Steinberger Spirit GT Pro

Features have been well documented by others I have nothing to add.

The sound is not up to what I'm used to. This is a hard metallic sound and is at odds with my jazz, country, big band roots. Tone control taper is very much an on/off operation. By putting it through BOSS delay and Fender Frontman Series II 25R amp I came up with a useable "George Benson" type sound. Haven't been able, so far, to get the "woody jazz box" sound I like. Comes close to a Tele on brige pickup though.

Fit and finish is outstanding. I would expect a bit more had I paid over #999.99 but for the price paid (249.99) it is outstanding. I have paid much more for much worse.

I tend to think it would stand up on the bandstand. I don't do gigs without backup no matter what I'm playing. (Fender makes a nice twin gig bag)

No reason to contact them (as of this writing.

This was bought as a scratch and dent item. The only thing I could find wrong with it was a minor ding on top of the neck and it has no paperwork.
I've been playing 50 years and own more guitars, amps, effects than anyone needs.
This is no American Tele or Gibson ES175. It's not fair to compare it with guitars costing five to ten times it's price. For what it is and it's useage it's pretty outstanding and I'm happy with it.

The features have been covered before by other reviewers, but here is a quick rundown:

Technical Specifications:
Body Wing Material: Maple
Neck Material: 3-pc Hard Maple
Neck Joint: Thru-Neck
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Radius: 14"
Scale Length: 25.5"
Frets: 24
Weight: Approx. 7.0 lbs
Neck Width at Zero Fret: 1.625"
Pickups (passive): Bridge - EMG Select Humbucker
Middle - EMG Select Single-Coil (reverse polarity)
Neck - EMG Select Humbucker
Controls: 1 - Master Volume
1 - Tone
1 - Five Position pickup selector
- Neck Pickup
- Neck/Middle Pickups
- Middle Pickup
- Middle/Bridge Pickups
- Bridge Pickup
Bridge: Patented R-Trem Roller tremolo with direct-pull 40:1 fine tuners
Tuning System: Patented, Steinberger Double-Ball System
Overall Length: 30"
Finishes: Black and White

Accessories: Deluxe Gigbag included


I got the HSS version in white. The white finish is absolutely flawless. There are a few spots on the fingerboard where it appears that some white paint dripped and was partially wiped off. It doesn't affect the playability at all, so I didn't return it.


I bought this guitar for travel use, as I am an airline pilot, and I got tired of carrying around my SG or Les Paul in it's hardshell case while on my trips. I practice at least an hour a day, so this thing is a godsend in the portability department.

The guitar came with the tremolo arm, a set of allen wrenches for truss rod and string saddle screws, a cable and the "deluxe" gig bag.

Plugged in to my Pandora, this axe sounds pretty good. Plugged into my Traynor YCV20WR, it really rocks. Large variety of sounds available. The single coil sounds a bit weak, but I think it's just because I'm comparing them to the humbuckers. It does a passable Strat type tone. The bridge was very muddy out of the box on all but the cleanest amp setting, but after lowering it a bit, sounds OK. The bridge is very bright sounding.

For my purposes, the pickups are all fine, since this is primarily a practice guitar for the road, to be plugged into the Pandora PX4 and used with headphones.

This is one area where I guess you can't expect much. The high E string was missing out of the box! I had ordered a few sets of the MusicYo strings with the guitar, so at least I had an extra one. The action was buzzy and the strings didn't match the fretboard radius. Once I fixed these issues, it actually plays very well. Fret aren't too bad, but I will likely have a pro have a go at leveling and dressing them. Neck is straight, all routes are perfect, and there are no funny noises in the electronics. I keep the tremelo locked, but I did unlock it and adjusted the tuning for a while. Tuning was as rock solid with the trem unlocked as it was locked. Nice system! I carry this thing all around the country (with obviously differing climates)in airplanes, and I very rarely have to tune it beyond minor tweakings.

