Steinberger Spirit, upon further review

I'm cycling through my guitars, one a week. This week is the Steinberger's turn.

First I'll go with the positives. It's compact and light. It sounds fantastic in my DAW. The leg (lap?) stand that folds out holds the guitar perfectly.

Now the negatives. Unless I'm doing something drastically wrong, I can't believe how hard it is to turn the tuning ... the tuning uh, barrels? Thumbwheels? Whatever they're called. I have big fingers. Those damn things are awful close together and by the time I'm grabbing them to force it to turn, I'm perilously liable to influence a neighboring tuner.

That said, it seems very precise once you get the things to move.

As far as setting it up, I've run into a couple of roadblocks. Everything is black, and my eyesight ain't so hot. I think I see what are probably the intonation screws, directly in line and under the strings. Real real tiny and utterly inaccessible How are you supposed to intonate these? Because it's not just a little off, it is way off and really shows when you try to dub leads down low with stuff played up near the nut.

I look at the nut end but I don't see a truss rod nut, or at least what I know a truss rod nut to look like.

Does anybody know if that output jack is plastic? It sure feels like it.

in spite the intonation inaccuracy, this thing is a hoot to play. Definitely has it's own thing going on. The more I play it the more I like how it sounds on 'tape'. I don't know anything about these Steinberger pickups but they are impressing me.

Even as good as it sounds noodling on leads, it sounds killer on rhythm. Once I get this thing set up and intonated, it's going to be a blast to play.

After that, or maybe even before, I want to get an adapter that allows it to use regular strings. Might as well wait, no point in doing a set up on old strings.

Another nice thing I noticed is how nice the frets are. They already feel nice and smooth. Everything but the Custom Shop reissue Les Paul Gibson guitars can benefit from a good fret polishing, but probably not this. I might give it a treatment with McGuier's Chrome Polish on the frets. Just to give them the last mirror shine slick feel.

Dan, I hope you'll post a clip when you record with the guitar. I'm curious about the sound.

I've always had a bitter dislike of Steinbergers, though it has nothing to do with the sound of the thing.

1, I greatly disliked the looks of it. Looked to me more like a car muffler than a guitar.

2. My opinion about the Steinberger stick bass is based on things from the Nashville music scene in the early 80s. Suddenly everyone there was playing a stick and my Ric looked so old hat. People even came up to me during gigs and said, Rics are okay, but why don't you get a Stick? It was a time when bands like The Beatles and Pink Floyd became passé. Rock music was undergoing a change as great as the change in rock from the late 50s v the early 60s. There were new instruments that looked nothing like other, "real" guitars and "basses". Keyboards were taking over. At 21 years old, I was a dinosaur, and the Steinberger was a reminded that I was young but woefully out of date. I actually drew pleasure when playing Sticks became passé.

3. My prejudice against the instrument is stupid, and I really want to hear what yours sounds like.

CAUTION: Momentary thread hijack warning:

I know nothing about the Steinberger Spirit, and I have travel guitars, so I'm not interested in one. But I'm curious about Steinberger itself. I have two (2) [url=http://legacy.gibson.com/Products/Electric-Guitars/SG/Gibson-USA/SG-Future-Tribute.aspx]2013 Gibson SG Future Tributes[/url], and one feature of them is their Steinberger Gearless Tuners. Personally, I think Steinberger's technology is innovative and unique, but I wonder why their creations aren't more widely accepted? The tuners, after all, would seem to be a vast improvement over the current Grover/Schaller-style, but the only comment I've heard is that a headstock without tuning keys "looks weird." Huh?

http://www.planetz.com/wp-content/up...e-1024x354.jpg

Now returning you to the thread already in progress...

Acting on Kenny's advice, I literally took mine straight to a shop for a setup before I even played it. No intonation troubles at all, so, I can't say what it would have been like before the setup.

I'm totally with Dan on the rhythm thing. I have used it to double heavier rhythm parts, and it winds up being a great compliment to a Les Paul doing the same part. I've only done one lead with it on a recording for a friend's track, so I could use the floating whammy for the solo per his request, and it was a slice of 80s heaven to my ears. I will always prefer to play lead parts on a Les Paul, but, the Spirit is definitely its own animal, and I'm glad I added it to the stable.

I wasn't a huge fan of the headless guitar look of the '80s, either. I felt people were taking to them just to seem 'hip'. The fad passed and 'real' guitars came back.

However, I had recently moved into an apartment and I was trying to figure out a way to keep a guitar out in the open without it being in the way. Somebody here posted their new Spirit acquisition and it just made sense. No headstock to break, very compact design makes it unobtrusive. Solid body makes it not loud enough to bother other people. I had originally envisioned playing it while watching TV but I'm actually doing very little of that these days.

Covid keeping people home 24/7 and my brother also working mostly from home are a major impediment on playing plugged in. That and the terrible soundproofing of the walls in this building. I still don't know what these pickups sound like through an amp. However, I know what my single coils and humbuckers sound like plugged in and direct in. My guess is these will sound pretty damn good through an amp.

Sound is so subjective and hard to describe but if I had to put it in words, these pickups are clear and articulate, round without being muddy, respond to pick attack without being harsh. Notes in chords are distinct and well balanced. I can't wait to get the intonation dialed in, this will be a very useful recording guitar. The kick stand lap brace is pure freaking genius, it stays in your lap. Which is so handy when you're recording and working on the keyboard and adjusting knobs on devices. Most guitars need a hand on them to keep from sliding off or you have to use a strap even while sitting down.

last night I was playing my Les Paul along with a rhythm track by the Steinberger and really liking what I heard. Different animal these Steinbergers are and an agreeable one at that.

Merde !!!

I just sat down to play and the middle pickup isn't working. I don't know if it is the selector switch or the pickup itself. I emailed Music Zoo for advice.

I also mentioned that the tuner knobs/barrels are very difficult to turn and that the strings are all sharp at the 12th fret.

Hopefully they get back to me soon.

This thread brings back memories! I had a Steinberger Spirit back in the day. I purchased it from Music Yo, an online store that exclusively sold the Steinbergers and Electar amps at the time.

I bought it to use as a travel guitar, at least that was the excuse. I thought it represented excellent value for money. The fit and finish were really good. It sounded great (very responsive tone control, if memory serves me), and it was eminently playable. I sometimes regret moving it on. I didn’t have a problem adjusting intonation, but I do I recall that it was intuitive to figure out how. And I remember the tuning knobs on the tremolo being hard to adjust. Sometimes I found adjusting one string through off the adjacent owners as my fingers slipped against the tuning knobs on either side of the string I was tuning.

My favorite feature, other than the compact size, was the ability to lock the tremolo. I kinda wished the Spirits had come equipped with the Trans-Trem tremolo system.