish on the D, and weak on the G.
 
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#13
Only ever owned a single Stingray - best finished bass I've owned - also the one I flipped quickest.

It had a weak G when I received it, but I filed the nut a bit smoother, put on flats and adjusted the pickup height to fix that up.
So in my limited experience I found the "weak G" came good, but it did take some effort and appropriate EQ adjustments to get the best out of the bass.
 
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#14
I had a 96 Sterling with a weak G. I swapped to an alnico pickup which helped, and I used compression which helps. It was almost like the G sounded squashed by a compressor and the harder you played to compensate the more it got squished. Flatwounds helps but I wanted rounds on that bass
 
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#15
My ‘94 Stingray had a weak G. If you look at the path the strings take over the pole pieces, the G is not centered over the pole piece. I fixed it by VERY carefully pushing the A and D pole pieces so they are more level with the others, and then angling the pickup so the g is much closer to the strings than the E.

If you choose to adjust the height of the pole pieces, BE CAREFUL because you may also destroy the pickup. I had a backup, which is highly recommended.
 
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#16
I’ve yet to find a pre-2018 stingray without the weak G. I finally started playing Sterling Ray34’s to avoid the issue. That said- following Sawzalot’s advice above will cure the problem, I did it and it worked 100% on my last EBMM stingray !
 
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#17
Just adding to the sample size here.... all 3/4 of the Stingrays I've owned have had a weak note definition on the G string. Somehow the fundamental just wouldn't cut through, especially in a dense mix. The exception was a '97, which was a 3 band EQ; the others were pre EB 2 EQs.
 
#18
I have 6. Had 8. Next year will be 30 years of primarily playing a Stingray. I have not had this issue. Currently I like Group III and IV EB flats. Historically I ran SM 77s 40-100. Not the heaviest strings. 99% of the time no pick. There have been some great responses to this so far! Both sides of the aisle. I like hearing about how people have responded to the weak G. Some moved on from the Stingray. Some suggestions to correct the problem. Some, like me, don't seem to have noticed a weak G. I'm hoping the people considering a Stingray are benefited by reading through our discussion.

Follow up question. How much do we think the appearance of the weak G is actually affected by the player?
 
#19
micguy said:
One of the basic premises of the Stingray design is that you can make up for the loss of low end that occurs from the pickup being moved closer to the bridge - with EQ in the preamp . When you set the knobs all at noon on a Stingray, the electrical response of the preamp is not even close to flat - it is scooped, with a bunch of gain at very low frequencies. So far, so good, but....there's a catch. The loss of low frequencies is a wavelength phenomenon, not strictly a frequency phenomenon. What that means is that the EQ that you need to correct for the pickup's position is different on every string - to compensate the G string you need as much boost on it at 98 Hz (it's lowest note) as you do on the E string at 41 Hz (the low E). But ...you only have one preamp - you can't fix every string perfectly; you have to compromise as to the EQ that you use, and be OK that it isn't going to be "correct" on every string.
Click to expand...

AFAIK, the two main factors are string construction and the location of vibrational nodes relative to the pickup. The former: thinner strings are thinner, less rod-like and have different relationships between the harmonics. The second means that for an arbitrary note played on different strings, the pickups also "see" slightly different relationships between the harmonics that are present *. Unless you have EQ for each string that also changes with each note you play, EQ can't fix the sound entirely. Boosting EQ at 98 Hz won't help if I'm up at the 9th fret on the G and won't help the second harmonic of the open string.

A D string fretted at the 5th fret is a G but sounds different to an open G, or if you want to take the open string out of the equation, then the Ab.

I think about the best you might get a strings that are constructed, maybe different core and wrap ratios, to minimise the harmonic differences, but I expect it would be hard to do any maintain consistent tension and elasticity across a set of strings.

* I had one electric guitar that if I selected one pickup and picked a harmonic then at one of the standard locations - 5th or 7th fret - it was entirely silent. It's a very narrow set of harmonics when doing this and the single coil pick was at a node.
 
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#20
From Sterling Ball on Ebmm Bass Forum

This trait has been around since the first day of the stingray. Its is NOT a byproduct of wood. It is due to the active preamp used on the bass. The output isnt actually lower the response is thinner sounding or not as fat. IT is one of the things you get used to with a Sting Ray or not. Believe it or not it was a complaint of mine in the beginning when I worked with Leo. The emerging slap and the old school country click players loved it. That thin snappin G sound helped the Sr taked off. You can try flats and it will help, but chances are that you will bet used to it by playing ...
 
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