Steinberger Spirit GT Pro

Black, HSH pickup config (EMG Selects), 5 way switch, Steinberger R-Trem, all maple, neck-through, 24 frets, 25.5 inch scale.
I got it in 2003. It prectically immediatelly replaced my sole electric guitar for the prior 18 years, whic has happened to be an Ibanez Blazer Custom.
I was a kid in the eighties when Steinberger rose to prominence, and I was dead set against them. They looked ugly to me (back then), and since I grew up behind the iron curtain, had no idea about them apart from the radical design. At the end of the decade a friend of mine bought a Hohner copy, a G2T, in an unusual black&white 'harlequin' color, and playing it for 15 minutes just reassured my bad initial feelings about them. Didn't even thought of them for ten years.
1999 found me in Sydney, Australia, and just upon my arrival in May, the city what I called home for the following two and a half years treated me with a nice event, the Sydney Jazz Festival. I saw Chad Wackerman's band (ex-Zappa), and his then very young guitarist, James Muller, playing a Steinberger GL2 hardtail. It sounded good, nothing special, but he seemed to be playing it so effortlessly as I have never seen anybody playing a guitar. It made me curios, so I checked them on the net, it turned out that I have no chance of getting a real one price-wise. But I got sold on the ergonomics. So next time I went to see James Muller he played with his own trio in a venue called Side On. He played the Steiny, and guess what, this time it sounded unbelievable. IN his band he was not forced to be an aussie version of Allan Holdsworth (as he sounded in Chad's excellent band), and played the concert with no gain practically, and I fell in love with the mud-less tone of the dual EMG 85 setup. From then on I followed him wherever he played just to hear the guitar.

Well, well, well. Dunno. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I don't. The select pickups are much debated here, and most of the reviewers don't fancy them. Me neither, but they do the job. I did the mod someone suggested here(which made the pu selection neck only-neck and bridge-bridge-bridgeandmiddle-middle)and I prectically only use it as a dual hb setup. I can normally tweak my Tech21 TRI-A.C. to find satisfaction, no matter what I play through, bass amps, PA, etc. but once in a studio I plugged it into an AC30 during ciggie break, which was used by the band's other guitarist, who played an Am Stand Tele, and sounded nice,and no matter what I did, could not get rid of the muddiness.
Andy Y, founder of steinbergerworld.com, suggests to replace the pots that come as standard on the guitar to advance its sound, but I haven't got around doing it yet. I actually plan to ditch the pu-s and install a single EMG 85 into the bridge position. Always fancied single pu guitars, and Bill Frisell proved with his early '80s SG that you can play even advantureous jazz on them just fine.

The guitar has been bought from the now defunct Musicyo company by an associate of mine, and been brought to Hungary in the overhead luggage bin in his Deluxe gig bag, which is a very thin, not at all deluxe thingy, providing sufficient protection only agains dust, germs and scratches. But against all odds, it arrived safe and sound and felt like a way more expensive instrument.
It is the most comfortable guitar for me. The next easiest thing to play after air-guitar.
The shape, the size, the weight. The neck shape, oh my, oh my, the neck shape!!!!!!!! It IS the neck shape for me.

God Bless Ned Steinberger!
Reeves Gabrels was spot on when he called him the Leo Fender of his generation.

It is a very reliable piece of equipment.
It is a very durable piece of equipment too.

Musicyo did not ship to my country, I had to ask someone to order it in continental the US and bring it over here.
They sent me a one sentence email to bugger off, when I wanted to buy from them.
No warranty, no nothing, they're out of business now, as Gibson decided to bring back most of its mothballed brands handled by Musicyo to brick and mortar music shop. I doubt that I would be better off with this change.

I love this guitar. It is an official copy of the landmark GL series (which is not produced since 1998, with no plans of reproduction whatsoever), so it practically only sports the ergonomic benefits of Ned's wonderful design. But it is enough to put anything I ever played and will play into shame. I hope I will be able to collect original Steinys in the future, but until it I actually am planning to buy another one, an SSH setup in white this time, and turn it into a Nashville Tele.
It certainly is not for everybody. The chunky neck, the weird shape, the headless design, the single spring whammy bar are all features needs getting used to. But once one gives it a chance, one wonders why aren't they the golden standard for solid-bodied electric guitars.

purchased used, removed middle pickup and installed 3 way selecter switch. The rest of the features have been covered in previous reviews.

