Steinberger GR4

Price 3000 NLG/ 1375 euro

Bought it around 1995.
Body made from hard-maple with an epoxy/graphite neck and phenolic
fingerboard. It has the standard "R" trem, and I have bought it with an EMG 81 and an EMG 89, but I replaced the pickups with the originals wich I bought from the same guy was owning a whole lot of collectors items like white falcons old gretches etc. It all seemed very reliable at the time but maybe I paid a little too much, but then again there wasn't anyone who had a steinberger for sale.....

After a while the bridge pick up couldn't do the job no more and I replaced it with a Joe Barden twotone costs 389NLG/ about 175 euro

My serial nr is n9505 and someone told me its a Newsbury made, but I cant say for shure only that its a real american made model.

I play a lot of different styls going from jazz/fusion to funk/soul, and because i earn a living with making music I also take every kind a gig tha comes along if I can live with it...So I also played heavy metal country bleuspop and evergreens etc with my Steinie and it prooved to be more than exelent in every situation especially thx to Mr Joe Barden for making a pick up that gives a more true sound of the guitar than a dimarzio or even duncans kinda PAFS.
Maybe I will change the duncans for Bardens cause I'm sure they will certainly do better but can't really complain yet.
I have been laughed at by my fellow musicians who called it the most ugly guitar ever seen/build because there's no head and all. But the laughing stopped immediately when I played recordings of Steinie or when I started playing on it, and I almost saw the tears in there eyes when I let them play on Steinie because they bought a overpriced fender,Les Paul,Ibanez,Jackson,Prs or other guitar cause my rocked them of their place with its warm sound in the neck, twangy stratsound midpositions, tele-chickin like bridge that also easily can scream howls like Vai or Hendrix without loosing any body.
I manage to get warm full rich sounds distorted or not, but can also have a brighter very clear sound by toggling bridge to singlecoil like position still without loosing character.
Its mostly plugged into my Mesa Boogie-TRiaxis and fiftyfifty poweramp,lexicon mpx1, marshall 4x12" sp, but sounds way cool on a fender twin also. But please do NOT believe me I rather like to see your face of unbelieve like I saw all the others pro expert or just anti headless/steinberger freaks hahahah

The action is perfect. I can set it so low that it
practically plays itself. The finish is a thick and
durable polyurethane.
But because I really use it as a tool some dings en scratches are on it, but what the f#ck should I care, never sell it anyway and all those things remind me of the places(whole europe) I've played it.
The only thing that i cant give a 10 is because it was creamy white and now turned into yellow old stainlike 63 strat, but things can be worser I'd say....

Never had any problems with the hardware until a few months ago may2005 i believe. The tremelo had to be fixed but it was a minor repair the repairer told me so I'm cool

never

I play guitar from about 1988 and owed several Ibanez Fender strats les Pauls custom and have played on lots of different guitars like PRS Tom Anderson Valley Arts(the early ones) but I will never get a guitar sounding as good like this and such smooth playability.
So if you're thinking about selling your GR or GM please send me a mail and lets talk about it cause I'looking for another one!!!
jimbo1_101@hotmail.com, jimbob1_101@yahoo.com

I own a modified late 80's GR4. It is made pf rock maple with an epoxy/graphite neck and phenolic fingerboard. It has the standard "R" trem, and I have replaced the pickups with an EMG 81 and an EMG 89.

I play progressive melodic death metal in the vein of Death, At the Gates, Extol and Spiral Architect, and this guitar has the widest and most even tone of any guitar that I have owned...perfect for what I do. It is practically transparent except for a slight rise in the bass frequencies. It has a super clear and articulate tone with pleanty of chunk. It is also a very heavy and solid feeling guitar.

The action is perfect. I can set it so low that it practically plays itself. The finish is a thick and durable polyurethane.

This guitar is nearly indestructable. I have thrown it in angry fits across stages and practice rooms many times. The hardware holds up well, but I eventually had to replace the tremolo knife edges (it is VERY cool that you can do that without having to replace the whole trem.) I stripped out the trem tension adjustment screw at one point in time, but replaced it with a hardened steel bolt from my local hardware store. I was setting it up with 13's at the time, and I think that is what did it in, but it is fine now.

I have only delt with the original pre-Gibson staff, but they were incredibly helpful and accomadating. The new costomer service sounds like they are good too, but have far fewer replacement parts on hand.

I have used this guitar exclusively for almost 10 years now. It has been my main gigging and recording axe. It sounds and plays so incredible that I can't find anything to replace it (and I have owned PRS's, Ibanez-Jem, Jackson soloist, Fender Talon, Parker Fly, etc.

Made early 90's, 1991 I think. 24 fret, r-trem, composite neck, h/s/s
passive pickup config (seymour duncan custom custom and hot rails), solid maple body, 1 vol 1 tone, healess double-ball design. The trem design is very different from anything else. Totally innovative but amazingly simple. I actually assembled the bridge and installes it using no tools and in under 5 minutes!