The strings it came with are pretty bad. I replaced them with a set obtained from MusicYo, which were slightly better. I ended up getting a few sets of D'Addario double ball strings and they are a LOT better. I'm glad that I use .010s, since these are the only ones that I can find easily. If you buy one of these guitars, buy a few sets of the D'Addarios and don't bother with the MusicYo brand strings, as they are pretty bad.

I believe that this guitar would function well as a cricket bat! It appears very durable. It's the only axe that I own that I'll carry in a gig bag (even in the supplied one!)! The finish appears indestructible and the hardware is more than adequate.

I've only Emailed them once, and they responded quickly. I was extremely impressed with the speed of delivery. I ordered it on the website late on a Saturday night, and had it on Wednesday. Not too bad.

I've been playing a bit over a year. I own an Epiphone Les Paul and a Gibson SG.

I compared this axe with other similarly priced "travel" electric guitars, and they all fell short, overall, of this one. There are a surprising number of airline pilots who play guitar, so I've had the chance to try out a few of the other travel guitars (Fernandez Nomad, Martin Backpacker, the Yamaha one and a few others) and until I tried a GT Pro, I was set on carrying around a full size!

The guitar is as expected, especially considering the price point. After some setup adjusments it plays well, and I am happy with the purchase. I LOVE the size of it and the fact that it has a 25.5" scale length.

I wish it had come with a string adapter so I can use regular strings.

The "deluxe" gig bag is a temporary solution at best. It's better than nothing, but not much.... It will not stand up to constant use (the strap was starting to tear on my first trip) and it doesn't hold the axe very securely.

I ended up buying Hohner HSS 600 series gig bag (originally for the Hohner version of the Steinberger) and it is a 100% improvement over the supplied bag. It has easily twice the padding, is made of much thicker and more durable material and the strap uses D rings that are securely sewn to the bag. It cost me $21 brand new from a dealer on Ebay which is money well spent, since it is carried with me, in and out of hotel vans, security checkpoints, cockpits etc., roughly 15 days out of the month.

This thing will never replace my SG or Les Paul, but, for a travel guitar, it's great.

Steinberger R-Trem, 2 Select by EMG hums + 1 single in middle. 24 fret neck, 5 way selector. Headless design (duh).

The R-trem and double ball system are the best I have ever experienced. Fantastic tuning stability and great sustain. Besides this I own a Gibson LP Standard (awesome) and US Fender Roadhouse Strat with SD and Kinman replacement pups (great blues tone).

Reading some of the opinions on this board I was pretty worried about buying one of these things. Well, it just came through this morning and I think it is a great little guitar, regardless of the obscenely affordable price. I ran it through my Korg PX4 and frankly it sounded GREAT with the stock pups (a relief since my next mission was going to be installing a coupla expensive SD '59's). I love the tone.

Aside from that, this is without doubt the best travel package I can think of. People might kinda wonder what you have strapped to your back however (AK-47???) since its shape in the gig bag (also perfectly good quality) is pretty suggestive.

Like I said, you have 5 useable, good quality tones here. There isn't the tonal complexity of my $1000+ strat, or the sustain of the LP but the upper fret access and tuning stability is better than both.

The neck HB is really smooth and I got some good rock sounds from the bridge. The single sounds best blended with the others and OK on its own.

Action was a bit low from the factory, so I read the instuctions, raised it and 10 minutes later... bingo. Frankly I can't fault the finish either. It fits nicely into the overhead locker of an airplane, which is why I wanted one.

It feels sturdy, surprisingly heavy and well put together so I hope it will be a faithful friend for many years. The only problem I can already forsee is the thread in the grub screws for the vibrato bar wearing out. I'll drop by my hardware store and buy some more. But then, I also had problems with the grub screws on my strat over time.

This is my one beef. I live in France and ordered the guitar from Musicyo in Nashville via FEDEX international priority. Everything was very smooth until the package arrived and I was presented with an additionnal tax bill for 83 Euros. I had assumed that this was calculated into the original value of the shipping.

