Having launched his brand new Ernie Ball Music Man signature guitar earlier this year, Rabea Massaad has now confirmed he's working on a more affordable version of the axe that he hopes will be ready for NAMM 2025.
Two heavily refined versions of the firm's classic Sabre electric guitar dropped at the gear showcase, coming after the guitarist was unveiled as a Music Man artist in 2023.
As you’d expect from such a collaboration, the Sabre had a glittering spec, with Massaad’s signature Bare Knuckle pickups and a resculpted body design chief among them.
Understandably, that all came at a premium, meaning the guitar's $3,999 price tag was inaccessible for many. As such, word that a Sterling by Music Man version – the Squier to Music Man’s Fender, so to speak – is on the way is welcome news indeed.
“Just want to let you know that I have submitted some colors for a Sterling version,” Massaad says via his YouTube channel. “We are looking at getting this up and running as soon as possible.
“Hopefully, I will receive some prototypes or some examples of what the guitar is going to be,” he continues. “But there are going to be Sterling models available of my Sabre, so I am very, very excited. With any luck we’ll be able to launch these at NAMM but I can’t promise anything yet. I actually don’t know if that’s possible.”
Of course, scraping figures off the price tag means that tough cost-cutting decisions will have to be made, with his signature humbuckers one such sacrificial lamb. Instead, own-brand pickups with similar voicings are being designed.
“We are actually going to spec some pickups that work really well, that complement the guitar in the same way that my Bare Knuckle Silos do,” Massaad says. “As much as I’d love to put Bare Knuckle Silos in the Sterling models, that would just throw the price right up and most of you would probably complain that, for a Sterling, it’s too expensive.”
It will be interesting to see the disparity in price. John Petrucci's Ernie Ball Music Man Majesty costs upwards of $3,699.99, but its Sterling equivalent can be claimed for as little as $1,499.99. A similar reduction doesn’t seem unreasonable.
Massaad said the Sabre's aim was “to be as tonally versatile as possible”. Discussing the guitar at NAMM 2024 with GW's Michael Astley-Brown, he also noted why redesigning the body was a crucial ingredient in getting the guitar right.
“On the stock Sabres, I’d found that for me it was quite a lot of wood there,” he explained. “It ended up being quite cumbersome for me to try and play licks up here [the higher frets].
“We did a first revision, and then a second revision, and then it was at that point where I said to [Ernie Ball engineer] Drew, ‘Do you reckon we could make it any thinner?’
“He said it was minor, what he actually took away, but I noticed it immediately. that tiny little adjustment made a massive difference.”
Head to Ernie Ball Music Man to learn more about the Rabea Massaad Sabre.
