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    1. Re: Music Man Sabre II
      Willem Drenth

      : Leo Fender gave this guitar to me after a NAMM Show at the Disneyland Hotel. He invited me to his hotel room where he had one of the first models he had made and a Music Man amp that he asked me to play through. James Burton went with me. After a few doodles, Leo asked how I liked it. I embarrassingly said, "Maybe its because I grew up playing Gibsons, but I could never get used to a Fender neck." He said, "Take that one home with you and play it for a couple of weeks. Then tell me how you like it." I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being obligated to play a guitar that did not appeal to me. He sensed that, I guess, and said,"That’s your guitar. I want you to have it. Just call me in a couple of weeks and let me know how you like it." He explained that one of the reasons he separated from Fender in Germany, who had a long contract with him, was that he wanted to make several selections of necks. Germany was already tooled up for several years in the future with the standard necks. I accepted the guitar, case, and amp as a personal gift from the old gent. He didn’t wait the 2 weeks. He called in about 4 days wanting to know if I had fallen in love with my Music Man guitar yet. I told him I still had not become comfortable with it. He said that is why he was calling and invited me down to the factory in Anaheim, California, an hour’s drive from my home. I went and took the guitar with me. Once there, he gave me the royal treatment and revealed that he had given the guitar to me precicely because I had told him my true feelings about it. Then he asked what else I didn’t like. I told him I really liked the internal pre-amp, and the option to use it or not via the switch. But I would never really use the other switch. I was too embarrassed to say I would never have a use for the old "Fender sound" that was produced by the reversing of the pick ups. He asked what I would use. I told him I used distortion pedals and by combinging that with a finely tuned reverb, I could play chords that sounded like a riffing horn section. He said for me to stand right there and not to move. He went to a phone on the wall in the warehouse and talked to someone for about 6 seconds, hung up and changed the subject. He asked about the electronic Vox that he had seen me play during my performance the night we met. It had a built on Wah-wah that I played with my wrist. Then a tall fellow walked over to us as if he were late for a power lunch. Mr. Fender introduced him saying he was the #1 engineer for MXR who manufactured all those effects pedals. Leo had just hired him away to work for his new company, Music Man. He asked the engineer if could take out the original works and build a "Fuzz Unit" in its place. Being a new and unique idea, the engineer looked the guitar over and said it had never been done before, but he saw no reason it could not be done. Leo asked if there was enough room in there for the unit. The engineer said he would make it work. A few days later I returned for my guitar. It now had a notch dial and an on-off toggle switch for the installed unit. Mr. Fender already had the guitar plugged into a new Model of Music Man Amp, with its own power head sitting on top of a matching Quad speaker cabnet. I could not believe the sound! The new one-of-a-kind gizmo had 10 notched settings. At the base setting the distortion was a whisper. At #4 it sounded MEAN, but with a unique clearity and tonality. At #10 insulation dust fell from the 30 foot ceiling. Suddenly, I liked….make that LOVED… my new Music Man Guitar. Leo liked the sound through the new amp and called an employee over. "Put that in Mr. Nutter’s van for him,please," he said, as if he had just sold a new Corvette to Howard Hughes. Then he said, "What kind of amp does your keyboard player use?" I told him. He said, "Not anymore he won’t! Not once he hears how he sounds through one of these…" He strolled over to a different model of Music Man amp. And your rhythm player won’t be able to keep up with you unless you take one of these over here to him." Christmas continued at Leo Fender’s North Pole in Southern California until my van was packing 5 new amps, two Bass Guitars ("Just in case he doesn’t like this one, take that other model too."), and two more guitars to keep my new one company. Various band members made off with the Basses and all but one amp, but I still have my Unique black, Music Man SabreII and a brown dual pick-up Stingray II that he gave me that wonderful day that I spent with that generous genius, Leo Fender.

