Steinberger Spirit Pro HSH NGD & detailed review

Winny_Pooh · June 22

This is my 3rd Chinaberger in 2 weeks.

The idea was to have something for holidays abroad that I could carry-on without paying an extra allowance. I'd never played one or knew anything much about them but read a few threads on here and remembered how slightly silly David Rhodes looked playing his on Peter Gabriel's Secret World DVD. Never say never because the idea of owning one didn't enter my head in 25 years of playing.

Overthinking, now 1am and one bought on ebay, "as new and played once"... You can imagine how disappointed I was 3 days later when it arrived well used and had deep fret scratches under all the wound strings and many many tool scratches on the fingerboard edges for no good reason. So that went back but it did play well after I set up & intonated it for it's muppet owner. I did manage to get a feel for it re owning one and was happily surprised by the neck dimensions, a nice medium C!

Spirit Pro:

42.3mm wide at nut

51.6mm wide at 9th

21.18 deep at 1st

23.8 deep at 9th

For reference, this is a fatter neck than the Gretsch 59VS duo jet! (I really dislike the shitty wide thin MIJ profiles)

Jet 59VS:

42.9mm wide at nut

52.35 wide at 9th

21.1mm at first

23mm deep at the 9th

I sent the ebay one back and with luck the price of new models had dropped in that week so I ordered a new cobalt blue from GG for only £50 more, joy. It came...with deep divots and scratches along the fingerboard edges...it went....back. (they do have a very easy returns process.)

The replacement arrived. No issues with the build and the rest of my commentary follows on this one.

Pickups measure

Neck 9.2k

Middle 6k ish

Bridge 9.3k
Rails polepieces under the covers but they sound like alnico magnets rather than ceramic.

Now TBH the neck pickup does sound good but I don't like dark neck pickups.

The bridge sounds good, just right.

The middle single is hopelessly weak and quiet.

Positions 2 & 4 are also too quiet as a result.

I may later replace the middle with a hot rails type to fix this.

GOOD: pots are full size Taiwanese and smooth.

Good finish, has a subtle sparkle. Nice neck, as stated.

Frets are fattish, good height but one came with some pit marks that made for scratchy bending.

The trem is smooth, stiff-ish and the pitch warble is nice, better than on/off strat style trem and bigsby-ish.

The fingerboard is a composite wood type but looks good, very dark and takes some oil.

The truss rod is smooth.

It's really TINY! Heavy, but comfy on a strap. I can even see myself using this for jams at a friend's.

See here (the first ebay one) for size

BAD:

The bag is small but flimsy, has little to no protection from knocks and the strap is too skinny on the shoulder. I can't see this doing serious travel. I'll maybe get a gun bag later.

3 high frets I had to spot level.

Tuners are annoyingly stiff and unpleasant but I have bearings on order.

Again, the middle single coil really sucks!

Trem bar has a tiny bit of slop, even with the nut tight against the bar.

The trem stop does not work well (was fine on the older ebay gtr) and I think it relies on having a lower tension spring than shipped. No bother, it's fine without.

The factory trem depth is set Too High, and with the saddles bottomed out the action is still around 1.5 - 1.8mm all over. Online I've read a few complaints re this so I decided to set aside the whole bloody day today and fix it as I made the decision to keep this guitar and frankly hate the other travel options on the market. Out came a not too sharp chisel.

The posts are floppy when loosened and due to the overall design you have to drop the entire posts & spring-box unit lower, this is about 1.5mm lower. It's not "perfect" but after some test fitting it's level.

From the parts box I took a 7.5k budget humbucker P90 and popped on a plastic cover I bought off ebay and used some epoxy to lightly hold it on. It took some fitting to get the cover on the base and not oddly angled in the slot as it's butted right up against the 24fret board.

Then spot levelling 3 frets, and polished all with 1500, 2000 grit and a polishing rubber. An hour of setup and tweaking.

Done

Aside from the factory trem depth (I reckon medium action and 9s will be fine for many) and single pitted fret I'd say it's a decent deal at £345.

TheMarlin · June 22

Nice. Great colour!
I’ve got a boring black one that @dazzajl harvested for me from a Wiltshire charity shop. Didn’t look like it has ever been touched.

This is my third one. I had a proper Steinberger from the 80’s-2008. That was great.

This is my second Spirit. I think the trem was better/smoother on the earlier model, but the bearings did help.

I binned the pickups, and got Ash at @OilCityPickups to make me a set of black P90’s and a Strat middle pickups. They sound absolutely frinkin awesome. Super happy, and great-full to Ash for beings a top bloke.

The only thing I don’t like about this guitar is the im
nut, my fingers prefer more room to move. But, it’s a small compromise for an excellent travel guitar for peanuts.

Enjoy!
I strongly recommend you contact Oil-City for some decent pickups. Makes a world of difference

Winny_Pooh · June 22

@TheMarlin said:

Nice. Great colour!
I’ve got a boring black one that @dazzajl harvested for me from a Wiltshire charity shop. Didn’t look like it has ever been touched.
This is my third one. I had a proper Steinberger from the 80’s-2008. That was great.
This is my second Spirit. I think the trem was better/smoother on the earlier model, but the bearings did help.
I binned the pickups, and got Ash at @OilCityPickups to make me a set of black P90’s and a Strat middle pickups. They sound absolutely frinkin awesome. Super happy, and great-full to Ash for beings a top bloke.

