Ernie Ball Music Man Sterling 4 H 2010s Sparkle
Reverb Estimated Used Price Range
- $850 — $1,250
Music Man was originally founded by Leo Fender and the owners of '70s electronics company Tri-Sonix in 1976 in Fender's first business venture after selling his eponymous company. The company was sold to Ernie Ball in 1984; Sterling Ball, son of Ernie, worked in Research & Development for Music Man prior to its acquisition.
The Sterling bass was introduced in 1993 as a more streamlined rendition of its active preamp basses. As opposed to the StingRay or the Bongo, the Sterling features a smaller body, three-way pickup selector for the single humbucker, and 9V three-band equalizer as opposed the 18V model.
This is the standard single-humbucker model.
Years of production: 1993-present
Wood composition: ash body, select maple neck, maple or rosewood fretboard
Pickups: standard single Music Man humbucking pickup with ceramic magnet and hum-canceling phantom coil
Other design elements: active onboard three-band EQ, 22 high-profile wide frets, standard Music Man chrome-plated bridge, 11" neck radius, 34" scale length, Schaller BM tuning machines
Available colors: Silver Sparkle, Red Sparkle, Blue Sparkle, Green Sparkle
Notable artists: Cliff Williams, Rob "Blasko" Wilkinson, Todd Kerns
