Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe

all of the features have been covered in other posts. this guitar is the best design i've ever used and i've used many. you can lock down the bridge so it doesn't float and change strings without ever reaching for an allen wrench or wire cutters!!! i've read some complaints about the pickups, but i think the pickups are incredibly clear and responsive in all the styles of music that i play. the strings are doubleball (ball at each end), you can buy them at musicyo.com for $30 for 12 sets and are very easy to change (they also sell an adapter so you can use normal strings). i've never had a guitar that stayed in tune so well, this easy to setup and maintain. for the money this gtr is off the chart. when recording you can lock the bridge and get really physical with the gtr rhythms and unlock the bridge and go crazy on the solo. the best of both worlds!

i love all styles of music and this gtr has not let me down once. i am using this gtr for recording and the clarity, warmth and detail i'm getting has been admired by many fellow musicians and web surfers. for some clips, all recorded with the gu deluxe thru a pod go to my website at http://www.positivenrg.net, these samples were recorded to put this guitar thru its paces and i was so impressed i sold my fender strat and ibanez rg470. the pickups are very quiet and really make the pod's amp models shine, whether i'm going for clean/soulful/rock'n or heavy sounds similar to j. satriani or s. vai.

the gtr didn't come setup very well and my volume pot doesn't work but that didn't bother me at all once i realized what i had. for the money i didn't expect it to come setup and i figured i would have to change the pickups because of some of the reviews. the pickups are great in my opinion (i don't need to hide behind distortion) i like my amps to do the overdrive. this gtr is not a $1000 dollar gtr, but is a useful, fully functional workhorse, that has design elements that are better than you have a right to get for $250.
the finish was good not great but this gtr makes me smile. nothing that is imperfect about it can take away what it has done for me.

the steinberger design is incredible and looks like it will last. i'm planning on buying as many more as i can before they raise the prices.

musicyo.com is a great site. i have e-mailed them many times and always get a response the next day, even if the question is in regards to things i hope they will be getting in or thinking about selling. i once order strings for the gu and they sent me the wrong ones. i e-mailed them and they sent the correct strings and i got to keep 12 sets of regular strings they sent in error.

i've been playing for over 17 years and am very particular about my sound. one of my goals is to prove to people you don't need to spend zillions to sound good. if you can play well, have a good ear and have something inside of you to get out. you can go far. along those lines this gtr fits right into my needs and plans. i can't afford $1000 dollar gtrs and truthfully i think many players hide behind their gear to cover up for talent or substance. this gtr gets me professional sounds that i'm not afraid to share with the world. it works for me but every one is entitled to their own view.

Korean made, Gibson owned, Steinberger designed headless guitar with a Hum-Sngl-Hum pickup setup. R-Trem tremolo. 24 fret rosewood board.

I play 80s hard rock/metal. Remember the 80s? We had guitar heroes back then. Not like today's crap where everything is just overdriven strumming. Anyway, the EMGs are pretty good. They sound very close to the DiMarzio PAF Pro and FRED pickups I have in my Ibanez RG-550. People complain about the tone of pickups.....too much bass, too much mid.....too trebly. HEY! That's why companies like Boss make Equalizer pedals!

The action and intonation were fine. The only problem I had is theknob on the pickup selector switch. It came off when I flipped the switch. No big deal. Nothing a dab of epoxy won't fix. Other than that, the guitar looks great. I got the solid white version. If I got a "burst" color, and it arrived scratched or had blemishes, I would have to send it back and wait for a new one. I hate waiting. White is easy to fix. :-)

I think this guitar will hold up to live playing. Always have a backup anyway. It helps if a string breaks and a change in guitars makes the audience expect something different from you. :-) This is a dependable guitar with a strong looking tremolo/tuner peg setup.

