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...

S/S/H Platinum Spirit GT PRO. Korea 2004. Maple

I play rock eg. EVH, ACDC, Rhandy Rhoads. Also more mellow stuff like Santana.
It does not have rich full sound. It's a bit sterile. Doesn't really have the rich harmonics. A change of pickups would be good. I also find it lacks sustain when compared to a full size guitar. The tones do not resonate very well they die off but not bad for the $$$

Action is good but buzzes here and there. Sometimes with the tremolo locked I get a bit of annoying buzz from a particular area then I release it and it goes away. The hardware is tip top though. Routes look a little sloppy but hardly noticable.
The platinum finish is the worst! It doesn't have a clearcoat or anything. It looks like they just sprayed it on and left it to dry - that's it! It's similar to spraying a piece of wood with a chrome spray can. It looks dull, flat and not really platinum. No protective finish so I know I would have to repaint it sometime. I almost want to spray some clearcoat on it myself!.

I got the HSS so i would have more room to pick and I also removed the middle pickup (useless on any guitar). Removed the volume knob and moved it to the tone knob so I wouldn't constantly hit it. I have no tone knob but it's another useless item.

Except for the Platinum finish this seems like it will last. Strap buttons are solid but you better get strap locks.

Quick emails. Asked about the platinum finish and they said that's how it's made..they should invest in a spray gun!

Playing 18 years. Owned Fender strat - Ibanez - musicman amp - fender amp.
I love the size of the guitar. The neck is pretty good too. I thought it would be too thick but it wasn't and I'm used to the Ibanez wizard neck. The neck is not as wide as the wizard so it's easy to chord. Great feel.

I wish the guitar had more ring to it but I guess I can't expect that with the small body. The playability factor is there but you have to mod it. It seems absurd where the volume knob is because I like to whack the strings.
Overall I think it's a great little guitar but it does feel a little cheap to me but then again it was cheap!

Plenty of other reviewers to tell you about what's on it & where its from... i just wanted to say that its got LOADS of features - 5-way pickup selection, small size, really COOL finish, & just the best trem in the world! This guitar has it all - enough features for any situation & for any player/style.

This is so versatile - i play all kinds of music (jazz to metal & everywhere in-between) & this is perfect for them all. The EMG pickups are great - they sound very transparrent & so respond EXTREMELY well to any effects you apply to them. This guitar can adapt to ANY musical situation - its amazing that a guitar costing this much can offer so many versatile sounds. I take this with me when i need to cover many different styles at a gig.

What can i say - its Perfect! Its just a little, cool, shiny black cricket bat, & i just love it. It looks so striking & it always gets good comments. Action is VERY low - SURELY an essential feature of ANY guitar.

This thing is so sturdy - its taken lots of battering & it just STAYS IN TUNE. No signs of breaking. Solid as a rock. Best i've ever had.

No need as yet.

Been playing for 20-ish years, & NO i dont work for Steinberger or Music Yo! This is just such a joy - the small, compact design is pure genius & i adore it. Its so comfortable to transport & to play & its just so sonically versatile. Other reviewers have said 'its just a travel guitar' but thats SO narrow minded - its the BEST #300 i've ever spent on a guitar (& i've had guitars costing thousands over the years) & this is the guitar i play more than any of my extensive collection of others. It does everything i need & it doesn't weigh 25pounds, & i don't crack the headstock on the walls (cos there aint one!)! I must also mention in particular the trem - its THE BEST I'VE EVER USED. This thing stays in tune divebomb after divebomb - f**king fantastic, & much better than ANY Floyd Rose any day. All this for #300 - just amazing! Get one if you're lucky enough to see one, you won't be disappointed.

This guitar is well described by numerous other postings.
This is a travel guitar, and it performs well within its design and intended purpose. I also bought the Steinberger, which added about $70 to the price -- but for travel, I consider it essential to the experience of owning the guitar.
Again: This is for travel and casual use. I always bring it with me on trips. It passes by the airport security and into te overhead cabin without a hitch.
I will give it a top rating of 10 because of the brilliance of the travel design.

The passive EMG pickups are so-so. I find the neck pick-up to tbe the only usable tone, with the middle and bridge PU's thin and bland.
I am tempted to upgrade the neck, but I am not bothered enough to bother with it (and I have a Squier tele mod stalled and gutted in the closet, much to my daugher's consternation; until that is finished, she gets to play my Lone Star Strat).

Guitar build quality is very good at the low price. The instrument tunes up well, is stable in tuning and intonation. I have adjusted the truss rod several times to accommodate different string guages and an effort to five-string it in open G for slide. Very flexible and forgiving instrument.

Guitar seems well built, but I am a casual player and have not brought it out for our infrequent gigs. I view this as a second-guitar for travel use, and not for performance (further restricted by the so-so pickups).