Maybe I'm ignorant, but this was an unpleasant surprise and I think international customers should be warned. Still, the overall value of the instrument plus transit is still only around 400 Euros and this guitar pisses all over the cheesy Ibanez RG2550 that I tried this week for 868 Euros!

Emails are answered promptly and the people are polite (which comes as a shock to this Brit who has grown accustomed to French style customer "service").

Very surprised and satisfied with this great little instrument. Maybe I got lucky but I know shit guitars and this isn't one of them! Its always a risk buying these things online but its all turned out very nicely.

One last point - I bought a Hohner G3T back in 1999 (for the same reasons I got this) and took it back to the shop the next day since it stunk so bad. Maybe the Hohners have gone up in quality recently as well but all I can say (from my experience) is that the A/B comparison between the G3T and Spirit is like night and day.

Fantastic value - there should be a picture of my Spirit in the dictionary.

This is an update to a previous post. I had an EMG 81 installed in the bridge of my GTPro. Wow. In my previous review, I had nothing bad to say about the guitar, but noted that the pickups were nothing special....they are passive EMG licensed cheapos. Nothing wrong with that. HOwever, the active 81 really gives this guitar a whole new personality. I would recommend it. The tech at Dave Phillips Music and Sound in Phillipsburg, NJ put it in for me. The pickup was about $90, with labor and parts the total came to about $160. Well worth it. He did a great job, and the guitar has that 80s Steinberger L vibe. Added note: He had to take out the middle pickup to make room for the 9V battery required for the active EMG. He put a black pickup cover over it, and you would never notice....sounds and looks fantastic. I can't say enough great things about all of the guys over at Dave Phillips Music and Sound. If you buy one of these guitars, seriously consider this mod.

In August 2001, I bought a black Steinberger Spirit Pro, the one with 2 EMG Select Humbuckers and a middle pickup that is an EMG Select Single-Coil (reverse polarity). Because there was a sale at the time, I also bought a string adapter that permits me to use ordinary guitar strings, rather than the double-ball strings a Steinie requires. I must say that, although I seldom use the adapter, it is a MUST HAVE and it has SAVED MY BUTT on stage and abroad, in situations where a double-ball string could not be had for love nor money.

It's a 24-fret guitar with a flatter radius [14"] than the Strats and Teles I've played til now, and the fretboard seems narrow enough for my taste, considering I was raised up on Fender-style guitars. The finish was just fine [I'm not picky about such things, just to let you know], and I noticed no flaws of any kind in the finish, fingerboard or trimmings, such as pickup rings, switches, etc.

The guitar comes with a whammy bar that can be plugged into either side of the bridge [to accommodate left-handed players, I suppose, but sometimes it's fun for right-handers to put the whammy bar up top]. It also comes with a gig bag that I'm glad I bought; the pocket on it is handy for carrying backup strings, a tuner, a couple of slides and such. It also comes with a cheapo guitar cable that I actually use, when I'm playing for myself with my headphone amp, because the plug on the included cable is an angled plug.

The knobs are Telecaster-style knurled barrels--the kind with a diamond checker pattern--which are my favorite style of knob.

The bridge has tuners, and the tuners are always difficult to turn--at first, as if they "stick"--but once you get them to turn, they work well and the guitar stays in tune, so if the stickiness helps with that, I consider it a feature!

It's a vibrato [often called a tremelo] bridge, with a couple of nice features you seldom find in other guitars. One is a lock, to keep the bridge in tune [if you don't want to use the whammy, but DO want to play double-string bends, or if you break a string, this feature rocks!]. The lock feature has also saved my butt onstage, allowing me to finish a tune with a broken string, locked in tune. The lock is easily engaged, but is not perfect - there is a slight bit of play, but if you lock the bridge, then press the bar down a bit, the bridge will stay perfectly locked as long as you don't yank on the bar. It's a really tiny bit of play -- not enough to affect the tuning, actually, but enough to notice if you are the one playing.

The other nice feature is the extra hole for the whammy, so that you can put it up top, where it'd be for a left-handed player. I sometimes do this for fun. They make a lefty version, so I suppose they use the same bridge for both.

