Post Your Sabres!!!!

[CosmoReverb]

owned 5....all but one were stolen?
geez, that's terrible!

Thanks for the sympathy Chef. Yeah I had some very bad luck in my younger days. Unfortunately a bit of it was carelessness on my own part. You live and you learn. (Some of us just take longer to learn the lessons...)

Hey Cosmo, what do you think about this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Musicman-Sabre-B...3A8|294:50

Heya Depni,

Unfortunately that ad isn't much for conveying a lot of info or picture variety but it could be a good buy. To be honest one of the reasons why I believe Sabres get a fairly bad rap is that there is a pretty wide gamut in feel from bass to bass. One of the ones I owned was one of the best feeling basses I've *ever* played but more than half of the Sabres I've tried out have felt kind of cold or just lifeless. To be honest it is one of my favorites but it is also among the bass models I personally would avoid buying without playing first but by the same token you could be passing up on a fabulous find. Hard to tell, especially with such a sparse ad. Only you can make the final decision. At that price it is a "decent" deal, but remember Sabres go for quite a bit less than Stingrays of the same vintage.

I guess I would sum up with if you've got a grand or so you don't mind gambling with then go for it but if the bids creep much higher than a grand I would give it a pass unless you contact the seller and get a lot more detail from them.

 

[Joebone]

Question for you Sabre/L-2000 people. Are the magnets on the Sabre pickups alnico or ceramic? Does this change at any time?
Is there any period when the L2000 pole pieces were alnico?

These queries are stimulated by recent exposure to a stingray with alnico pole pieces, which I'm finding far more groovy and glorious than stingrays with ceramics, or the ceramic pieces on MFD-equipped G&L's that I've tried over the years.

Thanks!

 

[Depni]

I guess I would sum up with if you've got a grand or so you don't mind gambling with then go for it but if the bids creep much higher than a grand I would give it a pass unless you contact the seller and get a lot more detail from them.

Hi Cosmo.
Thank you very much for your reply.
Yes, that auction is really poor and the buyer has also 0 feedback...
I mailed him and he promptly answered at my questions and I'm waiting for him to send me more detailed pictures of the bass.
Let's see what will happen.
Thank you again.
Depni from Italy.

 

[fretwear]

Here's a pic of what Joe was talking about with later Sabre pickups, neck above and bridge below:

Link Removed

HELP!!!
I've got a project, based on the C001553 number on the bridge, control plate, bridge pu, and mounting hardware, it's what looks to be a '79 Sabre with a '80 G&L L-1000 neck.(Maybe a employee bass?) All the routing looks to be factory, (no pick guard has anyone seen this before?) It has a few odd things going on?? It does have a replacement '80 G&L L-1000 pickup in the neck position, the neck pickup rout has been made longer on the right side for the L-1000 pickup but the mounting hardware remains unchanged. The layout for the mounting hardware is telling me the neck pickup is a little bit smaller than the bridge pickup? Can anyone confirm that their is a size diff between the neck and bridge pickups. How does the value of the L-1000 pickup compare to a Sabre neck pickup? I would guess that the correct Sabre neck pickup would be a hard find to say the least.
This is the only pic I've got for now. The bass is in transit

 

[spideyjg]

We've discussed this. A Sabre pickup is the same dimensions as a G&L MFD. That bridge pickup is a Stingray and nobody can determine the definitive origins of this thang.

Pre-EB Sabre and G&L experts have looked at the 3 available pics and the answer is the same. We dunno for sure other than it is not a production rendition of either a Sabre or a G&L.

The odds of you finding a proper Sabre neck pickup is very dim. The G&L MFD was Leo's next pickup so who knows it may sound cool. Worse comes to worse there are replacement Stingray pups that you can try in the bridge position. Leave the neck one alone.

Jim

 

[fretwear]

We've discussed this. A Sabre pickup is the same dimensions as a G&L MFD. That bridge pickup is a Stingray and nobody can determine the definitive origins of this thang.

Pre-EB Sabre and G&L experts have looked at the 3 available pics and the answer is the same. We dunno for sure other than it is not a production rendition of either a Sabre or a G&L.

The odds of you finding a proper Sabre neck pickup is very dim. The G&L MFD was Leo's next pickup so who knows it may sound cool. Worse comes to worse there are replacement Stingray pups that you can try in the bridge position. Leave the neck one alone.

Jim

Sorry I didn't realize the bridge pickup was a Stingray, I thought there was discusion about the neck and bridge pickups being of different size on the Sabres? As you have said Jim the real test is, "how does it sound". This bass is in transit so when it gets here I can find out more.
Thanks for the input.

 

[Chef]

Fretwear: when you get that thing, I'd really appreciate it if you'd pull the neck and see what-if anything-is stamped on the neck, and in the pocket.
As Jim noted, a lot of us were watching that, with no clear determination of what it is.

There could be stamps under the pickups too.

 

[fretwear]

Fretwear: when you get that thing, I'd really appreciate it if you'd pull the neck and see what-if anything-is stamped on the neck, and in the pocket.
As Jim noted, a lot of us were watching that, with no clear determination of what it is.

