Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe

Korean-made 2005 lefty model with 24 fret bolt-on neck. H/S/H pickup arrangement with EMG Selects (passive). Came with gig bag, cable, and hex keys. Neck is relatively thin, almost strat-style, with very fast action.

This guitar is VERY versatile. I bought it for my son (for those of you who want a serious guitar for an undersized but serious kid I couldn't recommend a better axe) but I find myself playing it upside down. The EMG selects aren't as good as their active counterparts, but I'd rate them higher than the ones I have on my Ibanez RG.

Very low noise from the single coils, and a great distorted sound from the HB.. Sounds very full clean with plenty of balance.

We play through a RP200 effects processor with a practice amp, or a Roland GP16/Marshall/ADA rack combo and a Mesa Boogie 2x12 cabinet (scorpions, I think.. haven't looked back there in a while).

We had received one that had some damage (4th fret wasn't inserted right.. had a bit of a buzz, and there was some physical damage) but MusicYo cross shipped me a new one immediately so my son had it right on time for the holidays. Awesome service. Remember: any manufacturer can have a problem (I had some problems with an American Strat once)-- it's how they deal with it that really matters, and MusicYo came through for me BIG time.

Second guitar was perfect and didn't need any additional set up or adjustments. Fit and finish was excellent.

Rating given is for the replacement guitar.

So far so good.. in the hands of a 9 year old I'm not so sure ANY guitar will last, but the advantage of this one is that it is compact and light-- so it can be handled very easily.

Couldn't be happier. Like I said above- any vendor can have a problem now and again with a product... they dealt with it better than some walk-in stores could have. Email response was almost immediate, and cross ship happened next day.

I have been playing for 25 years and own a 1959 Gretsch (recently sold), 1991 American Strat, Ibanez RG, Ibanez G-AX (practice and backup), Ovation acoustic, Gibson acoustic, and about to purchase a Dean 12 string. My son has a Johnson junior strat (the only company that makes junior scale lefty models), and a Hohner lefty acoustic.

If stolen we would immediately replace it.

This axe is PERFECT for smaller-bodied players.. kids who take guitar seriously have a very limited choice-- especially lefties. Most models out there are too heavy or too awkward for a pre-teen to use -- enough so that it really makes them hate practicing. The lack of a headstock and compact body are a perfect combination that gives the player 24 full size frets to develop their hands. A kid also gets very frustrated when they need to retune their guitar every few minutes (my Ibanex G-AX, for one).. this Steinie holds tune just as good as my friend's Parker Fly Deluxe.

We may eventually replace the pickups with active EMGs, but for now this is great!!!

BTW- for other parents out there wondering, I'd also recommend Blue Note straps-- they're impossible to find, but well worth it. A kid needs to be comfortable if they are going to keep practicing. www.bluenotestraps.com.

Parents: don't waste your money on cheap "beginner" or Junior Scale guitars!!!! 20 fret necks and poor tuners make them very frustrating to where you're wasting your money. Invest in a guitar like this one (or the "Broom" model).. the extra expense up front more than pays for itself.. Plus they absolutely love the unique look. You won't find a better solution

2004 korean made, 24 frets,
fireburst finish on a swamp ash 2 pice body.
master volume and tone, Passive EMG selects in a H/S/H setup
R- Trem tremelo, maple neck with rose wood fret 25" scale.
Included Gig bag.

string accessory to convert single ball strings is a must. although not included it is worth the price. you can now use your favorite strings in place of the mandatory steinburgers (there not bad but hard to find) I prefer Exlier poly webs.

I play a wide vareity of music from rock to pop and even praise band stuff on sundays. I will typically choose a guitar to match what I'm playing (i have 8) and this guitar is very versital, heavy metal is about the only palce you will find it is weak. alot of people have complained about the emg pick ups, they arn't that bad. I would take these over the crappy single coils in a stock mexican strat any day. they are quiet and bright but not tinny. you can even get some good dark blusey out of the neck and middle when mixed.
the worst pat is the tone nob is worthless. its either on or off. but the 5 way selector still offers the variety you need. other have complained that they wish they had the trans trem instead of the the r trem. If you have never played a trans trem this will be the most stable tremelo you have ever played. it stays in tune, no matter how hard you drive dive and pull. yes bending whole chords is cool but realistically how often are going to be doing that? the best way to describe it sound is between a strat and a les paul, not quite as bright as a strat but not as dark as the paul. it is cabale of covering both areas well but just cant do the paint melt goes to eleven distortion that a les paul can. with the right effects you can get close but not all the way. it stiil has its place which is every were but a metalica tribute band.

i was suprised at how well the guitar was ready to go right out of the box(minor tuning) I am a lefty so finding a guitar that is in tune is a miricle let alone intonated properly. The action is low and no buzz! i see now cosmetic flaws at all ans I am picky. Mine has a nice fireburst finish(the only option for left hand). and it is sweet. the only real thing I noticed was the humbucker mounting rings are designed for a gibson style archtop as they are angled and this guitars body is flat so the humbuckers are at somewhat of any angle to the strings. it does not appear to affect the sound too much. the neck is thin sleek and fast although the first few times you play it you are thrown off by the missing head, i found my self missing flat a few times. they overall smaller length and body size make it a joy on the neck with out comprimising solid sustain.

I have played with it live and it is solid,and stable. I dont play with out more than one guitar because of the things we do but, if I had to take just one and this was it, I wouldnt be to worried. if you should break a string you can always lock the bridge and it stays in tune! Cosemtically it will look good for a long time if maitained, small nicks and dents are to be expected, if it leaves the house. i am sure in time it will still look just as good although used.

most people cant tell you anything about customer service because they havent contacyted them. iguess this a testiment to the good product they send out. I did need to contact them I ordered my GU on a sunday night, received it wednesday.(I paid for quicker shipping) I noticed the string adaptor I ordered was missing the srews that retaing the srtings in place. I emailed them per the web site and received a return email with in 15 minutes! the email appologised for the mix up and told me the screws were in the mail. Saturday of the same week they arrived. this is my second guitar from MusicYo, and I cant recomend them enough, especially for you lefties. I am giving a 9 instead of a 10 because they should have caught the mistake before it went out.

overall this is a great guitar at a great price as I mention earlier I have several guitars ranging from the expensive; Fender & Gibson to the economy; Jay turser and home built from warmoth. It is in the top two. The versatility and stability are great. Ned Steinberger is a genius. The diferent approach to the engineering aspect of this guitar creates a small learning curve buut once you understand how it works you truly have a beautiful engineering marvel you wont want to put down. I debated about this guitar for a year before a bought it. I kick myself for not jumping sooner because it went up $50 in that time.

Standard Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe in the transparent green finish that the wife bought me as a Christmas gift a couple of years ago. It came standard with EMG Select P/Us, 24-fret neck, R-trem, etc, etc, etc (all the usual stuff that has been mentioned by others). I chose the Stein b/c I had always liked the unusual look and the 24-fret neck.

Like so many others, I felt that the EMG Select p/u's were a tad weak and flat (I knew what I was getting myseld into though, as I had experienced the EMG Selects many many moons ago on an old Hondo Flying V.... wish I never sold that shoulder-killer :-)). I currently play through either a Digitech RP-1 or Line6 GuitarPort straight into a powered mixer or my old Crate G80XL. The Stein is VERY quiet, but in it's stock configuration, this guitar is absolutely 100% reliant upon the effects or processors to give it character (due to the very flat EMG pickups), not to say that it is poorly designed or not playable. In fact, it has a very nice "unplgged" sound (better than your average Strat but not quite as nice as a LP), superb action, and is very comfortable.

The guitar really came alive once I decided to hack into the electronics. I replaced the bridge humbucker with an offering from Lace (actually, I bought the "Powered by Lace" set from MF on sale for around $30 and promptly split them btw this guitar and another project) and, recalling my earlier experience with the Selects, I tapped the neck PU (all you need is a $2 switch from Radio Shack and a soldering iron). The Lace unit matches the output of the EMGs very well but offers GREATLY improved sound quality. The guitar is now able to reproduce many of the lush distorted sounds that I was going for (Satch, Nickelback, etc). Once the neck pickup was tapped, I was also able to get those missing tones akin to my old Strat (SRV, Clapton, and David Gilmour).

Now that my upgrades are complete, this guitar has become very versatile. I can go from crystal clear all the way to super saturated distortion without having to grab a different axe.

Overall, I'm giving it an 8 in this category due to the EMGs. If the folks @ Steinberger would have tapped the neck PU and used a better humbucker in the bridge, it would be a solid 10.

Set up very well from the factory. Pickups were a little low for my taste, but usable. Perfect flamed top, binding, and paint. Wood feels solid and sounds resonant. Neck joint is nice and tight. Heck, 2.5 years worth of playing and it still looks new, what more could I ask for?

As for the action.....
Everything was great until I had to replace the strings, which I did so with a lighter guage than what was on it from the factory. Ever since, I have been having trouble keeping the thing in tune following use of the trem (in Steinbergers defense, the problem may just be the crappy strings from MusicYo). I have been tweaking and adjusting every knob, nut, and screw on the trem and have gotten it close, but not quite 100%. Because of the trouble that I am having with the trem adjustment, I'm knocking off 1 point. Like I said, though, it may just be my crappy strings.... too bad I bought a whole box!!!

