Steinberger Spirit GU7R Custom

Korean made headless guitar with a kind of modern super strat body. The body on mine is two piece maple with a really fantastic flame maple top, set off my honey blonde finish...top marks. The pick ups are in H-S-H formation and designed by EMG. The tuners and bridge are in a single 'Steinberger System' trem unit, which appears identical to those on other Steinberger products. One point of note, that others have not picked up on, is that the neck sits further into the body of the guitar and as a result the whole guitar sits further to the right than a traditional instrument; meaning that you don't have to stretch to play chords and runs near the nut. Its a bit weird at first but very very comfortable.

This is the first H-S-H guitar I've owned and I am really impressed with the range of sounds it can generate. Standard humbucker tones are a gimmie, but the middle single coil, particularly in combination with the humbuckers is really sweet. As stated elsewhere the pickups are not overly powerful and the humbuckers on their own are a mite muddy (the neck more so)however the overall combination is pleasing and readily accessable. Both the tone and volume of the pickups are nicely balanced. I play through a little Vox Valvetronics AD 15 VT which generates a whole range of pleasing amp simulations and is a bit of a tone monster. Just the basic guitar and the amp go well together, producing many usable sounds that don't appear false and manufactured as some amp sims can (must be the Vox being part valve amp?). I'm saving my pennies for a Sheldon TT3 (www.sheldonamps.com) boutique A to A/B valve amp and this will be the first of my guitars I rush to play through it.

The best thing about this guitar is its fit, finish and general useability. The finish is flawless, really; the only irksome feature straight out the box was slightly roughly finished 20th and 21st frets. Both my Tele and Parker P38 required extensive setting up by a tech to get them anywhere near this level of usability.

I've had the guitar 3 months now and despite appearances it is reasuringly heavy, feels solid and well screwed together. I've had the back plate off and the soldering and general wire work is increadibly neat and tidily done. The tuning is not as stable as I thought it would be given the headless design and the screw tuners in the bridge. Having said that it's slighly more stable than my other guitars that sit in a centrally heated house, here in the less than sub tropical surroundings of Scotland.

No reason to contact them.

I've been playing 29 years, some of which I got paid for, but mostly these days for my own amusement and relaxation. If this guitar were stolen I would replace it with another, however I got this at a sale with 150 pounds off uk list price, so this particular guitar was something of a bargain. Its best feature is its shear user friendlyness, it hangs and plays delightfully and sounds way better than it should. It also looks a bit strange and interesting in this day and age where everything else looks generic strat or tele.

My other guitars, a Tele with Bareknuckle "Boss Set" Pickups (which sounds very clear and defined), a Parker P38 with a fishman bridge and a fantastiC 1979 Yamaha SC 1200 (a rear routed super strat with 27 way adjustable pickups)dont get anywhere near a much play time since "headless" came along. The Steinberger could do with some coil taps on the humbuckers to interact more with the middle single coil and a case would be nice rather than the cheap gig bag supplied.

Overall I would recommend this guitar to anyone, whether starting off, or to those like me who have been around the block a few times. I bought it on a bit of a whim for its strange looks but really have fallen for it. You will not be dissapointed.

Made in KOREA.<BR>
Flame maple top,Mahogany(?) back.<BR>
HSH,5pos_selecter,24F.<BR>
Thin frets.

---Pickups---<BR>
I think EMG designed passive pickups are...1.Low power,2.A little peaky and bright sound,3.Good for clean tone.<BR>
I think it not so ugly,but I'll modify this to "Fretless guitar",and I will replace pickups to SeymourDuncan "Pararell Axiss".

Considering the price...it's a good deal.<BR><BR>

Quality of installing frets is...BAD.I think it joke by price...ha!I'll modify this to "Fretless guitar",so no problem for me...<BR><BR>

---Be carefull---<BR>
I found and tried 3 guitars in the shop.There were so many differences between them!(1.Quality of fingerboard,2.Quality of fit around joints) Of course I selected the best one.I reccommend you try many ones and choose your best!

No problems.

Technical details as described by the manufacturer. Perfect travel and laying-around-the-living-room guitar. No bigger than a tennis racquet. Fits in overhead bins on planes, leans stablely against the wall without a stand. Stays in tune amazingly well. Highly abusable tremolo!

The EMG Select pickups are lackluster, but decent. Not a lot of character, but no particularly unpleasant characteristics either. Moderate output, clean and quiet. The guitar itself has some nicely resonant qualities. G string has really singing harmonics!

I had to return the first guitar MusicYo shipped. It gets a zero. The 9 applies to it's replacement, which is actually a 9+. The guitar is the transparent blue flame model.

I ordered this guitar almost exactly two years ago from MusicYo. It comes with a marginal gig bag, but I also got the case and the adapter that allows you to use standard strings. More about strings later.

The guitar that arrived, which was shipped in the case, was back in the box and on it?s way back to M.Y. in about 10 minutes. It had actual, glaring fingerprints in the blue stain. I mean, I know it?s just a Korean guitar and all, and I wasn?t expecting a D?Angelico, but there are limits, you know? Not only that, but the case was damaged, and before shipment! The back/bottom was cracked and partly stove in, but the shipping box was intact!

The whole mess went back with a polite but firm note suggesting that maybe they?d do me the courtesy of eyeballing the next one before they shipped it.

It all gets better from here. The replacement guitar and case arrived in separate cartons, and both were perfect. The guitar is just gorgeous, cosmetically. I?m sure the flame maple, ?top? is a veneer about .002? thick, but who cares? Looks fabulous! The body is made of 3 pieces, all of which took the blue stain differently and wound up not quite the same shade, but that?s just a quibble.

Overall, the workmanship is startlingly good. The frets are perfectly dressed and the neck is very comfortable to play. A little round. Narrow fingerboard, though ? OK for me, but something you might personally need to be aware of. Action and intonation adjustment is a bit unusual but straightforward. After setup it plays almost as nicely as my ?61 SG reissue.

Do NOT buy the MusicYo strings! They?re awful. Instead, go to Juststrings.com and buy real LaBella Steinberger strings. Much better strings and a greater variety of gauges and styles. I like the pure nickel wrap myself. As I said, I bought the standard string adapter for $25 and you probably should too, in case Steinberger strings aren?t available after the Apocalypse, but I haven?t used it. And boy, is changing strings ever a piece of cake! Also bought a couple of the elastic string keeper bands for the head. Mostly for my own sense of completeness ? they do wear out and break eventually, but you don?t really need them.

The tremolo is very stiff, but on the other hand can be seriously mashed and comes back in tone admirably.

I find the guitar?s balance excellent and it is very comfortable to play sitting or standing. If you close your eyes you?ll never notice it?s an amputee.

Seems solid enough. Had an iffy switch connection when I got it, but I gave it a few whacks. . . no problem since! :-)

Can?t complain! Had my replacement within a few days, and they got it 100% right.

A dollar cigar for 50 cents. Like expecting a Hyundai and getting a really nice Nissan instead! Bought to be a beater, it immediately became a loved and valued member of the Family. &#61514; Based on my experience, (53 years old, and I?ve been trying to learn to play this damn thing since I was 14) I can?t recommend this guitar enough. Every guitar player owes it to her or himself to have one. And if I am indeed privileged to be addressing any of the regrettably small number of Ladies in our community, I would particularly direct your attention to this guitar ? I suspect it?s small size and relatively light weight (It is heavier than it looks! All maple.) might make it particularly attractive to a physically smaller player. My Tiny Steiny competes for my attention with a Gibson ?61 SG reissue, a Rick 660/12 and an American Standard Strat, among others, and I probably play the Steinberger more than any of them, just because it?s design makes it so unobtrusive and convenient to leave hanging around to be picked up.

I also wound up getting the nicer gig bag - I decided the case would make it harder to travel (fly) with, and the one that comes with it isn?t hardy enough. I?d rather they charged an extra $20 or $30 for the guitar and gave you the good bag in the first place. Well, that?s capitalism.