There could be stamps under the pickups too.

Hi Chef, I pulled the neck, pickups, bridge and battery cover. No dates or notation at all. The neck pocket has the micro tilt feature, except for the neck pickup the routs all look to be factory, they also have the brass thread inserts for the pickups and battery cover plate. The neck pocket rout fits the L-1000 neck perfectly. The neck is dated July 22, 1980. They did use a MM three hole neck plate, because of the longer plate it left a 2nd- 3rd screw hole in the L-1000 neck?
There's also a small hole thru the body that has been filled, looks just like a reference pin used for a router like you see on G&L's. You can see it in the photo, left of and flush with the bottom edge of the neck pocket.
I did go to a Musicman web link, they have some info and pics detailing Sabre bridges, pickups, and controls. From what I could see the routs on this bass compare to those they showed.
The bass is in transit, when I get it home I can hopefully find out more. Thanks

 

[mikeswals]

Question for you Sabre/L-2000 people. Are the magnets on the Sabre pickups alnico or ceramic? Does this change at any time?
Is there any period when the L2000 pole pieces were alnico?

These queries are stimulated by recent exposure to a stingray with alnico pole pieces, which I'm finding far more groovy and glorious than stingrays with ceramics, or the ceramic pieces on MFD-equipped G&L's that I've tried over the years.

Thanks!

The Sabre poles have always been alnico, for both preEB and EB. The only thing that changed was smaller 16poles on the neck pickup to get rid of the wolf overtones the 1st pickup design.

As far as StingRays and pole material....you must be thinking of the SR5. The SR4 has always used alnico poles since the beginning.

 

[malthumb]

Ta Daaaaaa!!!! Just for the record....the pickguard is TOAST. I do not like mirrored pickguards. Either tort, black, or something unexpected will be replacing this one...SOON

 

[Hopper]

I had this one in the eighties. Weighed a ton.

 

[malthumb]

Something just occurred to me....

My Sabre has a brass nut. It also looks like bdgotoh's Sabre has a brass nut. All the rest are white (bone?). I honestly don't remember what the 1979 Sabre I sold 10 years ago had.

Is my nut aftermarket, or were some made with a brass nut?

 

[mikeswals]

Yup, your brass nut is aftermarket. Plastic is stock

 

[malthumb]

Yup, your brass nut is aftermarket. Plastic is stock

That's almost kizmit. This means that my Roscoe is the only bass I have that DOESN'T have a brass nut.

Ordered a new pickguard yesterday. Hope to get it in a couple weeks. I think it will be sufficiently stunning.

 

[fourfinger]

Any of you guys string with flats?

I only just tried them on tonight and WOW- a totally different beasty. It actually seems to have a wider range of usable tones- from the Chic Good Times tone on the bridge pup to a pretty convincing P Bass on the neck.

I do, although technically mine is not a Sabre. It's a Cutlass II modded with Bartolinis. It's a Sabre with a stock Modulus graphite neck.

I like the way it sounds with flats (Chromes), just a bassier, more dense sound that punches right through the mix.

How would I go about trying to date this bass? It's been my primary and nearly exclusive player for about 15 years now, and I never really tried to research the exact year of manufacture before.

 

[bdgotoh]

It's a Cutlass II modded with Bartolinis.

Those look like the normal pickups for a Cutlass II/Sabre, do they say Bartolini on them?

How would I go about trying to date this bass? It's been my primary and nearly exclusive player for about 15 years now, and I never really tried to research the exact year of manufacture before.

Cutlass IIs were made from 1980-1984. Yours is probably an 83-84 with that lever switch. If you pull the controls off, it might have a sticker on one of the pots with a date on it.

 

[mikeswals]

I'm with bdgotoh on this. Those appear to be the factory MM 2nd design Sabre pickups (no pickup poles exposed).
To my knowlege, no one ever made Sabre pickups because they are very odd sized and only unique to the Sabre.

You can date the body: you have to remove the neck, and the neck pocket of the body should have a date stamped. The pots will have date stamps as well.

 

[spideyjg]

To my knowlege, no one ever made Sabre pickups because they are very odd sized and only unique to the Sabre.

Bartolini made some G&L replacement pickups for a time and those match the Sabre in that odd size.

It is possible those are aftermarket, because Bart did make something that would fit, but highly doubtful.

Jim

 

[fourfinger]

They really are bartolinis (under plastic pickup covers).

Thanks for the info on dating it!

I see an ebay auction going on now for an original Sabre/Cutlass II pickup -- not sure if it is accurately identified, but thought I should mention it.

One more question about my pickups: Does it make any difference if they are in backward? I.E. when held with the headstock pointed toward the ceiling, the word Bartolini is upside down. Bass sounds great to me so I always just assumed it must not matter.

 

[malthumb]

.......
I see an ebay auction going on now for an original Sabre/Cutlass II pickup -- not sure if it is accurately identified, but thought I should mention it......

Saw that. It's gettin' up there in price, but I'll still need to watch it.