The bridge pickup is incredibly middy and lacks definition when played with heavy distortion, sounds great clean though but not a great choice to compliment a maple body. The hot rails are very bright and sound great clean, especially in positions 2 and 4. With distortion the hot rails lose all character and sound very plain. Despite my gripes with the pickups, the guitar itself is still amazing. The sustain lasts forever, the body is incredibly resonant, and unplugged the guitar's sound has a very distinct character. For this reason I still give it a high rating, the pickups themselves get a rating of 4 or 5.

The guitar was purchased used, and I had to buy a new trem for it. After I had it put together and strung, setting up the action was easy. It stays in tune great, plays incredible. The 5 bolt neck joint is very stable, the guitar is perfectly balanced and very comfortable to wear. This is the only steinberger I've ever played, so I can't compare it with the more expensive s trem or transtrem eguipped gm's, or the less expensive spirits, but it plays better than any guitar I've ever played ( I've owned over twenty guitars and played nameless hundreds). It puts my Gibson Les paul in second place, even smokes a PRS in terms of playability.

I'm a part time luthier's apprentice a few days a week. And like a car mechanic who doesn't want to come home to work on his own car, I don't want to have to work on my own guitars. That's the main reason I chose a Steinberger, because they're well known for their minimal maintenance requirements. Their composite blend necks never need adjusting (mine doesn't even have a truss rod), and their tremolo systems stay in tune like no other. I have only owned this guitar a few days so am yet to see how much maintenance it needs, time will tell.

Haven't dealt with the company, I know musicyo is the only one who sells them now, but there are numerous websites (www.steinbergerworld.com) dedicated to providing information about all of the models. This website even features an ask Net Steinberger question forum so you can adress the company's founder directly.

I've been playing over 10 years and have owned many guitars from Gibson to Epiphone to Charvelle to Ibanez to Washburn. I've played PRS, Parkers, Warrior guitars, This is easily the finest instrument I've ever played. Paying twice what I payed for it would have been a good buy. It's an instrument that makes you excited about playing. I might just buy another in the hopefully not too distant future. Maybe I'll spring for one of the more expensive GM models.

Made about 1990, Newburgh NY, 24 frets, wood body, composite neck, came with volume & tone and Seymour Duncan pickups H/H/H (Custom-custom, hot rails, hot rails) with passive electronics. Solid color finish. Strat style body but headless neck. 25.5" scale. Steinberger R-trem.

The Seymour Duncan pickups lacked definition for the instrumental and surf rock I like to play. I couldn't get chimy beautiful tones out of them. The sound was complex but not clean enough to suit me, I got much better tone from a cheap Cort flying-V with 2 humbuckers. There was also a lot of hum from these Seymour Duncan pickups. I replaced them with EMG 89 and 2 EMG S pickups and got the tone of my dreams, these are the pickups of definition. Now the hum is gone. The R-trem is much stiffer and harder to use than the S-trem. My rating is based on the Seymour Duncan pickups this unit came with, not the EMGs I have on it now.

I bought this used. I eventually found out the bridge fulcrum knife-edge was worn enough to throw everything off. I replaced the R-trem with a brand new one I bought from Musicyo. It was easy for me to replace, and I'm not a guitar tech. This solved the problem of the setup. Otherwise it is great. I'm rating this as if it had been brand new and had the new tremolo. The composite neck is perfect, never needs adjustment.

It stays in tune well. The R-trem wears too readily, the new one I installed shows wear on the knife edges and I don't play it that much. It is a durable guitar but the trem needs maintenance.

Musicyo helped me with this. Prior to that Gibson was rude and they refused to help. Because it is now sold by Musicyo and they give customer service I am rating it per Musicyo, not Gibson or the original STeinberger gruop.

I've been playing for 35 years. This is an excellent guitar that is fun to play. I love the tones of the pickups I put on. I love the neck and the lack of maintenance needed for it. If my steinberger GL4T were stolen I'd replace it, but if this one were stolen I would not. The reason is that I am disappointed with the R-trem. Also the guitar is a bit heavier than I prefer. Still this guitar has the sound and the playability and that counts heavily in the rating.

The GR4 was designed as a lower cost alternative to the GM line of guitars. It features the same bolt-on 24 fret headless composite neck and phenolic fingerboard as the GM, and sports the same Strat-ish body style. The GR models feature the R-Trem system (as opposed to the S-Trem or Trans-Trem on the GM), and Duncan pickups as opposed to EMGs. The GR comes with two cool rails and a custom-custom humbucker in the bridge. Although the trem is a supposedly lower cost unit, I like the operation better than the standard S-Trem, and it is impossible to get this thing to go out of tune. A single volume and Tone control plus five-way selector switch round out the feature set

OK, the only beef I have with this thing is the custom-custom... it is brittle sounding and not hot enough. I prefer even the EMG selects that came stock on my Steinberger Spirit, and that's not saying much. I plan on dropping in an EMG 85 and 2 SA's, so I don't really mind much.

I bought it used, but aside from the normal wear and tear it looks and feels great. The neck and fingerboard are indestructable.

I've owned my Steinberger Spirit since May of 93 and it's never had a problem. I expect the same of this model.

If it wasn't for the custom-custom, this thing would get a 10. Steinbergers are bulletproof, indestructable workhorses. They never break, the necks never warp, and they feel absolutely consistant from night to night and guitar to guitar. I've got two, and don't own any other guitars!