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Pre-EB Music Man sabre with sunburst over white finish, is that a factory respray?


SurroundedByManatees

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Hi There,

Ive just purchased a beautiful 1979 Music Man Sabre with a sunburst finish. It appears that the body had been finished in white blonde at first, and got a sunburst overspray later on. Was this common at Music Man, or is it most likely a aftermarket refinish?

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This Sabre has an alder body. I always thought they all came with (heavy) ash bodies, so I was surprised to find one that is pretty light. It is definitely more resonant too than I remember from the ash bodied ones.

Cheers

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When basses with detective finishes were sent back to the factory for fixing the problem they normally put on the first available body with good correct finish. The detective finish bodies were at this point refinished for being assembled with another neck. The refinish was not necessairnly made with the same color and at MM they did not take the original finish off. So it is likely that you can find a sunburst over white . I have personally saw silver over black and black over silver stingrays. 

Despite the possibility to be honest yours seems not a factory refinish. Too much red in my opinion. Anyway a good way to check is examine the neck pocket. If you can post a pic I can be more precise

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Thanks for the replies so far, interesting to hear. The light makes the red more flamboyant than how it actually looks, but it's a vivid burst indeed. If it's a refin, it must have been done ages ago :). 

I just screwed the neck back on, it has spray from the sunburst on the sides of the pocket. 

Edited by SurroundedByManatees
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My Stingray bought new in 1980 had an alder body and the sunburst also wore on the top edge (arm rest) and on the edge by the strap button with a white/light undercoat (possibly white finish underneath). Would this have been Jackson era assembly and finishing? Sunbursts do seem to be on alder as the Old Smoothies also are (based on the 1976 Bass) 

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Just to weigh in here, I'd always assumed that when defective finishes went back to paint, it was always for a solid colour over a sunburst (which is why there's a few older <insert colour here>-over-sunburst guitars about), I've never heard of a sunburst over a solid colour.

I'm going to go with @bartelby here.  Reckon the lighter colour is either the undercoating to either fix the paint to the wood or to hide defects in the wood.  Is the sunburst transparent?  Can you see the woodgrain through it?

 

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Maybe they were sanded a little. Which is the date on the pocket? I cannot read It from the pic.  On 1981-1982 the factory were stingrays were produced changed from CLF to Jackson. Jackson used to make the pocket completely clear from any trace of finish. MM during this switch from one supplier to the other made some basses by themselves.  Maybe it' s one of those....

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