Few bassists have shaped the sound of modern music like Pino Palladino. From his fretless finesse with Paul Young to his groundbreaking neo-soul work with D’Angelo, Pino’s voice on the instrument is instantly recognizable. Now, Ernie Ball Music Man captures that legacy in with the Pino Palladino Artist Series.
At the heart of the Artist Series is a deep reverence for Pino’s original 1979 fretless StingRay. These signature models – available in both fretted and fretless formats – deliver the essence of his sound and feel, with modern craftsmanship and player-focused upgrades.
Each bass features a Poplar body finished in a beautifully executed ’79 Burst gloss polyester, topped with a black 3-ply pickguard. The dark-tinted hard rock Maple neck is paired with a thin Rosewood fingerboard, shaped with a unique asymmetrical neck carve that mirrors the exact profile of Pino’s original bass – strong “V” on the bass side, softening to a rounder “C” on the treble side.
Tonally, the Artist Series delivers vintage character in spades. A custom humbucker wound with original-spec 42 gauge wire and 5/8” Alnico V magnets pairs with a hand-soldered 2-band preamp, voiced with a 500k treble pot just like Pino’s aged circuit. It’s all designed to replicate the warmth, dynamics, and grit of his iconic tone.
Additional hardware touches include brass saddles on a string-through-body bridge with adjustable mute pads, a GraphTech NuBone hand-shaped nut, and the classic bullet truss rod with 3-bolt neck plate and micro-tilt adjustment for precise setup.
The fretted model comes strung with Pino Signature Smoothie Flatwounds for a thumpy, vintage punch, while the fretless is fitted with custom-gauge Slinky Nickel Wound strings for buttery, expressive slides. Each bass ships in a durable Mono case with a custom Artist Series neck plate.
Get the Pino Palladino StingRay Bass here in both fretted and fretless iterations for $3,499.