One disappointment with the vibrato bridge is that the spring tension is not adjustable -- it uses one spring, buried deep within the mechanism, and it doesn't look easy to change, nor to find a replacement. I want a softer, cushier feel, but it ships with a hard feel that more players prefer. I just wish it were adjustable. I also like to pull up on a whammy bar, and there is not much room to pull up on this one. I can get the G string to pull up a whole tone, but would have liked more.

The guitar comes with a fold-out knee rest that seems very sturdy, but if you plan to play the guitar on your knee, you will need an angled plug -- otherwise the guitar cable's plug will prevent you from resting the axe on your knee. Since the guitar's body is so small, there's no other place for the jack -- if it were on the front, you'd just whack it when you strummed, so you'd still need the angled plug.

I'd say this guitar is ideal for me. A few criticisms follow, but in general, I am more than happy with the features I got for my money.

The reason the guitar-plug design flaw doesn't bother me is because I actually don't use the guitar's pickups [except when toying with my headphone amp], but instead I use a Roland GK-2A pickup that I squeezed in between the bridge pickup and the bridge. It barely fits, but seems to work well for me. This guitar drives a Roland VG-88, and that's why I have little to say about the guitar's pickups, except to say that I have no complaints -- they seem to work as advertised.

There is one complaint I have about the guitar that would probably be more important to others than to me -- the volume knob on my guitar does not completely roll off the volume. It seems to only back off about 50% of the volume. Again, I seldom use the guitar's pickups, so I actually seldom touch its knobs. If I were to use this guitar's pickups, I would definitely have to replace the volume pot.

At first I thought this was a feature -- perhaps designed that way on purpose, for some reason -- but talking with others convinced me that this is probably an error at the factory. Since they had a 30-day guarantee, I could have sent it back, but I've no use for the guitar's pickups anyway, because I play "Virtual Guitar". If I were to really use the pickups, I'd replace them with single-coils because I hate the sound of humbuckers.

To be fair to other guitars, I give this a "6" rating because I know that the rest of the guitar-playing world expects the volume knob to work properly.

The action was fine -- nice and low -- and the fingerboard relief was perfect when I received it. Now, I've had the guitar over 2 years, and the neck developed quite a noticeable bow -- but a local guitar tech straightened that out in seconds flat. The fingerboard is not perfectly flat, he says -- it has a slight twist -- but he added that very few guitars are perfectly flat, and that the slight twist actually helps out, accidentally, in my case, because it gives the treble side a bit more relief [gives me room to bend those strings without 'fretting out']. I don't know how to rate the fact that the neck developed a bow within 3 years -- to be fair, I take this guitar with me in and out of the cold and heat, and I've even dropped it a few times. Once again, I'll go with a 6, but I hope you'll see that I am not sure and would probably give this a higher rating if I knew more about guitar necks and what to expect from them.

I gigged with this guitar -- a light schedule of gigs in my own hometown, but gigging nonetheless -- and it endured my clumsiness and my aggressive, sloppy playing style with no major problems. I don't recall having to retune my guitar during a gig, and that's important to me. I'm the type who'd rather have a locking tremolo bridge, even if they are said to soak up sustain, just so I can have a guitar that stays in tune well. This one does, once the strings are stretched out. I could, and did, depend on this guitar to get me through each show [and I had no backup guitar!].

OK, I did find one thing to criticize: a bandmate, trying to be helpful, yanked the guitar strap off and the screw came out. The hole was stripped; this guy's strong and I don't know WHAT he was thinking, but I remedied it easily: I bought myself a set of StrapLok pins and installed them in place of the originals. I had to drill a new hole, next to the stripped one, but the StrapLok pins have held, and my bandmate now knows to be more gentle!

I've gigged with a Fender Strat and a Squier Tele in the past, and this guitar beat them both for reliability and staying in tune -- but the strap buttons' screws might need replacing. Now that I've used StrapLoks, I'll never use ordinary strap pins anyway, so, again, that's not a prob for me, but might be for you.