I am pleased and satisfied by this clever travel guitar with good quality and low price. The Spirit is 100 percent fun, good quality and total convenience, with points deducted only for so-so tone. While traveling, I am more than willing to trade tone for playing hours that I might not have if I had to carry a heavier instrument through airports and taxies. I recommend it as a "just go buy one" for any player looking to walk past airline security and carry a fun player in the overhead cabinet.
For a real good time, match it with a Roland microcube ($124.99) and never miss a session anywhere.
Recommended.

This was made in 2000, in Korea. 24 frets, solid maple body, with maple neck-through construction. 1 vol, 1 tone, 5-way pickup selector, H/S/H pickup configuration (passive), with a unique tremolo bridge that can alternately be locked for hardtail use. I can't believe they can pack this many features into a guitar that is 30" total in length.

I got mine used off eBay, and it came with a (chipboard) hardshell Steinberger case made by TKL and an adapter that lets you use regular strings with it instead of the double-ball variety, if you wish.

The neck is Les Paul-like in feel. Kinda fat for me (my favorite necks are on Jackson Soloists), but very comfortable, nonetheless.

I play hard rock/metal. This guitar suits any style. It is quiet and has a surprisingly full sound (given its size and entry-level pickups). I think the included EMG Select passive pickups are great. No complaints at all, and I have other guitars with various active EMGs (81, 85) and Seymour Duncans (JB, Jazz, Custom, Custom Custom, Full Shred) to compare it to.

I got mine used, so I don't know how it was set up at the factory. At 4 yrs. of age, it plays very well, and even arrived in tune, after a cross-country FedEx trip to get here. No loose or faulty controls.

I'm pleasantly surprised at the high quality this very inexpensive guitar emanates. It will last. The finish is excellent and tough. The strap buttons are very solid. I always use Strap Locks, but there's no problem with these. I could depend on this without a backup (nice that the bridge locks, to keep you in tune for string breakages, plus this system allows you to get a new string on in about 30 seconds), but I wouldn't, since I have several guitars.

No phone contact at all. Email only. Not confidence-inspiring.
On the other hand, they are responsive to emails (response within a couple of days).
Overall, not bad, I guess, so I'll give a 5. I got no warranty with this used instrument, and if it breaks at these prices, I'd probably just get another.

I've been playing 20+ years. I own lots of nice electric guitars, Jackson, Kramer, Fender, you name it. This guitar is unique, and I would immediately buy another if this one were lost or stolen. I love how I can play it anywhere and not worry about it. I also love its high quality, advanced features and low price. I wish they'd made one with 2 humbuckers (no middle pickup), or just a bridge humbucker. That way, they'd have more room on the body to space out the controls more. I'd also like a thinner neck, because I love thin necks.

see music-YO

The pickups are not clean. They're certainly not fantastic, if you play with effects the humming starts, changed all that anyway by replacing the passive EMG's for active ones now it's silent.
Likes and dislikes? --> Bought it because it's small and easy to handle. The gear that I use: ENGL tube amp 100 watts. Line 6 Pod, Marshall 4x10" cabinet.

Volume and tone Knobs needs to be changed.

Had a problem with the volume knob, removed it to the back because I do not use the tone knob. Removed the 5 way switch and replaced it for standard tumble switches. Now I hav room enough to play the guitar without hitting the volume knob.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? YES
Does the hardware seem like it will last? YES
Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off YES
with lots of playing? YES
Are the strap buttons solid? NO, Changed to straplocks
Can you depend on it?Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Yes

never needed

How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?
If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
What do you love about it? --> Its small
What do you hate? --> nothing anymore
What is your favorite feature? --> fixed strings
Did you compare it to other guitars? --> No you can not compare it
Which ones? n/a
Why did you choose this one? --> Just liked the model
Anything you wish it had? --> No
Anything else you'd like to share? --> Buy one! You will like it

Korean, 24 fret, blah, blah, blah ... just check Music Yo for that type of info. They usually have these on sale once a year. If you register on their site, they will send you email on their specials. I got mine new (not scratch and dent) for $249.00. And well worth the price!

The pickups are clean. They're not fantastic or anything, but if you play with effects, then you can get your own tone because they don't really color it with their own characteristic. The mid (single coil) pickup is quieter than than the two humbuckers ... not that useful by itself. I play through a 68 Fender Bassman with various effects, and this guitar can get some fine tones.