Solid, quality components. No question, this is a very road-worthy guitar.

N/A Haven't called and probably won't

The Spirit line of guitars from Steinberger offer a great value for the money. I would rather have one of these than ANY of the comparably-priced offerings from their competitors (especially considering that you can opt for the same guitar without the flamed top for well under 300 bucks!). As I mentioned above, I only wish that it came with better pickups.

Been playing 23 years, occaisionally on a semi-professional level, but mostly for my own enjoyment. I have owned guitars ranging from the aforementioned Hondo flying V (my first 'real' electric) to the obligatory Strat to a Les Paul Custom, and lots in between. The Steinberger fills its own unique niche in my current collection, is very versatile, and I would readily replace it if it were lost or stolen. For the price, I might even buy one of the GT 'broomstick' ones, too!

This is a spirit gu deluxe fireburst finish.
24 frets, 1 master volume, one master tone,1 five way pickup selctor
passive electronics, h/s/h pickup config.

The fireburst finish is AWESOME I dont think I have ever seen a nicer looking sunburst.
Pickups Sound good As well.

The 40:1 tuners are a godsend, I never can get in perfect tune but with the fine tuners it makes it a breeze.

Neck is pretty thick simular to my gibson faded sg

Neck is maple fretboard is rosewood body is swamp ash

Came with a gigbag, cable, wrenches, and very vague and crappy instructions.

Sound is good. The Bridge pickup works alright for Pinch Harmonics.
I dont normally use the neck position but it sounds pretty good too.
The pickups sound a lot like my 200 dollar set of tony iommi pickups.

This baby is quiet, It puts my strat to shame(my poor old strat will even pickup radio stations sometimes LOL)

But I Still may end up changing out the pickups for active emg's.

Finish is great very heavily laquered the only flaw in the finish is a hairline crack coming from under the corner of the neck pickup mounting ring (suppose it happened when they screw the little screw in) but it is so minute (only about1/16 of an inch long) I dont think I would have ever noticed it if it werent for a glare coming through the window.

The Intonation was perfect out of the box and the action was great.

The frets could have been polished better but thats no big deal to me since i always oil the fretboard and polish the frets when I change strings on my guitars

This thing is built to last infact it'll probobly outlive me.

The hardware seems well built as well.

I dont think the finish is going anywhere either, its like 5 times as thick as my strats.

It seems to be very dependable and stable.

The only reason I wouldnt use it at a gig without a backup is their is always the chance that you will break a sting or a pickup will go out or something like that.

Never dealt with customer support.
Never needed to get it repaired.
Dont know how long the warranty is 1 year probobly

Been playing for almost 5 years and own 9 other guitars.
I cant think of anything I wish I would have asked.
If it were stolen or lost i think i would buy another steinberger but I think I would get a us model with a transtrem.
I love the finish, but I wish I could find some coated strings for it.
I compared this guitar to all the other steinbergers I chose this one because of the finish, the price, the coolness, and the pickup configuration.

The only thing I wish it had was a trans trem.

Hi, I wrote the review that's right beneath this one, and I'd like to add one more important thing if they'll let me... after I wrote that I had a big problem with the master tuning knob (it wouldn't tune), and so I emailed musicyo's customer service (I originally tried gibson via the steinberger page and they referred me back to musicyo which is strange since gibson makes the damn things). I got a reply saying that they were forwarding my query to an engineer. I didn't hear anything back for the longest time, and started to get extremely angry, and began considering replacement guitars (thinking a strat would do nicely) for when I got my refund. However the day after I borrowed a strat from my friend to take for a "test drive" I got a package in the mail with a new master tuner/spring/under the bridge deal. I removed the bridge, installed the new piece (needed a drill), and lo and behold it works perfectly now.

THAT was the those of you who doubted musicyo.com's customer service. Also because of that ordeal I'm pretty familiar with the steinie's physiology so if you have any similar problems I would love to be of help. :)

Still looking for that stratty tone I was told I could find... stratty albiet not as bright, thank god. I really do wish this guitar had another tone pot.

This hottie is a fireburst with all the standard factory stuff... the ECM 5-way pickups, ash body, the rosewood fingerboard that I like on my guitars, etc. I haven't modified it at all yet. I might eventually replace the pickups but at the moment I have no real problems with them.

It came with the allen wrenches, little patch cord, and the gig bag, which is comically small and pleasantly eye-catching (because it's so small).

It plays beautifully... the neck feels Stratty to me, and once the action is set it plays really nicely... although I find it hard to reach the top several frets.

I found that the directions were pretty crappy... I needed to lower the action a little bit and found that the directions didn't really do it for me. They were pretty vague and brief. I didn't get it. Is it because I'm blonde? Perhaps. Anyway, I had to ask a friend of mine who owns one. The directions for the intonation adjustment especially I thought were bad since usually you use a screwdriver to adjust the saddles, not your fingers.

Another thing, and this doesn't have much to do with the guitar itself, but it should be said - get the string adapter. In my opinion Steinberger's strings aren't great. I broke two strings in a matter of minutes. I'm primarily a blues player and so I tend to hack and bend and rake and other such colorfully violent things, but I'm not THAT violent. I almost never break strings, and I snapped the E string that came on the guitar (they had obviously been on the guitar for quite a while). I decided to change the strings, and while stretching out the string as I normally do once having strung it, the damn thing broke. I then broke a third one while doing the intonation. It was their "light" guage string, and as I normally play 9's anyway, sometimes 10's, this bugged me intensely. Thank god, and I praise them for this, they include a 2nd B and E in the string pack. I can't wait to get the adapter and go back to using my D'Addario strings. It's just more convenient anyway - you can't stroll on down to the local music shop and pick up some steinberger strings (what if it's an emergency??).

I'm a blues player and since my amp is pretty bad in terms of dirty tone, I have to rely on a pedal to give me some good chunk until I can upgrade to a better amp... the guitar performed very well with the pedal, which is fussy and temperamental. It hates my peavey but likes my washburn and the steinberger. This instrument gets great jazz tone... very clean, round and crisp. It's delicious. Too bad I'm not really a jazz player. The pickups are fine... try playing for years on a bad set of washburn pickups and you'd rejoice to have these. It's clearly a versatile instrument... your sound can be blown to hell with a simple brush of the tone pot but at the same time you can create any number of sounds between that and the pickups.

As I said before, I needed to lower the action a little bit, and the intonation was flat in a couple of places, which is standard for a new guitar, but I don't like the way you have to adjust the intonation. There's one set screw, and then you have to slide the saddles by hand, which is a pain and can cause a problem. But the last guitar I got was a Peavey EXP which came with horrible action and intonation, so I was really happy when the Steinberger came out of the box more or less playable. Once I fixed the action it played like butter.

The finish is great, it's an all around attractive looking guitar. It's surprisingly heavy, which is a minor issue for me because I have a slight shoulder/back problem as a remnant from an earlier injury... all of my other guitars and basses are really light to accomodate for this, and I don't very much like playing sitting down. This isn't the company's problem obviously, and I'll be able to deal with it.

It's clearly a solid little monster, I have no doubts that it'll outlive me. The hardware seems solid although I worry for the saddles, the wood is very solid, the finish is great, heavily laquered, etc. However I am concerned about the little rubber band that keeps the strings in place. I'm not relishing the idea of using an actual rubber band until I can get it fixed once it breaks, which it will. As for a backup, I'd say it's pretty safe.

I only needed them once... when I was ordering the guitar I noticed that they were out of string adapters, and the idea of only being able to get guitar strings from their website makes me ill, so I emailed their customer service with an inquiry. They emailed me back within an hour and told me they'd have new ones in within 6 weeks. That's not so bad, but then again it's a bit of a wait because Steinberger's strings are NOT GOOD...

I've been playing for 5 years, and my family includes a Peavey EXP which is a surprisingly nice guitar. It has a Roland GK-2A MIDI pickup installed on it, and it's played through a Roland GR-1. I also own a lousy Washburn BT, which I bought to replace a guitar that was stolen from me. It's the guitar I can thrash without worries and it's done quite nicely for me. I also have a Cort 5 string bass which is a wonderful instrument.

I probably would get another Steinberger if this were lost or stolen, although maybe an upgrade.

