ERNIE BALL MUSIC MAN SABRE

By Chris Gill

SOUND CHECK

GUITAR WORLD

PLATINUM AWARD

EXCELLENCE

the gear in review

77 FENDER

Jim Root Jazzmaster V4

78 NEW EQ

79 WINGMAN FX

Danger Zone

80 DEAN

Exile Select

IF YOU’RE A guitar history fanatic, you should recall that the Sabre was originally both a guitar and a bass model introduced by Music Man in the Seventies when the company was run by Leo Fender, Tom Walker and Forrest White. More recently, Ernie Ball Music Man offered Sabre bass models during the Eighties and 2010s. Now the Sabre is back once again, this time as an entirely brand new solidbody electric guitar model which was introduced in 2020 by Ernie Ball Music Man. Like the StingRay guitar model that Ernie Ball Music Man revived back in 2016, the new Sabre guitar is loosely inspired by the original Seventies version, but it features so many improvements as well as the modern Ernie Ball Music Man’s impeccable craftsmanship and attention to detail that it’s really more of a tribute to its original namesake than a straight-up reproduction.