NAMM 2025: Sterling by Music Man has unveiled its 2025 range of instruments, bringing three affordable versions of high-end Music Man electric guitars and basses to the market.
Music Man creations often come with fairly sizable price tags, and so, like Epiphone and Squier offerings, Sterling by Music Man has been taking the essence of premium guitars while pulling back on some of the more costly specs while still maintaining a solid level of quality.
The price differences across the six-strong range – split between three electrics and three basses – are vast, often representing around 25-30% of the outlay of a Music Man. That’s not to be sniffed at.
Electric guitars
First up is the Stingray Plus ($599.99), which comes with a roasted maple neck, P-90 pickups, and a built-in volume boost. It’s available in Seafoam Green and Black finishes, with the headstock matching the body finish on both.
They’re built with poplar bodies to mirror the alder body of its namesake, with a roasted maple fingerboard chosen for the Black model, and Rosewood for the Seafoam Green variant as pearloid block inlays stand out across its 22-fret build.
Elsewhere, there’s a vintage tremolo complete with a whammy bar, locking tuners, and a dual-action truss rod.
Available in Yucatan Blue or Lava Burst, the Axis ($649.00) “blends style and performance,” and features a roasted maple neck and fretboard, quilted maple top, and matching headstock.
Hardware choices include a double-locking tremolo, dual Alnico 2 humbuckers, and a single volume control augmented by a three-way switch for a streamlined setup.
Offering an “intuitive playing experience,” that marries “modern features with classic appeal,” it also features 22 frets, this time narrow, while block inlays have been swapped out for black dot markers.
The six-string roster is rounded out by the Sub Series Cutlass ($349.99), the model that Jason Richardson has recently made customized as his latest signature guitar model.
Its Sterling transformation (pun intended) centers around a “vintage-inspired refresh,” with upgraded Alnico pickups – a humbucker in the bridge, and single coils in the middle and neck positions – and a stained hard maple neck.
Poplar is again the budget-conscious body wood of choice. This time, there’s a Fulcrum tremolo with a whammy bar, a five-way pickup selector, and dials for Volume and Tone.
Dot markers adorn its 22-fret board, which is crafted from hard maple on Daphne Blue models and laurel for its Olympic White and Sherwood Green colorways.
“Perfect for any style,” Sterling says it’s “a timeless design, now with even more to love.”
Bass guitars
For low-end purveyors, the fan-favorite Bongo has arrived at cheaper climes and “offers the same modern design players know and love.”
A 24-fret roasted maple neck and rosewood fingerboard juts out of its “sleekly contoured” Indonesian mahogany body and is built to a 34″ scale length.
It features a HH pickup configuration of ceramic ’buckers, which are bolstered by a two-band active preamp, and Pickup Blend Control knob, and capped with a Sterling by Music Man-designed bridge, and open gear tuners.
Both the four-string ($699.99) and five-string ($779.99) versions are available in Firemist Purple Satin and Stealth Black finishes.
The Sterling SB14 ($649.99), meanwhile, takes a no-nonsense approach. A soft maple body, hard maple neck and 22-fret rosewood fretboard make up its tonewood choices, with hardware specs defined by a single Alnico V passive humbucker in the bridge, one volume, and one tone knob, open gear tuners, and another own-brand bridge.
It serves “the retro look and feel of the original Music Man Sterling model, while favoring the classic charm and playability of a passive bass,” and comes in a limited-edition Blue Pearl finish.
The ominous-sounding Darkray is available exclusively as a five-string and sees the firm manipulating the StingRay template alongside bass tone gurus Darkglass Electronics.
As such, a custom Darkglass two-band active preamp sits at its heart, offering three modes: Clean (preamp only), Alpha (distortion), and Omega (fuzz). A color-coded LED ring allows players to swap between the different voices, and there’s a three-way selector on hand too.
Nyatoh, often found on Ibanez guitars, is the DarkRay’s body wood choice and it’s paired with a roasted maple neck and an ebony fingerboard with 22-frets and white dot markers. The same SBMM bridge locks the strings in place and for aesthetics, it is available in an all-black finish.
Jump to Sterling by Music Man for the full specs.
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