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Thinking of doing a trade back(seller accepted request) few questions

Keep the new 86 Sabre or go back to the reissue

  • 86 honey sunburst sabre

    Votes: 12 52.2%

  • Reissue

    Votes: 11 47.8%
  • Total voters
    23
M

Mrtoodamnsabre

Aug 12, 2021
843
695
#1
So I own a gorgeous sounding 84 Sabre and it has pickups from a 79 in it. I wanted a bass that sounded like it that I could also take parts from if anything happened to the 84 so I got a beautiful reissue. The reissue sounds close but not as nice I think, there's a lot of reasons but I did believe it could age into sounding very close. I wanted to use this bass as a show bass and jam bass because the 84 is so old and I wanna use it for recording because it sounds amazing


Recently I traded my Sabre reissue for a genuine 86 Sabre, it's a honey sunburst one, and those are little rare guys that are made with an ultra light ash body, in general translucent finishes from that time are done with Adler and poplar(weird I know). But after putting flats on it it doesn't sound as close to my 84 as the reissue does, the honeyburst sounds I think better than the reissue does but sounds different from the 84

the honeyburst Sabre also has been played extensively, it's in rough shape, a lot of what can be expected from years of constant use and it probably was on stage a bunch! As a result I think there's a lot of fret wear, for some reason the 5-8 fret on A and D sounds much weaker than the reissue does. Not sure if it's dead spots or just really worn frets sucking out all the sustain and oomph from the notes.


Since I probably have the option to do a trade back what do you think?

It is a rarer 86 cause the colour and tone wood used and it sounds very good but the reissue was built like a tank and sounded like my 84 a bit more.

heres the pictures of all them!
 

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#2
If raising the action doesn't help the 5-8 fret dead notes than I would trade back. Raising the action would the eliminate the possibility that the notes are being choked by the higher frets.
 
#3
FunkHead said:
If raising the action doesn't help the 5-8 fret dead notes than I would trade back. Raising the action would the eliminate the possibility that the notes are being choked by the higher frets.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's not that they're buzzing they're just weaker, sounds like all the oomph is taken out of them, especially 5 on a. What could it be if it's not the frets? Bad neck or something?
 
#6
Mrtoodamnsabre said:
Yeah it's not that they're buzzing they're just weaker, sounds like all the oomph is taken out of them, especially 5 on a. What could it be if it's not the frets? Bad neck or something?
Click to expand...
Some necks have Dead spots. Some people say they all do to some degree but most times it's not noticeable.
In any case, if a higher fret is not choking the string then the neck probably has a dead spot in it.
 
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#8
blacktocomm said:
If you prefer the reissue, trade it back. I would definitely want the one that sounded best to my ears, no matter the rarity.
Click to expand...

yeah the 86 sounds better than the reissue and probably will be a whole new sound when I finish adjusting pickups, but I was really able to get that reissue sounding like the 84 I got, might be impossible to get the same sound out of the 86

but I like the way it sounds, it sounds like a cross between the 84 I got and a musicmaster, it has less sustain to the notes, and maybe is a touch warmer sounding than the reissue. The thing is though is that I think that given enough time playing it, the reissue would probably age into sounding exceptionally good
 
#19
I think the '86 honey burst looks terrific, but it's strange that the reissue sounds closer to your '84 (both the '86 and the reissue have 16 smaller poles on the neck pickup, whereas the '84 has 8 large poles).

At the end of the day, two otherwise identical instruments, hewn from the same tree, can sound quite dissimilar ; so it's up to you to decide whether you want the variety of having a broader sound palette, or consistency (a #1, and a backup).

Personally, I'd want to compare the '84 to a late 70's Sabre, and see how the different modes on that preamp compare (in terms of having a broader total palette) to having the '86 in your arsenal.
 
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#20
micguy said:
There isn't a neck in the world where the sustain is perfectly even on every note. The only question is if you can live with what the neck does (and doesn't) do.
Click to expand...

LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
I'm not sure at this point which bass is what . All I know is this…..
Don't get rid of that red sparkle beauty!!
Click to expand...

I will never part with that bass, If it's a choice of being homeless and parting with it guess what at least I still have that bass!

MultiScaleMale said:
I keep getting lost on which bass is which. The answer is to go with the one you like better. But it sounds like you prefer the one you traded away. I think.
Click to expand...
classic was traded away, I sorta really miss it, but I think this new one sounds better, though the classic sounds closer to a pre ernie ball Sabre than the 86 ernie ball Sabre I traded the classic doe

Wood and Wire said:
I think the '86 honey burst looks terrific, but it's strange that the reissue sounds closer to your '84 (both the '86 and the reissue have 16 smaller poles on the neck pickup, whereas the '84 has 8 large poles).

At the end of the day, two otherwise identical instruments, hewn from the same tree, can sound quite dissimilar ; so it's up to you to decide whether you want the variety of having a broader sound palette, or consistency (a #1, and a backup).

Personally, I'd want to compare the '84 to a late 70's Sabre, and see how the different modes on that preamp compare (in terms of having a broader total palette) to having the '86 in your arsenal.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Here's some clarification so I bought the sparkle red 84 Sabre and someone had gutted all of the electronics, so the preamp and the pickups, it had all aftermarket stuff in there. I ended up restoring it, I couldn't find 1984 Sabre pickups so I put in some pickups from a 79 Sabre because they would fit in the cavity. I got a preamp that is either a legitimate stingray 2eq from 83 or 84, it sounds great! Best sounding bass I have! I wanna hear it by a pre-eb bass as well cause then I'd be able to hear the sound difference between the pre-eb bridges and the ernie ball bridges.

while my 84 was in the shop I ended up getting a reissue, it sounded pretty damn close to the 84 tonally. The 84 is a much deeper voiced instrument with a bigger sound but that reissue definitely sounded close to it, I bought that bass as a sort of bass I could play on that I could trade eventually or sell if I were in a pinch financially. I wanted to eventually get an 80s Sabre in case I ever wanted to switch my 84s electronics back to stock.

finally I traded the classic for a 1986, the honeyburst one, I think the 86 has a tight low end to it, and that the reissue has more presence. I do like basses with less and not more sustain, and this sounds like a cross between my fender musicmaster and my 84 Sabre. I like the sound of it a lot, but I prefer big expressive sound on a bass, and I play pretty simple stuff, and the presence of the notes is more important than anything. I would play the hell out of this if I was doing more upbeat music, like surf stuff, and I may keep it because I do like that.

But I feel the 86 sounds like a larger bodied stingray sound. Where as the reissue sounds like a Sabre does to me, with much more loose low end.

the 84 however I think is a once in a lifetime pieces or tone wood and a once in a lifetime neck. The pickups are pre-eb handwound and some goofball wax potted them, but I don't even mind because they're truly special


I bought the reissue intending to have a backup and intending to trade it when I found a better backup, which means another Sabre, since they're hard to come by. But I found this really neat 86 and traded the classic for it but the classic works better as a backup. I'm just really gentle with the 84 cause I love it a bunch, but maybe I shouldn't worry about it and maybe I don't need a backup that sounds super close to it
 
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