It's a 2005, Korean made guitar. It has 24 frets, 2 piece flame maple top, Volume and Tone pots, 5 way selector. H/S/H configuration with EMG Select passive pickups. The fretboard is rosewood and the body and neck are maple. It has a transparent Blue finish that shows the beatiful flame top. The body is a strat style one with a cut in the back of the guitar, much like the old Rebb Beach Ibanez body. Features the steinberger R-Trem which is a floating tremolo and no tuners :). Neck is not as thin as an Ibanez but is very comfortable. It included a gigbag but I bought the case just as well.

This guitar sounds good. That's it. I play from thrash to prog metal and my sound is more based on my pre-amp, amp, speaker setup and my fingers than on my guitars. I can play most guitars and end up sounding the same, as long as they are stable and don't go microphonic on me. I'm using a Boss GT-6 as Pre/FX, a Mesa Boogie 2:90 as power amp and two Marshall 1912 1x12" speakers. It's not noisy, not even using the single coil pickup (I think it's due to its reverse polarity). I don't get ppl posting that the pickups are weak.. I have 4 other guitars with Dimarzio and Duncan pickups and I don't notice a big difference. The guitar is very bright sounding so I have to correct my picking hand position to make it sound as I usually do.

Not setup at all. Action, Tremolo tension and intonation was completely off and so was the pickup height. Now for the good part: settting it right was a breeze. The neck relief was right and the fretwork by our fellow koreans was remarkable for a guitar in this price range. I had some trouble with a Fender showmaster (also korean made) with terrible fretwork and warped neck relief and this was the opposite. I lowered the string height in the saddles, set the tremolo tension with a twist of a knob and then set the intonation. 1 hour was enough for this. Regarding the finish... well I have seen much more expensive intruments with worse finishes. I rate it a 8 because the guys at Steinberger should set tremolo, pickups and intonation at factory.

I haven't had it in a long time so I'm still wating to see.

MusicYo ships things extremelly fast and they don't make a fuss about shipping to Portugal. That's what I need from them. If I need tech support on my guitars I have a technician that does just that. :)

First of all the price I indicate is guitar, gigbag, case, 10 sets of doubleball strings, shipping and customs expenses. So anyone buying from Europe know what to expect when they buy this. I have been playing guitar for 6/7 years and I own 2 Ibanez RT650, Fender Showmaster and a Ibanez RG550 (soon to be sold). If someone stole it I would buy another one, definitely. I love the R-Trem, you can abuse it as much as you want and it won't go out of tune. I rehearsed for 3 hours last time, tuned at the beggining and at the end the G string was a coma down! All others were perfect, after 3 hours of thrash metal soloing. I was also looking into Floyd Rose Sppedloader guitars, but they were much more expensive and the brands available are brands I don't like.
If you have the money go for the GM US model, I think that it should prove a fantastic guitar, but for this price this is a very good guitar.

You should know the features by now.
Headless design. Maple body with flamed maple top (looks very nice, not 'cheap'). Hard maple neck with rosewood fingerboard.
3 EMGs (in HB-SC-HB configuration) selected via a 5 way Fender style selector switch. 1 general volume and 1 general tone control for all 3 pickups.
Steinberger standard locking tremolo with integrated tuners.
Pretty standard 'superstrat' features apart from the omission of the headstock.
The guitar is a really nice workhorse guitar. The level of craftmanship is more than acceptable given the price (don't expect PRS type craftmanship, but the guitar feels solid and reliabe). The woods are of good quality, so is the hardware.
It has a nice 'travel guitar' vibe, and is indeed very practical to carry around.
It also comes at a terrific pricing from MusicYo. At this price, you should really check it out.
Not much to complain about feature wise. This guitar has got everything a modern player might look for in a guitar.
I won't put a 10, because it doesn't have 'tons of features'.
An 8 seem appropriate and might stand for 'very usable guitar for beginners, semi-pros and pro-gigging musicians'.
Nuff said!

I play mostly Blues, Rock, Jazz and Fusion.

My main amplifiers are:
- Cornford MK50 Head into 2 x 12" cab with Celestion Vintage 30.
- Tony Bruno Super 100 Custom (Dumble ODS clone) into 4 x 12" Brown cab with Tone Tubbies (AWESOME COMBINATION!!!).
- THD Univalve into 2 x 12" THD cab.
- Mesa Engineering LoneStar 2 x 12" combo.
- Victoria Twin amp clone.
All top boutique handbuilt amplifiers fitted with the best NOS tubes.

My main guitars are:
- PRS Custom 22.
- Gibson Les Paul Standard (2003).
- Gibson ES-335.
- Fender 1954 Custom Shop Strat.
- Bill Nash Relic Strat.
- Bill Nash Relic Tele.
All guitars loaded with BARE KNUCKLE custom wounded pickups (the best handmade pickups in the world!!!)

The only effect I use is a Robert Keeley Compressor for improved overall dynamics.

The Steinberger now review now!
Given the craftmanship of this instrument, it shouldn't be a bad guitar. It plays really nicely, although it might need a few tweakings, but not even PRS can guaranty perfect playability from out of the box. It's something personal and should be done by the musician to his taste.

A few reviewers have mentioned the weakness of the pickups. It's true that they are weak, but this is not necessarily a bad thing! Most players will tell you that high output pickups are awesome! However, experienced and non-metal playerswill tell you that high output pickups GIVE VOLUME, NOT TONE!! I have to say that the latter is sooo true! High output pickups don't have any dynamics, they just have bags of volume. Eventually, they just put a veil on the player. They don't reproduce the players touch and pick attack the way a lower output pickup would.
On the contrary, a low output pickup bring out much more DYNAMICS and RESPOND to your touch and attack. When using lower output pickups, the amp responds differently. You don't get gigadecibels, but you get BAGS OF TONE!!! It's some guy called Jimmy Page who taught me that! And believe me, he is right!! Listen to Van Halen 1. Low output PAF = outstanding tone!
I wanted to make this point clear as this can lead to misunderstandings regarding pickup selections and the overall quality of a guitar in general.

Coming back to our guitar. It's a good thing that the pickups are lowrer output ones, but they really lack in clarity and character! They are actually really DULL and there's NO HARMONICS. As a result, the guitar sounds STERILL!!
With the stock pickups, I will only give a 5 for 'overall good guitar, shame about the pickups!'.

However, you can replace them, and given the original price of the guitar, you can really afford some good ones and still have a bargain!
My advice would be to shop in the 'boutique hand wired' end of the market. It makes all the difference!
I replaced the EMGs with 2 uncovered BARE KNUCKLE 'THE MULE' (classic Les Paul PAF!) and the single coil with a Lindy Fralin Blues!
It made all the difference in the world!! The guitar really came to life! The overall dynamics was a joy to play with. The touch sensitivity was just what you would expect from a high end guitar. THE GUITAR NOW FEELS ALIVE!!! The overall voice of the instrument was really nice too. Pretty bright because of the Maple body and wood, but through a dark sounding amplifier (like the Cornford MK50H), it will sound very balanced and full! The overall sound is quite woody, which is always a nice thing!
Given the absence of the headstock, the guitar will sound and react differently from a 'normal' one. Some people will like it as part of the charm of this instrument, some people will hate it! It's really down to taste. Being a HUGE Allan Holdsworth fan (why I bought a headless Steinberger), I really liked it. In fact, I was able to get a very convincing 'Allan Holdsworth liquid sax-like' tone in my humble opinion (still a lot of work to do on my technique though to match the alien)! Those of you who've heard Allan play will know that this fact speaks volume about the potential of this ins

Like I said, you can't expect a factory setup to faultless. Every guitar needs tweakings to be fully playable.
The guitar came with good working hardware. No complaints here!

So far, so good!!
I'm not expecting it to last a lifetime! But who would atthis price!

Haven't dealt with them at all. Can't say!