The only thing I don’t like about this guitar is the im
nut, my fingers prefer more room to move. But, it’s a small compromise for an excellent travel guitar for peanuts.

Enjoy!
I strongly recommend you contact Oil-City for some decent pickups. Makes a world of difference

Ooh, I'm really curious about the original. Appreciate the pickup recommendation. I'll see how it goes for now as don't want to nearly double the overall cost...yet

need spare cash for a Katana Go and headphones.

Funkfingers · June 23

PEDANTRY CORNER

1) David Rhodes plays an original Steinberger L Series guitar rather than a wooden lookalike.

2) There appears to be something sprouting from the front of your S2 Vela.

Winny_Pooh · June 23

Funkfingers said:

PEDANTRY CORNER

1) David Rhodes plays an original Steinberger L Series guitar rather than a wooden lookalike.

2) There appears to be something sprouting from the front of your S2 Vela.

1. No shit! (I know)
2. No shit!

pedant note: it's an S2 Mira

prowla · June 23

Spirit and Pro don't belong together - the Spirit is a budget model.

TheMarlin · June 23

prowla said:

Spirit and Pro don't belong together - the Spirit is a budget model.

It’s still a nice guitar. In fact, the price of a guitar, and where it was made has little to do with how good or bad a guitar is.

OilCityPickups · June 23

TheMarlin said:

prowla said:

Spirit and Pro don't belong together - the Spirit is a budget model.

It’s still a nice guitar. In fact, the price of a guitar, and where it was made has little to do with how good or bad a guitar is.

Having worked on my business partner's Spirt ... in fact, making that P90s etc too ... I would confirm it's is very much a nice guitar ... and who gives a f--k where it was made?

hollywoodrox · June 23

It’s really cool man , the extra fettling would put me off though but your is now absolutely super
well done

Philly_Q · June 23

Looks great in the blue. I hadn't realised they were still making them.

I had a black one years ago, when they were using Select by EMG pickups. I liked the idea of having a tiny "travel" guitar, it had a good chunky neck but it also had issues - there were a couple of lifting frets and I really hated the feel of the trem and the tuners. If I still had it I'd have tried some of those bearings for the tuners.

TheMarlin · June 23

Philly_Q said:

Looks great in the blue. I hadn't realised they were still making them.

I had a black one years ago, when they were using Select by EMG pickups. I liked the idea of having a tiny "travel" guitar, it had a good chunky neck but it also had issues - there were a couple of lifting frets and I really hated the feel of the trem and the tuners. If I still had it I'd have tried some of those bearings for the tuners.

The bearings (and a bit of lube on the screws) make a world of difference

carlos · June 24

prowla said:

Spirit and Pro don't belong together - the Spirit is a budget model.

Yup. The amount of mods these guitars need to even be usable. What a thing to do to Ned's legacy.

Offset · June 24

I have one of these. It's well-made and finished and really good fun.

Image: https://tfb-user-images.eu-central-1.linodeobjects.com/d056416b21f6849bb5c6936fe0f63f925f5c8bec29a224d2d0

carlos · June 24

Offset said:

I have one of these. It's well-made and finished and really good fun.

These are several levels above the Spirits.

TheMarlin · June 24

Here is mine with the Oil City pickup upgrades (2xP90 and a Strat middle pickup), bearings upgrade, and regular string adapter.

Tuning is rock solid and it sounds fabulous. @OilCityPickups ;make a fabulous pickup!

I might get some tape and do a stupid EVH paint job on it. Fancy jazzing it up a bit.

Time will tell. For now, it gets slung in a holdall with a few days clothes and a fabulous little Nux Mighty Lite BT 2 practice amp and Lekato wireless kit, and goes travelling with me when I head up north for work. Plus a spare set of rechargeable batteries.

Fits in the holdall perfectly. It’s a cracking little travel companion. Delighted with it.

LessPaul · June 24

Recently refinished one for my nephew who’s an EV nut - was originally white HSS configuration.
https://i.imgur.com/j0OLeZr.jpg https://i.imgur.com/5YV4cZn.jpg

TheMarlin · June 24

Definitely looks more fun with a funky paint job

GuyBoden · June 24

Offset said:

I have one of these. It's well-made and finished and really good fun.

Is this the Synapse with a 28.5 inch scale neck?

That's a long neck.

Offset · June 24

GuyBoden said:

Offset said:

I have one of these. It's well-made and finished and really good fun.

Is this the Synapse with a 28.5 inch scale neck?

That's a long neck.

Yep. It's the Transcale Custom model with the sliding 'capo' which goes all the way up to the 12th fret. It also has a piezo in the bridge so all in all it's fairly versatile, although country twangers won't find much use for it :-)

Some appear to be going for double the price they were new these days which is pretty bonkers.

paulnb57 · June 25

This is mine, used as a travel guitar in the caravan (we've already done the “we hate caravans” responses)
NUX headphone amp and good to go

Much modded, trem locked never used…

Winny_Pooh · June 25

paulnb57 said:

This is mine, used as a travel guitar in the caravan (we've already done the “we hare caravans” responses)
NUX headphone amp and good to go

Much modded, trem locked never used…

Such a cool finish, looks great with the zebra pickups.

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Steinberger Spirit Pro HSH NGD & detailed review

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