MusicMan Sabre not popular?

[JakobT]

I wonder if the likeness of the Sabre and the L series is why MM discontinued the Sabre....

No, I think it just didn’t sell well enough. Besides, they reissued it a few years ago, and then discontinued it again along with the Big Al. I think it’s a pity, because it’s a cracking bass, but I guess it always stood in the shadow of the StingRay.

 

[JakobT]

The mini-toggles are cool - I wish they had been included on the Classic reissues.

I’m not a big fan of them myself - and there was no way they would appear on the Classic Sabre anyway, as they had already replaced them with the 5-way switch on the original before it was discontinued.

 

[Lesfunk]

If mine doesn’t sell it’s getting a status graphite neck

 

[Dr. Cheese]

All kinds of cool basses fail to catch on as much as a lot of us think they should. So much of everything is chance. The Sabre was played by Louis Johnson, and I remember seeing Leon Sylvers III with one, but it was never anywhere near as popular as the Stingray. I remember playing a fretless Sabre in an Atlanta music store around 1981 or 82, and it was incredible! It could go from a classic fretless to a slap tone just like a Stingray with frets. I believe it had an ebony fingerboard. About twelve years later, I bought one from Corner Music in Nashville. If was beat up, but a great playing and sounding bass. I went through so many basses during those years, I cannot begin to tell you why I let it go.

 

[Lesfunk]

Rudy Sarzo also played one on tour with Ozzy

 

[SJan3]

As to the title question, ‘Why aren’t they more popular?’ (to paraphrase), that’s a good question.

Spec-wise, a StingRay with the flexibility of an extra pickup, it seems to make a lot of sense. I’ll be interested to read the responses to why they didn’t catch on as well as their more popular Music Man siblings

Not a Stingray with an extra pickup. Smaller pups and the bridge pup is closer to the bridge yielding a different tone. I had one but went to the Stingray. Completely different tones.

 

[SJan3]

When I owned one in the early 80's I found that I was only using the back pickup most of the time. Even though the pickups are slightly smaller than the Sting Ray pickup it still gets that tone. I never cared for the Sabre after they changed the pickups and added the 5 way switch. I also liked that it had body contours because the early Sting Ray basses had none.

I bought a new one in '79 and it did not get the Stingray tone. I traded it for a Stingray and was much happier.

 

[raal]

B006025 (1980), strung with Labella - own this guy since 1989. Thumps harder than a '64 P (tested it).

B001591 (1978-79), mean slap sound. Too bad these don't exist in 35/19mm 5 string format

 

[bdgotoh]

I wonder if the likeness of the Sabre and the L series is why MM discontinued the Sabre....

I doubt it, they are pretty different and the first time they stopped making them was about 12 years after they were introduced and 11 years after the L-2000 came on the scene.
I assume both times they were discontinued it was due to low sales numbers.

Alnico vs Ceramic pickups
Parallel only vs Series/parallel
Active only vs active/passive
Different pickup locations

 

[Wood and Wire]

Ive got one of the Reissues and its one of my all time favorite basses. SUPERB build quality, super comfortable, about 9lbs and soooo playable. Ive been a Stingray lover for years, but the Sabre makes the same tones, but gives sooo much more range! The beauty of the birdseye neck is just beguiling. I really do wish the switches were an option to be an exact "reissue" but what they put out is top shelf, and Im more than stoked that I dont have the misaligned bridge/string issue that the originals had.

It was only the initial run of the Sabre that had the toggle switches, and ashtray bridge.

The 2nd run that Ernie Ball put out in the mid-80's to early 90's had the blade selector, and the regular MM mute-bridge.

The toggle switches had different, and actually less useful, modes than the more practical blade selector.

So the "Classic" line reissue is accurate - the only differences being the truss rod wheel, and the 16 pole, covered pick-up.

From an aesthetic point of view, I wish they'd gone with the original ashtray (G&L style) bridge, and bullet truss rod, but unless they'd also gone with the toggle switches too, it still would have been an anachronism.

The "Classic" was definitely an improvement on a genuine classic.

 

[Dluxe]

Not a Stingray with an extra pickup. Smaller pups and the bridge pup is closer to the bridge yielding a different tone. I had one but went to the Stingray. Completely different tones.

The measurements are very close. Mine sounded every bit as good as my '78 Sting Ray Bass.

• The distance from bottom of 12th fret to top edge of Stingray pickup is 32 cm
• The distance from bottom of 12th fret to top edge of Sabre bridge pickup is 32.5 cm
• the width of the Stingray pickup is 9.5 cm
• the width of both Sabre pickups is 8.5 cm

 

[Adhesive_X]

I love the way they look. I'd buy one in a heart beat if they made a 5 string.

 

[Pbassmanca]

View attachment 2866203[/QUOTE]

I love my Sabre (pronounced Sa bray for all you Office fans).

 

[Dr. Cheese]

B006025 (1980), strung with Labella - own this guy since 1989. Thumps harder than a '64 P (tested it).

B001591 (1978-79), mean slap sound. Too bad these don't exist in 35/19mm 5 string format

That really reminds of the fretless I played around 1981.

 

[Gord_oh]

I love the look and sound of them but truth be told I have never had an opportunity to play one. I don't think they are unpopular, it might just be the fact that they are scarce and not readily available.

 

[sabre79]

On my 17th birthday, in 1979, my parents bought me a Sabre. I still have it and I love the sounds. I'll never sell it.

 

[fourstringdrums]

I love my Sabre (pronounced Sa bray for all you Office fans). I love Stingrays too, have had quite a few including an HH, but the two different pickups and the switching on the Sabre works better for me as does the slightly smaller body.

MusicMan suffers from the same thing as Fender does, they have their iconic models and as much as they try and innovate, turns out the public just wants Stingrays, P’s and J’s.


View attachment 2866203

That looks like my old one that I started the Sabre Club with You got it from a TB'er right?

I don't know why they're not more popular either. Though ever since the Caprice came out, I prefer it over the Sabre. Though they discontinued the Sabre unfortunately so don't expect to see a rise in popularity.

 

[SJan3]

The measurements are very close. Mine sounded every bit as good as my '78 Sting Ray Bass.

• The distance from bottom of 12th fret to top edge of Stingray pickup is 32 cm
• The distance from bottom of 12th fret to top edge of Sabre bridge pickup is 32.5 cm
• the width of the Stingray pickup is 9.5 cm
• the width of both Sabre pickups is 8.5 cm

Close, but no cigar. I know the Sabre went thru a couple of incarnations. My '79 did not get the Stingray tone. The bridge pup was closer to the bridge, the pup was smaller as you pointed out and the preamp was different. It wasn't meant to sound like a Ray. What would be the point?

 

[JakobT]

Close, but no cigar. I know the Sabre went thru a couple of incarnations. My '79 did not get the Stingray tone. The bridge pup was closer to the bridge, the pup was smaller as you pointed out and the preamp was different. It wasn't meant to sound like a Ray. What would be the point?

The Classic Sabre can get a pretty good StingRay tone soloing the bridge pickup. At the same time, it gets well into P territory with the neck pickup, with plenty of good tones inbetween. I think that is both its strength in terms of versatility, and its weakness in terms of popularity. The Sabre is staggeringly versatile, but as a consequence has no clear personality of its own, in contrast to the StingRay or the P-bass. As such it never caught the imagination of bass players in quite the same way, and never had that «must-have» vibe.

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

A company in Italy is making basses inspired heavily from the Sabre body design. I've never had the opportunity to try one out, but they look and sound pretty good:

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I love my Sabre Classic, mos.def. my favorite EBMM style bass. It's just so classy looking, IMO.