Uncovering the history of my MM Sabre

[bhunt1]

When I got the Sabre recently, I could see evidence of its history on the case:

I did not yet know what Criminals was, but I could see evidence of venues played in St. Paul:

So I searched the '88 Winter Carnival in St Paul, and I found this on a blog about the Twin Cities music scene:


So Criminals are a band. Tried searching them, found a couple of bands with that name, but none from the Twin Cities. I figured they were native to that area because the music blog had several bills for local bars that had the Criminals on them, like this one:

I asked on the blog about the Criminals, and the mod pointed me to a Facebook group on the 70s-80s Twin Cities music scene. I posted a question on the band and was put in touch within minutes with the band leader of the Criminals, Mike Ryan. Mike told me the band was active 81-91, and they were named one of the best unsigned bands in 85, which landed one of their tracks on Epic Records Best of the Unsigned. This record was released on vinyl and cassette, but I couldn't find any mp3 versions. I did find this youtube vid, which has the Criminals track followed by another track from another band:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-QcP9sxvsc
He also gave me a link to his website for a page that shows a reunion gig they did in 2007:
http://www.mikeryan.com/Criminals.htm
Mike gave me the name of the lefty bass player, Tom Newhouse. I contacted Tom, and he said the Sabre was his main bass for almost 30 years. He also had a Ric when he was with the Criminals, but he said he always used the Sabre for recording on all of his projects. He also participated in two recording projects in the 90s; those songs are posted on a blog. The first was called 3 Wild Guys:
http://davidcramerlyon.com/music-2/3-wild-guys/
The second project was the Attidudes.
http://davidcramerlyon.com/music-2/attidudes/
This rang a bell because there is a small, faint decal on the headstock of the Sabre:

Knowing the history of the bass is cool! This thing wears its history well!

[pjmuck]

Great history indeed. Nice sleuthing.

I'd love to know who owned "Link", my '72 J before me. I bought it in '85 form a place called Silver Horland on 48th st. in Manhattan.

[Stingray5]

What a cool story!

[fivebass52]

Great story! Did he mention why he sold the bass? And, I wonder how many owners after Tom, and before you bought it....

[bhunt1]

Thanks for the comments He did not mention why he sold it, but he is still making and recording music. I bought the bass from a seller in SoCal, so I think there was at least one other owner in between Tom and me. It is a well travelled bass.

[fivebass52]

Thanks for the comments He did not mention why he sold it, but he is still making and recording music. I bought the bass from a seller in SoCal, so I think there was at least one other owner in between Tom and me. It is a well travelled bass.

It must feel like an old friend already, just because... !

[Matt R.]

Very cool!