Stienberger Spirits

[lug]

I'm thinking of buying one of those musicyo steinbergers as

a backup/travel bass. Anybody have one? Do you like it?

[tony_dup2]

I like the original Steinberger basses, which were made from graphite / epoxy. I have heard that new Steinbergers are made from wood instead of graphite / epoxy. I think that would seriously affect the tone in a bad way since the instrument has such a small body. Ned's original prototypes were made of wood, and he chose graphite / epoxy because it dramatically improved the tone.

[craigb]

I've owned two of them previously - one XT-2 and one XT-25. I thought they were pretty good "ITPR" ("in the price range" - an acronym stolen from BP reviews). They are all-wood. They have a zero fret (which I like), Steinberger hardware (I actually didn't like the thumbscrew bridge tuners very much - harder to turn, at least for me, than normal tuners), EMG HZ pickups (which are adequate but I'd never want to play in public with them - they sound "metallic" to me).

 

I found them fine for what they are - an inexpensive import. The five had a decently taught B (the first 34" 5-string I liked). You can't beat the size if you are looking for a travel bass. I decided I don't travel enough and where I was keeping it (my office) I actually have enough room to store a regular-sized bass and much prefer playing my G&L anyway.

 

I do still recommend them for people looking for a compact travel instrument. I would guess a "real" (composite) Steinberger would be the ultimate travel bass but it would cost a bunch more. There have been some indications on the MusicYo site that they may bring back composite Steinbergers in the future.

[Ed Friedland]

I had a Steinberger copy years ago for riding my bike to my teaching gigs. It was good for that, but I didn't like doing gigs on it. I also borrowed a real 'Berger from a friend to try and found them to be very uncomfortable. No place to rest my arm and the neck stuck out further, forcing me to extend my left arm more to play the low F. Outside of that and the fact that I didn't care for how it sounded it was great! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif

 

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www.edfriedland.com

[lug]

After reading your posts, I decided to get one anyway. After all, its only

2 1/2 bills, I've paid more for a neck. Will let ya'll know how it turns out in a couple of days. I plan on drilling a hole in it to attach a

removable horn to eliminate the shift to the left problem (right in my case), maybe something that looks like the Thumb bass horn. Also craigb

already knows the secret to excellent sound. My main axe is also a G&L

2000 but with an asat neck (jazz style). Later.

[Bob1]

I bought a fretless 5 with the small body from MusicYo. It had no zero fret, and because it had a (soft relative to polyester) rosewood fingerboard, needed one, unlike the original design which had a composite fingerboard that was tough enough to stand up to having the strings merely roll over a gradual curve in the "nut" area. On this bass, the supplied roundwounds would have quickly sunk into the end of the fingerboard, cutting their own extended nut. Also, the side markers were placed as though the bass had a zero fret, so were in the wrong places for intonation reference.

 

I returned it with substantial hassles and a lot of explanation as to how it should be. They said "Steinberger" had some design issues that were being fixed, and they'd replace it with the new design.

 

What arrived was a version of the old design with a *raised* zero fret that did away with open-sting buzz, of course; the buzz came in with the fretted notes. Also, the strap button hole was drilled so tight that the cheap-metal button screw snapped off as I carefully installed it. This was all of course unacceptable, and my money was eventually refunded after extended attempts to deal with the very slow post-sale service at MusicYo, and of course return of the bass.

 

I was only out a lot of time beta-testing for them; if I were running their operation, though, I would have compensated a forced beta-tester such as myself, since I'll probably now be around telling the story the rest of MusicYo's life.

[lug]

I guess its one of those love it or hate it topics. I got mine yesterday

and the initial setup was unplayable. after adjusting neck relief and intonation, it played quite well, but when sitting was skewed to the left

(right for me). I then moved the leg balancer flip out thingee (the actual

technical term fot it, I beleive) toward the neck careful not to damage

the collectable value of the instument http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/wink.gif. Now it sits perfect when sitting. Standing still has same shift problem I will be correcting shortly. It has surprising array of different sounds I can get out of

it. I had to adjust pickup height to even up the E string volume to the rest of the strings. I still need to do a little tweaking to get it right, but am very happy with it considering the price. I would not recommend

this for a first bass, but would for a backup/second/GAS attack/novelty/

travel/I got an extra $250 and nothing to do with it - bass. I plan to

add a removable horn as soon as I figure out a good way to do it (make note

to self - go to Home Depot) and will let ya know how it goes. Thanks for

the input so far. It does sound like you got a raw deal Bob1, How recent

was your snafu from them? Also, If you are not comfortable working on your

own equipment, this is probably not the bass for you.

[Bob1]

Mine were from the 1st and 2nd batches of small-body fretless 5s they had; I'd guess it was roughly 8 months ago. The bummer is that they were generally quite nice for the price but for the design errors; they sounded nice and played nice but for the lack of buzz on the open strings and the misplaced markers. The size/shape is great for working around a cluttered room. If I had known what was going to happen, I would have set my own zero fret flush with the fingerboard on the first one they sent me instead of letting them take it back. Unfortunately, MusicYo doesn't seem to have it together either as to after-sale service or in terms of making sure they're selling workable items in the first place.

 

You're right, though, lug, "leg balancer flip out thingee" is the correct technical term. By the way, these basses should make a pretty handy oar if you're stuck up a creek.

[lug]

Hey Bob1, My wife found another GREAT use for the steinberger. She used to chase the kids around with a broom but has found the steinie to be much more effective at dealing out discipline when they get rowdy.

 

note: the above is is a humorous interpretation of the uses of a steinberger bass and does not represent the views of this noble body of bass playing professionals. Also, no children where injured in the making of this post.