I really love the way this thing feels when I have it on. It's so small and concise and has a really pleasant weight (despite the twinging in my shoulder) to it. It just feels good (despite the twinging). I like this guitar.

i got me here a SPIRIT by Steinberger GU-deluxe black guitar.
24 jumbo frets, rosewood fret board, one piece maple neck, ?mahogany body? tone and volume, 5 way selector switch for h/s/h pickups(emg select), double cut away strat style body. steinberger r-trem bridge and tuners (really nice) can be locked or floating like a floyd rose. scale is 25 1/2". short guitar... think fender mini strat. great travel guitar.

the select pickups arent bad. i thought i might replace them but i think they will stay on there longer than i thought. bridge high output full powerful sound.
middle is thin very quiet sounding.
neck is huge! when played clean has many acoustic features to it.

i got a gig bag with it... zipper broke in the first hour.. oh well. a patch cable, allen wrenches, whammy bar.

i play, melodic variations of metal(death and progressive), hardcore and praise and worship. i use with many amps (whatever is in the room) buti play it thru the jcm800 setting on the line6 POD. its noisy at really high volumes but i think that is because it is not active. full sound nothing to complain about there.

its still not an emg 81 and 85.

this thing was almost completely setup right out the box (action was a little low tho)

the plain strings slide around a little on the zero fret but nothing major.

i think thi guitar will do okay live. im not sure how well the maple will hold up in 10 years.

the hardware is all steinberger.. pretty hardcore stuff.

music yo shipped it in less than a week.

i have never dealt with gibson.

i ahve been play guitar for about 5 years. i own an aria pro II which is a fantastic guitar as well.

if someone stole this guitar i would save a couple more $$ and buy a steinberger gm series with s trans*trem.

i wish it had emg 81 on the bridge and emg 85 on the neck.

The stats have come up and this was the normal setup. Passive EMG Select H-S-H pickups and wood parts (I believe ash body and maple neck).
The Cherry Sunburst finish is a bit bright but I didn't get to pick. I always wanted a Steinberger and now I got it, even though it's just a humble Spirit model.
I hate five-way switches. They're inconvenient, badly placed, hard to replace with anything else and electrically non-versatile. Passive tone control (= treble cut) is also absolutely useless for me. I usually put something else in the hole where the pot was.

In everything I've plugged it to, it's noiseless (apart from the strings moving of course) and it's not a treble cut trick either. The pickups don't quite seem to match eachother. The middle one is noticeably quieter than the others and the neck pickup seems noticeable louder. The middle-bridge combination is thin and the middle-neck quite loud.
I looked inside and they only use half the switch so the pickups are on or off. I connected the splits to the other half of the switch like I've seen on many other guitars so the in-between positions use the H pickups in split mode. They sound better IMO though a bit odd.
I quite like the sound anyway. It could be much better but this is a low-end model and not bad by any measure.
I mostly play progressive metal or rock and classical and whatever happens to cross my mind.

I got the guitar second-hand and the first owner said he only changed pickup and string height. I noticed the master tone was off and changed that. Later when I took off the strings to look closer at the pickups, the saddle bits fell off. They were unlocked. Luckily setting intonation like setting anything in this guitar is really easy (or perhaps impossible). The strings are light for my taste (9-42) but it plays very well. No visible flaws.
There is one audible and feelable flaw, though. When doing wide bends on the top strings they move across the zero fret and there seems to be slight grooves or scratches on it, so it feels scratchy.
After Ibanez necks this was a bit of a culture shock but it feels very pleasant to me now.

I haven't tortured this or had it very long yet, but it feels extremely stable. I've met guitars where the neck can move about just a tiny bit and other kinds of things. This feels solid. It is in good condition though I'm sure it has been well kept.

I don't usually deal with support. It's a shame it's all in Gibson's hands now. I have seen so many good things buried or changed for the bad by big companies and I fear for Steinberger. These things are absolute wonders.

This was cheap and I justified buying it by calling it a travel guitar and it should suit that role very well. I believe I'll make more changes to the electronics. So far I've mostly been playing Ibanez guitars as my own with numerous others (Tokai, Washburn, Charvel, Jackson...) on different occasions. They all have their differences

Stock w/ EMG 85's, new selector switch, pots, and jack from stewmac.com

Somewhat dark with passive emg selects, not bad not great, just pickups. When I installed the 85's, the guitar really came alive. I like a maple fretboard sound, and this gets close.

I am a fan of both high, more acoustic sounding action, and very low action. There is some buzzing at very low settings, but if you raise the strings up, it plays great. I love the small size. I am 6'2", so everyone comments on how i look like i am holding a tennis racket! It makes me chuckle. The white finish was fine. Although the logo was messed up, the 'tein' looked like it was scratched off. didnt bother me at all, in fact, the white finish is now gone. I sanded, and eventually plained the body to get to the bare wood. Now the sound changed again. It has more of a natural, almost piano sound.

All i can say is this thing is a tank. I beat the life out of this thing. It has been taken apart probably 20 or more times, sanded, plained, burnt(to try to remove the finish), thrown, dropped, punched, and abused at live shows for the last 4 years. And i stll pick it up every day with a smile. It has put up with my relentless tinkering time and again. Although, I am begining to think the tuners are starting to strip out a bit. I will probably buy a new r-trem within a year. Keep in mind, I use no less than 3 different tunings a day. And i dont mean drop d and back up. Any combination i can think of. Under normal use, the r-trem should be fine for many, many years.

When i first got the guitar, the pickup selector cracked a bit, music yo sent me a new one. Now, four years later, the flushmount output jack is wearing out. They can be tricky to find, so i emailed musicyo last week, and they are sending me one out. I personally dont mind email communication, IT KEEPS THE PRICE DOWN! So if you want to pay double just to have the comfort of human contact, be my guest! Musicyo has been very Helpful.

Ive been playing 14 years. I have had three ibanez guitars, an esp, gibson explorer copy, charvel, peavy predator. Every one is now sold except the steinberger. the cheapest one turns out to be the best! I would buy another one, but i wont have to unless this one is stolen! I have tried to find a replacement for this thing, just to see if there is one for the money, and there isnt. i have broken three strings in four years. thats a great feeling!

Price: $560 Canadian, shipping + 2 sets of strings included.

Came with gigbag, cheap patchcord, instructions on how to use R-Trem, and a pair of allen wrenches.

My guitar is a fireburst, and I just got it two days ago, but I've also had experience with my friend's GU Deluxe, which is pretty much the same as the one I got, except he's already got EMGs in his, and he got the cherryburst instead of fireburst.

Everyone's pretty much covered all the features of this guitar, but I'll add some opinions on a few of them.
24 frets - just excellent, every single fret is easily accessible, unlike my other two electric guitars which have 22 frets and reaching the lower strings past the 15th fret becomes a chore.
Pickups - I can see where everyone puts in their complaints here, but I really don't think they're that bad. I will eventually replace them with EMGs or Seymour Duncans, but that's because I'm my objective in buying this guitar was to get really good gear at a low price. I'll probably end up spending some $650 on this guitar altogether, but I don't think I'll need a better guitar! The pickups give a good variety of sounds, in the first position you get a nice blended sound for rhythm playing, in the second you get a slight treble boost, in the middle you get a mids boost which is actually louder than both the other pickups, the fourth position gives a low boost which sounds really great (by far my favorite position), and the fifth position growls pretty well, but the sound is so bright that I don't like it too much.

The gigbag is not as bad as many people have described it. Obviously you're going to have to be careful not to drop the thing, but the same goes for anything you use!

Some people might think that a second tone knob might have been in order, but I'm liking the master volume/master tone just fine.

The neck of the guitar I really like as well. I was afraid I was going to get a neck very similar to a Vantage VS-600R that I have, which is thicker and longer than I like, making it very hard for me and my small hands to play that guitar. And as far as I know, both guitars have pretty much all the same specs where it counts... why then is this guitar so much easier to play? I don't know, but I love the feel of it.

The R-trem is where this guitar really shines I think. It's not as hard as all that to set it up, all you have to do is read the instructions and understand them. Changing strings is a breeze, and the tuners are great!

The accessories I don't really care about, because they don't affect the actual guitar, and whatever the pickups take away from it, the pickups can be replaced if you don't like them. The feel of the guitar, however, and the bridge, are not so easy to change.

I play a lot of different stuff, jazz, classic rock, prog metal, metal, classical, etc. I think this guitar suits all these styles just fine. YES, even with the "EMG Select" pickups. I'm playing it through a Peavey Rage 158, and as soon as I get my Marshall JCM 2000 DSL, this guitar will REALLY shine.

As I mentioned before, there are various sounds you can get from the pickups, and the tone control knob helps in choosing your sound, though not nearly as much as the pickup selector. One thing I don't like too much about the tone knob is that it starts to compress your sound a bit too much when it gets into the darker ranges.

The sustain on the guitar is really great, so is the tuning, I've had to make NO adjustments whatsoever (though I might eventually raise the action a teeny tiny bit, just out of preference).

But beyond all of this, the sound that the guitar has comes mainly from the person playing it no? Well, I can pretty surely say that this guitar is helping me play a lot better than any of my others.

The guitar was set up perfectly fine, with little to be desired; though it was a bit dusty around a couple of the frets and the back of the body. I was worried, after reading a couple of horror stories about people who got 'bergers from MusicYo that maybe I would have to fix various things, but no problems whatsoever so far. Was this luck or is the service always this good? I really don't know, but my guitar was perfect.

This guitar will stand live playing, I can tell it. Someone mentioned this already, but that rubber band that holds the strings on at the neck seems like it could eventually snap. I don't know what I'd do, but I'd probably just grab another elastic band and just stick it there. Meh, hasn't happened to my friend's guitar in two years, and it doesn't seem too likely to happen to mine anytime soon.

