number of Sabres produced

[basscaster]

Wondering how many were produced in total. I know they didn't sell well, but I'm curious about the total. thanks

 

[MrMusashi]

hello

and welcome to the forums

there are 2 reasons why i think you will have a hard time getting an answer.

1. some of the basses were made before ernie ball owned the company, thus eb have no record of actual numbers made
2. as for the basses made after eb took over, production numbers might be considered a secret they dont want to reveal to the public (read competition )

now, these are of course my internet opinions and should be treated as such

who knows, maybe some company rep will tell us more about sabres. that would make me stand corrected, eh?

MrM

 

[basscaster]

Thanks for the info. I'm sure some kind of figure could be estimated for pre-EB, based on how accuracy of the sequence of serial numbers (pretty accurate or very accurate). Hope someone might chime in from EB to correct me as well, if needed. : )

 

[MrMusashi]

well, our moderator rod trussbroken runs a site for info on vintage eb's.. and new ones too
its an excellent resource for dating eb instruments, and it also has a serial number list where actual basses have been submitted by their owners. it might give you an indication, but be aware that serials on pre eb's might not be used in sequence so there might be variations..

Home - Musicmanbass.org, Music Man, Musicman, Music Man Bass, Musicman Bass, Music Man Guitar

hth!

MrM

 

[basscaster]

ah yes, I know his site well. Thanks

 

[syciprider]

I think they made 7. Maybe 8. They have a Sabre Owners quarterly meeting @ Starbucks with BP.

 

[Caca de Kick]

I'm sure some kind of figure could be estimated for pre-EB, based on how accuracy of the sequence of serial numbers (pretty accurate or very accurate).

See the big problem there is the serials were never kept in sequential order back then. They more or less randomly grabbed neck plates or bridges as they assembled instruments...a little consistancy, but alot not chronological.
I recently held onto a forum members' very late '83 Sabre who's bridge has a serial number lower than my very early '80 Sabre. Almost a 4 year span!

 

[oli@bass]

I recently held onto a forum members' very late '83 Sabre who's bridge has a serial number lower than my very early '80 Sabre. Almost a 4 year span!

It's really interesting. Looking at Gav's listing of serial numbers, you can see clusters of numbers for dates. That may suggest that the stamped bridges were probably packed in boxes holding certain quantites (e.g. 20 pcs) which then were stored or picked in random order thus producing patches of consecutive numbers around certain dates but no continous sequence over all.

Regarding the number of Sabres produced: I'd love to know as well.... from searching for them, I found some relative "facts": They are rather rare with about 8-12 coming up on eBay or TB per year, of which less than 50% are all original in good or excellent condition. Because they do come up with some regularity, I guess there's a larger number around but owners tend to keep them because they're rather hard to come by. Early ones ('79) come up more often online than the late pre-EB ('80 - '83) and EB instruments ('84 - '91).

Looking at the market and comparing with other similarly rare instruments, you could deduce some speculative production numbers.

 

[drTStingray]

Looking at the market and comparing with other similarly rare instruments, you could deduce some speculative production numbers.

What is your guess?

PS interesting theory as well - the EB series is also not chronological - my 2007 LE StingRay has a serial from a series 3 or 4 yrs earlier (indeed quite a few of the LE models seem to)!

 

[basscaster]

oli - I see the same thing as well - more pre EB's than EB's. I would personally love to have an EB Sabre, and I don't care where the club meets, or how many : )

Maybe BP or someone can shed some light on EB-era Sabre production number estimates. Or not. : )