I've been playing for over 35 years. I regularly gig and record.
This guitar is in no way a bad one. Just takes some good pickups and some getting used to!
I like it, and I might buy a couple more, just to try other pickup configuration!
At this price, this is an AMAZING deal. Don't hesitate, you'll be glad you bought one. You can't go wrong with it. Just invest some more money in good pickups and you'll have a guitar sounding as good as an American Gibson/PRS/Fender for the price of a Korea Epiphone/Squier!
Really FANTASTIC VALUE!!!

I bought my Translucent Amber Spirit In Jan '04.It was slightly used although the seller said it had never been played. I did look brand new. The first thing I did was a setup. I followed the instructions on MY web sight. It went pretty good. I am always fiddling with my guitars.

I gave this guitar a 7 rating mainly because the single coil pickup is just a little weak considering I really like that Strat sound. I think I will install the Stewart McDonald 'E-Megaswitch'another reviewer was talking about and see what happens.I like the size, the shape and the flame top, even though it didn't come from AAAAA stock.

The guitar was not set up very well, but I can't say it was any one persons fault or the factorys fault. It stays in tune great and is just very comfortable. I love the nect shape. A lot like an early Strat. The frets on mine are perfect and the neck is smoooooth.

I have no doubt that this guitar will hold up very well on a gig.

I love this guitar and wouldn't be too impressed with any guitar that might cost hundreds more. I can make this guitar into anything I want and have money left over to buy food. I've had many guitars 3 Strats, I will keep my Lonestar forever. Rickenbacker, Les Paul, Danelectro, Dean 'Z'. The list will get me into trouble with the wife!

I just bought the GU7R last week but already I have seen a difference in the way I play. I seem to attract attention everywhere I go now, especially at restauraunts when i dont even have the guitar with me.
Like last week I was just sitting at the Village Inn and a cute girl just walks right up and asks me what I want to eat...I was shocked to say the least.Yup, it's pretty safe to say that this guitar has changed my life and changed it for the better.Im going to buy another one next week and go to Denny's and see what happens.
Other than that the Guitar has some serious character,when I plugged it in and hit the strings, sounds could be heard and the harder I hit the strings the louder it seemed to get, I was able to compensate for this by turning the volume knob in one direction or the other. There's another knob but Im not sure what It does because I havent turned it yet. As for the switch, yes, it has one. and Im betting that If I move it back and forth something will happen.

My musical style is best described as indescribable.The effects I use are as follows: Compressor into an Overdrive unit then into a Distortion pedal then into a Fuzz box and then into another Distortion pedal and then into a stereo Chorus that is looped back through two more Overdrive units then all that gets run through a Revereb pedal and then through two seperate Delay units.My amp keeps blowing speakers so I have to use my freinds amps. They dont always like me to use them but I own the garage so they have to do what I say or they cant be in the band anymore.We're on our 19th Bass player.

Mine looks awesome,those guys at the factory left lots of room for stickers and I appreciate that so much.I painted the fretboard plaid and now this thing has so much sustain I have to leave the room sometimes just to hear myself listen.

This Guitar has so far survived everything that Its encountered, its a tough guitar.It is made of mostly wood and steel.It would burn but I wouldnt let it burn very long before I called someone.

All I can say is the girl at Village Inn was very helpful, yes, very helpful indeed.

Ive been playing for about a week now,it seems longer though.My ultimate goal is to play non-stop for several hours in a row.

Erm, for anyone that thinks you can only buy steinbergers from music yo your wrong I went ova to the UK and there was a shop in Chester that sold 'em but i cant remember the name. I also 'ave a spirit gu and think it is great it is so much comfier dan da gt coz of its curvy body. When i bought the guitar i was also able to buy a hard case for 70 cents which the guitar came in but also came with a free gig bag i have since bought a similar bag with more padding.
From QU1NNY
p.s does anyone know of a place in the uk that does paint jobs on steinbergers I am going on tour there and need one doing.

I play alot of punk stuff like bowling for soup, sum 41 and blink 182 etc but i also enjoy songs such as wonderwall by oasis the steinberger copes with all types of music which is good. i also have a bc rich guitar...warlock-which i prefer to play punk and stuff on

Duh...I dunno ?!?!?

there is actually a patch on my steinberger where the paint is so thin you can see the wood underneath which proves the paint isn't thick but i have played live before and it is still great

I owned an encore (fender copy) a while back, when i started playing which was about 10 years ago then 5 years ago i got my beautiful warlock and 2 years ago my steinberger. i have a 100 watt amp...think its marshall i pulled all the stuff off the front (not the cloth) you know...customised it. i also have a behringer v-amp that i love. Altho at the time rounded bodied guitars minus the headstocks sounded like a novelty, after i while i began to missguitars like the warlock with beefy headstocks and wicked bodies

Two piece Flamed Maple top (beautiful). 1 volume 1 tone control. Pickup configuration HSH. EMG elect pickups....which are absolutely the worst pieces of crap I've ever heard. Maple neck with Rosewood fingerboard. Maple body....which I'm not convinced I'm going to like until I get a better set of pickups in this guitar. 24 frets. Steinberger locking double ball "R trem".......which I both love and hate. The real beauty of this system is that you can lock the trem down with a flick of a switch. If it's set up right the tuning doesn't change when you lock/unlock the trem. Also because the trem pushes against the spring (opposite of floyd rose) you can do double string bends without the second string going out of tune. Now the bad news. Unles you buy the $25 string adaptor you MUST use special double ball end strings which are not available at any local music stores, including Guitar Center. You MUST purchase these on-line, so if you are planning on gigging with this guitar you should have a few sets of spare strings with you at all times.

Too hard to grade the sound with the current pickups which are dull and lifeless. I will update this section when I install new pickups. With the current pickups the guitar almost has dull strat like sounds (without the quackiness). Honestly folks, if you play rock or metal, plan on buying a new set of pickups. Actually if you are a gigging musician, plan on changing the pickups. Guys who have said they like these pickups have never played through a decent set of Duncans before. Also, a warning, I understand there is minimal room in the cavity, and batteries for the EMG active picks are a VERY tight fit, so you might want to consider a set of Duncans or Dimarzio's instead.

OK..this is why I am writing this review. I purchase a Sprit GT Pro from Music Yo a few years ago and was EXTREMELY pleased with the fit and finish. Not so with this guitar. Perhaps I just got a lemon. Perhaps, the Quality control is not as good.

The neck: Was the best part. Frets seems fine. No rough edges. All seated very nicely. Action was surprisingly low and their was no buzzing whatsoever.

Body: Flame wasn't as spectacular as the pics on the Music Yo web site. Some bleed of color into the binding....but not too bad. Clear coat was great, no sagging, no marks.

Tremelo: Horrible. At first I couldn't unlock it. Had to use a pair of pliers to do so. Then the next 10 times I tried to unlock/lock it it was so difficult to move that I damn near tore my fingernails off trying. Also, I noticed that when it is in the locked position there is about 1/16th of an inch of play in the bridge when it is locked....causing the tuning to go flat and sharp as mt hand touches the bridge for a palm mute or string mute. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE. Looking under the bridge I can see there is a stud that the lock engages. It appears that this stud is loose....causing the problem. I can't get to it without disasembling the whole damn thig....and quite honestly, even if I could get to it I don't know if it can be tightened. My last Spirit did not have these problems. I understand the Music Yo people are fabulous to deal with. Guess I'm going to find out. Wrote them an email last night on the problem, and will update this review when there has been a resolution to the problem.

Strings: The factory strings on these absolutely SUCK. The high E broke on the guitar on the first note bend I played on it. Buy a few spare sets WITH the guitar or the optional string adaptor (which is currently out of stock on the music yo site) or you will be disappointed.

Overall the guitar appears to be durable. I do wonder about the R trem. When the high E broke I fashioned my on double ball replacement out of a standard super slinky .009. When I loosened the tuner, I loosened it too far, and it came all of the way out of the saddle. As I screwed it back in the tuner threads began to strip a little.....telling me that the steel they used for either the screw or saddle was not hard enough (felt like brass or something else soft....a poor choice for tuner threads). I had to back it out and re-try several times before I got it right. It is VERY difficult to get the tuner screw back into a saddle once it comes out all of the way. For this reason my advice to all of you owning or considering this guitar is to NOT OVERLOOSEN THE TUNERS. Loosen them just enough to get the ball end of the string out. It took NO force at all to slightly strip the threads. The rest of the guitar seems beefy enough.