The guitar has brighter colors and is ligher than my others, and to top it off it's new so I feel like I have to take care of it like a baby. Nevertheless, it seems like it could withstand a good beating. Mind you, I have no plans to let it even come close to a bad beating.

I think I can depend on this guitar quite a bit. I wouldn't use any guitar in a gig without a backup, but if I had to pick one guitar that I have and only one to take, I'd definitely pick this one. The R-Trem's locking feature helps you to be prepared, just in case anything happens.

Never dealt with them. But they got me the guitar in 2 business days, and considering that the warehouse is in Nashville, I'm in Toronto, and I asked for Ground shipping, that's pretty good!!

I've been playing guitar for 3 years only, and humility aside, my sheer dedication to it has made me one of the best in my area. Until now I've had a really good classical guitar, but when I wanted to play electric (like 99% of the time) I had to go with either a Yamaha or a Vantage... the total amount that I paid for both the guitars and my amp is some $600. This guitar will cost me more than that after I get it some EMGs, but it will be well worth it. After skill, practice, practice, and practice, one of the things that makes you a better player is gear, so I'm VERY happy I chose to buy this guitar.

If it were stolen or lost I might or might not get another one... it depends on when and on how much money I have to spend. Eventually (this could be a ways down the road) I plan to get me a GM, so maybe I'd just get the GM instead of buying this guitar again. But yeah, if I were to lose this guitar within the next couple of years I'd definitely buy another one.

My favorite features, as I already mentioned, are the R-trem (ok, it's not a trans-trem, but that's why I'm gonna get the GM) and its ease of play.

I would like to clarify something. Even though almost everyone complains about the pickups, myself included, don't jump to conclusions. It's easy to think that since so many people noticed it, the pickups must be really bad, but in truth I don't think them bad at all, I just don't think they match the guitar. This guitar demands a powerful sound, and while these pickups can deliver some good stuff, they just aren't top-of-the-line. Since everything else on the guitar is so good, the pickups seem to fall flat. Don't let this deter you from seriously considering this guitar. Find someone who has it, or a similar one, and ask them to try it out for a few minutes. It will be worth your while.

My Stein is a white, H/S/H, 1 tone and 1 volume. EMG Select pickups, maple body and neck...etc. Came with a not-too-bad gigbag and a case that MusicYo had on sale for 99 cents. The case is pretty nice. They didn't send me the instructions on how to set the thing up, though.

Well, this is probably the low point of the guitar. Really, the sound isn't all that bad. But, as other reviewers have said, the sound is a bit dull. I like to play a little of everything including metal, grunge, jazz, shred, pop-punk and classic rock (Blue Oyster Cult). A good set of pickups will probably solve the problem. Still, I've heard worse tone from guitars costing twice as much.

Suprisingly, the guitar was setup quite well at the factory. The action is great. I may need to make some very minor tweaks on the string height eventually, but they are very minor so I'm not rushing to do it. I raised the pickups as soon as I got it out of the box. You may or may not need to do this. It's just personal taste.
The fretwork is perfectly fine. I can play fast legato runs quite easily. But, being a cheap guitar, the qualtiy may vary- so keep your fingers crossed.
The finish has one little flaw. The paint ran a little on the upper horn. There are two little bumps in the finish where the paint beaded up and dried. The guitar is white, so you can't even see it from 2 feet away.

MusicYo really needs better customer support. The only way to contact them is through email. I'd really like the ability to TALK to the person I'm purchasing from.

-I've been playing for 4-5 years. I run this through a Peavy Envoy 110, soon to be replaced by a Tech21 Trademark 120. I also own a DeArmond.
-I would buy it again if I need a replacement or as a backup for a better guitar.
-I love the 24 fret neck. Much more fun to play than the DeArmond.
-I compared this to a Fender Deluxe Double Fat Strat and an Ibanez Rg-570. I picked it above the Fender because of Fender's crappy heel on the neck, poor control layout and lack of 24 frets. I passed on the the RG-570 mainly due to price and partially due to the thickness of the neck. I don't know if I could play on a paper-thin neck all night. In any case, I knew that I'd have to replace the pickups on any of the guitars I considered. The Stein won on features and as soon as I put in my dream pickups (Dimarzio PAF Pro- Neck, SD Cool Rails- Middle, SD Custom- Bridge) it'll win in the sound category too.

There are already many comments made on this guitar, so I'll skip the basics. The reason I'm submitting this reveal is to share my experience of replacing the stock neck with a Moses Graphite neck (www.mosesgraphite.com). My guitar is a GU Deluxe White. I bought the neck in March 2001. Took 2 weeks to arrive although Moses said it will be 1 week. The neck came with no holes, which means I have to do all the drilling, for the 4-hole heel and for the 2-hole headpiece. The job is to drill the holes in the correct spots and screw in the self-tapering screws. They told me to use a hand-drill but I don't think any untrained person can do that. I live in Hong Kong and no guitar tech is willing to do it. So I left the neck lying around for almost 1 year before I found a friend who runs a factory in China who's got heavy drilling machines there. So I started working at it with a mechanical technician. The neck does not fit exactly into the heel, which means filing is necessary. It took 1 whole afternoon to get all the job done. Moses did not provide the screws for the headpiece self-tapering screws, but I managed to get them in a hardware store. One of the self-tapering screws for the heel somehow 'screwed up' during the fitting process, and there is no way to turn in the screw completely. I have to saw away part of the screw to complete the project.

Though it was very messy to fit, it was well worth the trouble. The guitar now produces a completely different sound. Much deeper base, very loud highs and warm middles. I've actually bought 2 1-Meg pots plaaning replace the 500k ones after changing the neck, but I found it unnecessary. The original somewhat dark tone is now brighten up. The closest sound that I can describe is the Standard American Strat, though not completely the same. The pickups are actually very good, and I think the dark tone comes from the wooden neck and because it is without a 'head', it does not resonates very well. The grahite neck (a different material) was designed to resonate better than wood (I suppose?).

Action is improved reasonably. I think my wooden neck is worse than most of yours, probably I'm the unlucky one. I bought another one for a friend a few months ago, and the wooden neck can be set to a very low profile without fret buzz. The Moses neck does improves the action.

Overall the guitar is already very reliable, very solid. The Moses neck is heavier than the wooden neck, which makes the guitar even more solid. I hope the self-fitted screws do not fall apart! But time will tell. For now, the guitar is still reliable.

Never dealt with them. So no comments.

If you want to upgrade the guitar with a graphite neck, pls get someone professional to set it up for you (unless you are one of those). Moses does that for some $$, so I suggest you pay them to do it. I would have done that if I lived in the US. I was lucky enough not to have wasted US$270 drilling and filing the neck. But its a real saving and value for money compared to the American made Steins. Music Yo never replace the American stocks (promptly) anyway.

Got it brand-spankin new, Korean-made, same as everybody else. Supposedly got it scratch-n-dent but I can't find the blemish anywhere.

"Fireburst" or something, which is essentially Tobacco Sunburst.

Comes with a crappy gigbag, an allen wrench or two, and setup instructions.

The pickups are, as others have said, kind of flat. Which works to my benefit - I'm playing pretty synthetic pop music, so I need something pretty nondescript. I usually run direct into a mixing board, occasionally through a POD.

That being said, running it through a good effects processor, the humbuckers can give me a huge wall of sound. The SC is a bit weak, but that might only be in comparison to the humbuckers.

Fairly dark sounding - I find myself rolling off the bass a little just to be safe.

Finish is gorgeous. Depsite this being a scratch-n-dent, it's still better than the other two guitars I've owned.

Pickup adjustment seemed fine, although the action was a high overall on the strings. Intonation was decent coming from the factory. I allen-wrenched the action down a bit and all is much better. It does a good job of staying in tune despite me slamming on it from time to time (love those direct pull tuners) and constantly retuning to drop-D and back. Changing a string was pretty easy, although it took me a bit to figure it out even with the instructions.

This thing's built like a tank. Strap buttons are solid, but a little small. I'd recommend replacing them with straplocks (but be careful - if they're screw-in locks they might not fit right and you'll have to replace the screws).

The finish is gorgeous, and seems pretty solid. This thing could do nicely for live work (and it looks cool) but I dunno about not having a backup. I'd always want a backup of something...

MusicYo's been good to me. They got me the guitar in under two days, got a great price, and they've been responsive to my email questions.

I'm not a gifted guitarist, and I've only been at this for a few years, so I'm not always the best one to judge things - I play bass and violin mostly so my opinions are probably skewed by what I expect form those instruments.

That being said, it's a solid guitar, I'd buy another in a hearbeat, and it certianly beats the pants off anything else in its price range, featurewise. I tried a few Ibanez's and Fenders in the price class and this just seemed more...versatile.

The only sonic improvement would be the tone pot - it's pretty useless until you crank it all the way down where it just hi-cuts. Kinda dull. I could see maybe dropping a SD pickup into the neck position for more oomph, but it's not something that's a problem for me, really.