I got this from www.MusicYo.com for $233 (including shipping)I e-mailed them about the pickup selector knob and they offered to send a new one. Since I didn't lose the knob, I won't need a new one, but knowing they are willing to supply it makes me feel comfortable with their customer service. (But then again, maybe they're just super-nice for the 30 days that they offer your money back) lol just kidding. Not everyone acts like Ed Roman. (not kidding) :-)

I've been playing for 17yrs. My first guitar was an Ibanez Roadstar II. It had a Kahler copy tremolo and that thing never went out of tune no matter what I did to it. I sold that and now own an Ibanez RG-550 with the Floyd Rose (Not as good as the Kahler type). My amp is a Marshall VS100 and I have an old Boss ME-5 effects processor, a Boss 7 band EQ pedal and a Crybaby Wah-Wah. The only thing I don't like about Ibanez is they put the volume knob too close to the bridge pickup. They moved it away for the John Petrucci model, why not all others? Anyway, I like Ibanez, and given some more time with the "Spirit", I'm sure I'll like Steinberger. If it got stolen, I would replace it with another "Spirit".

Light weight, 24 fret rosewood fretboard, maple neck, H/S/H configuration, R-Trem, double ball tuning, medium/jumbo frets, headless design, SElect pickups (EMG passive), and40:1 fine tuners.

Comes with gig bag, cable ,allen wrenches, whammy bar.

Body is very stratish.

Excellent tone for rock and shred and such.
THe pickups are NOT noisy at all, bright sound.

I really like everything about this guitar, especially the Price!:)
Since no guitar is perfect, I'll give it a 9.

Perfect LOW action strait from the dealer. THe pickup action was perfect.

Tuned it up and it was ready to play.

Just got so I couldn't tell you.

I do know that when you get it in, make sure the strings are streched before heavy playing.

The strings can be purchased from a link at the website Musicyo.com, or can be purchased through D'addario.

This is an excellent guitar, even for an expereinced guitarist.

Plays beautifully, sound delightful, and looks great.

Just remember ,guitars like this are meant to be played, not strummed on a few times here and there.
So if your going to get it, you'll really have to play on it to get it to sound right.

For the price and quality, this guitar CAN't be beat.

This thing totally out classes many strats and rg's I've played through the years.

Bought new through Musicyo.com. Maple body, hard maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. 24 frets which is pretty cool. All my strats end at 21. It has the EMG Select pickups which are the passive pickups. Solid black color with a R-Trem system. Comes with allen wrenches and a cheesey gig bag and cable.

Play mostly rock. Sounds pretty good through my Marshall Artist 3203 head. Its a very quiet guitar, playing mostly strats I am used to that single coil noise. Its sounds kinda tinny or empty. When I get a chance I think I will change the pickups to somthing with a little more punch

Everything from the factory was pretty good, action ia a little on the high side (The way I like it) the paint is very well done. Its missing some paint in the slot for the 5 position pickup selector switch. Since I am a big guy 6' it feels a bit on the small side but it feels good.

This guitar looks like it can take a beating except for the little elastic thingy on the neck that looks like it holds the strings on when you dive bomb the R-Trem. Looks like that will break pretty quickly. The hardware looks like it will stand up. The BIGGEST complaint is those lame double ball end strings. The day I bought the guitar I broke a string. NO guitar store in Los Angeles had double ball end strings. And the online ordering looks like it will take 2 - 4 weeks to get strings. That really sucks. Other than the string issue its a pretty solid guitar. As far as gigging with it maybe with some new pickups but it would always be a backup guitar.

Never dealt with them.

Been playing 15 years own 3 Fenders, a Kramer American Striker, 2 Ovations and a Martin. This is a cool unusual guitar to add to a collection and the price is right. For the money it cant be beat. The BIGGEST thing is the string issue. I wish I knew how hard the strings were to get. If you order em buy 6 sets at least. I could live without the guitar but for the money I would buy another one the quality to price ratio is very good. Compared to the big brother US Made Steinbergers that are 1500 plus its a awesome deal, If I spend 1500 on a guitar its gonna be a nice Fender. If your just learning to play guitar BUY one, it stays in tune and the price is right. Although in any category this is not a perfect guitar by any means but the affordabilty of it is awesome and the quality is much more then the 229 you would pay new so this is truly a great value.

