Steinberger Spirit GT Pro

Korean built (2002)all maple through neck headless (and almost bodyless) guitar. This is the current incarnation of the early '80s GL series which using synthetic materials rather than wood. One volume and one tone control, plus 5 way switch (a la Strat). This one has a white finish. It is the Standard version, which means that it has a single coil at the neck position (the Deluxe version has a humbucker here), single coil middle, plus a humbucker at the bridge. The pickups are EMG Select passive ones. The design is often disparagingly referred to as a "cricket bat", but I feel that this overlooks the beauty of Ned Steinberger's vision of functionality over form. The bridge is essentially a tremelo type but it can be locked into position for a fixed bridge response (e.g. for faux pedal steel bends). The detailed specification may be found on www.MusicYo.com, the only distributor for these instruments.

The passive EMGs have a very clear and clean tonality which works well as a foundation for processed sounds. The volume and tone controls each have a nicely gradual effect. The tone control covers a good useable range from bright to dark. I use a Korg AX1G processor into a Fender Princeton Reverb silverface amp (from the 70s). Any tendency towards a clinical or sterile sound from the digital processing is mitigated by the warmth of the amp's tubes. In spite of it's small and unprepossessing appearance, the guitar encompasses an impressive range of tones. The neck pickup at low level gives a vibrant rhythm sound. At higher volume with some treble rolled off, it yields a good jazz or soul tonality. The neck and middle combination gives similar results but with more edge to the sound. Either of these positions give a good blues sound, with the gain turned up a little. Try using the neck position with some gain and all treble rolled off - instant Santana! The middle position is a good allrounder for clean sounds. Can sound a bit like a Gretsch or a Tele, depending on how much or how little treble is rolled off. Good for rockabilly, old style rock n'roll, or country. I like this position. The mixed middle and bridge position gives a slightly Strat like "quack", but has a darker character. If one is seeking a pristine Strat response, one might be disappointed. However, in my view a perfectly good tone in it's own right. The bridge humbucker is not too dark and has a surprisingly good treble response, plus of course the ability to overdive the amp's front end. A good generic rock tone. So, a versatile instrument that can cover a lot of bases. The downside? Well, the noise levels, whilst generally low, increase when used via the processor and when the volume control is turned down. But we are dealing with passive single coils and it would not be realistic to expect the instrument to be noise free. This is only an issue in certain recording situations and even there, I can live with it.

The action is a little high for my taste but not so much that I cannot live with it for a while until I get around to adjusting it. The supplied (somewhat skimpy)gig back includes Allen keys. Intonation is fine. The tremelo returns to pitch well, although I only use it for gentle waggles on country and surf tunes. The website provides advice on setup, albeit for a conventional guitar. But the principles hold well for the headless instrument. I may chicken out and take it to a guitar repairer to get it setup a little more to my taste. Nevertheless, it plays well enough as it is.

This is second instrument I received from MusicYo. The first had an electrical fault - only positions 1 and 5 worked on the 5 way selector. I returned it the Nashville distribution point using the procedure detailed on the website. I received a replacement (which was fine)only 8 days later, not at all bad considering that I live in England. I have also received a credit card credit for the original shipping costs, as promised in MuiscYo's terms and conditions. These people have certaily delivered what they promise. The guitar is certainly good enough to be my sole gigging guitar. My only niggle is that the lever to lock the bridge seems a little stiff and I have to use a screwdriver to prise it into unlocked position, a little impractical if one is on stage at the time. It may of course loosen up with use. The instrument does seem to be very solidly constructed and durable, despite it's diminutive size and liht weight.

It's slightly unnerving to deal with computer programmes rather than human beings, especially as in this case I was obliged to return the original instrument because of a fault. However, the website is well laid out and with care it is possible to navigate around it and sort out problems without recourse to e mailing their customer support (yes, they are real human beings). I have found MusicYo to offer good intruments at competitive prices and to be quick to resolve matters when things go awry. I would definitely deal with them again. They have an excellent niche in the market, sourcing instruments and selling directly to the customer, relieving the latter of the additional costs which would otherwise have been created by middlemen. They have also given the public the opportunity to own one of the most original and practical designs to emerge in the history of the electric guitar - at a very reasonable price (and no, I do not work for MuiscYo!).