And did I mention it looks really cool? It does.

I'm skipping the description - others coverd that nicely . The body IS solid- not laminataed. I have bought 2 of them. I play lefty and these are a bargain. Change the neck SCREWS to BOLTS using inserts, remove neck and these become the finest TRAVEL guitar made. No headstock to break, easily fits into a Airline legal carry on bag - wrapped in my clothes. (20 inch neck, 16 inch body) Strings can be re-used until they break. (Bring extras hard to find.) This rates a 10 plus.

NECK SHAPE: A NICE FULL "C" - sort of a cross between a 1962 Strat & Les Paul. The neck shape rates a 10 plus. The body fits my body better then any other guitar I have put on. That rates a 10 plus.

(I'm 5'9" - 145 lbs, like "C" neck - travel a lot. My 10's are someone else's 1'S)

Set up and quality control: ZERO MINUS!

Sound: I don't care on a $300 instrument. I don't expect good Pickups. For this price I can change the electronics, have it refretted - and still save big $$$$ compared to a true Steinberger. Or an American Strat., Gibson. etc.

The bridge: Vibratto can be used in Drop tunings! That's more important then the pickups.

They have NO QUALITY CONTROL. They were NOT set up at all - the screws locking the intonation blocks on both of mine were loose - just slide'em around. But the action is low and the sweet spot between the frets - large. And thats un-setup-
completely out of tune. Setting the intonation is a pain - the blocks lock against one another - moving one without moving its neighbor is frustrating. NECKS: One guitar has perfectly installed frets. The other has sharp edges. Neck fit into body on one guitar is excellent, the other normal for a $300 guitar. Finish, routing etc are excellent for $300. The fit of the "headstock string holder" is sloppy. In short - whoever sets up the CNC machine (cuts wood) knows his job, so does the painter - everyone else needs training.

I don't know about the bridge hardware. The local store will not have replacement parts.

The body/ neck are suitable for combat.

My story: I ordered a Spirit GU - saw it had a set neck - got a RO over the net - returned it - asked for refund - they sent me another -I E mailed them - refused delivery on the replacement - they gave me a refund.

They make good on there no questions returns, not having a "live" person to talk to made for a hassle. I still buy from them - but I live in the USA, not England!

(Better then Ms. Helan Waite - "Go to Hell and Wait" - but, not Guitar Center.)

These are love it or leave it instruments.

The Best travel guitar I have seen yet (the next best is basically the same thing for an extra $400 - a lot of money for $3 worth of thread insets and bolts)

I'm also lefty - our selection is much smaller. I would easily need to spend another $1200 to get this neck shape on anything else.

You need to do your own set-up work and possibly have it re-fretted. Once again, I have 2 - one has perfect frets, the other needed filing.

Strat Shaped, Swamp Ash body, red/orange translucent finish--very nice. I bought this on a whim off of EBAY for 90$.
Wanted a project guitar and I missed my old Steinberger GL3T,
wanted to see how the "spirits" compared to the graphite steinbergers. I gave this a "8" b/c i didn't have a bridge nor
a guitar jack, or case. so i had to buy a bridge from music yo for 90$. they delivered it fast. Oh neck is maple, rosewood fretboard, 24 frets, and it was also missing the back plasctic electronics cover. pickups are HSH emg selects. once i got the bridge (r-trem) and guitar jack in it's fine.

I got this guitar expecting to do some hacking it up etc. but am surprised how well it sounds. i had read some bad reviews of the emg selects, but i actually like them. they are not super high output (the dimarzios on my parker nitefly are loud compared to them), but i've come to like them for their different sound. they are quiet, the only noise is from my old 50 watt amp and whatever effects i'm running (phaser/flanger on the digitech rp100 has some noise etc). good clean sounds and i like the distorted sounds i get too. and i thought i'd never be the fan of the hsh setup , but i like it for the variety of tones. the swamp ash has a brighter sound than my mahahony nitefly, so again, it gives me a different tone. and i think the neck is pretty good--very straight, has a narrow feel, but thicker "c" shape going around. i had my doubts after hearing people knock "korean-made", but i found it to be a good little guitar. the r-trem (which i installed and set up myself) is pretty good also. not the caliber of the trans-trem on my old steinberger, but i think it's a decent "lower-model". it stays in tune quite well, and i've put it through some serious whammying. plus i love that the whammy will lock for stable playing!!!! a bonus!

well, since i got it w/o the bridge, i won't comment.
but i would say that w/ the bridge, i've got it at a "8.5"
it definately has a nice low action that doesn't buzz.
my thoughts were originally that if the neck sucked i was
going to have a moses neck put on it (i still miss the feeling of the ole steinberger graphite neck--very smooth and fast), but i've found this neck pretty good and am in no hurry to change it.
i think the wood quality is good. the electronics are very good--the volume/tone controls are very tight--way better than my old kramer pacer ....it seems to be a very solid guitar.

seems very solid.
and music yo was very fast in delivering the bridge.
so far very much worth the 180 i have invested in it.

since i got my bridge pretty fast , i'd say they have
good customer support. they also have decent info
about setting up the bridge on the site--which i used/
b/c i had a bit of trouble w/ it at first.

I think this is a good solid guitar. for a decent price.
if you don't like steinberger's design, i'd stay away (some
people need a headstock), but i think it's a great guitar.
has stable tuning, whammy stays in tune, and a decent sound
w/ the emg pickups. i've debated trying to turn it into more of a
"Klein" body shape for the future, but since it functions well as is, i probably will wait. and in the future, down the road i'll probably have a moses neck installed, but like i said, as is, it's a pretty good little guitar.

This is a Lefty GU Deluxe in a fire burst color. Comes with maple a maple neck, rosewood fretboard, and a swamp ash body. It has 24 frets, one tone knob, one vol knob, 5 way blade switch, H/S/H config using EMG Selects, Locking R-Trem, and a Headless neck.
The Locking-R Trem is most unique feature of this guitar. It has lock that can be set that basically disables the trem. It's very helpful; if your changing string, tuning, or not using the trem. This is the first trem I've played in years so it's taking some adjusting to. I'm not too fond of the tuning knobs. They're a little awkward to get to and still to turn. Maybe they just need some oil. Other than that, the trem is pretty soild. This guitar has a lot more features than I'm use to. I can't imagine anything else I would need. I give it an 8 b\c of the tuners. Comes with a gig bag.

I play mostly hartd rock and some metal. Creed, Metallica, GNR, etc. I tell ya, for the rpice, this thing sounds great. I was leary of the PU but I think they really sound good. Quiet and smooth. They aren't too hot which is my only beef. They remind my of PRS Dragon II's. The cleran is actually really good. My main rig is a Marshall JCM 2000 TSL w\ 4x12 cab. I also use POD in small settings. This guitar rocks therough the JCM like everything else. Plenty of sustain and crunch. I might replace the PU with active EMG's at some point. For now, these things are fine. A 10 for value.

The factory set-up was pretty lame. Teh trem needs to be adjusted and the action lowered. I also had trouble with the trem arm allen screw. I had to mess with the lock to make it stay still. Now it works fine. The set-up is really not that big of a deal. I wasn't expecting much. I'm going to have it redone anyway. The middle pU was set way too high. Ikept hitting it with my pick. I lowered it as much as possible. The finish was fine. Only a few minor flaws. Nothing major. % for the set-up and trem problem.

Haven't ahd it long enough for an opinion. Seems solid. Heavier than I thought but light comared to my LP.

Bought from Music Yo. E-mailed them about the trem and how to lock it. Nothing tells you. Still haven't heard back. I'll give a 7 for now.

I've been plaing for over 15 years. I just sold my PRS CU 22 and a LP Classic Plus for teh PRS Private stock that I've ordered. I wanted a cheap guitar to tie me over and one to use as back-up. $245 for this lefty is a bargain. It's really small. Comfortable but it's taking some time getting use to. Especially without the head. I really like it a lot though. you can travel really easily with it. Take this and my POD and you've git tone in a bag. I'd recommend this one to anyone.

1996 (I think) model, country of manufacture unknown. Usual R-Trem, EMG Select pickups. I bought this guitar for its compact size and quirky looks. (Maybe I also wondered if it might help me play like Holdsworth, but I soon abandoned that hope.)

The trem is the real highlight. No string ends to snip off, and tuning is childs play. It can be locked in place with a little catch, so the whole guitar can be flipped from fixed bridge to whammy mode! To fit strings, hook the ball ends in place and tighten.

To tune, fix the bridge in place, and twiddle the tuners until everything is in tune. Then, release the catch behind the bridge and adjust the tremelo tension with the knob until the tuning is the same. Then the guitar is in tune when the trem is fixed or floating. Magic!

24-fret neck; not too thin, not too thick. Frets are a little on the low side for those used to jumbo, so legato playing works less well than on all-out rock guitars.

Came with a cheapo gig bag that has long since worn through; this is my travel guitar, so it gets lugged about in overhead lockers from country to country.

The EMG Selects are very weedy. They're passive, unlike other EMGs. The rest of the guitar is so well made that an investment in upgraded pickups would be worthwhile. On the plus side, I neve got round to doing it.