2000 model. The paint was barely cured when I got it and I even found some buffing compound around the trem cavity. A swipe with a q-tip cured that. Body is bookmatched ash with a very nicely done crimson sunburst. Finish quality is excellent, a trait I've come to expect from Korean craftsmen. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard and 24 jumbo frets. Fretwork is good, though I went ahead and polished them up with some jeweler's compound and a Dremel tool. Now they are like mirrors. The body style is evocative of a strat's. I definitely like this body style better than the little slab that the Steinberger Pro uses. The neck is headless and the guitar is tuned at the bridge. The bridge is a Steinberger R-Bridge which is very smooth acting and steady. My guitar came with some instructions, hex wrenches and a strap. There is a five way switch and two humbuckers and one single coil pickup. All are Korean made EMG "Select" brand pickups. They are passive. Overall workmanship is primo.

As is, I'll only give the pickups a 6. But I did a cheap mod that turned them into 9s. This is what I did: I had heard about how dark these EMGs are, so when I ordered the guitar I also got online with Torres Engineering and ordered two 1 meg guitar pots. When I got the guitar in the mail, tuned it up and plugged it in, I did indeed find the pickups too muffled. The replacement pots came in a week later and it only took me about twenty minutes to remove the cheap Taiwanese 500k pots and replace them with the new Mouser pots. What a difference! The EMGs came to life, much brighter and stronger. I recommend doing this mod before you go out and spend $150 on new pickups. The 1 meg pots were only $5.00 a piece (even though I bought some other things, as Torres requires a minimum $30.00 order). I also ordered a good Switchcraft jack which will last alot longer and give better tone. Now this guitar sounds great.

The action on mine was great out of the box. I use .10s and they are much better since they don't mush out. The pickups needed a little raing: nop big deal just the turn of a screwdriver. The body is very well bookmatched and the ash is nicely figured. The only thing I didn't like was the cheap jack, which, as I said, I replaced with a good Switchcraft from Torres. The funky rubber band up at the end of the neck that holds the ball ends of the strings in their grooves is strange, and I'm afraid as dry as it is here in Arizona it might one day dry out and snap. It is vulcanized rubber, but I still worry.

I have only had it two months so I can't really predict. As is it seems very rugged and sturdy.

For the money you cannot beat this guitar. It has a classy look that grabs people's attention, is very nicely made and lends itself well to customizing. You could replace the pickups with some really hot ones, or do waht I did and change the pots. But at $250.00 this guitar semms too good to be true.

This guitar doesn't have many features except for the R-trem tremolo. It makes changing strings a breeze. Also you tune the guitar in a more natural way. No more gymnastics.H-S-H configuration.Headless construction. Very light, weighs way less than my Carvin T-Bolt, which I consider to be a lightweight guitar.Translucent finish , kinda like a "vintage amber burst".Very well finished.

This guitar seems very well built, woodworkwise.So it resonates quite well. The pickups are one of the worst I've ever played.No output! The single coil Ap-11's on my Carvin are way much louder and have tons of tone.Also they sound very dark,Which could be either good or bad depending your music style, but they are bad pickups anyways.So I guess with a pair of REAL Emg's or Duncans or whatever it should sound much better. I installed a small pre Amplifier on mine and it made it sound better , but it still souds bad. At least they are not noisy pickups , they are not the quietest either, even with the pre amp on. The good thing about it is I can drive my Small Tube amp ,an Electar Tube10 to the top because of the extra gain in the output. I woul have to rate the pickups a 6 ,but that doesn't mean it is a bad guitar. If you upgrade pickups I'm sure it will sound awesome. This guitar sounds awesome with effects.I think its more of an effects guitar , its sound is so clear that flangers and choruses sound crystal clear.Thats about what I can say.

