Steinberger Spirit XT-2 Std.

- 1995 model Spirit XT-2 4 string (pre-MusicYo) Gibson manufactured
- Two passive EMG Select humbuckers (vol/vol/tone control layout)
- 3-piece maple laminate neck-through headless Steinberger body design with maple wings finished in white
- 34" scale, 24 fret rosewood board, fretted with medium fretwire
- Steinberger 40:1 ratio bridge
- Gig bag, allen wrenches

The sound is very good; quiet and clean with good passive punch from the bridge hb and a fat, mellow tone from the neck hb. The body is very resonant for its size, which was a surprise to me. I owned a 1985 Steinberger XL-2A (an original Steinberger Sound active four string) and I expected the Spirit to fail in the tone department. It was no XL-2A, but it really sounded nice through the Ashdown 515 I demoed it with. The individual pickup volume controls with a common tone limits it a bit, I may add a stacked tone pot so that each pickup has it's own control. I also may scour eBay for some EMG lo-z hbs and pimp it out like my old XL-2A ... we'll see. As it stands, the tone and sound are very good and it gets high marks as a passive instrument.

I bought it used (though barely!) and it had been set up perfectly by the former owner, who is a bonifide music nut! He used it as his "travel bass" for going back and forth to the UK on business (I think he made the trip twice). It has a nice, playable action with just the right neck relief so there is no buzz, but it is low and extremely playable. The finish was very nice, a piano white laquer that was smooth and finely polished. A few US companies could learn from the quality of this off-shore (Korean?) producution!

My old XL-2A was bullet-proof. This is a wood version, which means that atmosperic conditions will affect it, but it seems to be well constructed and I take very good care of my gear so I fully expect it to last a lifetime. Metal strap buttons on these early models. I want to find one of the original "boomarang" strap units from a Steinberger and mount that ... but it works fine as is.

I have been playing for 23 years, 20 professionally and I have owned many, many top end basses. The XL-2A I owned from '85 to '90 was great and I never should have gotten rid of it. This purchase was a no-brainer at $175 and it takes me back to my days when I was laying it down in a funk band! I also have a Fender '51 P-Bass reissue and a DeArmond Pilot-ProV five string. My main gig-rig is a rack-mounted Hartke 3500 with a Nady wireless and a Furman power conditioner running through an Eden 4x10 cabinet. My practice/small gig amp is a Peavey Basic 60. The Sprit sounds GREAT through both and I can't wait to get it out on some gigs!

- Low Price is a great feature.
- 24 Frets; maple neck / body
- Unique shape; stands up by itself!
- See other reviews for details (why repeat)
http://www.musicyo.com/product_specs.asp?pf_id=047

- Very quiet
- Good tone although limited flexibility
- Inconsistent tone string to string (across pickup?)
- Can sound a little thin / hollow in certain areas on the neck

- Perfect finish - wish they made it in dark blue (hey, new project!)
- Action a little high from factory
- Intonation was off; locking mechanism (single screw) a little cheesy
- Adjusted neck and bridge, much better action; some buzz

- Very solid guitar.
- With a little adjustment and new pick-ups would be a great gig bass.

None required.

I have played P-Basses & Ricks for 20 years, so this took some adjustment. It's now the one I play the most around the house. It's a fun little guitar!

A few things I would (will) change with the ergonomics.
1) Move the folding leg rest toward the neck about 1 1/2 inches. Center the bass a little better.
2) Improve the strap positioning. I believe you can buy a strap button
positioner for the neck button to help it set better.

TIP: Attach your guitar strap to the BOTTOM button near the bridge and then cut a small slit in the strap where it lines up with the TOP button. Then slide the strap over this button too. Sounds goofy but improves ergonomics.

3)I would redesign the bridge so the tuners were on the end (bottom) of the guitar; that is, facing toward the player and have the strings wrap 90 degrees to the bridge. This would give a little more room to "center" the strings on the guitar. Too much work for anyone but a machinist.

Would definitely buy another one if this one was lost.

very straightforward, nothing unusual other than the regular steinberger idiosyncracies (no headstock, double ball strings, tiny body). this is a budget steinberger which means it's made out of wood, not synthetics like the expensive ones. two humbuckers, volume control for each pickup one master tone. one thing that you'll think is REALLY stupid here is the fold out legrest. it's hinged, stuck on the bottom edge and you can flip it out and it locks at a preset angle. VERY lame, right? wrong. because of the shape and design of this bass, it balances differently than other basses and even if it didn't, there's no curve on the bottom side of the body so the leg rest is really quite handy if you are playing sitting down, which i do a lot. it instantly positions the bass quite nicely for a comfort and you don't need a strap (i don't). comes with a padded gigbag with a zipper pouch, not the best you could buy but not cheesy. looks like a rifle though, so watch it at the airport! also, you can't hang it on the wall (no headstock) but then, it's so slim and small you can EASILY tuck it in a corner, under a bed, etc.