Perfectly set up on delivery. Finish was also immaculate. Not a 'prestige' finish; just solid, clean and no-nonsense.

This guitar is 100% dependable. Strings don't break as often as with Floyd-equipped guitars, and they're quicker to change if they do snap. Solid strat-like construction, but not indestructible. (Presumably the carbon-fibre super-expensive Steinbergers *are* tank-proof)

Finish has lasted well, despite the guitar getting a lot of use.

Great guitar. Superb value. When I saw that Music Yo were selling this guitar so cheaply I was amazed, because I considered it great value at the much higher price that I paid. I almost considered buying a second one at the bargain price (you know, just in case...).

Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe, made in Korea in 1999-2000. Body is maple with a rather nice, considering the $250 price, gloss black finish and a shape similar to a Strat. The headless neck is a one-piece maple bolt on. I believe that the fretboard radius is 16". The width at the zero fret is 1.625", and this neck is THICK. It took a little while to get used to, but now I love it, very fast. 24 medium frets. The bridge is Steinberger's R-Trem, which, despite looking somewhat cheap, stays in tune amazingly well. It has one volume, one tone, and a five way selector. Pickups are Selects (licensed by EMG) in a H-S-H arrangment. It was shipped with a very thin gig bag, the usual cheap cord, and allen wrenches for the truss rod and trem. It's by no means perfect, but it only cost $250, so that really can't be expected. For the price, I'm very impressed.

I've only been playing for about two years now. I play what I can, mostly rock, with a little of anything else I think sounds cool thrown in. I think that it sounds reasonably good. I'm playing it through a Fender Princeton Chorus (excellent clean, rather weak distortion), with a DOD Grunge in front of the amp. (Not the greatest distortion either.) It sounds excellent clean through my amp, but so does everything else, and it rocks distorted through a friend's Marshall stack. I'm mostly non-commital on the sound. If you buy a higher end guitar, you're probably going to get a better sound, but to me it sounds much better than most things in its price range that I've played.

For the most part, I was impressed when I recieved this instrument. I had never purchased an instrument on-line before. As it came out of the box, the action was just a little high, and the intonation was a little off. Not a big deal. The neck pickup was too high as well. the routing has no flaws that I can see. The fretwork is good, no edges protruding anywhere, pretty level, very little buzzing, none of which comes through the amp. The neck joined is tight and contoured very nicely, I barely notice it. There were some negatives as well: The saddles are all held in place by a single set screw. The intonation is adjusted by loosening the screw and sliding the saddles manually, the screw in mine wasn't properly tightened and the first time I changed the strings all of the saddles fell out. The rubber band that keeps the strings from popping off of the neck when using the trem dried out and broke after about three months. To me its not a big deal, I don't use the trem that much, and when I do, I don't dive far enough for it to be a problem. It could be for someone else though. It has worked flawlessly though since these two early bumps in the road.

I don't play live, but I'm sure that the guitar could handle it without a problem. The hardware is kind of questionable, it's holding up fine now, but we'll see what it looks like a few years down the road. I don't have any complaints about the finish, other than the ugly sticker that they put on the front of the body. I've only put a few scratches in it from my watch. I always forget to take it off before playing. The strap buttons were kind of small, so I replaced them with a larger set. The zero fret is already showing some wear after about a year, but it definitely has plenty of life left. I wouldn't gig without a backup, just based on principle. Changing strings is VERY fast though.

MusicYo has a 30 day return policy. That isn't too great, but I've never had to use it either.

I've been playing about 2 years now. I have two acoutics (both cheap beginners guitars), my Steinberger, the Princeton Chorus and the Grunge pedal. I'm very happy with this guitar for the price. I think that if it were lost or stolen, I would have to buy another one just for the incredible neck. I like the trem, even though it seems to be made out of pretty cheap metal, just because it stays in tune better than a lot of Floyd Rose copies. I compared this to just about every guitar I could find in the $300 price range, I bought it based on its specifications and the reviews of it that I read. I do wish that it didn't have the middle single coil because I rarely use it and it gets in the way. I would just prefer two humbuckers and coil tapping. Another potential downside of this instrument is the requirement of double ball end strings, which can be hard to find. MusicYo sell them though for $4 a set. There is an adapter available that allows the use of regular strings. I bought on and was not impressed by it at all. Overall, I haven't found another guitar that I'd rather have for any price comparable to this. If you're willing to deal with needing double ball end strings, I highly recommend trying this guitar out. Obviously, my rating takes into account the price paid.

Steinberger Spirit GU-Deluxe year 2000 solid-color model, made in Korea.

Solid maple (swamp ash for translucent burst finishes), "strat-type" body with rounded, tapered neck-pocket heel, moderate tummy contour, moderate forearm bevel, and around 3/16" contour elsewhere (i.e., slightly "sharper" edges than a Strat) -- glossy black finish.

Hard maple bolt-on neck, no headstock, truss-rod adjustment at the headstock (or rather where the headstock would normally be), around 1-5/8" wide at zero fret, very full, rather thick D-shaped contour, possibly slightly thicker toward the "nut" than toward the heel -- satin finish.

Rosewood fingerboard, around 14" radius, 25-1/2" scale length, 24 medium frets (not including zero fret) -- dyed medium brown.

EMG Select passive pickups in H-S-H configuration. Five-way pickup selector, one volume pot, one tone pot (both with knurled-metal dome-shaped knobs).

Steinberger "R-Trem" tremolo bridge, fully floating, lockable, with roller saddles and direct-pull tuning machines.

All black hardware, pickup covers, and knobs, except for steel-colored roller saddles and trem bar.

Comes with big allen wrench for truss rod, tiny allen wrench for set screws on tremolo, instructions for adjusting tremolo, and economy-grade nylon gigbag with minimal padding. (I recommend getting the $50 "Premium" gigbag. It's not a bargain, but it fits snugly inside the "free" gigbag, and the two gigbags together provide just *barely* enough padding to be acceptable.)

I couldn't form a valid opinion of this guitar's sound, as I had to send it back for other reasons. However, according to a friend of mine who is a professional guitarist, EMG Select pickups are so-so, with somewhat weak output.

I'm going to start this section with a conclusion: My GU-Deluxe was a potentially very nice guitar, with decent components, spoiled by a sloppily mounted string retainer ("nut"), a sloppily mounted bridge, and an overtensioned truss rod.

The Good: The glossy black finish on the body was near-perfect. The satin finish on the back of the neck was as fast and smooth as I and my pro guitarist friend have seen on any guitar at any price. The fretwork was well done, with no sharp shoulders or visible filler. I couldn't see any problems with the fit at the neck joint. The quality of the bridge was quite decent for the price -- not surgical instrument quality, but easily good enough for a musical instrument.

The Possibly Bad: The neck seems to be somewhat thinner toward the heel than toward the "nut." I don't know if this is by design or if my neck was improperly milled.

The Bad: The string retainer appears to be made at least partly of plastic and doesn't seem to quite match the contour of the neck (the string retainer caps off the end of the neck where the headstock would normally extend from). Also, the string retainer has a semi-elastic rubber or plastic band to keep the strings in place during tremolo dive-bombs. I don't know how durable this elastic band is in actual use or how easy it is to replace if it loses its elasticity or breaks.

The Really Bad: The truss rod was grossly overtensioned, causing the neck to actually bend slightly backwards, resulting in "negative relief." The string retainer was inaccurately mounted -- too high off of the fingerboard on one side (where it should have lain flush), and visibly off center. Similarly, the bridge was mounted too far in, making it difficult to locate the finger-catch on the tremolo locking lever. Finally, the bridge-plate was a bit too far forward in the recess, possibly due to knife edges that were slightly too short. This brought the tremolo "block" too close to the front wall of the recess (lined, by the way, with a steel plate), severely limiting pull-up range (1-1/2 steps max, as opposed to the 3 steps reported elsewhere in Harmony Central).

Clearly, Gibson (which owns Steinberger) and MusicYo (which is the exclusive seller of Korean Steinberger Spirits) need to pay serious attention to their Korean factory's assembly procedures and quality control. The components are on the whole quite good, and it's a shame to waste them.

Obviously, I can't provide an informed view on this. However, I can say that this guitar seems to be *very* solidly made. Moreover, the headless design, with the tuning machines "sheltered" in the tremolo cutaway essentially eliminates the two most common types of damage: broken headstocks and damaged tuning machines. The finish *appears* to be thick and tough, but again, I have no idea how it will wear in actual use. However, I do have a few minor concerns:

* The string retainer appears to be made at least partly of plastic. Conceivably, if the guitar were dropped or fell over the wrong way, it could break. Metal with a rubber-like, impact-absorbing finish would be better.

* The string retainer has a rubber or plastic elastic band to hold the strings in place during dive-bombs. I don't know how long it will take for this to break or lose its elasticity.

* The strap buttons aren't very big.