I have been playing for over 40 years and own Fender, Gibson, Ovation and Martin guitars. My preferred sounds tend to lie at the cleaner end of the spectrum and the clarity of this instrument's sounds suit me well. It is lightweight, takes up little space and it's ergonomics appeal to me. Since it costs less than my other instruments, I feel less "precious" about it and thus tend to end up playing more than the others. I would definitely replace it if lost or stolen. I would like MuiscYo to consider an option with active pickups and/or EQ in order to broaden the tonal spectrum still further. Alternatively a coil tap option on the bridge humbucker would be useful, say with a pull/push tone control. I know that no instrument can be all things to all men, but the ability to "twang" a little more if wanted would be the icing on the proverbial cake.

see "Action, Fit & Finish" below

i give it a 2 only because of it's small size, otherwise, it'd be 1

the emg select pickups are shit. weak output, and kind of muffled very unpleasant sound.

- pickups
thin, had to remove the middle pickup just so i had some room to pick. replaced the other picks too.

- zero nut
this is the most retarded guitar nut idea of all time. if you bend a string within fret 1 to fret 7, the string slides a bit across the zero nut and everything is out of tune, since the lenght of the string just changed too.

- fretwork sucks
terrible. had to have the whole fretboard redressed because of the horrible fretbuzz

- body shape
when i played it sitting down, the body dug into my wrist, had to round off that corner just to prevent carpel tunnel.

- tone controls
the components are bottom of the barrel, noisy and flimsy. the volume control is also right next to the bridge pickup, where i rest my pinky, and end up unintentionally turning down the volume. had to put in all new parts and move the volume pot towards the bridge.

- bridge
if you ever loosen the set screw, you'll be playing 52 pick with the parts because all the saddle pieces are free-floating. and this means you'll have to reset intonation too.

- tremolo
doesn't stay in tune at all. totally worthless.

- neck
fat neck. difficult to play. about the opposite of the ibanez vai wizard neck

this is the one good thing about this POS, it's one solid piece of wood. could be used as a cricket bat without any ill effects

of course, wood alone does not a guitar make, the rest of the parts are shit.

i've bought several things from musicyo.com and emailed them and emailed them, and emailed them with NO RESPONSE AT ALL!!!

the only option is to get an RMA and send their shit back.

i see that now they have an phone number to call, but they didn't when i bought stuff from them

this guitar is shit. everything i bought from musicyo was shit, and i ended up returning almost all of it. should have returned everything, but i kept the spirit and the tube10, which turned into a project too and is on par with this guitar: the worst tube amp i've ever played.

2002. H/S/H. Body is solid. Other features already described by others. I got the adapter so I can use regular strings. The $25 adapter should be considered part of the price unless you plan to spend the rest of your life buying double ball end strings. $25 for an adapter is steep.

My list price is 319 +25 for the adaptor.

The strap button is in the back of the neck. When hung, the guitar with the small body leans forward so I can't see the strings. This may be fine for someone who is more skilled but for me it is annoying. I can see my freting fingertips. For playing it is quite comfortable (like the Lace California Twister) because the whole guitar is rolled forward. Less stress on fretting hand. Of course, you have to know what you are doing so because you can't see your fretting hand fingertips.

If you use it sitting down, you have to use a angeled cable plug otherwise the cable will jab you in the leg.

Guitar is very solid. Metal knobs. Switch has plastic parts. However, just because something is plastic doen't mean its lower quality. The fit of the back panel is better than that of my les paul.

The R-tremolo is the lowest priced tremolo in the steinberger price line. It is still a piece of art. Looks like many parts were machined. Love the trem lock. Tuners are beautiful and with 40:1 ratio, never slips. Trem springs easy to adjust. Wish they designed all guitars this way.

Gig bag is really low quality. The shoulder strap is a joke. The all metal tremolo with intergrated tuners came with a coating of grease. The grease gets all over the body and ruins the strings. After a day of playing and cleaning, all the grease is gone. There is so much metal that can get corroded that I don't see how this could be avoided. Expecially considering there is no hard case to prevent moisture/rust. Finish is great except rough where the body was routed for pickups. The H/S/H are close to the strings and leaves no room for the pick but that's the nature of the beast. The les paul black beauty has H/H/H and no room also.

The best part of the guitar, of course, is that it is small. I leave it in the office and take it on trips. Even though it is not designed as a travel guitar, it is the best travel guitar in this price range.