Very bright guitar, sustain decent. Unplugged it is decently loud, plugged in the pickups are mediocre but with proper fiddling can be used for most styles, but less so for probably blues. For the price however it completely blows away the competition.

The most comfortable guitar I have played to date. I honestly dont really care how it sounds, but this guitar is just ergonomically designed very well. Sitting down with the built in leg rest makes it rest perfectly on my leg and make hours of playing as comfortable as possible. Standing up the guitar has zero neck-drop and weighs very little so playing for hours standing up is alot easier. In addition bringing it on flights is pretty easy since it fits into almost all baggage compartments.

The neck is slightly thick, but is very playable. It just fits my hand just right. Upper fret access is very good. The tremolo on this thing beats the shit out of a floyd rose, and stays in tune for weeks at a time of daily playing. The trem is a bit stiff, but I like it that way.

this guitar is through-neck, and is quite sturdy. Solid maple, could probably beat someone to death with it and still stay in tune. One concern is parts in the R-trem wearing out, so buying a second one might be an option down the road.

had to ask musicyo what size hex keys were used to lock the tremolo bar in. they emailed me back 2 hours later with the correct size. thats pretty good

with a pickup upgrade, for under 500 bucks, this guitar will beat the shit out of anything ibanez or jackson makes for even double the price. Ned Steinberger's innovations in guitar building are almost 30 years old, but no other company has used these ideas. Its such a shame, because all these other guitar companies are stuck in the past rehashing the same old bad ideas. The headless design in general is a superior method to make guitars and if the guitar industry wasn't so afraid of change it would have taken over by now.

Gloss black, H/S/S, 5 way switching, very nice Steinberger trem - full floating/locking. Made in Korea, 24 frets (check out what Ed Roman Guitars has to say about 22 vs 24 fret necks). It seems that many Korean made guitars are full of very nice features for the price and in my opinion this guitar is no exception.

I play blues based rock and spacey, ambient finger-picked stuff through my Korg Pandora and Roland Cube amp. I like the bridge pickup a lot and rarely use the middle and neck single coils. The bridge pick up is rich sounding and responds well to the tone and volume controls. I'm considering changing the middle and neck pick ups but not sure what would be a good replacements. I replaced the factory 10 - 46 strings with 9 - 42 D'addarrio's and was terribly disappointed in the resulting thin sound. I quickly ordered some La Bella's from JustStrings.com and was once again very happy with the sound.
This thing stays in tune - period!
For my intended use thing guitar is just about perfect.

Out of the box this guitar was set up perfectly. There were a couple of minor finish flaws but for the price I have no complaints. I like the fact that I because of the access to the trem I can wiggle that thing around like crazy without using the tremolo bar, just my fingers!

This little beast seems to be built as solid as anything I've ever played. I have no doubts that it will last a long time.

After 35 years of playing I can honestly say this is the most comfortable electric guitar I've ever played. I bought this specifically to leave in camp, but it flys home with me every time now. I rarely play my Strat these days.
My one complaint is that double ball end strings can be a pain for me to find. Easy enough to rectify by buying a few sets at a time on line.
I would buy a replacement in a heart beat if anything happened to this one.

This review is about a Steinberger Spirit GT Pro, which is an entry level and cheap version of the great graphite-Steinbergers, it's made in Korea.
I've bought this guitar because I travel a lot and I need an instrument to carry with me on long flights.
I selected it based on it's affordable price and the features which makes it a fully functional guitar even for performances, yet the size is incredible small, fits easily to the overhead compartments on airplanes.
The body stlye is the well known (yet strange) shape called "The Broom", with shiny black finish. The bridge (including tuners) is an original Steinberger R-Trem Roller tremolo with direct-pull 40:1 fine tuners. The neck is maple (made from 3 pieces) and of course, headless. The scale length is 25.5", which is a bit long for my small hand, the back is curved. The scale is rosewood.
It has 2 pots, (volume/tone) and a 5-way switch. Pickups are Select by EMG (far from the original EMG), H-S-H. It has passive electronics.
It included a well done gigbag, hex tools for the screws.
Later I've bought an accessory for using single-ball standard strings (it can be fixed to the end of the neck)
I have to mention how difficult was to buy this string adapter in Hungary: The European dealer in Germany has no stock, the price is almost 50% more expensive and the expected shipping time is several month. I tried to buy it online in MusicYo but it was not possible to fill the order form, because my country is missing from the list of countries. Then I wrote several emails to them: they even didn't responded a word. :( Then I tried the same in Ed Roman Guitars, but they also haven't replied.
At last, my japanese friend bought it in the nearby guitar shop in Osaka and sent it to me, and it was cheaper than if I buy it from US. Funny...

