Neck-thru Stingray coming

[Psycho Bass Guy]

The Sabre's demise was supposedly the Sabre pickups were considered too aggressive for a lot of players, but funnily enough that's exactly what you get with a two pup G&L, and they sell reasonably well.

Spot on! The old Sabre that used to make the used music store rounds when I was a kid sounded VERY much like a G&L L2000 with maybe better low mids and less upper mids. That bass met its end when a couple of idiots tried to "adjust the action" by tightening down the truss rod so hard it broke through the fingerboard at the third fret when there had been NOTHING wrong with its action anyway! An old Sabre (the new ones are more polite) is as close to a Gibson bass sound as almost anything Fender-related gets.

[gearHed289]

So did the original Sabre have different pickups than the StingRay?

[slinkp]

Interesting!  I naively thought that "two pickup MM = sabre; one pickup MM = stingray".

The new neck-through ones look really pretty to me.  If I had $1.6k to drop on a new bass I'd go looking for one to try out.

[Aussie Mark]

So did the original Sabre have different pickups than the StingRay?

Yes, but I can't say I know the exact differences, other than the Sabre having higher output and the polepieces not being exposed on the Sabre's pups

[uwe]

Wasn't there a huge cancelling out issue with the Sabre pups which led to a radical "love it or hate it"-scooped sound with both pups full on? People's feet (or hands or ears) decided to go with the more open-sounding Stingray at the time, but Sabres became cult objects in the long run.

A neck-thru Stingray? How will they feed the "instant attack"-craving most Stingray players have with that?

[Dave W]

Wasn't there a huge cancelling out issue with the Sabre pups which led to a radical "love it or hate it"-scooped sound with both pups full on? People's feet (or hands or ears) decided to go with the more open-sounding Stingray at the time, but Sabres became cult objects in the long run.

A neck-thru Stingray? How will they feed the "instant attack"-craving most Stingray players have with that?

I don't know about pickup issues with the original Sabre.

The "instant attack" of a bolt-on is debatable IMHO, as is the supposed added sustain of a neck-through. The two types do sound different from each other though, so it could be an issue for some fans.

[uwe]

I find that the notes on a Stingray jump at you and grab you by the throat, so much that I find it too nervous as a(n) (over-busy) pick player where instant attack is generally not an issue. But the more sluggish response of a neck-thru complements my style of playing just fine.

Not a put-down of the Stingray, I loved the look of the "egg" right from when the first ones appeared around 1977, have a nice specimen at home and always try to make it work for my playing, but we're not really a natural fit. It's in my pantheon of iconic basses.

[Dave W]

Are you planning on at least trying out a neck-thru Stingray then?

[uwe]

Naw, I have a Bongo - a fine bass, but its lack of weight makes me feel I'm playing a toy - and that mentioned Stingray with the additional piezo bridge. The world needs neckthru Stingrays as much as it needs bolt-on Thunderbirds IMHO. A neck-thru Stingray is as "wrong" to me as a bolt-on or even set-neck TBird.

The only other EBMM model I have toyed with is that Albert Lee shape thing for its inherent weirdness. I like weird instruments.

But I kind of like how EBMM works as a company, hats off to them. And - of course - Steve Morse has been playing his EBMM signature model for decades and I'm indebted to the guy for giving the Purps a new lease of life after their drama queen jilted them.

[Aussie Mark]

The only other EBMM model I have toyed with is that Albert Lee shape thing for its inherent weirdness. I like weird instruments.

The Big Al is the only EBMM bass I own these days.  It's a fabulously ergomonic and great sounding bass, despite the unweildy looking shape.  The only design issue is the fact that the holes drilled in the pickguard for the round push button pickup selectors are too tight, so need to be filed a little larger to stop expansion of the pickguard in warmer weather from binding against the buttons.  Other than that, I can't fault the Big Al.  Sounds awesome in passive modes as well as any of the active modes.

[uwe]

That thing is très cool. On my temptation list.