This is not your usual affordable guitar

First, I must say that the retro-modern look, strat-body and humbuckers looks very very cool!

This guitar parts are made in China, but assembled, tuned up and quality checked at MusicMan USA factory. Not many guitar suppliers these days can say they do so. This makes this guitar as close to a Deluxe Musicman you can get. Best thing is they are really affordable considering the quality you get. I would have prefered the 3-tone burst, but I got a deal on a used black one I just couldn't let pass. If Covid had one advantage and only one, is that it got enough time for people to think about what gear they actually used and not, then sell at a correct price the items they don't use anymore.

The neck of this guitar feels really great. Very fast action, and the finish reminds me of one of the best I've ever felt; on a Godin guitar. Reaching the highest frets is easy, which makes this 22 frets almost feel like a 24. Tension adjustment system is something you find on way pricier guitars: it has an adjustment wheel at the base of the neck instead of the traditional hex at the top.

The body feels really comfortable is any position: sitting, standing, on a stool, on the couch, that is really important for me. I hate a guitar that feels great standing but when you sit it feels bulky. The Stingray is heavy in a good way. It feels solid and the resonance is nothing short of awesome.

In theory, I loved the idea of a pickup select switch located near me and easily reachable. Thing is I'm pretty tall, and have long hands. I found myself knocking the switch in another position when playing hard. Since I use mostly the bridge pickup, I put electrical tape on the switch. Maybe I'll also try turning it in another position but I'm pretty sure I would knock it accidentally anyway.

Since I bought the guitar used, I don't know if a tune-up would "fix" this, but the volume knob has a very fast change near the max, and for now I love to use it as a solo boost. I just turn the knob 10 degrees and get a nice sharp tone. Tune it down a bit and get still excellent rhythm tones with lots of humpfh (headroom). I love its position as I can just reach it with the tip of my fingers and do a quick change.

The tone knob is very responsive and gives lots of possibilities on both pickup.

The pickups may not be top quality, but they sound way better than say Epiphone Deluxe. Way clearer, sharper, warmer, gives more headroom. Combined with the superb body that provide exceptional natural resonance, you can get almost infinite sustain. I love the bridge better, but the neck also gives superb cleans, it's just that I need to tweak it a bit more and being limited to one volume and one tone knob for both pickups, it requires a little finger magic to get good clean. But once you get it, it really sounds incredible. It's of little concern for me since I play modern metal mostly, and when I need clean it's for whole songs, so I have time to set up between them. Reading what I just wrote, it seems like I'm saying it's a bad thing albeit small, but I can assure you these pickuips plays clean just as good as high gain. It's just switching between them that requires 2 or 3 knob twists.

You may or may not know that MusicMan guitar tremolos use a modern trem system designed by Musicman themselves and is of top notch quality. While the trem system on the Sterling is a little different, it is based on the same idea. It doesn't have the same metal cover as some deluxe Stingray and Majestic models, but otherwise I couldn't tell the difference. It really is beautiful and works wonderfully.

Giving it 4.5 stars, it is an incredible guitar its price, it is used in many music schools as an excellent study guitar with all the playing qualities and skip on the premium price.

Wether you play jazz, blues, rock, hard rock or even modern metal, this guitar will please you and you'll love its unique look.