After selling his namesake company roughly ten years earlier, Leo Fender was back in the instrument business. And even with such iconoclast instrument designs like the Stratocaster, Telecasters, Precision, and Jazz Basses to his name, he wanted to make something greater. It was a tall order considering all of those instruments are still considered the standard today. But we’re glad he did. Because without Leo’s passion for progress, we wouldn’t have the legendary Music Man Stingray Bass today.

Today The Music Man Stingray is considered a go-to instrument for any serious bassist. But many still don’t fully grasp how game-changing the Stingray was upon its release. They just knew that it’s silky smooth neck and full-yet-scooped voice was perfect for the blossoming slap, funk, and hard rock scenes.

But the Stingray was the first of its kind becoming the very first production bass with active electronics. For the first time ever, players had precise control over their tone, able to boost and cut their bass and treble frequencies independently.

The Stingray also boasted a revolutionary new, humbucking pickup design that, when combined with its seemingly odd placement under the strings, created an incredible power and cut. It was a bass tone like no other.

The Music Man bass pickups wiring was also unique. But more on that in a bit.

The Stingray’s tone would immediately go on to fuel countless hit records and become the sonic trademark of many top-tier bands. From Flea’s iconic “Give It Away” bassline and Cliff Williams’ rock-steady AC/DC rhythms to Tony Levin and Thunder Thumbs himself, Louis Johnson, the Stingray and the Music Man pickup defined the next generation of groove.

Though the Stingray’s players are diverse, they love the bass for the same reason. They love how it blends Hi-Fi detail with massive low end while placing tonal control at their fingertips. Today, we call this the “active bass sound.” But the Stingray invented it.

The Music Man Pickup

The core of the Stingray tone is the mammoth, dual-coil humbucking pickup found in the bridge position. Leo obviously threw out the rule book (that he created) when engineering this pickup. It couldn’t have been any more different from his P-Bass single-coil if he had tried.

The Music Man pickup’s design—which is actually very similar to an electric guitar humbucker—splits from its predecessors in a few different ways. It features gigantic magnetic pole pieces, a ton of copper wire, and, if you look at a Music Man wiring diagram, you’ll see it was one of the first pickups to offer 4 conductor wiring. Speaking of wiring…

Music Man bass pickup wiring

Unlike almost every other humbucking pickup on the market, The Music Man Stingray humbucker is traditionally wired in parallel. This means that each coil of the humbucker sends its signal to the bass’s electronics independently. Nearly all other humbucking pickups, whether bass or guitar, are wired in series where the electronics receive the combined power of both coils at once.

In many ways, parallel wiring is the tonal secret to that classic Stingray sound. The sound is so iconic, that when The Music Man released the first Stingray 5-string with a blade switch for multiple wiring options, some saw it as heresy. Regardless, the parallel-wired sound is still the bass’s defining tone.

Design revisions

The Music Man pickup has gone through numerous design revisions over the years. For instance, they originally featured Alnico magnets and, when compared to other 1970s basses, they were aggressive sounding. But years later Music Man would switch to ceramic magnets, adding even more top-end detail and output. The size of the magnets also changed throughout the years. This imparted further tonal differences to each of the Music Man Stingray’s generations.

Pickup placement

Pickup placement is another important consideration about the Stingray’s humbucker. When Leo Fender designed the Precision bass, he famously placed its pickup further up the body near the neck. There’s no arguing with the tone he achieved. But the Stingray places its pickup way back toward the bridge. For most pickups this would make it much too trebley and sacrifice low end. But not with this humbucker. It adds even more punch.

The world’s first active bass

As previously mentioned, the Music Man Stingray is the world’s first production, active bass guitar. With the addition of its onboard, battery-powered preamp bassists could fine-tune their sound without extra outboard gear. This was especially useful when recording direct in the studios.

Today’s Stingrays usually have a 3-band EQ setup. There are knobs for bass, middle, and treble, all capable of boosting and cutting said frequency. But the first Stingrays offered a streamlined bass and treble layout. You might think that most players prefer the expanded control of today’s design. But both preamps have their own voice and built their own followings.

You can find the standard 4-string Music Man wiring diagram here.

The Music Man Stingray evolves

The expanded preamp control is only one modern update to this classic bass. The mid-2000s witnessed the very first dual-pickup stingrays to come off the production line. They were available with neck and bridge humbuckers, as well as a bridge humbucker and a J-style single-coil in the neck position. Accompanying the expanded pickup offerings was a 5-way selector switch, greatly expanding the Stingray’s sonic options.

Switching positions

Stingray 5

1. Parallel
2. Single-coil (filtered)
3. Series

Stingray HH

1. Neck humbucker in parallel
2. Inside coils in parallel
3. Both humbuckers in parallel
4. Outside coils in parallel
5. Bridge humbucker in parallel

Stingray HS

1. Bridge Humbucker in Parallel
2. Bridge humbucker in single-coil operation
3. Bridge humbucker and neck pickup
4. Both pickups with bridge humbucker in single-coil mode
5. Neck pickup

As with any classic instrument, pickups, or electronics, the Stingray’s success spawned thousands of recreations and different takes on its famous designs. Here at Seymour Duncan, we offer 4- and 5-string versions of both the ‘70s- and ‘90s-style Stingray humbuckers. And we even have our own twist on both versions of its preamp!

So if you have any other questions about Music Man bass pickup wiring or deciding on which Music Man pickup is right for you, don’t hesitate to get in touch! Also, don’t forget to dig into the rest of the Seymour Duncan blog. There’s a ton of in-depth information on all of our different designs, how-tos, tone demonstrations, and a whole lot more.

Check Out Seymour Duncan’s Music Man Pickups