Steinberger Spirit GU

Read the spec: 24 fret neck, Passive H-S-H EMG select pickups through 5-way selector, single volume and tone. Steinberger lockable floating tremolo, and a gorgeous body sun-burst body finish. However, the biggest feature on the Steinberger is what it is missing - the headstock. Your either going to love it or loathe it because of this, but the guitar is lightweight anyhow, and this really affects the balance.

The tremolo is great - this guitar was shipped 300 miles to me in freezing Mid October weather, and it was in tune straight out of the box and straight into the amp. The ability to totally lock the tremolo is great, and although people comment on here that it is fiddly to use mine is OK - granted you can't just flick it off and go into a wild solo, then flick it back on, but are you really going to want to do that anyhow? If you want a floating trem it's there for you, you can palm mute on it no problems without sending it way out of tune - my problem with most Floyds.

The Neck is a very unusual - purely because it has no headstock leading to a massive difference in balance between this and what you are used to. It's also as wide as the flight deck on an aircraft carrier - just about perfect for my great thick hands.

This guitar sounds good - but my only problem with it is that it sounds like it sounds, and that's it. Moving the selector switch has a barely perceptible change of tone between the various pick-ups, would have liked more variety. Similarly, the tone control is really only on or off, it takes off the highs in about 10deg of rotation, and then scoops a lot of mids out as well - so I just leave this wide open to let the maximum harmonics through - I prefer to equalise on the amp anyhow.
Generally, I prefer the neck for rhythm work and the bridge for clean or solo's, but there ain't that much in it.
Soncially, I play both types of music - ROCK and ROLL, and this is good for anything between Status Quo and Metallica. It goes straight into my Marshall and is very response to the Gain, squeezing anything from a warm clean tone, through a smooth crunch, to a full on distortion with no trouble.
The pickups are very quiet, and playing in some positions between these occasionally results in no sound. I'm not sure if this is a consequence of the design, or the noise gate on my processor being particularly sensitive, but it is the only thing which so far causes concern - more investigation needed. However, it is strung with 9's at the moment and I prefer at least a 10, so I'll give it a restring and see how it sounds then. I'll also adjust the PU height a little and see how that goes as well.
There is a mod discussed here with a 1Meg pots which I will investigate as it is quite easy to perform. I have yet to find a perfect set of pick ups and while I like the idea of active EMG's, I'll try a set in my beat up strat first and see how they perform before I consider attacking this.
For flexibility of sound I give this a 6, but it sounds the way I want so I score it higher. I know serious artists play country with these, so the sound could be governed by amp, but it works great for me!

This guitar was bought second hand at (I'm told) a year and a half old - so I can't comment on the factory finish.
However, the action is fine for me, low and fast. I can play whatever I want on it with no problems. It doesn't sound too good for tapping but then I can't tap for toffee!

Finish is also great, a very rich burst finish which I love. However, the cut-outs for the bridge, middle-pu, and selector switch are not finished very well on the edges and looking down at the guitar you can see a bit of white wood.

There is also a crack in the wood behind the tone pot. This is not in the finish so must have been on the wood to start with and the dye has leaked into it. It can't be seen unless you're really close, but that's going to cost another mark I'm afriad.

Action of the bridge is fine and smooth, and there is no noise from the pickups, pots, or selectors. Generally, a very well put together beast.

I don't play live very often but though it feels very light (think of that tennis bat you used to play age 12) it does feel very solid. I wouldn't take it to a gig alone as it sounds very samey - times you're going to need a different sound that only your start or tele or paul can give, but I'd trust it to do an entire gig - and stay in tune, with no troubles. However, I'd seriously consider replacing the strap buttons (as I would on any guitar) with your favourite locking set.

Never dealt - second hand and out of wararnty. I can't therefore comment. However, if its 18 months old already it feels straight out of the box so I can't imagine things getting rapidly worse. Guitars are wood and either aand mellow or age and break - build up a good rep with your local music shops guitar tech and that will do you a lot better that a warranty willl any day.

I've been playing around 24 years, though I'm still no good! This is strictly for garage and home recording use, though I may get to gig it if I'm lucky one of these days! It's a beatufiul instrument and suits me perfectly and I don't imagine parting with it willingly, if stolen I would probably replace it, though would have an active pick up set installed from the get go.
I play this against my Franken-Strat (more mods than not now), my Washburn MG44(always an awful instrument, never got round to burning it), my Fenix Les Paul copy (Highly underrated and beautiful) and my Tangelwood Oddessy. This probably plays best as the neck is fine, but the Tanglewood is amazing for a low-end guitar.
I love this guitar and will probably use this most for recording, as the low noise pick-ups are ideal for this. I wish I could coax some different sounds out of it, but it's worth every penny I paid and highly reccoment one, though I do say PLAY IT FIRST as it is so different from mainstream instruments, you do need to give it a go to see if it is you.