Steinberger Spirit GU7R Custom

Steinberger Spirit GU7R Custom and hard shell case

I really didn't like the sound of the EMG pickups, so Ipulled them all out and put in Seymour Duncans pickups

I had to get the set up do over, because the action was out and it kept on going out of tune. No other problems. It fit well with my body, I felt confortable playing its

I was having no probems, until I changed the pickup in it the guitar. The guitar tech also changed the volume knob while switching the pickups, and now the knob is falling off all the time

never used customer support

I have been playing guitar for about 12 years now, and I think I finally found the guitar fits me. I have had it one for about two years now and I'm actually buying another Steinbergervery soon. I just have to change the pickups in it again.

Like all the other reviews, the guitar is as stated above.
The pickups are not bad and very quiet with enough drive for blues out of my DRRI or Vibro king.

For blues it's great. The tone is clean and creamy from the HB pups and the single coil adds a nice almost CS Strat sound...almost!

Out of the box ,well I alway set up my own guitars. It took about an hour and changed the strings right away. Adjusted the neck relief for 10's and set the action and intonation. Fit and finish are excellent and really suprised me. No flaws what so ever....

I play in a blues band and will ust the guitar live and for travelling. I bought this one cause I travel to Gemany all the time and this will be a great travel guitar....I always use a Tele on my gigs but this one will be used alot too...nice to have a HB sound....I don;t feel the need for a backup with this one at all...hmm

Music Yo is great...arrived in 2 days as promised, packed very well and all is fine.

Been playin blues for 40 years and have many very nice guitars..this one really suprised me as it is imported...hmmm maybe I'll look into other imports....
I would definately replace it if lost or stollen, in fact I'm gonna order another on tonight..just cause it's sooo inexpensive...
Quality compares to ant well made American guitar and maybe even better than most.

You cd check out the features on MusicYo's website -- as it is, this guitar is great value for money. For me, this had the advantage of being inexpensive enough that I could heavily customise it. Some of you may not like this, but the best modification I did was to strip the finish off the guitar (yes that cool maple top!) coz I found that a maple top on a maple body (plus the top was coated with like 2mm of gloss!) was really too bright to the point of being shrill/harsh. By the way I waited for almost a year to do this, and before that I changed the pickups etc so it wasnt a whim!
So I stripped the top and back and put a thin clear coat for protection (looks quite cool if a bit rugged!)
( By the way -- I have another Spirit, a GU Deluxe which I have had for 2 years, I stripped the finish off that one too, and put in a set of active EMGs -- 85, SA, 85 - and it sounds sooooo smooth and nice -- I kept the wooden neck and its great)
Ok back to this guitar; I have a set of Joe Barden pickups, two Duo-Tones and a , with coil-taps. I also changed the switching system by adding another volume knob a little in front of the existing one -- needed no routing. Now the 5-position switch goes like
1. Neck alone
2. Neck and Middle
3. Neck and Bridge
4. Middle alone
5. Bridge alone
The first volume knob controls the neck and middle pu's and the second does the bridge pu. The tone control is also the master coil-tap for both neck and bridge pu's.
Last but not least, I have a Moses Graphite neck on the guitar.
So $360 for the Joe Bardens (worth it!), 270 for the Moses neck and 350 for the guitar itself, throw in about 100 bucks in guitar tech fees and I have my totally personalized Steinberger for under 1100$.

This is a runaway 10!
I worked on this for so long, but I did get what I dreamed of.
The stripped guitar can really breathe, (doesnt apply to all guitars -- or guitarists heheh) -- its just that at this price range they have to cut corners somewhere and the plasticky kind of finishes dry faster but IMHO they kill the sound.
The graphite neck sounds great - its a bit chunky but that suits me even though I have small hands -- the combination of graphite neck and stripped top and back have given the guitar a long sustain while maintaining a smooth and focussed sound. (Hint -- play all yr electrics unplugged first while testing them -- this gives a great first impression of how the sound is going to be)
The Joe Barden pu's have really done it for me. The Humbuckers sound really really clear while doing the jazzy sounds too, and in coil-tapped mode you're in strat heaven, I mean it. The reason I rewired the switching was to take advantage of how great these pu's sound individually, and of course I still have my position 2 strat cluck! Also, with the neck and bridge pu's on, yu can play with the individual volumes and that really allows for subtle jazz shadings. Its an incredible variety of sounds at my fingertips, and that is such a great feeling!
I wd suggest that anyone buying this guitar should definitely change the EMG Select pickups immediately (the other mods are not essential for everyone)

Ok guys I have been really lucky with both my Steinberger Spirits -- the setup and action have been really good straight out of the box -- I anyway take them apart and set them up, but it makes a difference when it comes well set up.
As I said before, the finish (esp on the GU-Deluxe) was very plasticky and actuallly made the guitars sound harsh.
The Flame maple (its a veneer actually) on the GU-7R looks really nice and at the price you cannot fault it, except that it has a huge glossy coat of lacquer on it that is thicker than the veneer itself!!