I AM NOT A BASS PLAYER, OK? I am a guitarist who has played for 41 years, primarily jazz, blues, rock and experimental stuff. i bought this to do demos at home. although i am not a bassist i have owned several basses over the years including a fender jazz bass and a danelectro longhorn. this is way better and considering the price it's a fantastic buy. i can get a lot of different sounds out of it depending on the tone settings, how i pick, fingers vs. pick, where i position my fingers to pluc the strings, etc. the dynamics are clean, even, responsive with no deadspots or distortion or buzzes or weak points, etc. nice solid clean consistent sound whether you have the treble cranked and you're using a pick or the top end rolled off and using fingers. Bass players who visit my house and want to jam say that while they (obviously) prefer their own bass, they are very surprised and comfortable with this instrument, so it's versatile. ONE WEIRD THING about playing this instrument, it has virtually no body and so many frets clear of what little body there is, i get "lost" on the fingerboard sometimes. What i mean by that is that the twelfth fret is FAR removed from the neck joint and lots of times i think i'm playing in A when i'm in B. It's a minor point and it doesn't happen all the time but i have noticed that switching between this and the guitar takes a second to readjust. So if you swap back and forth quickly between this and another bass it may take you a minute to get your bearings. The upside of this is that you can play way up to the last fret and so if you're THAT kind of bass player, it's a plus

i have a reverse bias: i am biased IN FAVOR of korean instruments, and i assume this is made there because all their others in this line are. i have a korean made epiphone and a korean made ibanez (in addition to a '63 gibson, a '64 gibson and a '93 american standard tele) and i think the koreans really do a fantastic job on the basic construction. everything here is tight as a drum, done neatly, precisely, accurately and cleanly. the finish is even and gorgeous (just black), the frets have NO sharp edges, all nicely set and smoothed off, the fingerboard is clean and tight, no open grain or funky spots, the hardware is well machined, etc. in short, easily the equal of any american made product and superior to more than a few i've seen. the action is FANTASTIC for me (guitarist, remember?) and i'm able to keep it low and even all the way up the neck for effortless play.

just bought it a couple months ago and it basically sits in the same place in my studio all the time so no hard use. it seems very solid and well made though, and i know from having a steinberger guitar (the broom shaped kind like this is) that this design makes the guitar less prone to breakage if dropped. figure it out - there's fewer stress points and less things sticking off it to get hurt. the tuners are virtually indestrucable and hidden. it's like carrying a two by four around and it's well made so it should hold up well. i don't forsee any problems

sorry, haven't needed any so i can't say. one thing i will mention in this part is that the best place to buy strings for this sucker (that is, least expensive) is at juststrings dot com. you can get 'em way cheaper than other placers (GHS, D'Adario)

Fantastic value in a quality instrument. $230.00?!?! wow! this bass could definitely be used by a gigging musician or for recording. it may not be the bass of your dreams, but the price tag makes it a serious contender. i think this is a great deal because for hardly any money you get a pro quality, well made, versatile instrument that's easy to play. i would recommend that anyone who wants a bass around the house as a second instrument get one of these. If this was lost or stolen, i'd buy another one.

