Ernie Ball Music Man Sterling 5 HS 2010s Sparkle
Reverb Estimated Used Price Range
- $1,000 — $1,400
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 five-string humbucker/single coil pickup model.
Years of production: 1993-present
Wood composition: ash body, select maple neck, maple or rosewood fretboard
Pickups: one standard Music Man humbucker and one standard Music Man single coil pickup, both with ceramic magnets and hum-canceling phantom coils
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, five-way pickup selector
Available colors: Gold Sparkle, Silver Sparkle, Red Sparkle, Blue Sparkle
Notable artists: Cliff Williams, Rob "Blasko" Wilkinson, Todd Kerns