I like to play various styles, mostly I prefer smooth jazzrock, blues, "classic" rock from 70's-80's years. The guitar is ok for these styles, however it the lack of the Stato style clean, bright and contured sound limits it's usability. A modelling amp or effect (I used Digitech RP50) can help a little, but don't expect wonders...
The sound is strong and warm, but a was not clean enough for me, but with the modelling processor I can use it for many kind of styles effectively.
It sounds good distorted, can played hard enough.
I missed the more flexible tone control switch configuration as it can be found on Hohner G3T (which is a very similar guitar).
With better pickups and active electronics it could have a very wide variety of nice sounds, I'm sure.

The setup was not perfect, however I bought it second-hand in "as new" condition.
I brought it to a local guitar shop and they did every needed setup, they told, it was not easy.
I still have problems, some strings have a "buzz" at higher pitches, and it is a quite but definite abnormal resonance from the bridge sometimes.
I also have problems to setup the bridge and the tuners perfectly. There is a lever to set the bridge to fixed and a "floating" position (for tremolo) it was quite difficult to setup correctly to do not detune if I switch form one position to the other.
Maybe it was my fault, but I'm not quite sure how it works correctly and I prefered to use it in fixed mode.
The tuning knobs are a bit tight, they need a high initial force to adjust, then it was easy.
Action is ok, playing is comfortable, even I used to my Yamaha's more slim neck. It needs to time to get used to because of the small body, the balance is different, but after some hours it feels natural and next time the "normal" guitar body feels bulky and heavy. :)
The only problem is the position of volume, tt can be easily turned accidentaly while playing because it's too close to the strings.

It's a well built guitar with robust hardware and fittings. I used it for half a year and carried on several flights.
I can trust in this guitar, beyond the mentioned weaknesses above it seems very reliable and durable.

Fortunately, I don't need any repair, but I tried to buy accessory (string adapter).
As far as I know, it's support made by MusicYo. Because they even haven't replied to my emails, I should rate it very bad. The European dealer replied but their was not very experted.

I'm an amateur guitar player, I started 25 years ago, but still I can position myself to the intermediate level only.
I used Yamaha SG200 and Yamaha RGX121D before this guitar. I prefer the RGX121D, she's my sweetheart. :)
The Steinberger is not bad at all, I liked it, it was good to play it, but I sold it not long ago because I haven't used it as frequently as I expected.
If I would buy instrument for the same purpose and same style, I rather want a used Hohner G3T or (if I can afford) a real graphite Steninberger, especially the new Synapse.
So the concept and design of the guitar is incredible good, and for it's price is good enough.
With better pickups, active electronics and more flexible pickup selector, and without the string buzz it could be a top guitar even without graphite body.
However, if your budget is limited and you need it mostly for carry on and sometimes play even live performance, it is a very reasonable choice.

Black Deluxe model

Features??:
- small, travel guitar,
- bridge can works like floyd, can be also locked,
- solid state maple guitar,
- can be played on sitting position too.

This is not a guitar optimized for sound but for above features and price

I play jazz, blues, 70-ties. My regular box occupy a place of two large suitcases. I needed something smaller to practice during holidays and weekends.

I was nicely surprised on the raw, unplugged sound. Is really nice and much better than "plugged" I tried it on JC-120 and full-lamp model built on EL84 (like Vox models) Also played through Behringer X-Vamp.

And all You folks write about pickups is right. My experience is: when raw sound is good You can expect nice results when You have right pickups. So I give it less due to very cheap sound when delivered as it is. I'm sure that putting Air Zone (DM) in front and Alnico II (Seymour) in the middle will change this guitar totally. So it has great potential to everyone who likes to pay more money :)

Second nice thing is bridge. When unlocked it has typical sustain of floyd-rose. In the middle between accoustic nylon and lespaul. But locked (with some tension) works more like Les Paul. I was surprised by this difference. I prefer it locked!

