MusicMan Dargie Delight Limited Edition Instruments

Howdy!

More guitars are sold in black or natural finish than in any other color. Nobody wants green guitars. That is the premise behind the Dargie Delight limited edition guitars and basses that the Ernie Ball MusicMan company sold a few years back.

This history of these is a little vague to me, but I will give it my best shot. I am welcome to suggestions and corrections so get in touch with me or leave a comment if you wish.

Before I get to the history I had better explain what these are, in case you have not seen one before. Most obviously, they are finished in the stunning Martini Olive green finish. This color is exclusive to this edition. The fret-marker inlays are extra-cool martini glasses (complete with olives), and there is a limited edition logo by the neck plate. There are no differences in the hardware or electronics.

The name came from Scott Ball, who uses the pseudonym “Dargie” on the Ernie Ball Forums. Scott runs the MusicMan guitar operation in San Luis Obispo, California.

This finish was first shown at the 2006 NAMM show, and Sterling Ball (Scott’s dad) was quoted as saying that green guitars do not sell well. There was some conversation on the Ernie ball forums, and it was decided that these guitars and basses could be ordered through dealers during a brief (one or two week) order period during the summer of 2006.

Only about 277 were ordered with this finish, and they were delivered during the spring of 2007.

I have owned four of these instruments:

Stingray 4 with a 2-band preamplifier (the Dargie of Contention): 3 basses were made in this configuration

Sterling 4HH: 15 basses were made in this configuration

Bongo 4HS: 5 basses were built in this configuration

Silhouette Special HSS: 3 guitars were made in this configuration

That about covers it for now, and I appreciate that you checked in today.

Mahalo!

MusicMan Month: Dargie Delight Bongo Bass

MusicMan Bongo basses are perhaps the least well-known basses around. They were designed in conjunction with BMW, and were introduced in 2003.

Obviously, the shape is distinctive. Ergonomically, they are very comfortable to play. The bodies on these are made of basswood (bass wood!), because it gives good tone, and because it is a bit lighter than other woods. This is helpful because the electronics package is pretty heavy.

The pre-amplifier and pickups are where these basses make the biggest impact on me. These can be very aggressive basses. They have an 18-volt pre-amp, and the pickups use neodymium magnets. With the 4-band equalizer, almost any tone can be dialed in. There are plenty of pickup choices, including single humbucker, double humbucker and a Humbucker/single coil combination. You can also throw in a piezo bridge as an option.

These basses are used by gods of the bass community, including Tony Levin, Cliff Hugo and Dave LaRue.

The bass we are looking at today is a very nice California-made 2007 MusicMan Bongo 4 HS Dargie Delight limited edition bass guitar. MusicMan only built 277 instruments with this finish, and this is one of only 5 Bongo 4 HS basses made in this color.

The craftsmanship is exactly what I expect for an instrument that comes from the folks in San Luis Obispo. It is first-rate. As a big plus, this one weighs in at around 8 ½ pounds.

The humbucker/single coil combination is my favorite on the Bongo. The single coil has a very precise tone, and it can be blended with the humbucker to get any kind of tone that I need.

It is a shame that these do not sell very well, because Bongos are some of the best basses around. I guess too many players are stuck in 1960, and cannot get past the whole Precision/Jazz bass mindset.

Mahalo!