Product: Steinberger GL3T
Price Paid: US $1000
Submitted
03/12/2003
at
10:01am
by
sah
Email: scott-a-hansen<at>uiowa dot edu
Features
:
10
black, all "plastic" (carbon graphite steinberger blend composition construction), 3 emg active pu's, 24 frets, trans-trem, small body w/ leg rest. came w/ heavy duty
steinberger gig bag, special small body stand that folds
up into bag and strap. serial # 3103, was made in fall
of 1986 (if i remember the letter i had from steinberger
from their database). neck was straight as can be. the
trans-trem was patially the original type w/ part of the "retro-fit"
mod attached. but you had to put the special screw end
ball strings in, and after i changed strings the first time, i
could never get the "trans" part to work, so i just used it as a "normal" whammy. hated changing the 9v battery in the back. that was a tight fit! originally this was a gl2t, but the owner i bought it from installed the strat single coil pu cover on it.
Sound
:
10
i thought this thing sounded great!!! very clean if you needed it to be, or nicely distorted if need be. the tran-trem as i used it was very smooth in operation, and when i didn't use it i kept it locked in standard tuning (since i didn't know how to calibrate the strings w/ the screw in string ends, couldn't transpose anything). but this thing would rarely go out of tune. and i remember pulling it out of the bag after a few weeks when i couldn't find time to play and it would still be in tune. i thought the sound of the gl3t was very transparent which lended itself for use w/ many different applications. it sounded good directly w/ distortion, and sounded great when i hooked up all my effects (my arsenal at the time was a rat distortion, ibanez phase, ibanez chorus/flanger, yamaha delay, but i never used more than 2 pedals). i think the sound of it w/ effects was enhanced w/ the active emg pu's. there were times when i felt the tone was "plasticy" and perhaps i listened to a profession musician friend who is a "tone freak". she didn't like it, but i did.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
10
action was very low, very easy to play.
built like a piece of finely crafted sculpture.
Reliability/Durability
:
10
never failed me in the 11 yrs i owned it.
Customer Support
:
8
they did send me a letter telling me the yr it was made, so decent i guess.
Overall Rating
:
10
this was my first real good guitar.
i decided to make a change after owning it for 11 yrs, and sold it and bought a parker nitefly and a cheapie spirit (which i like).
this was a great guitar, but i always felt that i didn't really need a 1000$ guitar. it served me well, and i think about it everyonce in a while, but it was time to move on. they were very well made guitars that i'm sure will last a long long time!!!!