I'll update this review once Music Yo gets back to me. They seemed very responsive and helpful when I shot some questions off to them via email before the purchase. THERE IS NO PHONE SUPPORT. If you don't like waiting for email support look elsewhere.

Been playing about 20 years. I've owned probably close to 30 guitars in that time. Currently my other guitars are an Ernie Ball Musiman Super Sport, a Gibson Studio Les Paul, and a Yamaha 311MS. If lost or stlen I'd probably buy another. They are easy on your back, and plus they look pretty cool. I looked for a used American made model before buying this one, but they go for about $1k on ebay, and I was only looking for a backup/travel guitar, that I didn't mind beating up a bit. I would like to see it ship with better pickups. I can't beleive EMG would put their name on such bad pickups. It makes a great first guitar/ travel guitar/ backup. Also, a great axe if you can only afford 1 guitar and need the flexibility to switch between locking and floating tremelo. Don't know if I would use it as my primary instrument in gigging situations.....perhaps I will use it more as a primary instrument when my back goes out....which seems to be happening quite a bit as of lately. Us old guys need all the help we can get!! Finally, please consider that I have owned a Spirit Pro and had none of the above mentioned tremelo problems on that guitar. Overall it seems like a fine axe.....I think I just got a little unlucky!

I bought this guitar brand new from Music Yo. The guitar was manufactured in Korea. Check out the MusicYo web site for all the specifcations of thie guitar.

Because everybody on this web site seem to over rate products, I'm judging this guitar compared to a professional setup guitar that would be used to gig on a regular basis. Any guitar will do as long it sound good for live performance and stays in tune. Professional players know what I'm talkikng about.

The transtrem bridge is very poor. MusicYo claims this guitar has excellent tuners, but the fact of the matter is this... the guitar would not stay in tune for more than one song at any gig or rehearsal. Trust me, I gave this guitar every opportunity to do its job. It failed miserably.

The pickups don't have any character and they aren't noisy. The noiseless factor bumps the sound category to 6. I would even go as high as a 7 because this guitar sound good, not great for live performance.

The action is excellent but the factory setup was very poor. The guitar had to be taken to local shop for setup. Even after the setup, the guitar felt "cheap" in my hands. The "elastic thingy" holding the strings in place at the top of the headstock was a very poor engineering design.

I sent back three translucent blue guitars to MusicYo because of horrible finishes. There was obvious paint streaking and the finish was so poor that I couldn't deal with it. I actually waited until the translucent red guitars became available and ordered one of those. The translucent blue guitars were more of a green color than blue. I would give the finish of the blue guitars a 3, and the red guitar would get an 8. I don't why know there was such a big difference between the two colors. The red finish did look very good. Since I received four guitars from the factory, it's a safe bet that their Q/A is very poor when it comes to the finish product. I haven't seen any mention of the poor finish on this web site. Come on guys, lets be honest to save all musicians a little money so they won't make costly mistakes.

I'm rating this a 4 since the factory setup was poor and the finish on three out of four guitars was unacceptable for a new guitar.

I can honestly say that this guitar isn't road worthy for a working musician. I will say that this guitar is ideal for a beginning guitarist who is just learning. The guitar could be used by an intermediate player as a backup guitar for rehearsal.

Since I returned three guitars, I can honestly say that the customer service was fairly quick and responsive. They even paid for the return shipping. This was the best part of the guitar. :-(

I've been playing for about 20 years, about 12 professionally. I would not purchase this guitar again. If you are a pro stay away, if you are a beginner, this would be worth the investment. Intermediate guitar players should also stay away.

This is an honest review from an honest man. Nothing more and nothing less. I hope this helps.

Best of luck!

J-Rocka

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.

As a supplement to my earlier review on this model,(and the GT-Pro) I suggest that, if you're looking to spice up the sound of this little guitar, but don't want the expense of changing pickups, then swap the regular 5-way switch for Stew-Macs "E-Megaswitch". As it comes, the middle single-coil is somewhat swamped by the humbuckers on each side, but this switch solves that problem, and what's more, the suggested tone circuit alterations recommended by Stew-Mac need not be done, as it's identical to the original Spirit setup! So all you need to do is spend 30 minutes installing the switch, utilising the red coil-tap wires on the humbuckers, and Bingo, a totally different instrument! 1st & 5th positions are original Neck & Bridge only, while 2nd & 4th give you some neat Strat-like tones. Middle(3rd) gives you a tone that they describe as "middle-position Tele", but you need to use your imagination a bit here! If you're handy with a soldering iron, then you won't spend a better $15-00!

Other reviewers have covered the cosmetic aspects well enough, so I'll just gloss over it by saying that,made in Korea or not, this little guitar has to be one of the best value-for-money packages on the market. I fact, I'll go further than that by saying I purchased it hot on the heels of a GT-Pro. These are terrific, fun instruments, and better value than some instruments I've played at 2 or 3 times the price. This model seems to have a little more sustain, and feels better balanced than the GT. Pickup-wise, they are fairly characterless, but even active EMG's have always sounded that way to me. The virtue of this is that they work exceedingly well with effects. The effect itself colors the sound, so the p/u becomes a means to an end. I quite like the p/u on this model,so I'll stick with them for a while, but I changed the GT to Seymour Duncans. Quite an improvement, but a change of character.I bought them only for fun anyway.

I mainly only dabble these days, but I like to think I can play a bit of blues. I'm more into the "Mark Knopfler"kind of claw-hammer style,(wishful thinking!) and this little guitar performs pretty well in that field. It sounds really nice through a Boss Chorus Ensemble,and is a barrel of fun with the new Korg Pandora PX-4. Amps are Fender Deluxe Reverb, Soldano Astroverb 16 and Vox Cambridge 15, but I certainly don't recommend the last one for it! Too thin sounding. It is an extremely quiet instrument, but has quite a bright sound. Variety of tone is perhaps its only failing. It depends on your effects to achieve that.
Can't say that there's anything I really dislike about it, (except the crappy gig-bag!) but I'd certainly recommend any prospective buyers to go straight to D'Addario strings. The originals(Music-Yo,I guess) break far too easily,and all of the others are inconsistent in length. In fact, I couldn't get any of the GHS strings I bought to fit. They were all too short! And no, they weren't designed specifically for the US made Trans-Trem, before anyone jumps in! Funny,because they fit the GT-Pro(?)

Here in Japan, we are fortunate to be able to buy these from a major music retailer"off the floor", so we don't have to take the chance of a hit or miss internet purchase. This definitely has its benefits, as I was able to choose between all of the colors and tops available.(16 in stock at the time!) But the first one I tried had a badly seated fret,and unfortunately, the best flamed-top! No problem. The dealer whipped off the neck,and swapped it for the best one I could find among the others! Now THAT'S service!! The transparent blue displays the lovely flame very well. It looks real nice. Intonation setup was spot-on, so all I had to do was play around with action height. Impressive.

It's only for home use, so I guess it'll probably outlast me! The string retainers are a bit flimsy,($6-00 for an elastic band!) so I'd recommend having another in reserve. The rest of it looks strong enough to withstand live playing.

Read the above. If first impressions are anything to go by........?

This is my 36th year of playing,so I've accumulated a few. A PRS Custom 22, Parker Fly Deluxe, Gibson ES335, Rickenbacker 325V63, Ovation 12 String, Larrivee Acoustic.
As I said before, I only bought this (and the GT) for fun, so I don't really have anything to complain about, especially at the price! I recently had the chance to play a 3 year old US model, and to be quite honest, I prefer these little Spirits! Maybe it's the wooden bodies & necks(?) Anyone thinking about it seriously can't go wrong, but check that fretwork when it arrives. It may be the only suspect area. I really like'em.