As electric guitar without modifications? Flat, transparent equal sound withot definition, dynamics and any kind of colour. Can be described as rather plastic sound.

This guitar is not set at the factory at all.
So reserve 4 hours and have an experience or very good book to make it by Yourself. Set-up of this thing is complicated. On the other hand I like things I can adjustin almost every aspect. Finish avarage in the price range. Neither really bad nor perfect. Action not dramatically low. Neck? You must be a little patient and just get used to. Rather round and fat. Should be stable.

Can't tell You yet. Seem to be reliable. Everything is screwed rather strongly. It is simple solid construction. I don't expect problems.

Oh please. I don't like them. When I ordered it for the first time they return money 'cause they ran out of stock (so they billed first and check for availability later - nice guys :) Than they proposed to gave them an email to inform me when those guitars will arrive. I'd never received any email they promised however guitars became available.

Small travel guitar. Good raw sound. Two bridges in one.
Can be used as electric guitar with fancy lookand transparent sound suitable for electronics.

if your serious about getting a "cricket bat" you'll have read all the product spec - so I won't bore you.

sound is good from the two humbuckers (located one at the neck/one at the bridge (although with a little buzz) - don't bother with the single coil it's as weak as gnats urine!

Through neck helps makes this litle guitar feel more solid than it looks and aids overall tone and sound.

not many complaints here, this litle guitar was ready straight out of the box with the factory set up being more than adequate . I did adjust the height of the pickups slightly in order to get good input levels on my GT3.

There were a few litle flaws on the fretboard around the 16/17th frets under the top E string, but not enough to upset me!

The pickup selector is positioned in between the volume and tone knobs - totally crazy position to put it - unreachable if in a hurry!!

I bought this guitar primarily as a back up guitar for my live work(my number 1 guitar is a '97 USA strat with fender lace sensors installed and a nice pearly scratchplate) but ended up playing it for 90% of my gigs last year.

This guitar is the ideal backup guitar - its size is great, its solid as hell, this baby never goes out of tune - totally dependable

never had any cause

have been playing 10years electric, used all sorts of jap strats in the past etc.. this guitar beats all of them - plus looks cool as a cucumber, generating plenty of interest a gigs.

Would definately invest in pukka US Steinberger

Verdict: the best backup guitar available <#500 (unless your minted and can afford 2 PRS's!)

you already know that

sound is ok,not great, but better than i expected,
through a good amp,you can get a decent sound.
I own several amps,like it a lot through a Dr Z carmen Ghia.
This guitar can be used for all types of music

overall quality is very very high for the price,finish is very good,playability is great once you get used to the small size.

I think it will hold on. Will let you know when i have used it for peddling

I have several good guitars; gibson les paul custom,gibson es 335,fender strats and this guitar is just something different.
I won't use it as a prime instrument,but more for travelling and just for plain fun. I like it a lot. BIG BANG 4 SMALL BUCKS!

I have been playing for 17 years,always liked the design and have owned a Hohner G2T in the past.
I think that the gt pro is better than the old G2T,but i suppose that they came from the same factory.

This has been covered elsewhere. Version I have is black (the silver/grey version is horrible to look at and worse to play) and has the H-S-H pickup arrangement. Got the string converter with it so that I can use normal strings when necessary. Double-ball strings are better, though: they take no time to change!
Features are fine generally with the lockable trem/tuners being fantastic - I *so* hate Floyd-Rose trems now and was looking for a hardtail but this is wonderful. And the whole headless thing is just so much better than conventional guitars. If guitarists weren't such posers Steinbergers would have taken over the world.
Thought: I have a Steiny that needs double-ball strings and a Washburn with a Floyd-Rose that need no-ball strings. Pity I can't do a ball transplant... ;o)

Use this for a number of styles and have had it a few months now. The more I play it the more I prefer it! This was supposed to be a practice guitar but it has become my main guitar now. The sound lacks character on its own but this is actually a blessing in disguise. It seems to respond particularly well to the use of effects to set the sound and is a far more versatile guitar than my Washburn Mercury or my SG copy.
I use it for jazz (with an acoustic simulator: single coil into ac sim gives acoustic, HB into ac sim gives hollow body sound), blues, indie and "pop". Sustain is good with the trem locked - I hardly ever use it unlocked - no dead spots. Could be longer though.
I may rewire it one day (if I can stop playing it long enough) with coil taps for even more versatility. Or not.