25.5 inch length for the thickest string. Read the spec if you want the official line.

I give it a 9. Took one point off for fretwork. Except for the fretwork being a bit too wide, the fretwork is great.

Not as good as a stratocaster or a les paul. EMG select (cheaper) passive pickups. The humbuckers sound crunchy. Hard to get a mellow tone like my les paul which also has humbuckers. The single coil doesn't sound clean either. I don't know if this is typical of guitars of this price range.

Plan to replace them with Gibson burstbuckers or PRS dragons. It would be real cool to have a top notch sound from this unique guitar.

The body is tight and sustain is long. It is suitable for playing on vacation and in the office.
Would I gig with it? I feel I need extra practice to get used to the forward tilting body. Sound is mediocre at the moment so I'll definitely not gig again with it. I used a cybertwin and marshall combo but can't get a decent sound. Check back when I get the dragon pickup upgrade. I plan to leave it stock for a month.

for $350, action and fit were great. Setup is fine but could use a bit of tweaking. Its not a bolt on, not a glue on, but a one piece neck. The neck feels great. If I were blindfolded, I can slide my hands up and down the edge of the neck and not feel where the frets are. Wish I could say the same of the fender or the les paul. Frets feel like they were sanded flat but not properly filed until they are narrow again. Frets are nice around the headless head but a bit wide as you get closer to the bridge end.

Strap buttons were loose. One piece of photocopied instructions. But then, Fender gave me the wrong instructions (gave me pre-delta tone instructions for a deltatone guitar). Gibson has no instructions at all.

Looks very durable and reliable. I dropped it and it dented my hardwood floor. I've gigged with it and I would do so again after I replace the pickups.

? Haven't dealt with them.

Very good travel/office guitar. Tough and you can take it anywhere. Only negative is the fretwork and the insipid pickups. I've expected to replace the pickups anyways so I am not annoyed.

GT Pro owner here. I wanted a travel guitar so I could practice while on the road. It worked out great for that. I changed the Passive pu's out for a Gibson '57 RI on the Br., a Fender gold lace sensor on the center and a Dimarzio Fred at the neck. They definately improved the tone. I might try a different neck PU.

It gets a good variety of sounds. Not as good as other guitars that cost 3 times as much but it is passable and improved with the Pick-up modification.

Neck is straight and does what it's supposed to do.

The bridge is failing at the plate on the adjusment screw for the unlocked bridge position. It is cracked and bending and cannot bring the bridge to the pitch of the locked position. I've had it 2 years and I'm afraid it's out of warranty. I have been trying to find and aquire a replacement bridge. but no luck so far...

Over all it does what I need except for the bridge problem. If I find a way to replace the bridge I would like it more.

Made in 2002. Manufactured in Korea. 24 Frets with H-S-H configuration 5-Way selector. Select by EMG pickups. Maple Body w/maple neck-thru construction. Boat Oar style body. Gig Bag included

I play everything, mostly 70's and 80's rock. I use it with a Korg PX4 Pandora. The guitar is dead quiet, the pickup output is not real high and does not have a lot of color, but that is what effects are for anyway.

Guitars purchased through Music Yo do not receive much of a setup. The buyer is expected to perform the final setup on action and intonation. This is not a problem for me because the company makes you aware of this from the start. If you do not know much about setup you can get good information from the website.

Fit and finish of guitar was excellent

Fretwork was good

I don't gig but this guitar would work well. Everything seems very solid and well made. I normally have two guitars handy because I like using alternate tunings.

Company is very good about respoding to emails. No problems so far. 90 Day no fault return.

This is a great deal for the money. I have always been pleasantly surprised with Music YO and their products. This guitar is no exception.

Purchased brand new from Music Yo, Korean guitar (not that this matters if the guitar works well), 24 fret maple body/neck (neck through),... although I suspect that if I strip the guitar to repaint it, I'll find that it's either a maple plywood or made from multiple pieces of maple,... a standard trick used by most manufacturers today to save money. 1 volume, 1 tone, 5 way pickup selector for the HB/S/HB select pickups. It has the Steinberger R-Trem, which is a cheap rendition of the real thing. The R-Trem is a knife edge trem, unlike the S-Trem, which runs on ball bearings. More about the R-Trem later. Came with a gig bag.