I won't bore you with the features. Though I would like to mention that the R-Trem on my GU-7R has no plastic, it is all metal. I know that other reviewers have mentioned plastic, so apparently Steinberger has moved to an all metal trem.

I'm about to gush, so get ready. This guitar has an amazing sound. The humbuckers have depth without muddiness, the single coil sings. As far as sound is concerned this guitar runs circles around my standard strat. There is no comparison. I've used the GU-7R on a Tech 21 Trademark 10 (great amp), a Fender Vibro Champ and a Fender Showman. It sounds amazing on all of them.

The GU-7R shines in the area. This is one of the most intelligently designed guitars I have ever seen. If you use the double ball end strings you can literally change a string in less than a minute. If you're using the adaptor it might take 90 seconds. The locking tremelo is a godsend. It makes tuning amazingly easy. The truss rod is very easy to get to, no cover to remove, no strings to get in between. The neck is beautiful, very nice finish. The rosewood is gorgeous, dark and smooth. Let me put it this way, the GU-7R makes my standard strat look like a toy. A cheap toy. To think that both cost approximately the same amount of money is ridiculous. To compare the two side by side, you'd swear that the Steinberger was worth at least twice as much. I chose the translucent red finish and it's gorgeous, the binding is very nice. The flamed maple top is very nice. There are just a couple of very very minor little spots along the binding where it could have been finished a little better, but no one would ever notice. The setup wasn't perfect and I changed the strings, but after 30 mintues it was ready to go. In general, this is just a beautiful, very functional guitar, period. One other note, juststrings.com sells the LaBella Steinberger strings. They have both nickel and stainless. They also sell D'Addario and GHS double ball strings.

This guitar is extremely well made. I am going to get another just to have as a back-up because you never know what can happen. But it is a very durable guitar. The gig bag is laughable. You should definitely order the Steinberger case that is made for the GU-7R. Don't be tempted by the cheaper TKL like I was, the guitar bangs around inside. I had to order the Steinberger case and return the TKL.

I had no problems.

I've been playing for about 5 years. I've got a standard strat and a Washburn HB35, which is also a beautiful guitar for the money. i plan on buying another GU-7R, just because it's so much fun to play and such an incredible value. After changing strings and tunings on the strat, the tremelo on the Steinberger is such a luxury. The gig bag could be better, but at least it came with something to protect it. Most guitars in this price range don't come with any type of case. I chose this guitar because of the reviews here and because of the price. Get this guitar, get it today, you will not regret it.

Made in Korea year 2000, 24 frets, laminated flame top, volume and tone knobs, 5-way selector switch between 3 EMG select pickups (passive H-S-H configuration) Maple neck with rosewood fret board, Transparent red Strat-berger body. R-trem bridge made out of metal, and by far easier and quicker to adjust than a floyd rose. In fact you can separately adjust the saddle heights for each string and all clamp together with one recesed allen screw. Gig bag includded.

All styles, works fine
boss GT3 effects strait to mackie 8 bus
Its VERY Quiet. I've never heard anything this quiet. Period.
brighter sound than that of the RG570 but still not tinny
sounds range from LP to Strat and thats good enough

I like that its quiet...

Set up was good. Junky strings though. Buy La Bellas!!!
I Like my pickups closer to the strings than most factories.
the only flaw it had was that it wasnt buffed completely and looked like it wasnt handled properly ie: little micro lines visible in certain light, but nothing a black and decker couldn't take care of r-r-r-r and the rest looks great. No fret problems, strait neck. Superb action.

It should withstand live playing, i dont smash my guitars.
Hardware seems pretty rugged. I think the finish could stand improvement. all the rest of it is very solid. Backup optional.

Music Yo has been very helpful and courteous as far as responding to and communicating by emails and Phone calls. 30 day garantee for pricing or defects basically, if you change your mind however...waranty? is that a rock band?

20 years of playing, set-up, tear-down, and experimental painting.
And I know why I dont paint Guitars for a living. So having played many kinds and brands...this little guy holds his own especially for the price. They could have let the finish properly set, and there would be a very good guitar for under 400 clams, compared to the american made GM7T which I guess is going for over 2000 if you can find one.

I only wish it had a trans-trem.
and a small hard case.
If it were stolen i probably would replace it.
Music Yo took good care of me. 2-day shipping = 2 days. Prompt and courteous responses. If you want a steinberger and still be able to eat for the next few months, its worth it, if not, well happy hunting.

2001 model, made in korea. 24 frets. Maple body and top. Volume Tone Controls, 5 way selector. H/S/H configuration. Select by emg pickups. Maple neck wiith rosewood fretboard. Blue flamed top. Semi strat style body. Steinberger locking tremolo. Steinberger headpice. Medium frets. Came with a cheap gig bag

I mainly play heavy metal, but I also play some other styles of rock music. This guitar was obviosly made with metal on mind. I play it trhu a line six spider, and it rocks. It doesbt have as much low end as my Ibanez RG3120, and wouldnt mind a bit more harmonics. It has a rally bright sound, and the clean sound is kind of thumpy.

Out of the box, not even in tune. I had to set it up all by myself. After Ther setup it was all good. The finish was not what I expected form the picture, it didnt look exactly like my ibanez, which was what I was aiming for, it was brighter, more green than blue. I would recomend the string adapter, so u can use your fav strings, to me it is DR strings, they rock!!!!!!! The string adapter came in a ziplock bag and no label or instruccions were on it, it took me a while to figure out I had recieved it, because to mee it look like the guitar allen wrenches and just that. I would say to musicyo, come on guys, I paid 26 bucks for this, would it hurt to put it in a box with instructions?

This is a guitar for the road, definately. I study at Berklee, and I use it to go to class, its really easy to carry it around. Im looking forward to tacking it on the plane when I go back home to Guatemala. It'll be nice to have a guitar to play on the airport while I wait. It looks like it can stand all kinds of gigs, specially since there is no headstock, I wont "crash" into my bandmates. The finish looks more resistant than the ibanez ones, that come of really easy. The second I got it I installed the DiMarzion straplock on it, so I dont know how good the strap buttons are, I just have strap locks on every guitar I own.

They were really helpful, except they didnt send me a teraking number for my order..

Its an awesome guitar for traveling. or just for playing at home without having to carry around a big ass guitar. Altough, my ibanez is still my number one. I might use it for the studio, but im not sure. I just think every serious guitar player should have a steinberger, its a must!!!!!

Made in Korea. 24-frets with H-S-H Configuration and 5 way selector. Master volume and tone controls. EMG "Select" Pickups, which seem a touch under powered at the neck position (probably because it's a single-coil, altough I'm considering getting another single with higher output...). Has a plastic Steinberger tremolo unit. Not sure how long it will hold up. Music Yo has replacement R-Trems for sale and I understand that Ed Roman's website has old-style all metal Steinberger tremolos. Tremolo arm can be mounted on either side of bridge for right or left hand use although I only use it in locked position. I imagine it would stay in tune well. Included rather thin gig bag. I'll probably get a full sized case soon. Made in Korea. May re-wire the guitar and add another switch so I can play with the pickups linked in parallel, although this would require drilling the body... Maybe an on/off center position switch...

Play many different styles of music through an old Music Man 65 with an older Ibanez Tube screamer or Morley distortion pedal. Guitar is EXTREMELY quiet... you'll find out how well the bypass works on your distortion pedal... Guitar sounds somewhat bright do to the maple woods used in it. Middle pickup a bit weak. Extremely good tone for <$400.

Action set up fine when I recieved it. The strings SUCK. Buzzed horribly, looked like they'd break if bent more than a half-step (never did though...) Too bad the available string adaptor (sold seperately! :P)requires a hex wrench every time you change strings...not very convenient. All the problems went away when I got some D'Addario strings on it and reset the intonation. I may lower the bridge soon, or maybe try raising the middle pickup... Always stays in tune.

Worried about the plastic r-trem (or at least there is a plastic *cover* over the tremolo...). Would not gig without a backup even though it seems very dependable.

