Very nice. I might have paid too much [used Stingrays often go for $800 in excellent condition online], but, wary of reports of inconsistencies in Ernie Ball's line, I wanted to play before buying. Having done that and ended up with the bass, I'm pleased to contribute another good review for a great bass.

First, I knew my next bass was going to be a new fretless to replace my Ibanez SD400 FL. I was looking for something that could really growl and punch, with good construction and a nice aesthetic. I've always liked Stingrays, but had never tried out a fretless. I saw one in a local music shop "on sale" for $1150 and realized it was pretty much exactly what I was looking for. Not even in the same realm as the Ibanez - killer, honey-thick tone [ when played with liberal vibrato, anyway. Or maybe that's angry killer bee tone...dunno ].

Rock solid feel on the neck - maybe cause it's thick and wide, compared with the tiny size of the Ibanez I was used to. The Ibanez really feels like a toy compared to the Stingray, a serious, capable tool.

More on tone: I generally turn up the treble and mid boosts and leave the bass flat. This pretty much captures my ideal fretless tone - nice and thick. For most of what I play, which is jazz fusion and latin fusion, this does nicely, though I guess being able to de-punchify it sometimes might be nice. I'm looking into the possibilites of a replacement pickup and a new wiring scheme... ideally I'd be able to switch to a single coil to get a thinner Jaco tone and harmonics. That's one thing I definitely miss - being able to solo the bridge and pull some really bright harmonics on my fretted jazz clone.

Talk about aesthetic. I'm a simple-minded person, aesthetically; I don't like the looks of those gold-studded, just-how-flamed-can-wood-possibly-get type basses. The transparent red against the texture of the pau ferro fingerboard just does it for me. It just looks like quality. And attitude. A very nice package. I took off the pickguard - clean. Opened the control plate - clean. The neck is setup well, too, and if I ever have any problems with it, a turn of the little adjustment wheel will make it all better. Finally, the case is great. At first sight, I thought I'd rather have an SKB, but after the salesguy grabbed an SKB case and demonstrated how flimsy it was in comparison, and after flashing on the interior [ the compartment closes with a button and is nice and big ], I was sold. All in all, I'd buy it again, for the same price. If I felt confident that the seller wasn't ripping me off with one of the questionable Stingrays supposedly on the market these days, I'd try to ! ! get a deal online, too.

Quibbles: the knurled knobs, even with the screws completely tightened, move around a little. It would be nice if they didn't. Treble boost adds noise. Yuck. No built-in strap locks. $1000+ bass. Why not' A slight finish flaw on one of the tuning pegs puzzles me, but not enough to mess with warranty junk. The polish cloth they included leaves little yellow threads on my bass. URGhh!

Construction	90%
Playability	95%
Appearance	98%
Sound	90%
Value	80%
Overall	95%