* The tremolo knife edges *may* be prone to premature wear. I only used my tremolo for a minute or so before taking it apart, and one of the knife-edges was already showing *clear* signs of wear. Of course, it's possible that a poorly machined or cannibalized part was installed in my instrument. On the bright side, the knife edges on the Steinberger R-Trem are removeable and replaceable. The question is, will MusicYo sell them to you?

I purchased this guitar on the Internet from MusicYo.com, exclusive sellers of Steinberger Spirits. They were definitely helpful and friendly. They shipped when they said they would, and the package arrived (in good condition) when UPS said it would.

However, I did have a few minor problems, probably caused by a holiday season crunch at MusicYo (I placed my order a couple of weeks before Christmas). One of the items I ordered (and was billed for) was missing, and it took MusicYo several weeks after I notified them to ship the missing item. Similarly, I had a great deal of trouble getting a prepaid Return Merchandise Authorization mailing label from them. I'm quite good with computers, but I couldn't generate a mailing label using MusicYo's automated process. In the end, I had to email MusicYo and have them generate a label themselves and send it to me as an email attachment. This delayed my return by a good week or so, and I'm still waiting for my refund 12 days after mailing the returned merchandise back to them.

MusicYo's warranty isn't really a warranty, but more of an approval period. Basically, you have 30 days from the date you are invoiced/charged/billed (*not* the date you receive the shipment) to get a Return Merchandise Authorization number from MusicYo and send the return merchandise back to them -- for any reason. I'm not sure how they handle problems that crop up after the 30 days expire.

I like MusicYo, they've treated me decently, and they probably were snowed under by a Christmas rush. However, I have to mark them down a little because of the hassles and delays described above.

I've been playing for over 20 years, but I'm self-taught (with tips from my GIT-trained buddy) and just play for fun. Right now, I'm playing on a Yamaha EG303, a Taiwanese-made Strat clone. (Don't laugh! The neck is pretty nice and the "vintage" vibrato stays in tune -- even though it's set to float. If you have to laugh, laugh at the pickups...) However, I'm thinking about putting some effort into becoming a better player, and I'd like to have a decent instrument to do it with.

As I mentioned earlier, I returned my Steinberger Spirit GU-Deluxe because of sloppy assembly. I didn't want to take risks on a neck that had been grossly overtensioned, and I didn't want to fill and redrill mounting holes for the string retainer and the bridge. However, I should make it clear that I came very close to exchanging it for an identical guitar (hopefully one that had undergone a proper quality-control inspection).

THE STEINBERGER SPIRIT GU-DELUXE IS A *GOOD* GUITAR. The tremolo is intelligently designed. It stays in tune, it makes a good "bleating" sound (which you get by pulling the trem bar up a little and flicking your finger off the tip), and it can be locked in "neutral" position for setting intonation and saddle height, and for changing strings and tuning. Once you finish tuning, you adjust the tremolo spring tension by turning a single knob so that the free-floating neutral position matches the locked neutral position. Changing strings is a breeze, and if you don't like MusicYo's Steinberger strings, you can easily find alternatives (albeit more expensive ones) on the Web. The tremolo arm slides snugly in place (no threads to strip) and you can adjust the rotational resistance via a set screw.

Most of my reasons for not doing an exchange are idiosyncratic:

* I don't like the Steinberger's thick, D-shaped neck.

* I like a more pronounced forearm bevel and a higher bridge, so that my picking hand falls naturally into the correct position. I would like a wider cutaway below the neck: with the existing cutaway, access to the upper frets is quite good, but in only a limited range of fretting-hand positions -- in other positions, the back of the fretting hand jams against the body's lower "horn." I suppose the body's tummy contour could be more pronounced, too.

* The volume knob is *almost* out of the way enough -- much better than a Strat, but you still run the risk of hitting it with your picking-hand pinky if you play with correct picking-hand position. Similarly, the pickup selector is *almost* out of the way enough. Still, it's not too hard to whack out of position when you're doing funk-style strumming.

* It would also be nice if the overall height of the R-Trem bridge were adjustable -- unfortunately, the pivot posts are (?) welded to a metal plate that is screwed to the bottom of the tremolo recess. Similarly, the lever that locks the tremolo into "neutral" position pivots off of a fixed point on a metal plate on the bottom of the tremolo recess, and the catch that the lever latches onto doesn't appear to be adjustable either. Apparently, the only way to raise the height of this tremolo would be to remove it and shim up the entire bottom of the tremolo recess.

* Intonation could prove to be a real pain, since the saddles are apparently all held in place by pressure from a single set screw on the side of the bridge and are apparently all free to move when the set screw is loosened. Moveover, the saddles have to be moved back and forth manually -- no intonation screws or Floyd Rose intonation keys here -- not exactly a precise and stable system. Luckily, as long as you don't change string gauges, you won't have to do this very often.

* Finally, I'm not thrilled by the way the tremolo locking lever latches on to the catch (which looks like a nail with a wide, flat head protruding from the bottom of the tremolo plate).

This guitar has a swamp ash, strat-style body, made out of three separate pieces of wood. The neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard and 24 medium frets. The neck is has a pretty nice round shape and is somewhat thick, with a very nice satin finish. The width of the neck is 1.625" at the nut/headpiece. The fingerboard is more flat than round. The guitar is, of course, headless. The finish is a transparent honeyburst which allows one to clearly see the detailed grain pattern of the wood.

There are three passive EMG pickups in an H/S/H configuration. The pickup selector is a standard 5-way strat-style selector. There is one volume and one tone control knob.

The tremolo is a Steinberger R-trem. This trem can be locked into place when the whammy bar is not in use. A very nice feature which, in my opinion, should be standard on all trems. The tremolo bar can be affixed to either side of the trem, i.e. it can either be attached to the side of the trem closest to the sixth string or the side of the trem closest to the first string. There are six tuners on the R-trem by which tuning is accomplished.

All the hardware is black: the strap buttons (non-locking), the volume and tone knobs, the pickup covers, the headpiece, and the pickup selector cap.

This guitar sounds pretty good. Many people have complained about the cheap EMG Select pickups, but I really like the neck pickup and the combination of one of the neck coils and middle single-coil, which gives an unmistakable strat-like quack tone. I like the pickups because they give a very clear, clean, yet full tone, and are very, very quiet. My guess is that most guitar players who haven't liked the pickups haven't liked them because they are relatively clean-sounding. I could be wrong, but most guitarists seem to want really hot pickups so they can get more gain, compression, or sustain from their amps on the distorted channel. I don't like hot pickups. The EMG Selects are nice and clean and balanced -- there are no obnoxious frequencies that stick out when using these pickups. The clean tone with the neck pickup is nice and round, without any muddiness. I'm not much for single-coils, but the single-coil in this guitar is very, very quiet. The bridge pickup is kind of mediocre, but I do like it's relatively clean sound. Distorted, the neck pickup gives a very smooth, warm sound. The bridge pickup is pretty average -- a little hotter and brighter than the neck pickup. Overall, this guitar has very refreshingly clean-sounding pickups. The sounds have a nice clean, clear quality that I really enjoy, whether playing with a clean sound, overdriven sound, or high-gain sound. This guitar also sustains fairly well.

I use this guitar with an all-tube Fender Blues Jr., a solid-state Fender Eighty-Five, a Line 6 Pod v. 2.0, a Korg Pandora PX-3, a Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde Ultimate Overdrive, a Jekyll and Hyde Route 66 American Overdrive, and a Boss Crybaby wah.

I'm going to give this a mediocre rating for several reasons. First, the guitar was out of tune and badly intonated when I received it. Also the action was quite high. There is a minor blemish in the finish right where the pickup selector is. Some of the fret ends are not finished properly. There is a small chunk of wood that is missing from the edge of the fretboard near the neck pickup. The bolt-on neck doesn't fit perfectly into the joint. There are some very narrow gaps between the neck and the body.

That's about all that I can think of that was not right about the guitar. Everything else was good.

For the most part, the guitar seems reliable and durable to me, but I baby all my stuff. The guitar feels solid. The one thing I think might not last on this guitar is the R-trem. I've had this guitar for almost a whole year now and the the little screws that are used to adjust the string action on the bridge saddles are beginning to show through on the side of the bridge saddles. That is, when I remove the bridge saddle from the bridge, I can see that the side of the saddle has been worn away partially and I can see a bit of the threads of the screw showing. I worry about that. It's not like I can just go down to the local guitar shop and get new bridge saddles for the R-trem. That is really the only thing that concerns me about the reliablity and durability of this guitar. Like I said, I've had this guitar almost one year and it's never quit working on me.

N/A.

I've been playing for 12.5 years. I also own a USA-made Hamer Studio and an Ibanez RG570. I've also owned a Fender American Standard Strat, a Fender Strat Plus, and a Yamaha strat-copy.

The Steinberger GU-Deluxe sounds far better than my RG570. However, the workmanship on the Ibanez is superior to that of the Steinberger. I wouldn't say the Steinberger sounds better than my USA-made Hamer, but I can't say it sounds worse either. They sound different -- the Steinberger has that clean, clear quality that I like, while the Hamer gives great Les Paul tones.