Heard some horror storries...

Been playing for several months now. :) Have an old Yamaha acoustic (model unknown) and my dad's old Strat "parts guitar". Wish I had chosen the red one instead... ah well :)

Once again a very good guitar for $400, worth more... (although I would never pay more than $650 for it)

2001 Blue flametop made in Korea. Equipped with EMG Select (Passive) H/S/H config and a 5 way selector. All mape construction with a roswood fretboard. Steinberger R-Tremolo unit with lock with medium frets.

Ive been playing for 20+ years and mostly play Rock/Metal. The EMG Selects are certainly bright with high output and excellent harmonics/distortion. A good judge of a guitar's quality is how it sounds unplugged. The guitar absolutely rings when strummed unplugged.

Out of the box it needed a little work for my taste. The guitar shipped with .010 (Medium) double ball Musicyo strings, which I think are DOA. You must invest in the string adapter, so you can use your favorite string, there is not a big supply of double ball strings that are good/cheap. Anyway, I applied a little relief to an other wise straight neck. Installed the string adapter and restrung with D'Addario XL .009. BOOM! Awesome sound folks, though my Mesa Subway Rocket. I own a EVh Wolfie, Ibanez RG and Fender Strat, nothing and I repeat nothing comes close to the ease of play/action of this guitar. It beckons to be played.

It appears solid, although the R-Trem is not the same as the original Steinberger S/R trem, this is made of cast/plastic. Only time will tell. Big issue, alot of broken high "E" strings as the zero fret gets notched and cuts the string. I don't know the answer for this one.

Excellent, immediate response from customer support via E-MAIL. Had a couple of issue with other orders which were immediately resolved.

Again, been playing 20+ years, and would have a major s@#t fit if it were stolen/lost. There's some mojo in this axe that can rival the performance of 1000 dollar guitars, but probably couldn't match them in quality/parts. But what does one expect from a 299 dollar guitar. I got more than I bargained for here. Everyone who plays guitar knows the zone i'm talking about; The place where the guitar feels like it's playing itself and as result you step up your game; Your inspired; You improve. This guitar delivers. Peace!!!

2001 model, 24 frets, H/S/H EMG Select pickups which are passive. Transparent Red finish over a lightly flamed body. Has cream binding. Has the R-Trem which works great once you get the hang of operating it. The neck is comfortable, not too thick, and round, and not too wide. Came with a very cheap gig bag, but I ordered the hardshell case which was excellent. It has a 5 way selector switch. The construction was solid, and the neck was straight and action and intonation were off a little bit, but just a little tweaking and it was perfect.

I play classic rock and blues. It suits my playing just fine. I'm not a tone freak, but I do know what sounds good and what doesn't. This guitar will do for any style. I'm using this through a Peavey Transformer, and it has more than enough output. You can get alot of different sounds from the EMG Select pickups. It's also a very quiet guitar. Hardly any noise.

The action and intonation needed to be set a little, but the neck was straight as an arrow. The middle single coil pickup needed to be lowered. What do you expect from a $300.00 guitar. I was very pleased with it. It takes a little getting used to, since there is no headstock, but was you do, it's very comfortable.

The hardware is solid. The guitar has nice weight to it, and I wouldn't be afraid to gig with this guitar. Strap buttons are a little small, but are adequate. I wouldn't gig without a backup simply because I don't want to take a chance on something happening to the guitar.

This is where the nightmare begins. MusicYo.com is an email only business. I ordered the guitar on Friday, April 20, 2001, and I didn't receive it until May 1, 2001. They didn't process my order for a week because they forgot to print out the order and send it to the warehouse. They didn't respond to my emails for 2 days, and I finally had to threaten to dispute the charges on my credit card. When I did that, they finally emailed me and admitted their mistake. They threw in a free strap and a t-shirt, and a $50.00 gift certificate. The gift certificate did not work, and they finally refunded me $50.00 onto my credit card. Pray to God that if you order from them, that all things go smoothly!

I've been playing for 16 years. It's not the best guitar I've ever owned, but it is a very nice guitar for the money. Other than the horrible customer service, this was a nice purchase. If it were stolen, I certainly would buy another one. I'll even buy another one soon, just to have two. A very good value.

This is an extension of my previous review with info on what I have done to my GU7R since I first bought it. Ive now got a roland GK2a synth pickup installed internally into my guitar as I decided to buy the Roland VG88 instead of a modelling amp. The guitar tech has done a brilliant job, the magnetic pickup tone control is now the synth pickup volume (As I never used the tone control), Also the guitar tech told me that roland do not supply or make the two patch selector buttons which come with the internal kit anymore, so he got me two chrome sensitive pads which replace these buttons. They look really good, and all I do is lightly touch them to change presets on the VG88. All other features are the same. I decided to keep the EMG selects after the techie replaced the volume pot with a good 1000k pot and now the emg's sound more brighter, cleaner with more output, even he was impressed.

Due to the volume pot replacement, the EMG selects are really good, I plug straight into a boss distortion pedal (DS2) and then into the VG88, the sound is just killer especially mixed in with the synth pickup. Distortion through the EMG's is excellent with plenty of sustain and in the neck posititon provides real warm sounding leads.
Clean sounds are crisp & bright. I do mostly use the synth pickup for distorted sounds along with synth, acoustic, 12 string, etc

O.k, here's the bad points, when I first got the guitar out of the box, it was not setup very well and I was getting choking on the lower frets which I thought was just a trust rod adjustment. I was wrong, the neck needed a completed fret dress and frets needed reseating, this cost me #80 english pounds, about half of what the guitar cost. The guitar tech gave me the choice of getting this done or having it setup as best as he could get it, so I opted for the neck work to be done as I wanted to keep the neck and not get the graphite replacement neck from moses graphite as the wooden neck sounds alot better. Now the guitar is setup professionally I am giving it a 10 but before this work I will give it 5

This guitar is still built very well although not put together very well and will survive gigging no worries...gets a slightly lower marker due to factory setup

Not needed them

Now that I have an internal synth pickup and new volume pot, pro setup with neck adjustments, this guitar is a pro axe and is my main instrument. I plan to get another and do the same upgrade to it. Its still good value for money as in total I have spent #280 for the guitar, #240 for the synth pick which includes installation fee and a pro setup of #120 which totals #640 for a flame top steinberger with synth access, not bad at all.

My Steinberger GU-7R Custom was made in Korea, and I assume it was made in either late 2000 or early 2001 -- I don't know. Bought in March 2001.

The body is made of maple, with a flamed maple top, a hard maple neck, and a rosewood fretboard. The body is a double-cutaway, strat-style with a transparent red finish, creme-colored body binding, and a very high gloss finish. Scale length is 25.5". The flamed maple top is real and looks very nice, but it seems to not have the "depth" of the flamed maple top on my USA made Hamer Studio. However, it does look very good and it is nice to have a real flamed maple top on a guitar that only costs $350.

The neck has 24 medium-sized frets, and is headless. The width of the neck at the zero-fret is 1.625". There are dot-inlays on the fretboard and the neck has a very, very nice satin-finish. I don't know the exact radius of the fretboard or neck, but the fretboard is more flat than curved and the neck is more thick than thin.

There are two EMG Select humbuckers and one EMG Select single-coil arranged in an H/S/H configuration. These are passive pickups. There is one volume control, one tone control, and one 5-way strat-style pickup selector.

The bridge is a Steinberger R-trem. Since this is a headless guitar, the tuners are located on the bridge. The tuners work very well. I never use the tremolo arm, which, by the way, can be affixed to either side to the tremolo. There is a switch to fix the bridge when you don't want to use the tremolo arm -- I always leave the bridge in fixed position. There is a big tuning knob that allows you to adjust the spring tension on the bridge so that the strings are in tune whether you lock or unlock the bridge.

The guitar came with a very cheap gig bag that provides very little protection for your guitar. I ordered mine with the $80 hard case.