I contaced the company, via email, to ask if they sold replacement whammy bars [because I was thinking about bending mine, and wanted to secure a replacement before I took any chances]. The whammy bar looks like it's specific to this bridge -- I doubt you could use just *any* whammy. It's not threaded, but fits snugly into the bridge and doesn't swing loosely -- which I prefer.

Anyway, the company emailed me a response within a couple of days, hmm, it might have been as many as 5 days, telling me good news: they do sell replacement whammy bars. At $15, I decided to wait til I needed one.

Before I bought it, I contacted the company to ask about Roland pickups [whether they fit], and they told me "We have heard from customers who have mounted the Roland Pickup on a GT Pro but I have yet to see any images of how." I was able to fit mine on; I should write them and let them know about it. I'm not sure if I am allowed to put a URL in these reviews, but I hope you don't mind if I show you some pics of how I fit the GK pickup onto this guitar:

http://www.geocities.com/james_poulakos/peg/dream-guitar-plan_art.html

As far as its use with the VG-88: it works like a charm.

I play this with a Roland VG-88, ver. 2, and am so pleased that I am thinking of getting another one if I ever gig again and need a backup. I love the shape, and for this money, I can't get that shape anywhere but here.

I was in the market for a guitar at about this price, and was glad to have the chance to buy this instead of the Squier Tele I was thinking of [I used to own one that spanked any Fender I've tried, but it was stolen]. I compared it on the basis of price and features with Tele-style guitars because that would be my next choice -- either a Tele-style with a locking whammy, or this. I'm glad I chose this.

I wish it had an adjustable spring tension on the whammy, and it'd be nicer if it came with a hardshell case -- oh, and I wish the company that sold it offered more accessories that suit this odd guitar shape, such as a guitar stand that actually works with it, but I knew I was choosing a radically different guitar shape, and both the look and feel of this guitar are well worth the money, IMO.

Janyooary 2004 - Happy New Year, and all that from the Uk. Yes, we can get dese babies over here from MusicYo UK, and first, let me declare an interest. I wanted a Steinberger or a Hohner copy ever since I saw them way back when. And now I got the Deluxe Gt-Pro (HSH) and it's a great machine. And a lefty. Now, you've read all the other reviews or you're about to because you WANT this guitar. So go get one, they're well worth the outlay, even at UK prices. But - and it's only a small but, there are a few niggles....

First, I can't play C&W on this thing. That's a real bonus! But I can get HEAVY on the neck pickup, and I can get mellow/twangy on the bridge/middle. I play through a Marshall Valvestate Combo with a tube pre-amp, and an all tube Jim Torres Tiny-Tone combo. I have a Line 6 Pod if I need it. But the Steiner drives both amps really well, with no hint of the weak pickups described elsewhere. The centre pick-up (of course) has less output than the humbuckers, but that's great. You can turn down without using the footswitch on the amp just by flicking the p/u to the middle. I don't think the GT-Pro has the same sustain as my Burns Marquee, but then the Burns don't have the balls of that neck humbucker on the Steinberger. So there's plenty of variety in this guitar ,and kinda its own clean sound. I kinda get to hear more of what fingers are doing, if you catch my drift. I play punky rocky stuff, and the guitar is much better at it than I am. I LIKE the small size, the cool engineering, the ability of this thing to stay in tune, and the sheer convenience of a 30" guitar. I DON'T like guitars being compared with each other, 'cos they're all different, so let's move on.