The things I really love about this guitar are: the clean, clear sound; the satin-finished neck feels great to play; the trem locks into fixed position when I'm not using it; the guitar is light and well-balanced so when I'm playing standing up, it's very comfortable. I also really like the way a headless guitar looks.

The things I think could have been improved are the overall workmanship, the durability of the bridge saddles, and the quality of the gig bag it came with. I wouldn't mind if it had jumbo frets, either.

This is an excellent guitar for the price I paid: $250. Musicyo.com has raised the price to $280 since I bought it. I think that's still a good price for this guitar. If it was stolen or lost, I might buy a new one. I can't say I would for sure, but I really would consider it seriously.

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!

Follow-up to my previous review of Steinberger GU deluxe now that I have made all my modifications.

The EMG Select pickups have good basic tone but weak signal strength. I installed two preamps, one which boosts the signal to maximum possible without overdrive (about 18:1 boost) and the second which boosts and overdrives the signal (about 22:1 boost). With either preamp, the pickups are now more than acceptable; with the first preamp (18:1 boost) the tone is bright, thick and strong, with the second preamp (22:1 boost) the tone is bright, thick and over-the-top. The preamps are controlled by two push-pull pots which replace the original volume and tone controls. The volume pot in its up position bypasses the preamps and passes the unboosted pickup signal to the output jack; in its down position, it passes the preamped pickup signal. The tone pot in its up position selects the 18:1 boost preamp; in its down position it selects the 22:1 boost preamp. I also installed an aircraft-type locking two-position switch adjacent the pickup selector to engage/disenage the battery circuit for the preamps. I found that using the volume push-pull pot for this function also usually results in dead batteries very quickly since it is very easy to knock the pot into into down position while putting the guitar away or otherwise transporting it. The aircraft-type two-position switch solve the problem since it is spring loaded and must be pulled out to change switch position.
The EMG Selects have recieved some less than stellar reviews but I find it best to regard them as active pickups with a fail-safe passive backup mode: if the battery dies suddenly, the guitar is still usable though with reduced pickup output.

Replaced the stock maple/rosewood neck with a Moses Steinberger replacement graphite neck (http://www.mosesgraphite.com/products/nprice_guitars.html). The neck construction is a work of art - with the exception that the screwholes used to secure the headpiece to the tip of the neck were not centered in the example I recieved which necessitated drilling, filling and more drilling by my guitar tech rather than send the neck back to Moses and wait two weeks for them to fix the problem. The Moses neck does not come with the headpiece required to secure the strings at the tip of the neck: this must be obtained from Ed Roman guitars (http://www.edromanguitars.com). Unfortunately Roman is the only source I could find for this piece despite searching high-and-low for another supplier. Roman sent me the wrong headpiece - the type which fits the Spirit/Hohner/Cort maple/rosewood necks - and which does not fit the graphite neck. After a total of one month I finally recieved the correct headpiece and in a few days the guitar was ready to play. The graphite neck gives the guitar a very distinctive tone, the closest examples of which are found on "Hard Hat Area" by Allan Holdsworth. Overall I am extremely happy with the neck on this guitar, even though it was a bit of a trial to get all the parts together and finally installed.

I would replace this guitar in an instant.
I regard the Steinberger Spirits to be excellent candidiates for modification - especially since they are not too expensive to begin with - and if done correctly, the resulting instrument is fully comparable to a similar Steinberger costing thousands more.
The biggest concerns a buyer of a Spirit are:
1. Do I want to replace the neck. 2. Do I want to replace or preamp the EMG Select pickups?

Guitar bought for $359.00 from a dealer that had it hanging on his wall for at least the past 5 years. Recommended retail for this guitar is in the area of $850. I bought this guitar specifically to upgrade it as closely to possible to American-built Steinberger standard, therefore my comments are valid only within that context.
The Spirit GU Deluxe is a decently built guitar that is usable as is; however I have been spoilt by my Gibson SG Standard, the overall standard of which the Spirit does not meet.
YEAR OF MANUFACTURE: Don't know.
PLACE OF MANUFACTURE: Korea.
NUMBER OF FRETS: 24.
SOLID-TOP:
One-piece body.
CONTROLS: 1 volume, 1 tone, 5-way pickup selector.
PICKUP CONFIGURATION: H/S/H
The Spirit GU Standard is available in H/S/S configuration; the Spirit GU deluxe is available in H/S/H configuration. I am not too much of a single-coil fan and this pickup arrangement was what I wanted, though there was also a Spirit GU Standard also available at purchase time.
PICKUPS MAKE AND MODEL: EMG Select
The EMG Select pickups are pretty weak; according to Paul Gnat, technical representative at EMG, the humbucker has a max peak-to-peak voltage of about 500 mV, and the single has a max peak-to-peak voltage of about 250 mV. The stock pickups are useful as is, though they do not really support left hand hammering/picking too well due to their low output. This was not a problem as one of my intended modifications was to install a preamp. I obtained the circuit design from "Projects for Guitarists" by Craig Anderton and built a preamp with a gain of 23. My first preamps had gains of 2, 4, and 8, none of which really made much difference. The gain of 23 produces a smooth low-level distortion, more than adequately supports left-hand hammering/picking, and basically transforms the guitar into a fire-breathing monster. I replaced the volume control with a push-pull potentiometer to engage/disengage the preamp/stock pickup circuits respectively, and the stock three-pole input jack completes the battery ground circuit when the cable is plugged in.
PASSIVE ELECTRONICS.
Effective stock tone control. See above for discussion of retrofitted preamp.
BODY WOOD: Swamp ash.
Well finished body.
NECK WOOD: Maple with rosewood fingerboard.
FINISH: Brownburst.
BODY STYLE: Strat.
BRIDGE STYLE: Steinberger R-Trem.
Steinberger bridges are sophisticated, very well engineered systems. The Ed Roman website http://www.edromanguitars.com/stbtt.htm has detailed information on adjusting the Steinberger bridge.
TUNERS: Steinberger headless double-ball micrometer system.
LOCKING TREMELO
Raises pitch by a minor third.
NECK: Width at zero fret: 1 5/8 inches (4.1 cm). Scale: 25 1/2 inches (64.7 cm). Thin frets.
Includes truss rod (unlike stock Steinberger necks).
The construction quality of the neck leaves a little to be desired. Some of the frets are visible at the edge of the fingereboard; however fret finishing is smooth and playable.
The neck is perfectly acceptable as is, though I intend to replace with a Steinberger-type composite neck with a rosewood fingerboard available at the Ed Roman website http://www.edromanguitars.com/stbnecks.htm. INCLUDES: Gig bag.

SUITABILITY TO MUSIC STYLE: Jazz-rock, progressive rock, hard rock.
In my opinion the Steinbergers in general are purpose-built for jazz-rock, progressive rock and hard rock. They have a distinctive precise, clear quality that is not replicated by other guitars. I find it necessary to boost the midrange and bass and reduce the treble amplifier settings when switching from my SG to avoid a slightly shrill tone. Listen to Allan Holdworth for demonstrations of Steinberger usage.
AMPS AND EFFECTS USED WITH THE GUITAR: Crate Vintage Club 5310 amplifier; occasional Cry Baby wah-wah, Big Muff Pi, volume pedal, DOD compressor.
The Crate amplifier is an excellent match for this guitar, and produces liquid overdriven tones clear clean tones.
NOISE LEVEL:
No noise when stock pickup circuit used; negligible noise when preamp circuit engaged.
SOUND QUALITY: The Steinberger produces a very distinctive tone. Either you like it or you don't. My guitar produces what can best best be categorized as humbucker body with single-coil clarity.
VARIETY OF SOUND: Gives any combination of humbucker and single-coil type sounds. The guitar is not going to pass as a Les Paul however because its sound is too bright and clear; on the other hand it is not going to pass as a Strat either because its sound is too thick.
LIKE AND DISLIKES: Considering my reasons in buying this guitar, there is very little to dislike about it.

ACTION: Not optimum.
Required setup after purchase. Considering how the guitar hung on a dealer's wall for about 5 years, I did not expect the action to be in tip-top condition.
The action is still a little high at the 12th and 24th frets. The wooden neck needs shims to give the same action as my SG.
PICKUP ADJUSTMENT:
The treble side of each pickup required raising to give each string equal volume.
TOP: Properly bookmatched.
BRIDGE ROUTING: Steinberger bridges do not sit in a routing but rather an excavation. Acceptable routing quality.
FLAWS: Poorly finished frets at the edge of the fingerboard.

DURABILITY FOR LIVE PLAYING: Solid well-built guitar that should not give any trouble when played live.
HARDWARE DURABILITY: This guitar has a Steinberger bridge and standard issue controls. Enough said.
FINISH DURABILITY: The guitar survived 5 years hanging in a dealer's store with none the worse for wear.
STRAP BUTTONS: Replaced standard strap buttons with strap-locks as a matter of course (same with my SG).
DEPENDABILITY: Same as SG.
BACKUP NECESSARY ON GIG: I backup everything on a gig.

CUSTOMER SUPPORT: On the only occasion I've had to contact Steinberger with questions, response was rapid with accurate information (email helps).