Musicman Sabre Club

[dsteinschneider]

I finally made my way through this whole thread. I'm taking photos now of my 83 Sabre (in my Avatar photo) so I can finally get a number here for the Sabre owners club. One thing I learned from reading the whole thread was to check out Music Man Bass Global - Serials EB Sabre which indicates that my Sabre was one of the last 100 made by Music Man before Earnie Ball took over.

 

[jazzyitalian]

Helloooo... I haven't seen one of these for this low price in a very long time. Bridge isn't original though...

https://reverb.com/item/84562689-mu...nie-ball-sabre-bass-great-condition-with-ohsc

 

[secondbestcody]

Helloooo... I haven't seen one of these for this low price in a very long time. Bridge isn't original though...

https://reverb.com/item/84562689-mu...nie-ball-sabre-bass-great-condition-with-ohsc

View attachment 7060204

Currently looking at this one. The headstock decal is way off place too.

 

[-Boscoe-]

Currently looking at this one. The headstock decal is way off place too.

Looks fishy to me.

 

[secondbestcody]

Looks fishy to me.

I messaged the seller about it and they responded "The neck does not appear refinished. I think it was just how the factory did it. It is close to the edge making the "made in USA" part a little hard to read."

What would be fake about it? The neck looks original minus the decal. I actually dig the metallic blue refin. The control plate looks legit and worn for a 40+ year old bass.

 

[jazzyitalian]

Currently looking at this one. The headstock decal is way off place too.

That's right! That decal is way off. It's hard to imagine anyone at Leo's Music Man letting it leave the building with that kind of an obvious mistake. But the stamp in the heel looks accurate. It's an oddity for sure.

 

[jazzyitalian]

I messaged the seller about it and they responded "The neck does not appear refinished. I think it was just how the factory did it. It is close to the edge making the "made in USA" part a little hard to read."

What would be fake about it? The neck looks original minus the decal. I actually dig the metallic blue refin. The control plate looks legit and worn for a 40+ year old bass.

Yep.. It all looks legit to me. I've owned a few sabres. The neck is otherwise very spot on, including the stamp on the bottom. I would write this one up to being a non-critical production mistake. Who knows, it might have even been discounted slightly when it was originally sold.

 

[Wood and Wire]

Helloooo... I haven't seen one of these for this low price in a very long time. Bridge isn't original though...

https://reverb.com/item/84562689-mu...nie-ball-sabre-bass-great-condition-with-ohsc

View attachment 7060204

Not original pickguard either - it's from a later reissue, with a truss rod wheel.

 

[secondbestcody]

Someone snagged it. I was going back and forth on buying it for too long I guess.

 

[jazzyitalian]

Someone snagged it. I was going back and forth on buying it for too long I guess.

Then it wasn't meant to be. One day you'll find the one that you'll be happy to own.

 

[What4]

New one for the club. This is a PreEB with a John East pre. SN has this a '79.

 

[Sirfishalot]

Someone snagged it. I was going back and forth on buying it for too long I guess.

Be glad you did. That thing looks super suspect. The price #1. That bridge looks like one off a modern sterling and look at the routing hack job around the rear pickup. Notice they had no pictures of the electronics. I'm calling BS on that one.

JayT

 

[WG Plum]

Yeah, saw that one too. Noooo thank you.

 

[owjeej]

Hi Sabre-enthusiasts!

I would like to introduce my Sabre-story!

I'm currently playing a '79 Sabre. Sunburst, with an ebony fingerboard. It originally left the factory fretless and, according to legend, ended up in the hands of an Indorocker (it's a thing) in the Netherlands. The story goes that the worn groove in the bridge pickup is the result of his coke-thumb-nail resting there while playing.

He did that after the bass had been fretted and fitted with position markers—but on the wrong scale length… That's since been fixed. However, because the fret slots and position markers had to be filled with ebony again, the fingerboard looked pretty hopeless when I bought it!

One nice modification though: the phase switch (which is pretty much useless to me) was converted into a coil-split switch—reportedly by "a guy from Rotterdam who was good with electronics"—which has made my Sabre incredibly versatile. The bright switch is still there.

I bought the bass from Tonny Presser (Gomer Pyle—the bass even toured Europe as a support act for Kyuss). Despite the sorry state of the neck, I instantly fell in love with the tone and playability. The spaciousness of the sound is incredible, even compared to my later '89 Sabre, which I had to sell to afford this one. For me, the strength lies in the versatile tone (from Stingray to Jazz Bass) and the super comfortable neck.

I bought it with the intention of having the neck restored. But, as these things go, I let myself be tempted to sell the bass to free up funds for… another bass. An AVRI Precision (which I still own and is awesome). To my regret. I missed it the moment it went out the front door.

Luckily, "my old" Sabre popped back up for sale just over a year later, and I managed to trade it back. And the best part is: the person who bought it from me had the fingerboard nicely restored! But, sidedots will remain in the 'wrong' position forever!

Anyway, that's my Sabre love story!

