Steinberger GM5T

I first heard a Steinberger at a Rheostatics concert in 1992. Martin Tielli's oar shaped guitar looked kinda impotent but, man, did it sound incredible! I soon got over the initial looks shock and decided that I would try to get myself a Steinberger one day. A few years later, I happened to see my GM5T for sale (on behalf) in a local shop. Even better, the GM model has a seriously cool body shape. It has a trans trem, which I knew was supposed allow you to whammy chords and keep the strings in tune with each other (Ned Steinberger is genius!). The trem didn't do that and the guy at the shop said it was busted. But after a quick look on the net I found info on how to set up these complex trems. I haggled the salesman down to NZ$800 and now have a most fantastic and fully functional guitar.

My GM is a rather rare configuration with an EMG 60 (mini humbucker) at the bridge and an EMG SA (single coil) slanted at the neck. She is black with white binding and was made at the Newburgh factory in late 1988 (# N6940). That places it after the Gibson buy-out (Nov. 87) but before manufacture was shifted to Nashville (Jul 92). I know she is Ned's baby in every way!

There are so many fantastic features on this guitar that I could write a tome. I'll spare you and briefly go over some of my favourites. For more info, check out steinbergerworld.com.

1. Steinberger blend (epoxy/graphite) neck (solid 5-bolt attachment). This neck is much more rigid than a wooden neck and is rock solid. No truss rod required. Nice C-shape that gives rigidity but allows for fast playing. The neck is rock solid and provides great stability in tone and in string tension (holds tune like nothing else).

2. Strat-inspired body shape (actually inspired by Mike Rutherford of Genesis), but with an indent at the base to allow for string tuning at the bridge. Not only is the shape comfortable to play, it allows me to do away with a guitar stand, AND my GM's also got the curves of Aphrodite! Function AND aesthetics! The GM has it all.

3. EMGs - more on these later.

4. The legendary trans-trem is indeed a brilliant piece of engineering. Just depress the whammy bar, play a chord and allow the trem to slowly come up to normal string tension and you will hear that this trem is something special. It's takes a bit of time to set up, really only works perfectly with special calibrated strings (La Bella, if you can find them) and the bar and locking pin are a bit finnicky. However it produces a good amount of sustain (I notice a slight increase in sustain when the trem is locked) and allows you to do things that no other trem can do.

Rating the features? How could I give it anything but the highest rating, 9 (nothing's perfect).

The pickup configuration (60 at the bridge and SA at the neck) is verstile. I think of my GM as a perfect single coil instrument. This guitar is to a strat or tele what a CDs are to vinyl albums. Both are good and fun and have their applications but when it comes to focus, definition, dynamics, and verstility of expression, there is not contest. The pickups are noisless. The SA can be warm and ballsy, glassy, and biting, depending on how I play and set up the eq and volume. However it always sings - very musical. It is a brilliant pickup and heaps of great players use it. The 60 is best known as metal pickup (Metallica). However it is much more than that. In combination with the SA, it adds serious bite. On it's own, it can be anything from clean to stinking hot and ugly. The 60 is a true Jeckyll and Hyde, capable of both single coil and humbucker tones. The EMGs are active, have weak magnets, work really well raised right up near the strings, are very sensitive to picking dynamics, and produce fantastic harmonics. They have a relatively flat frequency response, meaning that with careful eq-ing I can approximate many different classic guitar sounds. However, I can not "nail" the vintage strat, tele or LP sounds. But I can take those basic tonal concepts into new tonal dimensions - which is much more interesting and fun than trying to sound like a 50 year old guitar. Admittedly I can't get very close to a fat compressed middy LP humbucking sound without some signal processing, but by just playing with the eq, I can get close to a strat and tele.

The GM sounds best through my Yamaha DG60 solid state amp. I sometimes use a PSK wah, Alesis Quadraverb and/or Boss CE-20 Chorus, and I tend to rely on the amp for overdrive when I need it. The high output of the EMGs makes the Steinberger really shine through effects.

I also have a Rockit Mesa Boogie copy which uses 6L6 valves. This tube amp doesn't do the guitar justice. It still sounds good and I can rock out with it, but that amp just doesn't output the depth or definition that this guitar can produce.

I think that the GM would suit anything from metal to jazz to country. Another reviewer thought it might not suit blues. I can see that. The Steinberger sound is highly defined. It does not easily produce the kind of tonal and harmonic anomalies that are cool to exploit in blues playing. However, that may be possible in comination with the right amp and/or overdrive device.

I bought my Steinberger second-hand. There are no flaws with the guitar apart from the input jack which crackles a bit because it is well-worn. Not unexpected for a well-used 17 year old guitar. The finish is great, as is the body binding. The neck is 1 piece Steinberg Blend composite so there will never be any finish/binding issues with it.

This guitar was extremely well made.

Newburgh Steinbergers are legendary for their durability and reliability. Mine stays in tune like nothing else. The tuning system does not twist the strings, so I have never broken a string. How reliable is that?!!

There are great Steinberger resources on the web (especially stuff on the transtrem). I have never dealt with the company (now Gibson). It may be difficult to get parts for these original Steinbergers. I will replace the input jack and am a bit worried that I might not find an original replacement part. If anyone knows how to get one, please email me.

These Newburgh Steinbergers are up at the pinnacle of guitar craftsmanship and playability. No wonder Ned won many design awards for his Steinbergers. The instrument is very expressive and versatile. I also have an early 70s pristine Gibson L6-S and an Epiphone Spotlight. I really like their humbucker tones, but they can't do what the Steinberger does. It is my choice for single-coil type tones.

I have also compared the Steinberger to a late 70s Ibanez (Cimar) neck-through maple/alder with coil-tapped humbuckers, an Ibanez Roadstar (SSH), and a nice Jap Strat copy (Seiwa Centruy Crown) with EMG SAs and the SPG (mid-range boost), ala David Gilmour. All very nice guitars but not in the same league as the Steinberger.

The Newburgh Steinbergers haven't been produced since 1992, but they still come up on ebay fairly regularly. I think they are fantastic value for money even at > $1000. I would love to try out one of the original all composite, neck-through L series (oar shaped) with two EMG60s. In my dreams...

If anybody out there is interesting in listening to what a Steinberger can do in the hands of a master musician, check out the Rheostatics (eg. Whale Music). Martin Tielli mainly uses a Steinberger. Truly inspirational sound and playing!