Well I travel all the time ( and I mean all the time -- like 45 weeks a year) and also gig almost every day (actually I chant in Sanskrit and accompany myself on the guitar) so a Steinberger has always been on my mind.
I do use my two Steinbergers without backup ( I alternate them on three month trips) and have never ever had a problem so far, in temperatures ranging from 4 degrees Centigrade to as high as 45 degrees centigrade!!!! and from dry to really humid...I wd swear by these guitars, theyve been a godsend!

The guitars were shipped on schedule, havent had a problem with anything nor have I need to get in touch with them.

I have been playing over 12 years and also own a Spirit GU-deluxe, a Yamaha Pacifica with the EMG DG20 prewired set, an amazing 30+ yr old Hofner (looks like a Gibson 335), and an Esteve baby classical.
I play live all the time and go direct to the board, nowadays thru a Korg Pandora PX4 (had the PX2, then PX3...) I also sometimes play thru a Yamaha QY 100 sequencer. I live out of a suitcase so portability is the foremost criterion for all my gear!
Also the kind of music I play necessitates a lot of modification of my guitars, and of course the playing style as well, since guitars are not traditionally used in Sanskrit chanting (these chants are called bhajans)
So the Steinberger-PX4 combination is the most convenient for me, and believe me it works amazingly well -- I play clean almost all the time, but also need delays and compression for volume swells and atmospheric effects, now I can do it very easily.
If it were lost I wd probably buy the Moses neck and the R-trem system and the Barden pu's ( or maybe EMG 89s) and make a hollow body with a laminated bamboo top!! Long live luthiery!

2002 model made in Korea. 24 frets,flame top, tone/volume, 5 way selector, three pickups - one single coil between two humbuckers Select by EMG This baby has a beautiful finish with binding. Steinberger locking trem. Comes with gig bag. A great deal at $300 or so bucks! Looks and feels fantastic. I think I've finally found my perfect guitar after owning tons of them.

The pickups are relatively low output so might not be suitable for a really grungy sound. The electronics are extremely quiet so a nice, clean, bright sound can be had at high volume. Sounds good for rock, blues, jazz but less interesting for metal.

Great workmanship. Much better than on my Fender American Standard 40th Anniversary Srat. The strings are not the best and should be replaced immediately.

Should last a long time. No obvious weaknesses. Whammy is held in place by a hex nut which makes it impractical to remove after each session. A screw in whammy would be preferred.

Had a question about the whammy bar which was answered right away.

Been playing for about 25 years. I own about 10 other electrics including Fenders, Arias, Samicks,Epiphones and Corts but this is my favorite! If it disappeared I'd order another immediately. The best looking and playing guitar I've ever played. No kidding! Even my wife is impressed and she hates it when I buy guitars!

Everyone's covered the features: Mine's Amber Flamed maple, possibly prettier than my Jap-built Jackson Soloist! Quality hardware... but replace the strings and pickups immediately for the BEST sound! I had a set of EMGs sitting around at home which IMMEDIATELY went into the Steinie... WOW! A "60" at the neck and an "89" at the bridge might be all you'll ever need!

Ok with the Selects... FANTASTIC with the EMG 60/89 combo... I can get super-clean acoustic sounds to the heaviest, most evenly-saturated sound available...

Finish is ok... not as good as the $1000 Jackson Soloist... Top is colorful with excellent depth to the flame. A few small flaws, but none which would make me send it back.

Bridge was placed against the front of the rout and would not float. I used dowel rod to plug the old screw holes, then drilled new ones
to move it back just slightly (rather than sand on the body for clearance). Works great now... holds tune very well with GHS Boomer Double-ball end strings.

Neck finish is MUCH nicer than on my 2 year old GT-pro! Thinner, different (easier to play) radius, excellent edging on the frets... Only complaint here is that, like the GT-Pro, the 0-fret is nicked from the strings resting on it during shipping. I'll have to surface it slightly to prevent the top three strings from "tinging" when I do finger bends.

Should hold up well, durable hardware, better finish than on my 2 year old GT-Pro.