The neck and body finish were pretty much perfect (apart from a few belt buckle scratches on the back). The neck is well-finished: the frets are polished and dressed beautifully. The set up was crap - intonation was out on every string and the action was too high. The pickups were uneven as well. Only the truss rod setting was right. And this was from a music shop not mail order!
Full points to the manufacturer but not to the retailer.

Everything feels solid and, being smaller than normal, it seems absolutely bomb-proof. Who the hell thought of putting machine heads on a headstock where they get knocked out of tune all the time (unless you have a locking nut)? This headless arrangement is *way* better, especially with a through-body neck rather than a "bolt-on" (which is actually screwed on) neck as found on most conventional guitars.

Only Sound Control in the UK deal Steinbergers. They're OK once you get to know the guys but they're the usual idle-assed sharks otherwise. They're just a big faceless company who employ a bunch of shop boys and girls. Staff don't seem to care about the company or vice versa. Not good business I'd have thought but, hey.
They haven't done much in the past to promote their Steinberger monopoly but they've just dropped the price from #299 to #199 so I'll give them a few points for that - even though they waited until after I'd bought mine!

I'm mainly a keyboardist but have been playing guitar for a few years now. The Steiny has allowed me to get in a lot of practice in time that would otherwise be lost (lunch at work, evenings in hotels, etc.). As I said the more I use it the more I love it and the sillier ordinary guitars seem.
I love the shape and size; I love the partability; I even love the lack of character (as I first saw it) in the sound. I dislike the placement of the volume control (right where you strum, duh!), though it doesn't bother me for picking.
I would definitely buy another, evenif the price hadn't come down. And that's the most lovable thing about it, the one thing I didn't get - the new low price! This makes it excellent vaue for money.

I have a H-S-H model Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro made in in 2002. The usual features - but I did not like the original pickups so I swapped out those for a Gibson Classic '57 PAF in the neck and a Classic '57+ in the bridge - with no middle (no single coil) pickup. So it is wired up more like a Les Paul with just H-H wiring through the volume and tone controls.

I have Strats, a Les Paul, 335, and Ibanez RG - what I wanted was a guitar that would be able to go anywhere and perform well.. I got way more than I ever expected.

This guitar is really unique in that you have complete control over all of the setup options (truss, intonation, bridge...) without having to take the guitar apart to get to them. The mechanical design is outstanding - very practical. All of the controls make it extreemly easy to get an optimal setup.

This is a sraight up guitar, no onboard electronics... all of the controls/features that are there are great.

(This sound review is for the Gt Pro with 2 Gibson pickups installed - not with the original pickups)
I have a lot of guitars and have played guitar for 30+ years - some of those years as a pro. I know what I like and what sounds good to me. I use this guitar with a TubeWorks 2100R (with Mullard tubes), a bunch of Fulltone gear and an H&K 2x12 cab. I play a lot of different styles from Jazz/fusion/rock/heavier stuff.. My natural style is going for a combo of EJ/Keaggy style/tone with a bit of Holdsworth (1950's John Coltrane) jazz/fusion vib. But, I also play a lot of stuff that is a cross between Malmsteim and Satriani.

The sound with the original pickups was nothing great. But, with the Gibson Classic '57/'57+ combo the sound is really increadable and very unique. I was just hoping to get a good travel guitar when I got this, but really what happened was that I got a guitar that sounded so good (with the Gibson pickups) that it opened up a whole new sound for me to work with.

The sound.. (w/the Gibson Pickups) The sound is really interesting because it is very Les Paul like, but more ballanced without quite as much bite as a Les Paul (with the same pickups installed).

