'79 Music Man Sabre…

[depalm]

…With Sting Ray Neck and ebony fingerboard.

A friend of mine is selling this bass and I'm thinking in pull the trigger.
According to him this bass was custom made to bassist Joel Di Bartolo (who was a MM consulting in that period).

That's a one of a kind bass for sure, my friend is asking U$5000, which is way expensive for me now.

If you have to put a price on it how much do you think it should cost?

Pics:

[CapnSev]

It's way too expensive. These are going for $2500ish when they are all original. I've never seen a vintage Music Man even come close to 5 grand.

I'm doubting it's a '79 either, because yours has covered pole pieces on the pickups, and a later-made pickup selector switch. The 70's Sabres had exposed pole pieces and 3 separate switches above each control.

Absolutely killer bass BTW!

(I don't know what an "ebony scale" is)

[Caca de Kick]

$5000 is rediculous, I don't care who played it.
You can find these on ebay, and a few have also showed up here on TB classifieds, usually priced in the high teens, depends on condition could be a tad more.

[JAUQO III-X]

That bass is not worth 5k. Used MM Sabre's go for about $1200-$3200(and that depends on year, condition, if original, rare color,etc).



Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson was one of the first MM consultants and artist. And he was a huge reason MM got of the ground and it doesn't help the sell of the Leo Fender era MM basses.

[Johnny Alien]

Wouldn't it have exposed pole pieces in 1979? Isn't this an 80's model?

[Exploiter8]

My first thought was, "He's no friend."

X8

[Johnny Alien]

Also with no proof of special order you need to view this as a Sabre with a swapped neck which will drop the price not increase it.

[Exploiter8]

Originally Posted by Johnny Alien

Wouldn't it have exposed pole pieces in 1979? Isn't this an 80's model?

Looks like electrical tape over them?

X8

[superbassman2000]

good looking bass, but nowhere near 5000...heck, i wouldn't even consider much more than 1200...It's not even a complete sabre bass--it's a name brand frankenstein bass imo

[Jefenator]

I got an '80 a few years back for $500. (Two zeros - not three!) It's gone up some but not that much!!

Also IIRC the original Sabres had pickups with exposed magnet poles and a small toggle switch. At least my '80 did. Looked more like this:



So I have a feeling that one you have pictured is a later model and not a '79.

[CapnSev]

Originally Posted by Exploiter8

Looks like electrical tape over them?

X8

Maybe, but I think they're covered. The newer switch is a giveaway too. (That's it's not a '79)

[Johnny Alien]

My guess is a newer Sabre body with a swapped neck. IMO that makes this bass worth significantly less. Somewhere around 1K maybe?

[superbassman2000]

Originally Posted by Jefenator

I got an '80 a few years back for $500. (Two zeros - not three!) It's gone up some but not that much!!

jealous!!!!!

[danomite64]

Originally Posted by Exploiter8

Looks like electrical tape over them?

X8

No, those are the newer covers. They match the 4-way single toggle, this bass is a mid-80's Ernie Ball Sabre with a mis-matched neck. If it is ebony, I suppose it's a Pre-EB neck; I'd like to see pics of the neckplate and the back of the headstock. In any event, no way in hell is this bass worth 5k. I'd say it's worth maybe 1k for the parts.

[WalWarrior]

I got a '78 White MM Sabre here last year. I traded a Hamer USA 12ver to a talkbass memeber plus I threw in a grand. I paid around 900 for the Hamer so all in all 1900. The bass is legit in that the S/N shows correct in the MM database. It sounds awesome, I figure it may be worth more someday, but if not, at least I have a cool bass which I dig.

Check the S/N of the one your friend is trying to sell here.

http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/TOWN8019/

[Jefenator]

Originally Posted by Jefenator

I got an '80 a few years back for $500. (Two zeros - not three!)

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

jealous!!!!!

Yeah, and I sold it a couple years later for $850. Really wish I hadn't done that. It still makes me ill to see that photo.

That franken-Sabre looks like it could be a nice fun player's axe. But $5K is a ridiculous price. I think it's time to find some different friends to buy from.

[Caca de Kick]

No this is NOT a '79 Sabre. The solid covered pickups and single pickup blade style selector switch came out circa '81. The odd thing about the neck is the string tree is holding down the A and D strings which was an Ernie Ball feature. The preEB positioned string trees held down the D and G strings. But this bass still has the heavy cast bridge, which was still preEB.

To me this looks like it's either a really early 1985-ish EB transition built bass using left over parts. Or it was a late preEB that had a neck replaced shortly after EB took over.

[superbassman2000]

Originally Posted by Jefenator

Yeah, and I sold it a couple years later for $850. Really wish I hadn't done that. It still makes me ill to see that photo.

come on--I would have given you at least 851 for it!

[vinxbass]

I know this, and that are 2 things, 1. That's not a '79 Sabre and 2. That bass is def not worth even close to 5K. Your friend is on crack!!

I own a 79' Sabre that I just got back after being stolen 26 yrs ago from my rehearsal place. I gave the guy who returned it a $200 reward, which in reality I should have gotten the bass back for free since it was taken from me in the first place.

5K? That's an insulting joke.

[Jefenator]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

come on--I would have given you at least 851 for it!

Well, it went to help pay for my first motorcycle. Wish I still had that, too.

OP: is this friend of yours buying as well as selling? If so I might have a "1957" P-bass at a real "special" price, just for him.