December 2008 \ Features \ Building A Stingray Clone on the Cheap

Building A Stingray Clone on the Cheap

Dan Berkowitz

Learn how to make a Stingray clone for under $200


Premier Guitar December 2008
(3 of 3)

Ah Nuts, Filed Again!
I got the appropriate file out of the needle file set by angling the slot down toward the tuners just a bit. My goal was to get that first fret clearance by patiently filing, testing, filing and testing until it was a hair higher than what I wanted.

Then I played chicken with myself, taking another file swipe in hopes of getting the nut a bit lower without getting it too low. Repeat this procedure with the other three strings. When it was done, I got a larger flat file and a sanding block and took down the top of the nut and smoothed it with sandpaper.

The goal is to have about one-third to one-half of the string above the nut, which helps it glide smoothly during tuning. This time, I cut the top too low for the E string, but not by much. The heights above the fingerboard were just fine, though.

Taking Her For A Test Drive
With the nut slots lowered and the action set, my Stingray-on-the-cheap was ready for a try-out. Off it went to rehearsal with my Blues/R&B band. The sound was full, but not boomy. Clear, but not bright or harsh. The tone control – just a simple treble roll-off – did a nice job of rounding off the top end. I found myself turning the tone control down about 10 percent and it sounded great—very natural..not a speck of hum! And as I expected, the parallel setting couldn’t hold a candle to the beefier series mode.

One handy add-on I came up with was a pair of LokStrap disks. These little gems are cheap—only about two bucks—and they do the same job as the Straploks without the installation hassle. Just put the strap on the button, slip on the LokStrap, give the inner disk a half turn and the strap stays on.

Cheap Date, Happy Ending
And there you have it! Not quite a Stingray, since it lacks the preamp, but with a little time and patience to round up parts and put it together, it’s a bass that I’d be plenty willing to take out to a gig. At about $200, I think it turned out to be a real bargain.

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Comments

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UsernameComment
Steve Dallman
on 12/31/2011 		I also modded a friend's OLP. I built a Stingray 2 band EQ/preamp and wired the pickup in parallel. What a HUGE improvement in this bass. Punch, volume, and the range of the treble control is intense. I love the original MM preamp and build them quite often.
Steve Dallman
on 12/31/2011 		I put together a Stingray "clone" last year, and it's become my favorite bass. I bought a cheap, maple with black block markers, Eden neck. With fret leveling and a little work, it's a fine neck. The body is a Silvertone P bass body I bought for $6. Very light...probably basswood. I used OLP control plates and bridge. The pickup is a 4 conductor cheapie I got for $14. I put in a 3 band EQ with sweepable mids...Artec I believe, but it too was cheap. So for just over $100, I ended up with a lightweight, 5 string MM knockoff that sounds and plays great. It's 6lbs lighter than my Line 6 Variax 5 string, and sounds better than my other 5 strings (Steinberger, Fender, Peavey, etc) More bass, plenty of treble and it punches through the band's mix like crazy. I put in a series/parallel switch, but it sounds best in parallel.
Guido
on 12/19/2010 		I also think of turning super cheap basses into killers. My latest was an OLP stingray. I left the original pickup and had the Basslines Blackouts tone circuit put in with the separate knobs. I had a push pull pot put in. Originally I had my repair guy wired it, down, parallel, up single coil. After a couple of months using it I felt that parallel wasn't cutting it so I had him change it to, down, series, up parallel. Wow! what a difference. I don't think I'll ever use parallel on that one again. That bass kills now.
Butch Ammons
on 12/19/2008 		IMO there is no big advantage to replacing the pickup, the OLP pickups are OK. The S/P switch is a great addition. I put a used Seymour Duncan Basslines STC-2P in my OLP5. It came alive! Be warned that the Chinese elm used in the natural finish models is the hardest wood that I've put a router to. More info: http://noahvale.freeshell.org/olp.htm
Steve D
on 12/04/2008 		The article should have been titled,
"replacing a pickup in an OLP bass." A pickup and a setup...nothing resembling a "build."
Tim Landers
on 11/28/2008 		Dan - this kind of project is right up my alley. I have done similar mods to pretty good knock-offs. one of my faves right now is a jay turser copy of a '54 p-bass. nice neck on it and a light sen ash body. it just needed some fret dressing, nut slot adjusting and a basslines replacement pu w/ new pots. after a bit of neck settling (caused by labella flats) I got myself a pretty amazing sounding $200 growler. love the articles!
Dan Berkowitz
on 11/28/2008 		Somehow the link didn't paste right...need to remove the space between OLP and Bass#
Dan Berkowitz
on 11/28/2008 		Here's a link to some additional photos that didn't make it into the article: http://picasaweb.google.com/profdanb/OLP Bass# If you click on a photo, you'll see a caption below it.
Willie
on 11/28/2008 		Pictures, Dan, pictures! I've come to call this process "assembling a monster". Like the flamed maple Cherry Burst Tele body or the Vai body with the monkey grip that I made into basses. Great info, though...thanks!
Matt
on 11/28/2008 		Nice article in regard to the series vs. parallel wiring, the sheilding, and the nut work. To classify this project as "building a bass" might be pushing things a bit. I think that we found out in the Esquire article a couple of months back what it costs to do that as cheaply as possible.



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