Here's the niggles. The set-up was odd as delivered - the action was too high and there was a lot of fret-buzz on the top of the neck. I've lowered the action and given the truss-rod an eighth of a turn clockwise which has improved things a lot. So if you can get a pro-setup or someone to help you, you can easily improve the factory set-up. The pickups really do sound fine. There's a lot of variety here, most of it pretty clean. Where I'm backing off the drive with my Burns the Steinburger is clean and crunchy, especially on the lower p/us. The neck pickup delivers a gutsy driven sound, but without the dirt. Maybe that's a combination of the guitar and the tube amps but it certainly sounds cleaner and yet 'thicker' than my Mr Clean Yamaha Pacifica. The other flaw is the socket for the Trem arm. The grub screw that holds the arm in place is already worn. That's ok - there's one on the other side. Otherwise the finish is good, and the guitar solid and well made.
By the way, there's no nut on the guitar, so if you're a lefty and you're offered a righty Steiny I think you can re-string this for l/h playing - the knobs and switch will be at the top of the guitar, ( and the socket) but the trem has a hole on either side. So maybe you could use a GT-Pro easily upside down.

I don't play live. The guitar is solid as a rock and the finish is deep. STrap buttons ok,

Mine came from Music Yo UK. I gotta phone call after I placed the order to say the guitar had arrived from the USA but had a small scratch on the back. I asked them to send it over - the scratch was tiny. I kept the guitar, they helped me out with a good price. Service from them (Mike Thomas) was first class with Mike calling me every day to make sure the guitar had arrived and was ok. . I'd buy from them again.

I chose the Steiny because I liked the look. Now I have one I use it all the time and I'm selling my Yamaha. I love the range of clean rich sounds, and the portability, the looks, the COOL. I'd like it to have a better locking system for the trem arm. I'd like it not to have a huge sticker on the top reminding me to lock the trem when tuning. I'd like it to have a little less fret buzz. And if it got stolen I'd buy another. This is probably the handiest guitar in the world. And it sounds very very good, especially through tube amps. It also oozes cool and the Steinberger engineering design is very handsome. Whad else do ya want in an electric quitar? Buy one for your second-best axe and watch it take over your playing! Oh, the tone controls seem to produce a wider range than on my other two guitars. How cool is that? Great value for money and a hugely useful guitar you'll grow to love within a week. And you can carry it on your motorcycle. :-)

This is a follow-up to my previous review concerning the tremolo bar. I had stated that it was too loose for the hole it went into. Turns out that the person that I bought it from on ebay must have given me the wrong tremolo bar. I contacted musicyo to see if they sold a lefty tremolo bar, but they didn't so I bought the right handed tremolo bar for the lefty Steinberger. I'm actually glad I did because not only does the tremolo bar now fit snugly in the hole, but also since it is angled for a righty, it sits closer to my hand so that I can grab it easier and bend it down evenly over all the strings. I am now very happy with the tremolo, and my apologies for my previous complaint.

You probably already know all the features, from other reviews, or technincal information, so I won't list them. My favorite feature, though, would have to be the bridge. It is designed so well, and works perfrectly. I barely ever have to tune it, even through very heavy trem use. The gig bag isn't bad(what can you expect from a gig bag), and the pickups arent as bad as they are made out to be.

I did the pickup modification(mentioned previously) and raised the single-coil. It made quite a difference, but the sound before doing this was alright. The sound is sort-of like a Kramer, but not as rich. There is no pickup noise(even from the single coil), and the variety of sounds coming from this thing is amazing! There is a slight rattle sound under heavy playing(unplugged) when the bridge is locked to a fixed setting. This is probably just a loose screw, and isn't always present.

The action from the factiry wasn't very good, but still playable. I knew that I would end up adjusting the action anyway, so I wasn't disapointed. I did have a problem with some fret buzz from the first 4 frets(even with high action), and with further investigation, I discovered that the neck was bowed a little upwards at the 12th fret(middle of neck closer to strings then ends of neck). I adjusted the truss rod, and now it's fine. The action can be quite low without fret buzz, and the intonation and action are easy to adjust. One gripe I have is that all of the pickups are angled forward slightly. This doesn't do too much to the sound, just looks sort-of weird. The fretwire is pretty good. The finish is great, but one edge wasn't properly painted. This guitar is about the easiest guitar I have ever had to tune or change strings.

I would definatly play this live, especially with its tuning stability. The finish will definatly last(looks like the plastic-coated it or something). The sound is nothing short of solid, and the strap buttons are too. There are two strap buttons on the back, which is nice, because if you have an old-fashioned leather strap with two strap holes, you can use both for more stability(COOL!). I would gig with it without a backup, and it will probably be my main guitar.

