LeftyBassist.com

I heard a lot peoples complaining about mid 90's Stingray's but they improved them later on. Mine is a 2002 (I believe...Andrew knows since he is the original owner of this bass) and the construction is flawless. I have been using it a lot lately and always received a lot of praise for its sound. It took me awhile to set it up correctly though. I would prefer a 2 band preamp since I don't ever touch the mid's but it is not so much of a big deal. The "anemic G string" problem seem to occur mostly when overly scooping the mid's. Many peoples don't realize that you just don't EQ a Stingray the way you would EQ a Jazz Bass. On my Markbass little Mark II, I leave everything flat and just turn the bass knob on the bass to 3 o'clock. It sounds great.

I don't recall the age of that bass but I think I have it in my notes somewhere.

That is a VERY nice Stingray bass. Were it not for the fact my original Stingray was a gift from my dad (and well modded) I would've kept the ice queen over it.

The body on the recent Stingrays is made of "select hardwood" but I believe that the pre-EB Stingrays were made of Ash. It might contribute to the sonic difference in addition to the preamp of course. I have always thought that Ash was one of the best woods you can use for a bass body.
Interestingly enough, those new RAY34's are supposed to be made of "Swamp Ash" and the MM Classic Stingray is also made of Ash. Apparently nobody was too impressed by the RAY34 whereas the Classic Stingray seem to be the bomb.

Were all the pre-EB's Ash? I always thought my '80 Stingray was Alder.