 

[harperb138]

Hey gang! Here's my resto-modded Sabre! Unsure of the exact year, though I think 1979 with it's C002743 stamped bridge. Picked it up in a bit of a sorry state from a pawn shop for $200 along with an Aria Cardinal and hard shell cases for both. Over the past month I've cleaned it up, restored the bridge, replaced the neck, replaced some missing hardware, a pickguard, and gave it a setup. It's become my go-to bass! Here's a photo dump of the restoration.

 

[murphy]

Hey gang! Here's my resto-modded Sabre! Unsure of the exact year, though I think 1979 with it's C002743 stamped bridge. Picked it up in a bit of a sorry state from a pawn shop for $200 along with an Aria Cardinal and hard shell cases for both. Over the past month I've cleaned it up, restored the bridge, replaced the neck, replaced some missing hardware, a pickguard, and gave it a setup. It's become my go-to bass! Here's a photo dump of the restoration. View attachment 7305363View attachment 7305364

There is a Stingray neck for sale in the Classifieds.
Do you know drywall screws should not be used to hold pickups in place?
Very interesting . Congratulations on your score! Great deal

 

[harperb138]

There is a Stingray neck for sale in the Classifieds.
Do you know drywall screws should not be used to hold pickups in place?
Very interesting . Congratulations on your score! Great deal

Nice! I'm pretty happy with this Sterling Ray 4 neck that I've reliced and made my "own". With upgraded truss rod technology and adjustability to boot. A drywall screw keeps the neck pickup in place due to a broken tab on the bass side of the pickup, and it actually makes for a nice thumb rest! Not having any luck finding replacement pickup covers... EB isn't too keen to help out on pre-EB MM, and I haven't gotten a reply from G&L regarding MFD humbucker covers. I've seen a couple TB posts mention L series G&L MFD pickup covers are a direct fit. Regardless, it is a killer bass and there's so much zing to these electronics.

 

[WG Plum]

Yeah, EB seems to have no information for anything prior to their ownership. I was trying figure out how many of the rosewood/black fretless Sabres were made and that's what they told me - no info available.

 

[murphy]

Nice! I'm pretty happy with this Sterling Ray 4 neck that I've reliced and made my "own". With upgraded truss rod technology and adjustability to boot. A drywall screw keeps the neck pickup in place due to a broken tab on the bass side of the pickup, and it actually makes for a nice thumb rest! Not having any luck finding replacement pickup covers... EB isn't too keen to help out on pre-EB MM, and I haven't gotten a reply from G&L regarding MFD humbucker covers. I've seen a couple TB posts mention L series G&L MFD pickup covers are a direct fit. Regardless, it is a killer bass and there's so much zing to these electronics.

Oh...I was confused by the different necks you posted including a bounded /blocks Jazz neck
Now I get it..the bass came with the jazz neck?
Great job...Bass looks so cool now

That is great you found a neck you like.
Ernie Ball sold me a bunch of different covers for my HS and HH 5vers.

They reissued the Sabre bass ...Ernie Ball 2000s....Won't those pickup covers work?
I called them direct, as I had bad luck getting no response via email/mail and the guy was super friendly and helpful.
They even sent me some cool stickers with the covers.

 

[murphy]

Hi Sabre-enthusiasts!

I would like to introduce my Sabre-story!

I'm currently playing a '79 Sabre. Sunburst, with an ebony fingerboard. It originally left the factory fretless and, according to legend, ended up in the hands of an Indorocker (it's a thing) in the Netherlands. The story goes that the worn groove in the bridge pickup is the result of his coke-thumb-nail resting there while playing.

He did that after the bass had been fretted and fitted with position markers—but on the wrong scale length… That's since been fixed. However, because the fret slots and position markers had to be filled with ebony again, the fingerboard looked pretty hopeless when I bought it!

One nice modification though: the phase switch (which is pretty much useless to me) was converted into a coil-split switch—reportedly by "a guy from Rotterdam who was good with electronics"—which has made my Sabre incredibly versatile. The bright switch is still there.

I bought the bass from Tonny Presser (Gomer Pyle—the bass even toured Europe as a support act for Kyuss). Despite the sorry state of the neck, I instantly fell in love with the tone and playability. The spaciousness of the sound is incredible, even compared to my later '89 Sabre, which I had to sell to afford this one. For me, the strength lies in the versatile tone (from Stingray to Jazz Bass) and the super comfortable neck.

I bought it with the intention of having the neck restored. But, as these things go, I let myself be tempted to sell the bass to free up funds for… another bass. An AVRI Precision (which I still own and is awesome). To my regret. I missed it the moment it went out the front door.

Luckily, "my old" Sabre popped back up for sale just over a year later, and I managed to trade it back. And the best part is: the person who bought it from me had the fingerboard nicely restored! But, sidedots will remain in the 'wrong' position forever!View attachment 7287236View attachment 7287235

Anyway, that's my Sabre love story!

Wow, what a great story and beautiful bass.