The EMG Select pickups give a very clean, clear sound that I have really come to love. You might think that because this guitar is constucted mostly of maple, that it might be overly trebly -- I was certainly apprehensive about that, too -- but, the sound is not too trebly at all. It is a little bit brighter sounding than the Steinberger Spirit GU-Deluxe models, which are made of swamp ash, but overall, the sound is still very well balanced. This guitar doesn't lack bass, either, and the bass response is nice and tight.

I play this guitar through a Fender Blues Junior, a Fender Eighty-Five, a Line 6 Pod 2.0, a Pandora PX3, a Visual Sound Jekyll and Hyde, a Visual Sound Route 66, and a Boss Cry-Baby.

The pickups are exceptionally quiet. Overall, the sound is very clean with great clarity. Many people don't like that. My guess is that most people want a really hot pickup so they can get more gain or sustain from their amps, but I prefer a cleaner, clearer pickup. This guitar sustains far better than my Ibanez RG570, and I can get as much gain as I want from my Pod.

I love the sound with the neck pickup -- no muddiness at all, just a very warm, clear tone. The single coil sounds about 100 times better than the stock single coil that came in my Ibanez RG570 -- it's clear and quacky. The bridge pickup isn't too hot, which I like. The neck/single combination doesn't quite give as nice a quack-tone as my swamp ash Steinberger GU-Deluxe, but it sounds nice anyway.

Overall, the sound could best be described as very clean, clear and very, very quiet. You can get warm, fat sounds as well as thin ones out of this guitar. I like the sound of my swamp-ash Steinberger GU-Deluxe a bit better -- it's a bit warmer and the 4th position sounds better, but this guitar still has a sound I like a lot.

This guitar arrived with a much better set-up than the GU-Deluxe I ordered about a year ago. Action was very good, intonation was almost perfect, and I didn't have to make any truss-rod adjustments at all. The guitar wasn't in tune when I got it, but that's okay.

THE STRINGS MUSICYO PUTS ON THEIR STEINBERGERS ARE PURE CRAP. On both my GU-Deluxe and my GU-7R Custom, the high E would always break if you tune it to proper pitch and try to bend it over a half step. Once I put D'Addarios on, I was able to bend without fear of the strings breaking.

The middle pickup was set too low. They set the middle pickup on my GU-Deluxe much closer to the strings and they set this one up too low for the sound to be balanced with the humbuckers.

Everything else on the guitar was great. The finish is absolutely beautiful. This is one of the most beautiful guitars I have ever seen.

This guitar is solid. After I bought my GU-Deluxe, I worried about the string saddles on the R-trem, but I don't worry about that anymore, as Musicyo now sells replacement R-trems for $90. The string saddles are all I worry about on this guitar. Everything else is durable.

I've been playing for about 12.75 years now. I also own a USA Hamer Studio, an Ibanez RG570, a swamp-ash Steinberger GU-Deluxe, and a beat-up, home-made, old strat-copy with humbuckers. This guitar blows away my Ibanez RG570, which cost me exactly twice as much back in 1991. The GU-Deluxe I own sounds a bit warmer, but this guitar has a great sound all its own. Also, this guitar is a bit lighter than my GU-Deluxe. The Hamer I have is great when I want some Les Paul type sounds, but this guitar gives me the clarity and clean tone the Hamer can't give me. The GU-7R is also more versatile than my Hamer.

Features I love about this guitar: the satin-finish neck feels absolutely marvelous to play, the exceptional quietness, clarity, and cleanness of the sound, the great balance when the guitar is strapped on, good sustain, the relatively light weight, and the beauty of the flamed top and creme body binding. I also just really love the way a headless guitar looks.

Things I didn't like about the guitar: nothing, really. Wouldn't have minded a TransTrem or jumbo frets or neck binding, but hey, this guitar only cost $350!!! And, for that price, I got a guitar that I really love.

One last thing, I ordered this guitar with the $80 hard case, and when I got it, it looked a bit beat up. Musicyo packed the guitar in the hard case with the cheap gig bag and some bubble wrap and that was it. I don't know if the hard case was damaged before shipping or if the damage was done during shipping, but next time, I'll probably order the higher-quality gig bag. And yes, there will be a next time...

The GU7R custom is the flame maple top version on the Strat shaped GU Deluxe, mine is the trans blue flame top with cream binding (very nice!), The guitar is a HSH pickup configuration (EMG passive selects) with R-trem, 24 frets with maple neck/rosewood fingerboard.
A deluxe gig bag is included but is not what I call deluxe, Its good for taking the guitar in the car or walking down the road with, but for gigging and public transport journeys its not sturdy enough, so a pro level gig bag or case is needed. Other accessories include the whammy bar, adjustment tools and an instruction sheet for setting up the guitar and tremolo. Its an excellent guitar as I will explain in detail in a minute. WARNING!!!: I paid $349.99 + $183 for UPS Express shipping to the UK and also (Get this!) $130 for tax duty. A total of $622.99 approx. Not exactly the bargain I was expecting, but a bargain none the less. So if you are shipping international from Music Yo, beware of the tax fee which you have to paid for at your front door when it arrives!!.One of this is the double ball headless system of the Steinberger, The is one of the best features of the Steinbergers, The double ball strings are just so easy to fit, a whole set installed and tuned up in a couple of minutes. No string slipage, more stability when bending strings. The string adapter is available to use normal strings but in my opinion this defeats the object of having a headless steinberger and takes away its tuning stability, easy string installation etc.Double ball strings will always be around...

My GU7R is so versatile, I play Rock, Metal, Blues, Funk & Jazz styles of music and can get all the sounds I need, from very clean to very dirty. My main axe was a steinberger GT-Pro but the volume pot kept on getting in the way of my picking hand so I sold it to my brother who was foaming at the mouth for it. This is now my main axe, the volume / tone pots are completely out of the way so its so comfortable to play for me. I plug into a Korg Pandora II and a small Rack system based around a Rocktron Voodoo Valve, The EMG's are very quiet and produce rich sounds. I would like a little more power in the humbuckers though so I am going to upgrade my guitar to active EMG's very soon (EMG 85 in the neck, SA in the middle, 81 in the bridge) this will give me such awesome sounds and versatility. Without modification this axe still rocks.

Out of the box, the guitar was not setup very well, but bearing in mind that it went through a trans-atlantic delivery, it was'nt too bad, the neck needs a trus-rod adjustment to fix a fret-out at the first fret and thats about it!, it played quite well straight from the box. The attention to detail and the finish of this guitar is superb, I was expecting a graphic flame top for the money I spend but its the real deal, and looks gorgeous, I went from top to bottom inspecting it for digs and mistakes but its absolutely perfect, I would have paid double the price for this axe with this type of workmanship.I'm giving it a 10 despite the setup problem (which was'nt major). As for the R-Trem, I've said it before and I'll say it again, this unit is the best out there, fixed or floating, strumming or dive bombing, it stays in tune no matter what.Overall construction is rock solid and is beautifully put together, there's even a sticker on the back saying the name of the person who checked it at the factory, Some little Korea Guy or Gal.The strings which are installed on the Spirit range are completely crap, I have not been bending the high E as I am afraid that if I bend up a tone a couple of times, it will snap like an elastic band, my advice is take your steinberger straight to your local guitar shop and get it fully setup with good quality double ball strings of normal strings if you have an adapter.

I've had this guitar now for a couple of days and have put it through its paces, I would have no hesitation gigging with this guitar, gigs are so unpredictable so a backup axe is always good to have at hand even though you could easily to a show with this one guitar, I am saving for an H&K Zentera amp so with that, the stageboard and this guitar, it would be my dream rig. The build is so good, it would definately be durable. I am planning to get a graphite neck from moses-graphite, a replacement which they now make especially for the spirit range so modifications are not needed. With this neck, active EMG's and a pro level gig bag or case, My Steinie will be just like the USA models.