I must confess, I was actually pleasantly surprised by the sound. The sound was a lot bigger than I would have expected for a guitar of this size. I was able to get a remarkably resonant sound out of the neck HB. The middle pickup doesn't have too much character, but the bridge is quite useful. I wish it had a coil splitter, but I suspect that the HB pickups are single conductor, and hence you can't split them. The pickups aren't too noisy,... a bit noisier than the DiMarzios in my other guitars, but then again this could be the shielding. Overall, the variety of sounds is not spectacular,... just the kind of range you'd expect from a HB/S/HB guitar. I guess the 'maple' this guitar is made out of makes it quite bright, but not too bright. The neck-through design has certainly helped with sustain, and has also taken out some of the 'twang' you get from a bolt-on design. That's the way I like it.

The factory set-up wasn't very good, but shouldn?t bug people too much,... it is a guitar you order over the internet, from a shop-front-less distributor of a mass produced Korean instrument,... what do you expect? I was a bit disappointed with the fret work. The frets were levelled and smoothed, but they did not appear to be recrowned. This causes intonation problems, especially on the lower strings when they're played on the upper frets. Fret buzz was noticeable, and there were a few dead spots on the neck (poor sustain for some positions compared to others). It also looks like they started off with rather large frets, but they over-levelled them, resulting in rather wide and low frets. This is a bit of a hassle for legato playing. In the future I might re-fret the instrument. This should solve the problem. Even at this price, I would say that the fret work is below average. I was more impressed with the fret work on Monteray(?) guitars.

Oh yeah,... one of the things I found frustrating about the guitar was that the tremolo arm got in the way of the pickup selector. You have to reach over the tremolo arm in order to change pickups.

One thing I did really like about the design of the guitar is the balance of the instrument. The tiny body and no headstock thing has really grown on me. It's a super-comfortable instrument to play. The original Steiny's were such a brilliant idea,... especially in fiberglass, with a hollow body.

I have no serious worries about the guitar at this stage except for the R-Trem. I have seen many of the old Steiny copies in second hand shops. Invariably, it's the tremolo that was stuffed up. The design looks a bit dubious on a few fronts:

1) You need to adjust the action on each saddle individually. This is the only knife edge tremolo I know of where this is necessary (I wouldn't call a strat tremolo a knife edge)

2) To adjust either the action or the intonation, you must loosen a very tiny grub screw at the side of the tremolo. This screw simply puts pressure on the side of the saddles, pushing them against each other and against the other side of the tremolo. This is the only thing that holds the saddles in their place. This is also a problem, because I can imagine that this tiny grub screw is going to wear out VERY quickly. I'm the kind of person who re-adjusts the action every few months. This tremolo is not going to hold up to that kind of constant adjusting. Also, the heaviest string you can get for this guitar are 10-46's. The Tremolo does not appear to be able to handle anything heavier, since there is only one tremolo spring (which incidentally is in compression as opposed to tension). You can't add more springs, or change the spring with another tougher spring.

3) The locking mechanism for the tremolo (to turn it into a fixed bridge) is just a simply clip. Firstly, this means that the tremolo must be at the correct angle in order for it to lock. Secondly, it doesn't lock very well, since there is still a bit of play in the tremolo, so that kind of defeats the purpose. About the only thing it would be good for is if a string broke. In this case you would have to put the tremolo in the 'neutral' position with the tremolo arm using one hand, and with the other you'd lock the tremolo. Even then, perfect tuning is not guaranteed, since there's still a bit of motion possible with the tremolo lock engaged.

I'm in an interesting position in terms of customer service. I'm actually from Australia, but I got a friend in the US to bring the guitar with him. The reason for this is that even though MusicYo do ship to Australia, they were quoting something like US$250 for a US$320 guitar. This is crazy! Given the fact that the South Pacific/Asian Market is quite large, wouldn't it pay for Gibson to open up another Music Yo distribution centre somewhere in this region? The damn things are made in Korea after all! I was a bit unhappy that MusicYo refused to find another way to ship my guitar other than FedEx. I'd be very interested in purchasing more products from them if the shipping was a bit more reasonable for this part of the world. Note that my comments are from my persepctive here in Australia. I hope(!) things are different in the US.

O.K. As I said above, I'm anticipating problems with the tremolo. Perhaps I will purchase a spare one. The fret work wasn't great. The pickups do the job. So overall, it's average value for money. I guess the thing tha gets it over the line in terms of overall rating is the novelty aspect of it. Also it reminds me of the real thing played by the great guitarists of the time! I can look in the mirror and pretend I'm Allan Holdsworth!