I have contacted Music Yo with questions about a different guitar, and the responded in 5 minutes-GREAT! From what I have heard they send out free parts, and are very polite with their service. Perfect 10!

I have been playing for 9 years(classical for 8, and rock for 1), and am in two bands. Check out our websites at http://apex.drastic-creations.com and http://www.geocities.com/staticlineband. I have a nice Behringer 120 watt 2 speaker amp(which I highly reccomend!) and a Gibson Black Beauty 3 pickup Custom Les Paul(which I also highly reccomend!). I purchased this guitar pretty much as an exact opposite of my Les Paul(tremelo bridge, newer sound, small body, light weight, inexpensive, etc.), and it has lived up to it's expectations! I only wish that it had a sustainer pickup(I may install one later) but that's kind-of unreasonable

I bought this guitar off ebay. I'm a lefty, and it was the only one I've seen on ebay so I jumped at it. Even though I bought it used, it was like new even with the stupid sticker on it (more on that later). I don't think the previous owner had it too long because it wasn't even set up. From all the posts for this guitar, I don't think it's necessary to go through the features, but it does have a lot of good features. It has a very full neck akin to a Les Paul.

There have been a lot of posts that the EMG Select pick-ups are awful, especially the single coil in the middle, and I was expecting that I was going to have to replace the pick-ups; however, after some adjustments to the guitar, I was very pleasantly surprised. In order for this guitar to play well, there are a lot of adjustments that must be made which I am going to go over now.

1. When I got the guitar, the action was way too low. Great for speed riffing a la Yngwie, but not good for chords or regular soloing. Also, lots of fret buzz, and the intonation had to be adjusted. You loosen an allen screw on the side of the bridge and then make your adjustments. After raising the action though, the notes rang clear and had great sustain.

2. Now for the pick-ups. When I first got the guitar, I wasn't happy with the sound except for the 1 and 5 position on the switch (neck only and bridge only). The single coil sounded weak and much lower in volume than the humbuckers. Then I remembered a previous post that recommended reversing the wires on the five way selector switch for the bridge and middle pick-ups. Open the back, get your soldering iron, and take the two white wires on the switch that are closest to the neck and reverse them. You now have 1-neck, 2-neck & bridge, 3-bridge, 4-middle & bridge, and 5-middle. At this point, the 2 position (bridge & neck) sounded great and added another color to the sound palette, but 4 and 5 still sounded weak.

HERE'S THE SECRET YOU'VE BEEN WAITING FOR: Since the middle pick-up is naturally weaker then the humbuckers, you have to adjust the pick-up heights. The problem is that the middle pick-up can not be raised very far. Upon taking the pick-up screws off, I found there were no pick-up springs for this pick-up. Get yourself some pick-up springs (you may have to stretch them a bit, put them on the pick-up screws under the pickup, and screw the pick-up back into the body. You will now be able to have the single coil closer to the strings than the humbuckers, and the difference is like night and day. You now have 5 very usable settings.

I don't think people will throw out their Strats, Les Pauls, or ES335's, but the EMG's (with the above modifications) give new flavors to these sounds. In fact, the sounds are very wide ranging and now very pleasing and musical. You will also have to adjust your amp settings from what you were accustomed to with your favorite guitar, but at least now, you can use the sounds.

From the above tips, it is obvious that the guitar was not set up at the factory, and the pick-ups needed major adjustment.

The finish was perfect; however, put a sticker on the upper edge to remind you to lock the tremolo when changing the strings, etc. When you try to remove the sticker, the glue stays on the guitar and you have to carefully remove it - took me over an hour. Very poor planning. They should have used a tag.

The guitar is heavier than you would think for a guitar this size, but it is well-balanced so it is not oppressively heavy.

