If you have been dreaming about a Stingray for years but cannot afford it, until now you had to look somewhere else and get a Musicman copy from some other brand. Unfortunately, these other models were close but did not quite match the original, so those people at Ernie Ball have come up with a neat solution for cost conscious bass players: release a much more affordable version of the Stingray, but keep it U.S. made. How do they do it? They have cut down finish options, the preamp is 2 band (instead of 3 and coil selector), and that is about it. i.e. good news is that pickup, bridge and hardware are the same as those used on the Stingray. Give it a try. You won’t regret it.