Lots of features for the money. Great long neck, locking trem, three pickups, with five-position switch. And it's small, really small. A great travel guitar and a great back-up guitar (no more luggin' two full size axes to every gig). You can get a lot of different sounds with this guitar.

I like the clean sound of the stock EMGs, but yes, they are underpowered. So turn your amp up a notch, you'll be fine!

This thing actually has decent tone and could be used on a jazz, country, or R&B gig. Probably not the ticket for rockers, though.

The thing that sold me was that it does sound good, and you can get a variety of tones with it. Neck pickup = Gibson. The in-between positions give you a Strat and a Tele. No, you won't trade your Les Paul, Strat or Tele. But if you need these types of sounds they are there.

This guitar is my back-up, behind a Heritage jazz box or a Strat, depending on the gig. Certainly doesn't rival the tone of the Heritage (apples to oranges), but may challenege the Strat as it is more versatile and there is not as much tonal difference between the two.

Sounds good with my Vibroverb or my Tech 21 Trademark 60.

Had no problems with the set-up (maybe musicyo.com reads this board?).

Seems indestructible. Again, a perfect backup guitar. But only time will tell.

A friend bought mine and they sent him the wrong color. They let him hold the first one while they sent him one in the right color. That's cool (although they still got the color wrong the first time).

A friend bought one and brought it over and I immediately went out and sold a guitar I wasn't using so I could get one of these. The neck plays nice, the tone is decent, and I can get a variety of sounds from it. At a mere $320, this is a steal. You could easily spend two or three times that and not get as good a guitar.

This is a great backup guitar. I can just stash it next to my amp. It doesn't take up much space, is not likely to be broken, and I know I can get some good sounds with it.

pretty cool guitar for the money

I run my guitar right into the mixer 12 pedals 3 distortions,boss blues driver,marshall jack hammer,ibanez metal charger with phaser,flanger,etc.The humbuckers sound cool but the single coil "sucks",sounds like crap,I don't even use it,I think im going to put a duel rail in the middle,but other than the single coil ...not bad

for the money pretty cool

its a guitar what can go wrong with it

havent dealt with them yet

hands down steinberger makes the best travel guitars,this guitar rocks its a keeper in my books..I would have gave this guitar a 10 if they would put some differnt pickups in

Considering the price, there are quite a few. It is made in Korea. The Spirit GT-Pro guitar features the same body-shape as the Steinberger GL Series and features a headless neck with a Double-Ball tuning system. Kits are available for conventional strings. Other features include a Locking R-Trem system with direct-pull, 40:1 ratio machine heads, three passive (HB ? S ? HB) EMG Select pickups, which are a tad weak. Considering the cheapest Seymour Duncan?s would add over $200.00 to the cost, the EMG?s don?t seem that bad. It has a folding leg rest (too bad the Martin Backpacker doesn?t have one) for playing comfort while sitting. It has 24 frets making it kinda cool sliding up to that highest E. It is I believe the world's most "travel-friendly" guitar ever made. It comes with a heavy-duty gigbag (it really does look like a rifle bag) and, being only 30" in length, fits almost anywhere including airplane overhead luggage bins. Make sure it?s on top of the heap. Strap holders accommodate both righties and southpaws. An often-overlooked feature is that you don?t need a stand, you just lean it against any surface.

People, this is an inexpensive guitar. For the money, you can?t beat it. It sounds good unplugged as well.
The solid maple body and though neck design account for the good sustain and tonal quality. 5 position switching with the reverse polarity single coil gives a wide range of sounds. I use a late 70?s Roland Cube-60 and an Ibanez PT-5 and am very pleased. I am not comparing the sound to my Stratocaster or Les Paul, because that wouldn?t be fair. But compared to similar priced models that I can ?travel? with it stands alone. When I travel with it I play through an Arion HW-2 Multi-Effects/Headphone Amp. Most adequate.

Buying a guitar online is to me NOT the way to go, but for the price I again got what I paid for. When you?re saving big on one thing there is always a trade off. You can?t have it both ways. Having set up many stringed instruments in my 35+ years playing, I didn?t expect a perfectly adjusted instrument to arrive at my door especially via UPS. Upon arrival the fit and finish were very impressive. Smooth black finish with no flaws. It was on par with much more expensive instruments. The action needed about an hour of work to set up. I?d say it has done very well considering it has gone more then two years and many trips since then.