I have a big complaint with the tremolo bar. It is not properly sized for the hole it goes into. There is a set screw next to the hole that is supposed to be tightened when the bar is inserted, but it doesn't do any good. The bar still falls out. I have resorted to wrapping duct tape around the base of the bar to keep it in the hole, but since you have to take the bar out when you put the guitar in the case, you have to keep re-doing the duct tape. Another example of poor designing. Maybe I'll be able to find something better to line the hole with.

Everything seems solid on the guitar, and I would gig without a back-up.

Too new to tell.

I've been playing about 38 years and gig every weekend with the Hitt Men Band in the NY/NJ/CT area. Check our website at www.hittmen.com. Being a lefty, my options are not too great, but I have managed to accumulate a 1970 Gibson SG Special, 2 Strat copies that I have heavily customized (the only original parts left are one pickguard and two bodies), and a Fender 65 Reissue Telecaster. I love my guitars (except for the SG since it reminds me of my ex), and I am very excited about adding the Steinberger to my arsenal. After making the improvements and considering the price I paid, I would definitely replace it if it were stolen or lost.

It's very comfortable but takes some getting used to especially with regards to neck position. Since it sits differently than my other guitars, I have to make sure that I am fretting the right frets. The little bar on the bottom that flips out for when you are playing seated really works and is a great idea.

I don't like the way the tremolo bar doesn't stay in place, but I'm still working on that problem.

I'm going to enjoy gigging with it, and I believe that with the modifications I mentioned above, it now has some very usable tones. Definitely a good bargain.

Korean made, 24 fret maple paddle guitar. I got mine in white, with the 2 humbuckers and single coil in the middle position.
Featurewise, this guitar is typical of most, and the features have been described already. Overall, this this guitar's features are very nice.

I really like the sound. I'm running this little guy thru a 5150 combo. The pickups are ok, I guess. Not hot, no personality, but they are not as horrible as everyone says. Personally, I"m replacing the bridge with an EMG 81 active. It may be too bright with the all maple body. We'll see. But for a guitar basically the size of a baseball bat, this is a really nice instrument. Very bright guitar. If you are looking for a dark, bluesy guitar, this is not it. But sounds great to me. Kind of like the old original Steinbergers. I guess that was their intention.

The Set up from the factory. Where to begin. Breathtakingly horrible. In all fairness, the website tells you that it will need some adjusting. But my God, it was bad. Pickups, hardware, all looked great. The paint is very thick. I was shocked. I had a very, very, tiny nick down below the trem. Took two days to see it. Not even visable. All the other reviews seem to show a flawless, thick finish on the guitar. Even the neck paint was impressive. No cracks or breaks or bubbles. Very impressed for this price range.

You would need to sandblast this thing to get the paint off. Overall, the trem and hardware really seems to be good stuff. I would have no problem gigging with this guitar. I have some really nice guitars, like Ernie Ball Axis, Wolfgangs, telecasters, and this guitar really holds its own on the quality end of things. I"m not embarrassed at all to play it, and the tone is really very good.

Music yo.com is only accessable via email. I don't really like that. They do respond to any questions though within 24 hours. I emailed them about the nick, and they said to email them a pick of the damage, and they would send me the extra strings I ordered but they forgot...I didn't get charged for them to begin with. But I am now wary of their ordering system. I ordered extra strings, never registered on their order. Good thing though. I've heard to get your Steinberger strings from juststrings.com. Don't get the musicyo strings....they are garbage.

Overall, I really love this guitar. For the money, and the fun, it's one of my favorites. Plus, let's face it. The reason most of us buy it, is because it looks SO COOL. Right? Be honest. Also, a purchasing note. save yourself some money, and become a memeber at musicyo.com. just get on their mailing list. I got a coupon via email for the GT Pro. It made the guitar go from $319.00, down to $265.00. They mail this coupon out about 2 times a year. Again, I love this guitar, and for this price point, in my experiance, you will be hard pressed to find a better guitar. Even Guitar Player magazine reviewed and compared the GTPRO to other similar instruments, and the GTPRo came out on top, and not just as a travel guitar. In general, great litte fun guitar.