The guitar came without a set-up.So I spent about an hour before I could play it and test drive it. I was able to set the intonation very easily , and the action is awesome, Almost perfect. The top was properly bookmatched and the finish is gorgeous. The neck is not as good as my Carvin's, but its a great neck, Very fast and comfortable .It has a Chunky feel more like a Gibson than a fender, but it still is very unique .

The guitar seems very well done.But About a month after buying it the thread on the tremolo's base that holds the big tuning screw got f@*!. But I e-mailed the guys at musicYO.com and the sent me a replacement part.

See above

I would have to rate this guitar a Nine Minus.It gets the job very well done , but its got it flaws.I love Its portability. Very very small it can be carried anywhere. Also I woul like to thank the guys at MusicYo. They sell at great prices. At first I was skeptical about them ,but I risked my credit card. But it paid off I proudly own a Steinberger and it cost less than 300!!! bucks Way to Go MUSICYO!!!

I guess this guitar is a 2000 model, mainly due to the facts that you can smell the fresh stain from the fretboard and I'm still getting it on my fingers. I'll clean it off next string change. It has a double cutaway body, loosely patterned after a strat, and the most obvious feature, no head. Anyway, it's got 24 medium (I think) frets, Master volume and tone controls, a 5-way switch, swamp ash body with a great cherry sunburst finish, 3 EMG select pickups, 1 single coil squeezed between 2 humbuckers which are supposed to be able to be split for single coil sounds. There could be alot of interesting pickup combinations in this guitar.

I'm a bluesy kind of player, meaning no matter what style I play, it has a blues tint to it. Out of the box I found the 5 pickup combinations to be OK at best. The 1st position was fine, neck pickup only, the 2nd position was for me totally unusable, too mumbled with no string definition and no strat quack what so ever. The 3rd position was OK for me, the typical middle single coil sound. The 4th was OK too, typical 4th position strat with a fair amount of quack with good string definition, and the 5th position was also good, bridge humbucker. I did some homework and switched 2 wires on the 5-way switch, the middle and bridge pickups and this replaced the 2nd position combination to neck and bridge humbuckers. So now we have 1st, neck alone, 2nd neck and bridge humbuckers, 3rd bridge alone, 4th, bridge and middle and 5th middle alone. What a difference, it seemed to brighten up the whole guitar, gives good middle and bass and 5 very usable combinations. I give it a 5 before and a 9 after the change.

Fairly good out of the box, I tuned it up and fooled with the trem system a little and away I went. I knew I was going to put 10,s on it soon, so I didn't really do a major set up on it then. The 10's and a setup made a real difference in the feel of the guitar. The neck even feel better, especially now that the strings don't mush under my fingers.

Seems pretty tough, finish and hardware seem good enough. Stap buttons seem adequate, I don't throw my guitars around alot, so I've never needed strap locks. With my luck, I never use anything without a backup.

Don't know, musicyo has a 30 day satisfaction clause, but no mfgr warranty was implied.

I've been playing for about 35 years, had Gibsons, Fenders, Epi's and some no name others, and this guitar rates with the best I've owned. The neck is perfect for me, slightly round and chunky with a flat fretboard. Electronics sound really good now, it has a nice balanced feel to it, and is a great bang for your buck. I'm so pleased with this guitar and price, that I've ordered another color. But be fore warned, when the word gets out on these, the price will definately go up.

Y2K model, "strat"-ish body with bolt-on headless neck. Cherry sunburst finish over swamp ash body. H-S-H EMG Select pickups, volume, tone, 5-way switch. Steinberger R-Trem. Very comfortable neck shape (somewhat large and round, but nice contour and very smooth finish). Came with gig bag, hex keys, and a very brief instruction sheet for the R-Trem.