2001 model? I purchased it from musicyo February of this year (2002) and assume it was probably built last year, but not sure. It is definetely imported but there isn't ANY country name on the bass anywhere (I kinda like that for some reason) It has 24 frets with a zero (0) fret which I have learned to appreciate. The tone of the open string notes verses freted ones are much closer than both a high end Fender jazz bass and a peavey bass I have had prior to this one. Each pickup has its own volume knob and there is also a master tone knob. It's a little more unhandy than just having a volume and a "blend" knob but I think you have more control over your tone this way and you need that control IMO since this bass doesn't have active electronics. It has 2 passive humbucking pickups. The neck and body wings are hard maple and the fingerboard is rosewood. Its also a neck-thru design. The combination of using maple wood and neck through really keeps the sustain up to par with full bodied basses like the fender and peavy basses which I mensioned earlier. Those were both 600 - 700 dollar basses and this spirit bass definetely had noticably more sustain especially when compared to the peavey bass. The finish I got was the black and some might not like the fact that the back of the neck is finished just like body but I really saw no difficulty in playability because of it. It does feel different than my fender did but I got use to it. The bridge is definetely a solid hunk of metal and does its job well. When compared, visually to the original bridges of the original graphite model steinbergers or the replacement bridges built like the originals (sold through musicyo), it does look a little clunky but really its not that big of a deal. The way it adjusts (with set screws) both on the tops of each saddle and the side of the bridge is a little crude but once you fiddle with it a while and get your intonation set and then tighted everything down, it gets really solid and you don't have to worry about springs or anything vibrating. While on the subject of vibrations, I did not notice any buzzes coming from within where the truss rod is either while playing the bass accoustically. Back to the bridge,......you tune your strings from there as well if you havn't figured it out yet. It really works well and is handy I think. The bass stays in tune really well once your strings stop stretching and changing strings is extremely quick. Just unscrew the tuning knob until you can lift the string out, put in the new string and then tightened down the tuner until the string is up to pitch. I can change all 4 strings and have them tuned up to standard tuning in under 5 minutes and I am taking my time while doing it!!!! Because of this, it would be hard to go back to a bass with a head now, but the Labella double ball stainless strings (105's) do last (at least for me) 3-4 months so I don't need to change them too often. The neck, even though its only 1.5 inches at the zero fret is fairly fat,..I would call it at least a medium sized neck and not thin feeling like some basses I have played. The frets are slightly smaller than what was on my fender and peavey bass as well as I can remember about them,...I kinda wish the frets on this spirit were more of a jumbo size but what is on there does seem to be fine although I think they are a bit softer than some of the better frets. After only about 7 months of use, they are showing signs of wear, small groves and dips. I may have them replaced sometime with some harder fretwire. This bass having a rosewood fretboard can be refreted by most any guitar repair shop where if it were the graphite neck type, then only certain (a very select few) people could do any type of repair to it,..just something to think about...........The scale length is the standard 34 inches. Included with the bass is a flimsy gigbag, works ok, but may upgrade to the hardcase since I have decided now th

The sound is awesome! The two 600+ dollar basses I had didn't suit my taste like this spirit bass does. It just suits my personal preference better,...others might like the active "made is USA" fender bass that I had and sold. The Spirit's tone is definately of the rock flavor but it should work with many other types of music. What I like about the tone is that it is fat and punchy. I did have to mess around with my pickup heights to really fine tune the tone I was after. The electronics are quiet. With just plugging in the bass to an amp I am only going to say its tone is an "8" though,....What I do is plug into a SansAmp BASS Driver DI and then into an amp set very clean. With the SanAmp box set to the "SVT" setting, the tone is as good as I have ever heard tone either from amatuers or professionals,....Definately a 10,...Although partly that is due to the Labella strings as well. I also play with my fingers and try to have just a bit of fingernail touching the strings as I pluck. This all yields to a deep, punchy, yet bright enough tone. The tone can get a bit mushy and unprofessional with this bass if you have no calusus on your fingertips as well as no fingernails,....just another food for thought. Usually both pickups wide open is best but the neck pickup only, work too. The bridge pickup only, really gets funkadelic,.....I usually roll a little neck pickup into the full on bridge pickup to beef it up though. With the neck pickup on full and the bridge at about 90 percent, its gets real vintage-ish, maybe a bit nasaly which is cool at times,....all this really depends on your picking technique and amp or DI box really and can vary. I run the DI box either into a Trace Elliot boxer 15 practice amp or else into a mixer (and then into the computer). It records well but my setup is decidedly vintage in nature,...If you want that Nathan East huge transparent tone, you might want to try his NE-1 box (which is being discontinued from what I understand) or maybe even a different bass with a good active electronics system on it. The slapping and popping tones seem really purcussive and full but I don't play enough of them to really know much about that. With all being said, the tone, with using this DI box, is just a good o'l fashioned SVT tube amp tone which is what I was after in a bass tone, nothing more...

There were buzzes all over the place but that was probably due to the fact that it was imported from who knows where? Korea? and encountered a lot of climate changes,...also I am sure they never really have time to set up an inexpensive bass like this anyway. I do like the fact that the strings are centered nicely on the fingerboard and it will stay that way since the neck can't move around in a neck pocket of some type. Overall, all the adjustments for the pickup heights, the intonation, the string height, neck relief, was close but I had to adjust or tweak everyting some to get it the way I like it

This bass is probably as tough as they come really. Even the finish seems fairly resistant to normal wear. The jack is the "barrel type" and the cord goes in and feels very solid. The only weak link I found was the little plastic washers between the tuning knobs and the bridge. One of them dissenigrated and now the tuning knob turns harder than the others. I was going to search for a small metal washer to replace them all with, but never did yet. The harder turning tuning knob hasn't been that big of a deal yet. This is a bass I think I can depend on and being passive, I never worry about a battery. The DI box runs off of the phantom power from the mixer or battery. I use the phantom power.

never delt with a live person. Ordered online and the bass was on my doorstep in 3 days. I order the strings from musicyo the same way. They have always arrived...

