Steinberger Spirit GU Deluxe

I have always wanted a Steinberger, and this is pretty darn close. Not at nice or fancy as the US-made ones, but not a bad guitar for about $230US from MusicYo.com. Made in Korea, this guitar has a wood neck, not graphite like its US cousins. I bought this guitar specifically for lessons and travel, since it is quite tiny, although it has a full-size guitar scale. It is perfect to carry around in a gig bag wherever I go, and as a backup synth guitar. I keep a Yamaha G1d hex pickup in the pocket of the gig bag, and when needed, I can velcro the control box to the bridge plate and attach the pickup in seconds. I like the Yamaha pickup better than the Roland GK2a because the volume knob is easier to get to.

Some things people should know if you order one of these: Mine came with no setup at all. The strings were slack, the neck had a slight upbow and was at the wrong angle, the pickups are very quiet but weak and the over-engineered bridge is a hassle. I spent quite a few hours with it, adjusting the truss rod, shimming the neck and setting the intonation. Intonation was a problem due to the odd way the bridge pieces must be moved- a set screw tightens the pieces, but when it is loose, there is nothing holding the saddles in place, except the downward pressure of the strings. I usually keep the R-Trem locked,

which is done by a small lever under the bridge- impossible and painful to get to in a hurry. Despite the claims, trem use will certainly make this guitar go out of tune, even with double-ball strings. I blame the bad bridge design- I wish it just had a fixed bridge like some of the older Steinbergers.

The neck has been replaced with a graphite neck from Moses Graphite. I went through hell to get it to fit the Spirit dimentions, but a few months and a lot of money later, Moses never really got it right. They since stopped advertising that their necks fit the Spirit line. Strangely, they did this after getting my neck back 3 times. I orderded one, it didn't fit..it was too big..I sent the neck back (apperently, they never really tried to check if bodies were the same!). They shaved the neck down, and sent it back, it fit, but had huge gaps on either side, big enough for a penny to stick in! I sent the neck and the body back...they then sent it back all bolted on, with gaps, and now with 2 new cracks in the
finish by the neck joint in the body. So in effect, I never really got what I wanted, and ended up selling the guitar. Honestly, It would be better worth it to get a used graphite neck USA version, since the annoyance I went through (and *still* not getting what I wanted) is not worth going through. I would still like to get a Steinberger one day, but unless I get a super deal on a Spirit, I think I will go for the USA models.

I also changed the pickups to higher output Seymour Duncans. A Hot Rails in the neck, Cool Rails in the middle, and Custom Custom in the bridge. The Hot Rails is a nice warm neck pickup, the Cool Rails is a little brighter and less output, and the Custom Custom has some awesome 'chunk' to it, without being screechy.These pickups are about 3 times louder than the EMG Select pickups that came in the guitar. More dark and heavy than weak and bright, they make this guitar into a usable live instrument. I had to grind down the base of the Dual Rails to get them to fit in the cavity. The finish is white, which looks great but smells like house paint.

I did sell this, because after awhile, the sound had an irritating edge I couldn't get rid of. Oh yeah, and the neck fiasco. I replaced it with my Silhouette Special and don't regret it. I do like Steinbergers though, and may get another in the future- but won't deal with Moses.