Well, I was shafted on the delivery costs, I paid the extra for UPS Express and got Expedited 2nd class instead which was not on. It arrived very promptly though, so not sure if it was UPS fault or Music Yo. Also I paid over the odds for the tax duty when it arrived at my house, music yo have not replied back after I emailed them for an explaination...Music Yo should try and give some indication of international shipping costs including tax duty, as $130 dollars is too much, I could have got something nice with that!!!.I'll try to deal with the Euro Music Yo in future.

With my shipping & Tax grief aside, I am totally happy with my new axe, its looks stunning, sounds stunning and is every part a pro guitar, with the modifications I am planning, it will be killer.
I shall buy a GU deluxe for a 2nd guitar as its always good to have a backup and will modify that as well. With all the features and workmanship this Steinberger offers, its very hard to beat and I cannot recommend it enough.

2000? Korean made, 24 fret, 5 pos. switch, vol, tone. H/S/H Emg Select passive pickups. Maple body, maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Flame maple top with tranlucent amber finish. Strat style body. Stienberger R-Trem tremelo with direct-pull 40:1 tuners.

The guitar is brighter than I expected, (I guess due to the maple body & neck.) Not quite what I'm used to, (I like a more mellow "hollow" sound like my Strat gives),but the chords do come through very clear, even with distortion. No quite what I expected from a guitar with humbuckers, since most are "muddy" sounding to me.

The guitar is not noisy at all in the stock configuration. I had a coil-tap push/pull switch put on the two humbuckers, and there IS the normal single-coil buzz when activated, although none from the stock single-coil in the mid position.

I play through a Fender Super-210 and a Crate VC-508 for practice. The humbuckers drive my amps into distortion easier than even the EMG SV's on my Strat, so I don't know WHY everyone complains about them being "weak".

I DO wish that it came with the active EMG pickups, since I have them in my Strat,(You get very spoiled by them!) I will probably add a set of active EMG's at a later date, most likely a 85/SA/89 combo with a push/pull pot on the tone for the 89. I like to have a single-coil in the neck for blues playing, so the 89 is the way to go.

The set-up was dead-on right from the dealer, (musicyo.com)! It was even in perfect tune! Even so, it is rather easy to do a set-up on this guitar, and once it's in tune and correctly intonated, it STAYS THAT WAY! Just remember, once the locking screw is loose, the ONLY thing holding the saddles in is the strings, so don't try to loosen the screw without the strings on, or you'll be picking the saddles up off of the floor. ;-)

The flamed maple top and binding was a little less dramatic than what I expected, but hey, what do you expect for $350? I'm not sure that it's worth the $1000 that they CLAIM is MSRP, but it certainly FEELS like more than a $350 guitar.

This guitar is SOLID! It is heavier than my Strat, and seems to be better built too. I would have no problems using this as a main guitar for stage use. (If I played on stage that is.)

The one thing that I would do, (and have done), is replace that strap buttons with Schaller strap-locks! I had to use epoxy to fill in the screw holes, since the originals are larger than the ones supplied by Schaller.

Well... I paid for 2-day shipping, and it took 5 days to arrive. To musicyo's credit, they DID refund the shipping charges! I just with there was a phone number to call, instead of e-mail only!

I've been playing for about 12 years, and have owned only Fender guitars so far. (Two Strats and a Tele) I play mainly rock & blues, and this guitar would work well for a rock guitar, but it doesn't quite have the tone I like for blues playing. Hopefully that avtive EMG's will remedy that.

Overall, this is a good, solid guitar for not much money. It is DEFINITELY worth the $350 price tag If it were lost or stolen, I would get another in a second!

One thing that would be nice is if they offered a Single/Single/Single pickup configuration, like a Strat. Some of us just prefer that single-coil sound. (I could also use the spare set of EMG SA's that I have lying idle in it.)

Passive EMG pickups in a H/S/H configuration. Flame maple top that you would expect on a Gibson product, even if it's made in Korea. Gloss finish on the body, satin on the neck. Came with gigbag, two hex wrnches (one for the neck, one for the trem arm), trem arm, 6' cord and a skimpy instruction sheet. Additional details (scale length, etc.) can be found at www.musicyo.com. Don't bother with the Gibson website- they just refer you to MusicYo.
I'm not a whammy bar kinda guy but I appreciate that the bar can be installed on either side of the bridge.

I dabble in several styles. I tend to view a guitar setup the same as I do a synth setup: a signal source followed by filters, oscillators and whatever. The fact that EMG pickups tend to be colorless suits me just fine since I shape the tone downstream anyway.
The gear used for check-out were a Hot Wat, Fender Harvard Reverb, and a silverface Bassman that has a couple of Dan Torres' mod kits installed (www.torresengineering.com). I deliberately kept the effects simple: a Zoom 9002, a DOD Classic Fuzz and a Boss AD-3 acoustic guitar processor.
I feel I could cover just about anything from the 1950's thru the early 70's with just the Harvard alone. Adding the effects pushes the style range well into the 80's.
Each of the pickup combinations produces a unique sound.
The tone control is very effective until you get to the low end, then it turns into a very narrow band-pass filter. Can you spell mud? It might have value for some folks but I hate that sound so I'll be diddling the tone circuit.

It buzzed like a ripsaw until I tuned it to concert pitch, after that it played like a dream.
I tried the whammy just because it's there. One of the useful bits of info on that skimpy instruction sheet is how to unlock the trem so it works (blush). On the other hand if you prefer hardtail guitars this locking feature is VERY nice.
One of the bits of info NOT on the skimpy instruction sheet is that there is a friction bearing in the trem arm hole that keeps the arm from falling out. That's what the smaller of the two hex wrenches tightens for you.
Also missing from the instruction sheet is any advice on adjusting the action. It seems to me that most of the adjustments you'd need to make could be done with the big master trem adjust knob.
As far as negatives go it was absolutely dead on arrival and there was some black goo in the pickup selector switch slot. More about the goo later.
The beauty of the top kept me from returning the guitar to the dealer. I did not want to risk getting a replacement rather than a repair. I flipped 'er over and opened 'er up. The wire from the hot lead of the output jack was just hanging in mid air- it had never been soldered. It took about three jiffies to figure out it went to the center lug of the volume pot. It took longer to warm up the soldering iron than to make the "repair".
The control cavity is thoroughly shielded. The cover plate has metal on it and the cavity in the giutar is painted with black conductive goo, some of which slopped through the slot for the switch. Between the EMG's and the shielding this guitar is QUIET! In fact, I didn't realize some of my effects were generating noise until I put them in this guitar's path.
I noticed that not all the wires from the humbuckers are being used. Later on I might get an E-series Megaswitch from www.stewmac.com and see what else the pickups have to offer.
The cosmetic detail is trivial. The instrument takes a big hit in this category because I had to repair the thing right out of the box. This is Not Good.
The closeness of the tuning knobs takes some getting used to but once you get the hang of it tuning is quick and precise.

I don't play live. If I did I'd have no reservation about using this axe. One of the oddest sensations about the guitar is the fact that you don't have to fight the torque of the headstock. What little weight there is is centered in the body. After playing a Strat (long torsion bar) and a Les Paul (M1 battle tank) this is a refreshing change.
FWIW- I can't imagine playing without a backup.

This was my first contact with MusicYo. They gave the routine confirmation-of-order email then did something different: they had UPS send an email detailing when they picked my guitar up and when they expected to deliver it. That was a first and I like it.

I've only been playing for a few years. When I start paring the collection down this will be one one of the ones that stays. In fact if it were stolen I would use that as an excuse to buy two more (one for backup). They are relatively inexpensive, compact and well made.
The only thing I "hate" about it is that I'm going to buy the clunky adapter so I can use regular (non double-ball) strings on it.
Upside:
> it "pays for itself" in about ten string changes
> I can use any brand I want
Downside:
> String changes require the use of a hex wrench

One of the comparison guitars was a Strat with active EMG's (the David Gilmour set). Picking up a guitar with active pickups is like picking up a 12-string. It's still a guitar but it's also a different animal.
Active pickups and a wrenchless string adapter would be the only two other factory-standard options I'd wish for.