I have been playing on and off, both guitar and bass since the early 90's. If it was lost or stolen, I would probably get another bass just like it although I would still like one of the graphite models that musicyo just brought back. I love the compact size and ease of string replacement. It also sets up on top of my computer desk on its own without a stand because of its symetrical end. I hate the cost of the double ball strings but fortunately as I stated, I don't have to buy them too often,...You can get a little device that goes on the neck end of the bass that lets you use regular strings but the "string changing ease" would be compromised. The only thing I really wish it had was the original looking bridge. That's totally for looks because the bridge that is on it, seems to function perfectly though. I also wish the frets were of a little harder composision. I wouldn't really change the neck,...its maple and very stable

This is a 2002 Steiny made in Korea {I think} 4 dbl ball end strings neck through body construction {gives it a very solid feel}. 2 vol {1 for each p/u} and 1 tone controls. Passive emg select pickups. Its all maple with white paint. You only get 2 choices white/black. I already have a xt 5 string fretless in black so I wanted a little difference. The style is very small and looks very "hi tech". The tuners are Ned Steinberger design on the rear of the bass/bridge. It has a rather fat neck with med jumbo frets. Comes with a flimsy gig bag, 2 hex wrenches, guitar cable {cheap but works} packaged very well from the factory {Gibson who owns the rights to Steinberger}.

I play a lot of Rock, Blues with a lot of slap and since I have owned a Steiny before I was really looking forward to this 4 string coming along. I also slap quite a bit to make a lot of things a little more funky and this bass seems to suit that style very well. I play through a GK700 combo with a 15" peavy black widow as an extension. Maybe I am just spoiled with GK but It makes this little bass really do what a good bass is supposed to do. You can get really high range sound with good bottom. Or you can tweak the tone knob and get some really nice lows out of her to. So far I have only played this live and it works really nice for my style. It seems that both P/U's have a couple of sweet spots with the volume knobs. If you crank the knobs to 10 you get a decidedly more boosted compressed edge to your sound. If you back them off and roll the tone off, it gives a nice clean sound in most all range's. So far I am really please with this bass and I will update this as time goes by. The only thing I don't like in particular is the strings they are shipped with. I am still looking for a decent set I may get some La bella's or something}

Factory set up was pretty good, I tweaked the truss rod to add just a little relief and lowered the action on the G and raised the action on the A "a little". Overall thought it was really nice. Intonation was perfect. I might add I ride my bass really high on my chest and I really like the way it balances on my body.

Everything on the bass seems to be really solid and I think it will last a long time. They did use Plastic strap buttons but even they seem pretty solid. I changed out the plastic ones on my 5 string fretless for some locking type which really I don't know which I like better. I find the locking type tend to spin around on the knobs and can get irratating at a show or even rehersal, between songs. So I am going to leave the plastic ones on for now and see how they perform.

I got a $10 off coupon the same day I ordered my bass and sent it to Musicyo.com, will see if they honor it or not. I will update on this point cause I am kind of testing them on this issue. Otherwise never needed them.

I have been playing a long time to many years to count and I have owned many name brand basses and in a way all this time searching for that "just right" bass. I really like this bass for where I am at in my musical journey now. It may change as I am sure it will, but overall I really think this is a keeper. If it were stolen I would buy another one. For new guy's I don't know if I would, recommend this bass only because of the body design, although for me it is really easy to play. So if your new at bass try something more traditional and if you are unsatisfied after a while then try a Steiny to me they are really cool.

This appears to be a 15 year old Steinberger Spirit "Paddle" bass. My wife bought it for me used in St. Louis for our 10th anniversary seven years ago. This one's all black with a black fingerboard. It has 3 tone/gain controls for the two passive EMG Select p/u's.

Great! I'll pack this cheap gem to any gig. Very even tone with no noticable dead spots.

I bought it used from a dealer and only adjusted the intonation a bit on my own. There's a very slight hint of a bow in the neck around fret 16, but I like my action up a bit so I haven't even bothered to mess with it. Neck alignment perfect. Doesn't react to weather changes. I don't care for the newer knock-offs with the rosewood fingerboards. This bass looks cool in black.

This base will last forever. In the ten years I've played it on a weekly basis, I'm just noticing some fret wear.

N/A

I love it for its quality and value. I have a Rickenbacker 4003 and a Gibson Ripper, and this bass easily matches both for tone. Plus, it's a lot easier to tote around.

