REVIEW: Sterling Ray34 bass
Ernie Ball Music Man instruments have a stellar reputation for build quality, sound and playability. But they’re also expensive, which means not everybody gets the chance to own one. Music Man knows this – hell, a lot of companies would kill for problems like “everybody wants to play our instrument” – so they’ve authorised Sterling By Music Man, a separate line of instruments licensed by Ernie Ball Music Man and built overseas by Praxis Musical.
The Ray34 bass is based on the classic Music Man StingRay bass, which was introduced in 1976. It’s built using the same materials and components and the same basic design. The spec sheet says the body is made of Lightweight Ash, but to be perfectly honest, the particular example on review was pretty heavy. Not uncomfortably so, but it was noticeable.
Hi! I'm Peter Hodgson. I write for Gibson.com, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician, Mixdown Magazine (including my instructional column, 'Unleash Your Inner Rock God,' which has been running since 2007), guitarworld.com, Tone Deaf, Beat (including their weekly hard rock/metal column Crunch) and The Brag. And I'm Assistant Social Coordinator with Seymour Duncan.
I've been playing guitar since I was 8 years old, and I've been writing for magazines since I was 18. I've also worked as a guitar teacher (up to 50 students a week), a setup tech, a newspaper editor, and I've also dabbled in radio a little bit. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and my hobbies include drinking way too much coffee, and eating way too much Mexican food.
You can check out my guitar playing at Reverbnation or on YouTube, and feel free to email me at iheartguitarblog@gmail.com