They sent me photos of the Amber color since there were none on the website. Helped me make my decision... A little slow to respond, but thorough once they did.

I'm ordering a Moses Graphite neck for it from Langley Guitars (www.langleyguitars.com) and expect the sound to go from "very good" to "absolutely killer" with this addition. No flexing neck, no changing intonation ever... Much less expensive this way than going the full USA-built GM route!

I've played for over 12 years and currently have the finest collection of diverse guitars I've ever owned: a Warmoth-necked custom strat w/Carvin pickups (the "Super-Strat"), my Jackson Soloist SL4 (nickname pending), my Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro w/Jackson-spec Seymour Duncan at the bridge (the "Little Stick", and now the GU-7R Custom (the "Big Stick") w/ EMGs and soon to have a graphite neck and 6100 frets! All, except the GT-Pro, are what I would call "Studio Quality". I find more and more, its the "Big Stick" I'm picking up to just jam on...

Top Material: Flame Maple Body /Material: Maple /Neck Material: Hard Maple /Neck Joint: Bolt /Fingerboard: Rosewood /Fingerboard Radius:14"
Scale Length: 25.5"
Frets: 24
Neck Width at Zero Fret: 1.625"
Pickups (passive): Bridge - EMG Select Humbucker
Middle - EMG Select Single-Coil (reverse polarity)
Neck - EMG Select Humbucker
Controls: 1 - Master Volume/1 - Tone/1 - Five Position pickup selector
Bridge: Patented R-Trem Roller tremolo with direct-pull 40:1 fine tuners.

I play Rock/Jazz and blues but mostly for studio work so my inherent stlye is for film and multimedia - which turns out to be a hybrid of all. I use a Fender Deluxe 85 for jams and usually record through Sonic Foundry SW. Out of the box the 5th and 6th strings BUZZ like BEES -awfull. But I will take Steve Lynch's advice from the review above and change out the strings. ( I pray the Buzzn goes away!). Nice Strat sound and can rock. The bridge reverse polorized single doesnt help most people, but if you are looking for a twist to ambient music and synthetic soft chord and phrasings this works.Humbuckers rock well.

Finish excellent It has a cream binding on the red one.No flaws. You will need to set the action to erradicate the Buzz. All hw excellent. Action is superb. I've owned les pauls and strats - guitar neck feel carries the mark of professionalism.(though it works better with average or small hands like mine).

This just barely makes the road worthy mark - but wait and see for the long hall - who cares though, for the price you can get replacement parts in the future if any go awry.Finish is excellent.
Can use on a gig without a backup - but I'm a studio musician - who cares get two and you'll have a backup.

Music yo helped me out quickly with one question, but Ive got to get back to them ( did not get my GIG bag? ).

I no longer lug the Les paul, I get the strat sound, Its better than most guitars for the price, it has unique personality, It is extremely well made. If you have a big hand you may want to play this guitar first. The neck and action feels great. For the price it is excellent. Oh and the weight is like <14 lbs - it is a feather.

Purchased my green flame steinberger appox. 3 months ago. Best *#@& electric I,ve ever own. This guitar fits me and pays so easily. Pick ups were un impressive so I replaced them with some cheap duncan buck shots, sound great now. I just purchase another guitar a week ago for three what I pay for the steinberger, and was I disappointed.

blues and real rock

Great set up right out of box. Experiment with different string sizes, 9's and 10's both real great. And did I tell you how easy it is to change strings, love it

built like a rock

don't know.

Been playing long time. Had lots of guitars to come and go. This one will stay. The only things that sould be reconsider is the pickups and possibility of making one with a arch top.

This is the Red transparent. I was very, very pleased when I opened the box and pulled this guitar out. The flamed top is awesome. I own a Wolfgang Original and an SRV Fender and this guitar is every bit as good as either one of them. I will tell any that want to listen and This guitar is worth ever bit of the price you'll pay. I still cannot believe that this guitar is only a little over $300 as it plays as well or better than any guitar I've owned or played. The top and body on this guitar are very very nice. I am totally amazed that I only paid $322.95 for this guitar. A friend of mine owns an original Steinberger and he's been on me to buy one and if I did not like it he said he give me what I paid for it, so how could I go wrong.

I play all styles of music from rock, heavy metal to blues. This guitar is great for hard rock and blues. I find that pickups are pretty good, much better than I thought they would be. I have used a large assortment of Duncans, EMG's and I have Fraylins in my SRV now and I would not change these out anytime soon as they dound pretty good for the music I play.