The guitar is made quite well. I have a Strat and a few other guitars, and even an electric that I made myself (quite good, by the way), so although I'm not "Mr Guitar", I do know quality. This is stupidly good for the price. The neck is a bit chunky at first, but it has a nice feel once you get used to it. The access to the higher frets is better than any other guitar I have. It's actually easy to "get lost" and be playing up two frets sometimes if you don't watch out. Playing at the 20th fret is easy. I've had this guitar for about six months, and waited to write a review until I really knew it. I based my own decision to buy one on the reviews here, and I hated the ones who raved about it and then mentioned that they just got it an hour ago. Well, sure, you're excited, but give it some time to get realistic! Anyway, after six months, I can still say that it's a great little guitar, but it does have a couple of things that you might find annoying. The worst is the position of the volume knob .... very easy to rub this one while you are playing and be gradually turning yourself down. Check out a photo of the guitar and you will see how far away from the bridge it is. For myself, I plan to switch the volume and tone knobs to avoid that problem. I really don't use the tone knob, so I'll set it in a fixed position. Due to the three pickups, there really isn't anywhere for your pick to attack, but that's just the nature of the beast. Also, the humbuckers aren't actually parrallel to the strings .. a bit odd in a way, but probably no big deal. It's a little fussy to tune, but stays in tune well. You'll need to fine tune the setup, but that's standard procedure. All in all, this thing is worth about twice the price when you compare it to other guitars. It's so small and light, that I find myself reaching for it even if I only have a few minutes to play. Great for practicing your scales no matter where you are. And forget any other so called travel guitar. This guy is smaller and cost less anyway.

The guitar is a neck through (not bolt on) style and is very, very solid. No cracked head stock to worry about. No guitar stand required. Compact and rugged.

Music Yo is the only place. That's it. But ... they do respond to email quickly and I have had no problems.

I've been playing for a long time ... I make up in volume what I lack in talent, so I play LOUD. This guitar is fun to play. It's unique. Like I said, I have a nice Strat, and my own custom made Music Man Axis style guitar and a couple others, but this little guy has his own place among them and is different enough that I keep coming back to it after playing the others. Well, worth the money (did I say that before???). I actually plan on buying one of their bass guitars just like the GT Pro when they have it on sale. Oh .... one thing though ... the strings for this guitar ... they have balls on both ends! Had I known that before I bought this thing! A lot of work there ... you need to buy two sets and take the balls off the ends of one set and then put them on the other set and ..... heh, heh, heh ... just kidding!

2003 Korean Production
24 incredibly accessable frets
Solid Body (mystery wood)
5 way selector volume and Tone
Humbucker/ Single/Humbucker EMG Passive design
Order it in white by accident, everybody said they prefered it.
Complete cutaway body
Lockable tremolo (stays in tune!)
25.5 scale (strat)

Medium frets
Gig bag, Tools, Cable, strings

I been playing for over 25 years (and I still suck!)
I play mostly blues. rock, jazz.
This thing is very quiet. I use it for travel with a Korg PX4 Pandora. (Buy the PX4 today!)
Between each pickup and the combinations you can hit all of the sounds.
Pickups sound a little sterile at first, but they work well with effects.

The action was great. My brother in law prefers it to my 2004 American strat (his favorite of my strats). It plays well, stays in tune. Finish is spotless. Sometimes you can hear the pickup selector when you change pickups.

I treat it badly, yet it stays in tune well. I fly with around the world with a problems. WARNING: the gig bag looks a little like a short rifle or take down shotgun case. Smile and be friendly in customs! The two stap button with the tremelo tension knob have confused some people when they stap in on. (everybody wants to play it and loves it afterwards). I have gigged with it without problems.

I been playing for over 25 years (and I still suck!)
I also own/owned an SG, 335, several Strats, several Fender tube amps, Pod 2.3, Korg Px4, Beheringer midi floorboard, Yamaha and Epiphone acoustics, Etc.
I would like a more form fitting and more padded case.
I would order a new one if stolen the same day!
There is no better travel guitar! I have tried them all. If you fly or travel a lot you need this toy!

3 way switch is difficult to hit while playing - too close to whammy bar, but not a lot of room on it's tiny body.

I purchased it strictly for travel, and initially HATED the sound, but over the last year, by tweaking my Digitech RP100 ( which can suck, you really need to fuss with it ) and using a Mesa Boogie F-30 amp, ( Home / Gigs ) and a Roland Micro Cube portable amp ( Travel/ Camping etc. )I have finally found this guitars voice, and I LOVE it! I find myself, unbelievably, reaching for this guitar more often than my 1970 Les Paul Deluxe and 2000 Mexican Fender Strat ! Since the body is so small, the fact that it's made from crappy wood does not have much influence the tone: It's all electronics. The best quality of this guitars tone is that it's balanced: high / low tones, and between pickup selections (HSS). For a cheap instrument, it sounds pretty darn good. It's not a "quality" instrument, but it's rugged, stable, and gets the job done. It can approximate a Strat sound using the neck and middle PU's, the humbucker bridge has pretty good bite.