In the neck position: The sound is very rich, round, and just warm enough without being muddy. The classic '57 is a great pickup - which does 1/2 the job - but the all maple neck/body resonates well and has great tone. The maple wood is well matched for the pickups I put in this guitar because it gives a lot of warmth and softens the high end enough to get a very nice bell like tone from the neck. I would compare the sound to a Les Paul neck sound with a bit more focussed mids - which is great for playing fast fusion runs where clearity, articulation, and dynamics are really important. Of all the guitars I own, the sound of this neck pickup is one of me favorates - right between a strat neck w/Fender fat '50s pickup and a Les Paul w/a Classic '57 - not too beefy and not too thin - just right for clean/overdriven leads. Chords are clear, you hear a lot of the harmonies that normally get muddy-uped by lesser pickups or a guitar that is dead sounding. I tell ya, after the first time I played this after I got it all setup I literally had a smile on my face for weeks - it's a sound that is so fresh it never gets old to my ears (and its been 3 years).

In the bridge position: The sound (again with the Classic '57+ not the original bridge pickup) is very rich, on the warm side for a bridge pickup with plenty of bite. This is an great classic rock sound (think Bad Co's Bad Co). The sound of the Classic '57 in the bridge retains all of the charactor of the neck sound described above with a bit more bit and a lot more upper mids w/less low end. With the right amp and/or effects - you can get a great early EJ or Holdsworth sound. The sound has just enough bite with warmth, and just enough sustain - with the wood/pickup combo in the bridge position you can get all the sustain, tone and dynamics you want depending on how you play the note - more so than any guitar I have played. The bridge sound is a nice difference from the neck pick up sound with this pickup combo.

Sound with the neck and bridge together: This is a classic Les Paul sound - very Glass Harp/early Keaggy sounding. This is actually a good mix of the neck and bridge sound - I find my self playing more with the neck/bridge together than either by them selves.

All around, this is the best sounding guitar that I have ever played. Although, it's not the exact LP or Strat sound... it really has a sound all it's own that is somewhere right in the middle without the drawbacks of either.

Action, Fit & Finish - this is the greatest thing about this guitar. Of course, I got it slightly used so I don't know about the factory setup - but then again you want to do this yourself anyway if you want it to be right. I saw no flaws the finish is black, and it looks great - if you like black...

The really great thing about this guitar is that I can get extreemly low action - not a hint of a buzz and each note rings clear. The neck is like a '60's Les Paul with a longer scale and a 14" fret board radius - this guitar was made to play fast fluid runs with tone to spare.

I get the impression that this guitar was not just built to be tough, but to sustain a lot of abuse. I would (and do) play this guitar with out a backup. A person might want to get bigger straplocks, but other than that The GT Pro has held up to more than any other guitar I have.

N/A - never needed them.

I've been playing guitar for 30+ years, I own a room full or gear/guitars (see above) - if this was lost, I would replace it with the pickups I installed as soon as I could.

This is a great guitar. One thing though, I could see where some might not like, or be able to get used to, the small size. This is a minor adjustment for me when I start playing it, takes me about 5 minutes to adjust my right arm technique for the Steinberger. That said - this guitar is equal to any other I own - don't let the small price fool you - this is an outstanding guitar. BUT - you have to replace those pickups - I went with Gibson pickups - I imagine that Dimarzio PAF Pro, or Seymore Duncan Jazz pickups would also be good choices - but I really love the Classic '57/'57+ combo.

I thought I would play this guitar when I traveled, and once in a while.. but I love this thing - it's the sweatest guitar I own for doing clean/over driven lead or chord work.

2003 from Music-Yo. The features are great for the price. This is not a professional model. Exceeds expectations.

Sounds a little bright, I'm not a big EMG fan, but it sounds ok.

The knobs, switch, and jack are very solid. The bridge parts are good too. The neck is not perfect, but way good for the price.

I've traveled a bunch with this thing, it's taken more than it's share of abuse with no problem. It's definitely sturdy, and holds up well even with the cheap-ass gig bag they give you.

It broke three high E strings in one day. I emailed them about buying a box of .009 strings. The only reply I got was a box in the mail with four sets of strings. This was ok, but a reply would've been nice too...

I needed a travel guitar, and this thing fits the bill great! I've played four or five gigs with it while my main axe was broken and it worked fine. Gets lots of looks and comments. I always bring it as a spare. If lost or stolen, I'd replace it for sure, may even get a real USA model. Again, this is not the professional model, but I would not have regretted paying $500 for it. Great axe...