Kind of a unique sounding guitar. Very "dark" (but warm) sounding, like the treble knob has been rolled off a bit, even when the tone control is maxed out. Not necessarily bad, but limits the flexibility of the guitar. I purchased the translucent colored model mostly for the ash body, because I thought the solid color model, with its maple body, might be too "bright" sounding. Now I'm thinking I might have decided incorrectly. Oh, well, might just have to buy another one! The EMG "select" pickups aren't as bad as some people have stated, but they're a bit on the mild side. This doesn't really bother me much, as I like to keep a clean guitar signal and let the amp do the work for distortion. The pickups are very quiet. The "in between" pickup combinations are supposedly coil tapped, but you're not going to get any clean country strat sounds out of this one. I tend to play hard rock and blues based rock, with the occasional trip back to my hair-band upbringing, and overall it sounds pretty good. I use a Line6 POD into the power amp of a Peavey Transtube Special 212, into a 4x12 cabinet. Overall, it probably sounds better than the rating I gave it, but I may try a new set of pickups to see if the guitar really comes to life.

The finish and construction of the guitar is fantastic. Factory setup was marginal. Action was very high, and intonation was WAY off. Once adjusted properly, it plays very well now, and the R-Trem stays in tune incredibly well. The lever to "lock" the trem was really stiff and difficult to use, but a brief squirt with WD-40 took care of that. My only complaint with the trem is that even with the string saddles lowered all the way, I can only get about 3/32" action at the 23rd fret. I know that I could easily get 1/16" without buzzing if I could lower the saddles further. My only other option would be to try to shim the neck a bit, but I'm not sure if I'll go that far. As it is, it plays very well. The fretwork is pretty good, and it's very comfortable to play. A 9 for fit & finish, a 5 for setup. The R-Trem makes setup fairly easy, though.

I see no problems with using this guitar on a daily basis. It's built well, and is so small (short) that you're not likely to bang it into anything. The R-Trem lets you change strings VERY quickly and easily.

MusicYo.com offers a 30 day money back guarantee, but no warranty on stuff they sell. I've never spoken or written to them, but they're great about letting you know the status of your order.

I've been playing for 18 years. I own about 7 guitars, and have probably owned over 30 of them total over the years. This is a wonderful instrument. I'd always wanted a Steinberger, and always liked the "full-bodied" versions better than the "canoe paddle" smaller ones. For the price, this is an incredible deal. It's a great guitar as it is, and it's easy to set up. It's also a great platform for upgrades if you choose to do so.

Tobacco sunburst finish over swamp ash double-cut-away body, headless neck, patented Steinberger R-Trem tremolo, EMG pickups.

This guitar sounds pretty good. It has its own distinct tone. It doesn't quite sound like a Strat or a Les Paul but that's okay. It sounds just fine on its own. It's got plenty of sustain for a guitar with a bolt-on neck.

When I first received the guitar it was pretty close to useless. It was hopelessly out of tune and the strings hadn't even been stretched yet. To make things worse, I broke the high E string minutes after unpacking the guitar while stretching it so that it would stay in tune! Needless to say I didn't quite get off on the right foot with this guitar. I knew that this guitar was made in Korea and therefore didn't expect much in the way of setup but this was rediculous! The neck needed to be adjusted and the set screw that keeps the bridge saddles in place was completely loose which allowed the saddles to move back and forth which messed up the intonation and tuning. I don't mean to rip the guitar to shreds... I just want to make it clear that this particular guitar definitely needed a little TLC before it was able to be played comfortably. The finish looks really nice. I love the look of the grainy swamp ash through the transluscent top coat. And this guitar is VERY comfortable to play! You can acutally take your hands off of the guitar and it will stay exactly in its place. The lack of a headstock really adds to the overall balance of the instrument.

This is quite possibly the most worry-free guitar that I will ever own! The thing is built solid and the lack of a headstock really takes away the fragile aspect of a guitar. Even better, you don't even need a guitar stand for this thing! It stands up on its own- you just need to prop it up against a wall or an amp and its fine. Normally I would get a hardshell case for a guitar but I feel comfortable just placing this guitar in the gig bag that it came with.

Haven't had to deal with MusicYo yet but they seem like a pretty together outfit. I received my order promptly and was notified by email of the arrival date (which was totally accurate).

