Musicman Sabre Club

[rictrose]

Hi Rictose,
For my mind, Sabre basses have only 2 bands preamp. Perhaps some custom orders have three bands and some have not genuine: John East, Seymour Duncan...
I had a 3 bands 92 Stingray and I doesn't often use medium pot, bass and treble a lot.
Today, I've a classic Sabre and it's really an amazing bass. The principles differences with 91 models are:
-6 bolts on neck instead of 4
-Superbes necks finished: flammed or Birdseye with vintage gloss polyester.
-Phantom active coil for silent use on neck single coil
-The 5 way switch isn't wired in the same order
-I forgot, preamp is CMS technology, electric consumer is very low.
I think classic series are the best finishes Musicman can offer.
Excuses my English, best regards from France.

Thank you. Yes I must admit I haven't seen a 3 band Sabre - but my knowledge of them isn't very in depth. I'm looking at a 91' model which has the truss rod wheel at the heel of the neck. I notice the older ones had the truss rod at the headstock, which is why I'm wondering about other potential differences.

 

[JakobT]

Thank you! I'm definitely going to make sure I get a 2 band as I highly favour 2 band Stingrays. Thanks for the info

I've never actually seen a 3-band «in the wild», so to speak. And the Classic Sabre reissues were two-band only.

 

[liverbird]

I've never actually seen a 3-band «in the wild», so to speak. And the Classic Sabre reissues were two-band only.

Pretty tasty example here:

 

[Nonosaber]

I notice the older ones had the truss rod at the headstock, which is why I'm wondering about other potential differences.

Thank you. Yes I must admit I haven't seen a 3 band Sabre - but my knowledge of them isn't very in depth. I'm looking at a 91' model which has the truss rod wheel at the heel of the neck. I notice the older ones had the truss rod at the headstock, which is why I'm wondering about other potential differences.

Thank you. Yes I must admit I haven't seen a 3 band Sabre - but my knowledge of them isn't very in depth. I'm looking at a 91' model which has the truss rod wheel at the heel of the neck. I notice the older ones had the truss rod at the headstock, which is why I'm wondering about other potential differences.

Thank you. Yes I must admit I haven't seen a 3 band Sabre - but my knowledge of them isn't very in depth. I'm looking at a 91' model which has the truss rod wheel at the heel of the neck. I notice the older ones had the truss rod at the headstock, which is why I'm wondering about other potential differences.

The old ones had trussrod at the headstock because of 3 bolts on neck with micro tilt system ( like some 70's Fender)
4 and 6 bolt on neck have a trussrod wheel at the heel of neck.

 

[Killing Floor]

In my experience as a player/user this is the only "Not Stupid" truss rod adjustment I have seen on a guitar or bass. Really can't be subtle about this, there's no valid mechanical reason not to do this.
Also, here's a 3EQ plate from late 1988.

 

[raal]

Is that an '89? Used to own same color except mine was ash

Especially on preEB, headstock truss rod adjustment puts a lot of pressure on than thin layer of wood causing crack on the fretboard. I think this is a weakness of the design. For that reason i try to never touch it even when the neck has a little more relief than would like.

 

[liverbird]

The old ones had trussrod at the headstock because of 3 bolts on neck with micro tilt system ( like some 70's Fender)
4 and 6 bolt on neck have a trussrod wheel at the heel of neck.

That's (partially) incorrect. Only the 6-bolt necks have the truss wheel, the 4-bolts have the truss adjuster at the headstock.

 

[Nonosaber]

That's (partially) incorrect. Only the 6-bolt necks have the truss wheel, the 4-bolts have the truss adjuster at the headstock.

Yes, that's true, Thanks!

 

[cocovan]

Well people, I just picked up the rosewood neck and now I think this Sabre is complete, can't wait to restring with the new deck.
Cheers!

 

[Martijn Prins]

Well people, I just picked up the rosewood neck and now I think this Sabre is complete, can't wait to restring with the new deck.
Cheers!

Oh man that's wicked.

 

[cocovan]

Oh man that's wicked.

Thanks Martijn, I have been looking for the rosewood neck for 28 years finally found one attached to a Kramer body coming out of Germany, kinda pricey but I had to pay, it's off a 1980 Sabre and has been a rack queen, not a mark on any fret but some staining on the back of the neck from sitting.... Can't wait to try it out.. Cheers!

 

[Martijn Prins]

Ah i have seen that advert on ebay before.

 

[Fretless370]

Anyone have a fretless 4 for trade?

 

[4se]

Anybody here swapped out their phase switch for an active/passive switch? I see it mentioned (threatened) here a little, but I wonder if anyone's done it and how it turned out.

 

[raal]

Never considered doing that. Electronics mods depreciate instrument value.

 

[4se]

I get that and that's important for many. If I do go down that road I'd try to conserve/save whatever parts to be potentially re-installed in the case that a re-install could be done if I feel the need/want. That said, selling a bass I love is generally not on my list of realities, I bought it to play it and without making drastic changes that switch could be much more useful to me as something other than an ornamental "do not touch" switch (I hope you love yours but mine doesn't help my experience). So, throwing the question out there to see if others have experience. I love having the active/passive option on my L2K.

 

[Wood and Wire]

Anybody here swapped out their phase switch for an active/passive switch? I see it mentioned (threatened) here a little, but I wonder if anyone's done it and how it turned out.

Just out of curiosity, how would you plan to execute that (what other modifications to the circuit)?

Would you just be routing the pickup directly to the output, with no tone control?

I'm sure you know this, but you can just take the battery out, and the instrument will work passively, BUT the bass / treble (and presumably mid) controls act in a totally wacky way, both behaving more like high pass filters.

I suppose it's possible that if you have the 3 band preamp, the centre detent may act as a neutral / bypass position. But with the 2 band being boost only, I've never found anything close to a neutral position (not even both pots at minimum, due I guess to the way the preamp filters out various frequencies at those positions).

 

[JakobT]

I'm sure you know this, but you can just take the battery out, and the instrument will work passively, BUT the bass / treble (and presumably mid) controls act in a totally wacky way, both behaving more like high pass filters.

I don't know which Sabre model you're referring to here, but my Classic Sabre certainly does not work without a battery.

 

[4stringsjack]

I've never tried the Sabre pickups passive, so I can't say how good they sound without the pre.

Another possible way to repurpose the phase switch would be to turn it into a series/parallel switch for one of the pickups. It takes a bit more work, but it is totally doable.

 

[4se]

Thank you all for your feedback and info. I appreciate the brainstorms and hearing your thoughts on how it might work, or if it'd be worth it. Series/parallel is interesting as well and would likely require fewer alterations (routing, etc) to the body, right?