I was used to slim, 3/4 necks ( Les Paul ) and curved, slippery maple fingerboards ( Telecaster, Strat ) The neck in the Steinberger is thick and baseball-bat like, the finger-board is wide, and kind of flat but I've gotten used to this, and now prefer it to slimmer necks. The action is good, and the headless design with a unique bridge that can lock to become a fixed bridge is VERY stable in stays in tune no matter how much you abuse the whammy bar. String changes are tooooo easy, replace a string takes about 30 seconds!

Been using this as a travel / road / camping / business trip guitar and been throwing it into car trunks, airplane overhead bins, back-packs, act. and generally abusing it, and it's holding up very well. I leave it sitting in the car, in the sun, in the cold, in a tent, and it seems unaffected. It's small enough to sneak into work, then ditch it under the desk when the boss comes around! The only problem it had was the trem locking lever came loose and would not latch properly. I removed the bridge and tightened it up.

Never used

This guitar with a Roland Mico Cube amp( see Harmony Central Reviews, then buy one )is a perfect, portable, excellent sounding travel rig. It's compact size make is SO easy to just "grab and go".

I love all the different features this guitar offers. Especially the locking tremelo. Lots of sounds. Also like the fold out leg rest. I don't however like the double ball strings that this guitar requires. They are considerably more expensive and REALLY hard to find. You can buy them online but then you will also have to pay fo shiping-the price of an extra pack of strings. Or you can buy the string adaptor. They are sold out right now as I am waiting to buy one myself. The main feature though is the cool design. Sci-fi nerds and geeks will definitely be your biggest fans when they see you.

The sound is pretty good. You have to mess with your amp to get sounds you like. The sounds you get are pretty plain, not too much personality but hopefully your playing will make the personality. After a set up this thing sounds awsome. I really do like most of the sounds this guitar has. The neck pickup sounds nice and beefy and thick. You can get some cool combination sounds with the middle single coil when you mix it with the neck or the bridge pickup. Alone it sound ok. I usually don't love the way middle pickups sound on their own on most guitars anyway. The bridge pickup can definatley rock. I like to use this pickup to blast off screaming away into space.

I had to set it up which is expected but after that it played and sounded beautiful. The workmanship and finish on this guitar is better than my new Gibson SG. No flaws whatsoever. The surface is soooo smoooooth. It is more beautiful than my girlfriend. The neck is a little thicker than what I prefer to but I got the hang of it after a while.

Very dependable and sturdy. It will last forever if it dosen't fly off like a spacecraft. The finish will never wear off. I look forward to being burried with it because it will definitely fit in the box right beside me. I would not use it as my main ax because I prefer the sound of my SG but it will be a great second ax. This is heavy machinery.

I've been playing for 13 years. I own a Gibson SG and a custom Stratocaster. I like the Steinberger because it has features and pickup selection features that my other two guitars don't have. I may eventually change the pickups when I get bored just to get a different sound but there is nothing wrong with these pickups they sound very good. If this guitar were lost or stolen I'd cry. I love this guitar like it were a close friend from another planet. I love the ingenuity of the design and the originallity. I hate nothing about this instrument. The whammy really whams. The sound really shouldn't be compared with that of other guitars because all guitars should sound different and the sounds this guitar has don't sound like Strat sounds or Les Paul sounds so don't expect it. I chose this guitar mainly because I'm a space nerd who loves to ROCK!!! and because I've always wanted a real Steinberger but can't afford it. I chose it because I like the unique design. The fact that it does sound and play great is bonus up the booty. This guitar is not for everyone. Some people will probably say it's an ugly guitar. Some people will probably think you're a geek for playing it. My mom saw it and she thought it was a toy guitar. If you don't really like the vintage look and sound and you don't like being like everyone else and you don't care that you may be aproaching nerdism then this guitar is for you.

The user before me has the action set to low. (I never thought that would be possible, but it is). I haven't been able to stop playing it to raise it though.

I will look into hotter pickups in the future.

Only gripe I have is that the volume knob is so close to the right hand, I touch it alot. This is the only thing that reminds me that "I got it for a good price"

It kind of makes me change up the way I use my right hand... the more I think about it, I hate it. But again "I got it for a good price"

Bullet proof.

I've been looking at GT Pro's on ebay for a while and was waiting for and steal of a price. I think I did ok.

I have a real Steinberger GM4T and put it away. I use the GT Pro to "beat up on" it is an excellent guitar for the price.

The GM4T graphite composite neck really did spoil me... I never knew anything else for 13 years. If you've never tried them you gotta, every note on it is a "sweet spot" one went for almost 400 dollars on ebay... neck alone!

But to sum it all up. They don't cost very much and you can run them through ringer. Volume knob sucks and will upgrade the pickups later.

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.