Despite my critisism, I really like this guitar. For less than $300 you simply cannot beat it. All of the components of this guitar are top notch from the neck down to the tremolo unit. The neck is nice and meaty like a strat and it's very playable. The tremolo unit is great and it stays in tune very well. Plus you can lock the tremolo in place if you don't want to use it or if you want to tune. The design of this guitar is just incredible. Since there is no nut on the neck, the action can be set REALLY low and it almost feels like you're playing a guitar with a capo on it. Overall, I'd have to say that this guitar is an incredble bargain for $260. But before you buy one, figure out where the hell you're going to get strings! A lot of places don't carry the special double-ball strings anymore and some of those that do charge like $7 per set! But there are places on the web that you can order from as well. Also, I would only recomend this guitar for someone who is comfortable setting up guitars and knows how to make adjustments to the action, truss rod, and intonation. Feel free to contact me for any more info if you'd like.

The Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe features the revolutionary headless neck and double-ball tuning system that makes string changes fast and easy. The R-Trem tremelo has direct pull, 40:1 ratio machine heads. The tremelo can be locked to facilitate string changes, or in the event of a string breaking, the guitar can still be played in tune. There is an adjustment knob that allows you to set the height at which the tremelo floats - the idea is to setup and tune the guitar with the tremelo locked, and then set the height of the unlocked tremelo to match its height when locked. The tremelo is very stable, and stays in tune even under heavy dive bombing or pulling up on the tremelo arm. I have only ever used Floyd Rose tremelos in the past, but the Steinberger R-Trem was MUCH easier to set up and stays in tune MUCH better. It only took me an hour or so to change all six strings and set the action, intonation, and tremelo height.
The body is maple, and the bolt on neck is hard maple with a rosewood fingerboard. The neck countour is more rounded than flat (kinda like the capital "D"), and has a satin finish. There are 24 frets, the scale length is 25.5", and the neck width at zero fret is 1.625". The overall length of the guitar is 30.25", which makes the Spirit GU Deluxe a perfect travel guitar. Included accessories are a deluxe gig bag, hex keys for the R-Trem and the truss rod, a guitar cord, and an instruction sheet detailing guitar setup and tuning.
The passive pickups are Select pickups designed by EMG in a H-S-H configuration. They are controlled by a 5-way selector switch, a volume knob and a tone knob.

This guitar sounds great clean, especially with the neck pickup. The pickups have enough growl and output for high gain sounds as well, and the R-Trem lets you pull up notes or dive bomb them into oblivion. The humbucking pickups are noiseless, and the single coil pickup is wired in reverse polarity which makes it noiseless as well. The five position pickup switch allows for a variety of different tones. My amp rig consists of a 60 watt Trace Elliot Tramp Tube combo and a Line6 POD.

Out of the box, the action and intonation were a little off. Thankfully, the R-Trem tremelo made setting up the guitar quick and easy. The finish had several tiny flaws on a small part of the top and a small part of the back of the guitar. The flaws are only visible if you look closely under good light. The satin finish on the neck was smooth and very playable. The frets were neatly finished. I'm giving this category a 7, but only because of the finish - I think they could have spent a little more time getting the finish just right.

This guitar is built like a tank. The R-Trem can easily take heavy dive bombing and pulling up and still remain in tune. The guitar is well made, and all controls are solid. This is a dependable guitar that will provide many years of service.

I purchased this guitar from www.musicyo.com, and I haven't had to deal with Customer Support. I DO like thier business model - high quality instruments at rock bottom prices. This guitar had a $849 list price, but I got it from MusicYo for only $229.

I love this guitar! I can't believe I got such a high quality instrument at such a bargain price, thank you MusicYo! My favorite feature is definitely the R-Trem tremelo with the double ball tuning system. It's simply the most easy to setup and use tremelo I've tried, and it stays in tune like a dream. The only thing I didn't like was the small flaws in the finish of the guitar. This guitar would have gotten a 10, but I'm giving it a 9 because of the flawed finish. Otherwise, it's the best deal on a guitar I've ever gotten!