      I AM SEARCHING FOR THE MM SABRE 1-11
      Even the stingray.
      Willem Drenth
      The Netherlands
      e-mail:
      [email protected]

      : 3

    2. Re: Music Man Sabre II
      jamie

      : Leo Fender gave this guitar to me after a NAMM Show at the Disneyland Hotel. He invited me to his hotel room where he had one of the first models he had made and a Music Man amp that he asked me to play through. James Burton went with me. After a few doodles, Leo asked how I liked it. I embarrassingly said, "Maybe its because I grew up playing Gibsons, but I could never get used to a Fender neck." He said, "Take that one home with you and play it for a couple of weeks. Then tell me how you like it." I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being obligated to play a guitar that did not appeal to me. He sensed that, I guess, and said,"That’s your guitar. I want you to have it. Just call me in a couple of weeks and let me know how you like it." He explained that one of the reasons he separated from Fender in Germany, who had a long contract with him, was that he wanted to make several selections of necks. Germany was already tooled up for several years in the future with the standard necks. I accepted the guitar, case, and amp as a personal gift from the old gent. He didn’t wait the 2 weeks. He called in about 4 days wanting to know if I had fallen in love with my Music Man guitar yet. I told him I still had not become comfortable with it. He said that is why he was calling and invited me down to the factory in Anaheim, California, an hour’s drive from my home. I went and took the guitar with me. Once there, he gave me the royal treatment and revealed that he had given the guitar to me precicely because I had told him my true feelings about it. Then he asked what else I didn’t like. I told him I really liked the internal pre-amp, and the option to use it or not via the switch. But I would never really use the other switch. I was too embarrassed to say I would never have a use for the old "Fender sound" that was produced by the reversing of the pick ups. He asked what I would use. I told him I used distortion pedals and by combinging that with a finely tuned reverb, I could play chords that sounded like a riffing horn section. He said for me to stand right there and not to move. He went to a phone on the wall in the warehouse and talked to someone for about 6 seconds, hung up and changed the subject. He asked about the electronic Vox that he had seen me play during my performance the night we met. It had a built on Wah-wah that I played with my wrist. Then a tall fellow walked over to us as if he were late for a power lunch. Mr. Fender introduced him saying he was the #1 engineer for MXR who manufactured all those effects pedals. Leo had just hired him away to work for his new company, Music Man. He asked the engineer if could take out the original works and build a "Fuzz Unit" in its place. Being a new and unique idea, the engineer looked the guitar over and said it had never been done before, but he saw no reason it could not be done. Leo asked if there was enough room in there for the unit. The engineer said he would make it work. A few days later I returned for my guitar. It now had a notch dial and an on-off toggle switch for the installed unit. Mr. Fender already had the guitar plugged into a new Model of Music Man Amp, with its own power head sitting on top of a matching Quad speaker cabnet. I could not believe the sound! The new one-of-a-kind gizmo had 10 notched settings. At the base setting the distortion was a whisper. At #4 it sounded MEAN, but with a unique clearity and tonality. At #10 insulation dust fell from the 30 foot ceiling. Suddenly, I liked….make that LOVED… my new Music Man Guitar. Leo liked the sound through the new amp and called an employee over. "Put that in Mr. Nutter’s van for him,please," he said, as if he had just sold a new Corvette to Howard Hughes. Then he said, "What kind of amp does your keyboard player use?" I told him. He said, "Not anymore he won’t! Not once he hears how he sounds through one of these…" He strolled over to a different model of Music Man amp. And your rhythm player won’t be able to keep up with you unless you take one of these over here to him." Christmas continued at Leo Fender’s North Pole in Southern California until my van was packing 5 new amps, two Bass Guitars ("Just in case he doesn’t like this one, take that other model too."), and two more guitars to keep my new one company. Various band members made off with the Basses and all but one amp, but I still have my Unique black, Music Man SabreII and a brown dual pick-up Stingray II that he gave me that wonderful day that I spent with that generous genius, Leo Fender.

      how do i find a true music man sabre? the last one i found sold out from under me. any suggestions would deffinately help me.