I've had it over 2 years now and it is as it was. It should last a lifetime. It is built solidly and has seen it?s share of falls and careless passengers throwing their luggage on top of it. The wiring and hardware are more then adequate. MusicYo also stocks replacement parts cheaper then most. I would recommend strap locks if you?re going to play standing up.

MusicYo is great to do business with, but there is no customer support, as far as I can tell from Gibson.
If you go the Gibson website and click on Steinberger it takes you to MusicYo. They refer you elsewhere if it isn?t their high-end stuff.

I have been playing/practicing guitar 35+ years and I have many mainly higher end guitars (Gibson, Martin, etc) so when I say this one is worth the money I mean it. The Bottom line is that for the money it?s a very good guitar, comfortable to play and decent tone. Good guitar to sit around with and play when the mood strikes or if you need to travel. You can even pack it in you luggage and check it when you fly.
I have, but remember it isn?t totally indestructible. I would definitely replace this guitar if lost or stolen.

Steinburger Spirit GT-Pro from MusicYo.com. Standard setup (2 humbucker, 1 single coil). The gig bag was really poor. I plan on buying a hard case, or at least the better Steinburger gig bag from MusicYo. My rating of 7 was due to the bag.

Once I got the guitar setup properly (see below), it had a great, electronic tone. I was able to warm up up somwhat using the EQ on my Kramer Amp. The single coil center pickup was very low output. I was able to raise it slightly, which helped. The bridge pickup gave a great sound for playing leads.

Ok, right out of the box, all the strings buzzed, the intonation was terrible etc. I spent a few hours setting it up. I used the instructions on the MusicYo site (the link was under Product support-Kramer (the second Kramer section on that page) Electric Guitar Setup, along with a book, "The Player's guide to Guitar Maintenance", by Dave Burrluck. This was only the second guitar I set up, so an experenced person would take much less time.

I had to loosen the truss rod by almost one turn, and individually adjust the height of the bridge saddles. For intonation I had to adjust each saddle, which wasn't easy, since they all move once you losen the bridge screws. I was unable to get anywhere near proper intonation on the low e-string, until I changed it to a lighter one (I had ordered a set of light strings from MusicYo with the guitar. I'm pretty sure that the guitar comes from the factory with 10s).

This took a few hours, but I had to spread it out over 2 days, to let the neck adjust after each truss rod adjustment.

But, after all was done, the guitar plays great. Very little to no buzz (none through the amp), great intonation, easy action, and the guitar stays in tune for hours of practicing.

I called MusicYo, and they told me that this was typical, and was one of the reasons why the price was so reasonable.

The bottom line is, either set aside some time for set up, or set aside some money to have an expert adjust it. Check out the link on the MusicYo site that I've mentioned to see what is involved.

I've only had the guitar a week, so I can't comment on this. However, the Steinburger strap has very soft leather ends. I've almost had the guitar hit the floor once, when the strap button pulled through the hole. I plan to sew the hole smaller, and use the quick release buckels to take the strap off when I need to.

The finish on the guitar is great, I've checked the wiring, and it was clean and well done. They even shielded the back of the access plate, since it is plastic.

MusicYo was great to do business with. They answered my questions via phone, and web quickly. There is no customer support, as far as I can tell from Gibson.

I have been playing guitar off and on for year. My first experence was classical. Lately I' ve been learning popular music, finger style, and blues. I have a Martin BackPacker Guitar that I was using when traveling. I think that the steinburger, with a Korg Pandora (not purchased yet) will be my new travel rig. I also have a Squar Strat, that I don't like, and a higher end steel string acustical. The strat doesn't stay in tune very well ( I even tightened the bridge to get rid of the tremolo), and is not that comfortable for me to play.

Years ago I saw the first Steinburger bass. It made me want to quit guitar and take up bass, except for the high price. A few weeks ago I saw an ad for the steinburger in Guitar One. I went to the musicYo site, and so strongly expected the price to be in the $1000s, that at first I read it as $2,690. I had to count the digits to see that it was only $269.

Bottom line for me, Great guitar, comfortable to play (once set up properly), nice tone. Really fun guitar to sit around with and play when the mood strikes.