This guitar was set up almost dead on right out of the box. I spent about 45 minutes changing strings, adjusting the intonation and 1/16 turn on the truss and it is perfect. The strings that come with are not the best so I'd say buy a couple of extra sets and it takes about a total of 5 minutes to change all the strings and tune it. This is just awesome. I chose to stay with the double ball strings and I am glad I did, what a breeze to change strings. Everything on this guitar has been put together every bit as well as any $1500 guitar I've owned or seen at any music store.

I don't know on this as I just got this guitar a week ago. But it feels every bit as solid as my other guitars. The trem feels very solid. The finish has very good depth to it. It is a very solid guitar. I do believe that it will get a 10 hear also but just to do this review justice I don't feel I can rate it yet.

No Idea, I ordered on the net it showed up in a couple of days and no problems at all.

I will say that every once in a great while you buy something that say to your self "holy s#&% I got a great deal". This is one of those times for me. This will probably be my main guitar from here on out. Don't get me wrong I still love my Wolfgang and my SRV but this thing is a lot of fun and worth 3 times the price I paid. I've paid a lot more for other guitars that were no where close to this guitar in playability, feel and comfort to play.

2001 Steinberger Spirit GU7-R Custom natural finsh w/flame maple top. I sold a black 2000 GU Deluxe after I saw the flame maple bound body on the GU7-R...I had to have it. I loved the way the GU Deluxe played...a great balance, great feeling neck (right out of the box, no less), but, anemic pickups...I had always planned to change the pickups. Great tuners. The trem needs a better mechanism to attach the lever to the bridge...a set screw tightens against a nylon bushing that squashes against the trem lever -- it's held in by friction. I might grind a groove in the lever that the bushing can drop into...it'll lock the lever in better.

As soon as my GU7-R arrived, I replaced the pickups with Seymour Duncans...a '59 in the neck, a Custom in the bridge, and a Vintage Staggered in the middle (the body has to be routed slightly to get the middle pickup to fit...simple w/a Dremel Tool). I also added a Torres Volume kit (maintains highs when you back off the volume knob) and a Torres Super Midrange/Tone control (pull pot which acts as a midrange cut/boost...very cool).

This is not the same guitar...it has UNBELIEVEABLE tone! Every position has an awesome and unique sound. Sure, you can get used to the sound of the stock EMG selects, and if you play with a lot of effects, they're probably fine. But upgrade the pickups, and look out...I LOVE this guitar!

Virtually flawless, right out of the box. A little black paint from the inside of the routed control area around the 5-position switch...no biggie.

This guitar appears that it will last...it looks very durable. I wonder about the rubber band string retainer...a spare is probably a good idea (a piece of string will probably work in a pinch).

Ordering and shipping was painless. Pretty weak instruction sheet.

I've been playing for 35+ years. I've bought and sold more Gibson and Fender guitars than I want to admit. I have 2 Strats ('89 and '93) and this guitar compliments them well. A relatively inexpensive, great looking, great playing, and great sounding humbucker-equipped guitar...it is great fun to play and it always gets noticed! A great value for the money. Some people might question putting $200 worth of upgrades in a $300 guitar, but for me, it worked, no regrets...I'm never looking back!

Made in Korea I believe, 2001 ?
24 Fret
I'm sure the top is laminated, pickups in Hum, Sing Hum config, passive electronics, Transparent flame maple (red). Uhm Steinberger style ? Steinberger Locking R-Trem. 40-1 tuners, double-ball strings or must use an aditional $30 adapter. Standard Neck. Comes with the cheasiest gig bag you could imagine. But considering the price point $360 it's a hell of a guitar.

Sounds very Snazzy, can obtain a great fender like snarl. It's fairly quite. Very rich sounding.

I know a lot of people just don't like the MusicYo products. But I'd almost compare the fit and finish on the one I have to my Parker. I was very very pleased with this guitar. I think the string adapter thing is kinda hoakey. They could easily cast that into the top so you could use either double ball strings or your favorite Earnie Balls. Maybe I got lucky but the action is great, not excellent but great, fit finish etc, all A+

I think this guitar would stand up to live playing, the only thing I have to compare it to is my Parker and folks travel/play live with them and I'd consider it more 'fragile'

I believe if you put good strings on it (Music Yo string suck by the way) then yes you could easily rely on this guitar.

I've been playing classical for about 2 years and this electric for about 1 year on/off just tinkering. It was my first electric. I've since added a Parker and will probably not sell either. I like its size, it's shape, it's over all look. Headless turns heads too :D

The trem is a little funky but they are re-releasing the transtrem later this year (2002) I'll pick one of those up the minute they are available.