      : 3

    3. Re: This popular thread has been given its own page :... Mayf Nutter
      Mayf Nutter

      Leo Fender gave this guitar to me after a NAMM Show at the Disneyland Hotel. He invited me to his hotel room where he had one of the first models he had made and a Music Man amp that he asked me to play through. James Burton went with me. After a few doodles, Leo asked how I liked it. I embarrassingly said, "Maybe its because I grew up playing Gibsons, but I could never get used to a Fender neck." He said, "Take that one home with you and play it for a couple of weeks. Then tell me how you like it." I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of being obligated to play a guitar that did not appeal to me. He sensed that, I guess, and said,"That’s your guitar. I want you to have it. Just call me in a couple of weeks and let me know how you like it." He explained that one of the reasons he separated from Fender in Germany, who had a long contract with him, was that he wanted to make several selections of necks. Germany was already tooled up for several years in the future with the standard necks. I accepted the guitar, case, and amp as a personal gift from the old gent. He didn’t wait the 2 weeks. He called in about 4 days wanting to know if I had fallen in love with my Music Man guitar yet. I told him I still had not become comfortable with it. He said that is why he was calling and invited me down to the factory in Anaheim, California, an hour’s drive from my home. I went and took the guitar with me. Once there, he gave me the royal treatment and revealed that he had given the guitar to me precicely because I had told him my true feelings about it. Then he asked what else I didn’t like. I told him I really liked the internal pre-amp, and the option to use it or not via the switch. But I would never really use the other switch. I was too embarrassed to say I would never have a use for the old "Fender sound" that was produced by the reversing of the pick ups. He asked what I would use. I told him I used distortion pedals and by combinging that with a finely tuned reverb, I could play chords that sounded like a riffing horn section. He said for me to stand right there and not to move. He went to a phone on the wall in the warehouse and talked to someone for about 6 seconds, hung up and changed the subject. He asked about the electronic Vox that he had seen me play during my performance the night we met. It had a built on Wah-wah that I played with my wrist. Then a tall fellow walked over to us as if he were late for a power lunch. Mr. Fender introduced him saying he was the #1 engineer for MXR who manufactured all those effects pedals. Leo had just hired him away to work for his new company, Music Man. He asked the engineer if could take out the original works and build a "Fuzz Unit" in its place. Being a new and unique idea, the engineer looked the guitar over and said it had never been done before, but he saw no reason it could not be done. Leo asked if there was enough room in there for the unit. The engineer said he would make it work. A few days later I returned for my guitar. It now had a notch dial and an on-off toggle switch for the installed unit. Mr. Fender already had the guitar plugged into a new Model of Music Man Amp, with its own power head sitting on top of a matching Quad speaker cabnet. I could not believe the sound! The new one-of-a-kind gizmo had 10 notched settings. At the base setting the distortion was a whisper. At #4 it sounded MEAN, but with a unique clearity and tonality. At #10 insulation dust fell from the 30 foot ceiling. Suddenly, I liked….make that LOVED… my new Music Man Guitar. Leo liked the sound through the new amp and called an employee over. "Put that in Mr. Nutter’s van for him,please," he said, as if he had just sold a new Corvette to Howard Hughes. Then he said, "What kind of amp does your keyboard player use?" I told him. He said, "Not anymore he won’t! Not once he hears how he sounds through one of these…" He strolled over to a different model of Music Man amp. And your rhythm player won’t be able to keep up with you unless you take one of these over here to him." Christmas continued at Leo Fender’s North Pole in Southern California until my van was packing 5 new amps, two Bass Guitars ("Just in case he doesn’t like this one, take that other model too."), and two more guitars to keep my new one company. Various band members made off with the Basses and all but one amp, but I still have my Unique black, Music Man SabreII and a brown dual pick-up Stingray II that he gave me that wonderful day that I spent with that generous genius, Leo Fender.

      3

      1. Lovely story about a lovely
        Anonymous

        Lovely story about a lovely man. I bought my first Sabre 11 in 1981 (sunburst/maple) – I bought another (as back up) in ’82 (sunburst/rosewood). Gigged for last 30 years. Never had to use back up!!! Bought Sabre 1 in 85 (‘cos it was cheap and black).

        Mr. Fender was quoted to me as saying the Sabres were the best Strats he’d ever made (to that date).

        I think he was wrong!! They are the best Tele Customs he ever made.

        Keep well.

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