I purchased my Steinberger XT2 from Musicyo.com over two years ago in November 1999. I had always wanted a traditional Steinberger, and this was the closest I was going to get. Who cared if it wasn't graphite? It arrived within a week (and to Canada, yet!). Right out of the box, it was mostly in-tune, and it came with a cheap but functional gig-bag (meaning it was thin, but wouldn't break anytime soon), a cheap cable (I had plenty of good ones to use), some allen wrenches, and instructions. It has typical features: two passive EMG Select pickups, two volume and one tone knob, 24 frets, meple body, rosewood fingerboard. Nothing fancy.

Sounded great to me. I was not entirely picky, as I am just a hobby bass player. I am not serious abou my bass playing whatsoever, but I know a good sound when I hear one. I heard one. Active pickups would be nice to upgrade to at some point, but the sound was clean and easily comparable to instruments in the $1000 range.

Yes, this bass would withstand live playing easily, or at least just as easily as any other. Being wood, it still is as vulnerable to temperature and humidity, but stays in tune much more than some of my 'traditional' basses. The only gripe I had was within two months I had to replace the washers on the tuners; they had worn out and were pretty cheap. New washers cost $3 and I have never had the same problem since in two years! The finish is still in great shape, although I needed to adjust the truss rod once. No biggie.

Never had to deal with them yet, but I understand they are very supportive and helpful. I assume dealing with them would be no hassle.

This bass was an absolute steal. See, I have heard plenty of stuff about Steinberger and Gibson and Spirits being cheap imports and Hohner being better than Steinberger and blah blah blah, etc. I am a hobby bassist, I wanted the bass for the shape and design, and would rather pay US$229 than ten times that for a graphite that most likely would never leave my house.

The Spirit serves it's purpose in every way for me, and I am not disappointed with it in the least!

I bought this one new this past year from musicyo.com. What a find--especially for the low price. It has a two octave rosewood fretboard, and, I believe, a three piece maple neck that runs through the body(what little body there is). The most striking thing about the instrument is the headless, bodyless design. The instrument requires double-ball end strings that do not wind around pegs, but instead are pulled back directly by the special Steinberger tuning mechanism, which pretty much never goes out of tune. Although this is a full scale bass, because of the revolutionary design, it takes up very little space and is wonderful for throwing in the back of the car in case a playing opportunity should appear(and I know it will be in tune, too).
Other things:
-two EMG Select pickups(passive)
-flip open metal panel aids in sit-down play (because there is no body)
-two volume knobs, one master tone, like a Jazz bass
-the bottom of this bass is completely symmetrical...there there is a strap peg on either side. This means that you can lean it against anything and the bass will not fall over - no stand required! I find this very useful.
-the bass sits really well on a strap. No headstock means it is not neck heavy. It sits at a perfect angle. The minimal body design means you can reach any fret on the instrument.

It was very surprising the first time I heard the sounds coming out of this instrument. It is really good. Put it on the bridge pick up and roll down the tone a bit and you get a nearly fretless swell to each note. Give all the high frequencies, and you can make some funky sounds. Jazz bass like tones are also accessable, and the neck picup by itself or in combination with the bridge bring out more tonal possibilities including some good for rock and blues.

The set up at the factory was pretty good, though I did lower the action just a bit, and set the intonation a little better but I can not really complain. Also, the bass came with all the tools to do this(a couple alan wrenches). The pickups/electronics are quiet and sound great...perfectly quiet. My instrument is painted a gloss black, which was done very professionally.

One odd thing though....maybe a shipping issue...you have to put on one of the strap pegs yourself, and this required a drill. It was pretty simple to do, though; took about 5 mins.

I get the impression that this bass is near indestructable. It seems really solid. It is small, with no headstock, so if it falls over, there is little leverage to break anything. The materials used in construction are all quality....no plastic anywhere, except maybe the strap pegs. This bass can be beat on, thrown in the car, and taken out to play at the end of the day and it will still be in tune.

NA

This bass is cool. I highly recommend it if you can deal with the odd appearance. It really sounds wonderful and is a joy to play. It certainly blows everything out of the water in this price range.

I am a novice starting out with a Peavy Patriot and have graduated to a Steinberger Spirit XT-2 Std.Its a (4) four double ball string,25 fret,34 inch scale,dual pickup,maple,neck,passive,headless,light as a feather,gig bag included,bang for buck,deal of the day,and it sounds pretty good too.The gig bag is lame but a trip to the Mega-Lo-Mart and the purchase of a 43 inch camo shotgun case will solve that little thing. The gig bag upgrade is not recommended for airports,banks, or your local mickey d's.

You gotta be kidding.

See fit and finish.