IMMUSICRULZ
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 25, 2021
- Messages
- 616
I wanted to ask if any of you have ever owned a Steinberger guitar or at least played one long enough to remember playing it or holding it.
Steinberger makes some very, very good guitars. They are more well known for manufacturing basses played by Peter Cetera, (Peter Cetera of Chicago played Steinberger basses around the time Chicago 16 came out in 1982,) Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees, Earl Falconer of UB40, Geddy Lee of Rush, Greg Lake (who famously played a Steinberger bass during his tenure in Asia in 1983), Danny Klein of the J. Geils Band, Sting of the Police, Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, Roger Glover of Deep Purple, John Illsley of Dire Straits (during the Live Aid concert), Phil Soussan of Ozzy Osbourne, Greg Lake, Dougie Thomson of Supertramp (in the video for "Free As A Bird"), Jean Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers, Cliff Williams of AC/DC, Humberto Gessinger of Engenheiros do Hawaii, John Taylor of Duran Duran, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Robbie Shakespeare of Sly & Robbie, Gerald Casale of DEVO, Ross Valory of Journey, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy (during Soul Punk in 2011, using the 5 strings bass), Christopher Rapkin, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Arif Mirabdolbaghi of Protest the Hero, Fat Mike of NOFX, Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, Leo "E-Zee Kill" Williams of Big Audio Dynamite, Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, Jozef Ráž of Elán, John Entwistle of The Who (in the video for “Don’t Let Go The Coat”), Tony Lewis of The Outfield and Zeta Bosio of Soda Stereo. I do think that Steinberger basses have a very ugly design. Like, how the hell are you supposed to play a guitar that has no headstock? Is their an alternative to tuning the guitar? Do you use your phone to tune it?
Either way, Steinberger guitars are owned by Gibson. The usual color I see of Steinberger instruments is white.
Notable players of Steinberger guitars are Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia Band, Warren Cuccurullo of Duran Duran, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, David Bowie (with Tin Machine in 1991–1992 and the "Valentine's Day" music video in 2013), Reeves Gabrels (also with Tin Machine), Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Don Felder of the Eagles, Augusto Licks of Engenheiros do Hawaii (Brazil), Vito Bratta of White Lion, Allan Holdsworth, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Steve Hillage, Mike Rutherford of Genesis, Rhoma Irama of Soneta, Buck Dharma AKA Donald Roeser of Blue Öyster Cult (one of his Steinberger guitars is called a Cheeseberger and is designed to look like a piece of Swiss cheese), Johnny Winter, Martin Tielli of Rheostatics, Paul Masvidal of Cynic, David Rhodes with Peter Gabriel, Paul Stanley of Kiss, David Torn and David Sylvian.
The best-known Steinberger design is the L-series instrument, sometimes described as shaped like a broom, boat oar, or cricket bat. Initially produced as an electric bass and later as a guitar, the instrument was made entirely of the Steinberger Blend, a "proprietary" graphite and carbon-fiber mix in two pieces: the main body and a faceplate (the "blend" being an off-the-shelf carbon fiber "system" from the DuPont product line). The headstock was eliminated, the tuning hardware instead installed on a tailpiece mounted to the face of the guitar body. The tuners utilized a finer than normal 18:1 gear ratio, with 40 threads per inch, which gave slower but more precise adjustment and helped reduce string slippage. Depending on the tailpiece, calibrated or uncalibrated double-ball end strings were used, with the former required in order to use the transposing feature of the TransTrem vibrato unit. The rationale for the overall design was the elimination of unnecessary weight, especially the unbalanced headstock, and the use of modern materials, such as graphite, for their advantages over wood.
The all-synthetic construction gave a very smooth sound and feel, immediate note attack, and very even tonal response. Depending upon the preferences of the listener, this was either a good thing, as it made the instrument sonically clean, or a bad thing, as it made the instrument sound synthetic and unnatural. Steinberger was and still is proud of this dichotomy and one of their slogans was "We don't make 'em like they used to." In fact, I've read that if you play a Steinberger with flatwound strings and an Ampeg SVT, it gives off a fat tone similar to Eighties AOR guitar solos.
But if any of you like a Steinberger please let me know.
Steinberger makes some very, very good guitars. They are more well known for manufacturing basses played by Peter Cetera, (Peter Cetera of Chicago played Steinberger basses around the time Chicago 16 came out in 1982,) Maurice Gibb of The Bee Gees, Earl Falconer of UB40, Geddy Lee of Rush, Greg Lake (who famously played a Steinberger bass during his tenure in Asia in 1983), Danny Klein of the J. Geils Band, Sting of the Police, Bill Wyman of the Rolling Stones, Roger Glover of Deep Purple, John Illsley of Dire Straits (during the Live Aid concert), Phil Soussan of Ozzy Osbourne, Greg Lake, Dougie Thomson of Supertramp (in the video for "Free As A Bird"), Jean Jacques Burnel of The Stranglers, Cliff Williams of AC/DC, Humberto Gessinger of Engenheiros do Hawaii, John Taylor of Duran Duran, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Robbie Shakespeare of Sly & Robbie, Gerald Casale of DEVO, Ross Valory of Journey, Patrick Stump of Fall Out Boy (during Soul Punk in 2011, using the 5 strings bass), Christopher Rapkin, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, Arif Mirabdolbaghi of Protest the Hero, Fat Mike of NOFX, Eddie Van Halen of Van Halen, Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads, Leo "E-Zee Kill" Williams of Big Audio Dynamite, Andrew Wood of Malfunkshun and Mother Love Bone, Jozef Ráž of Elán, John Entwistle of The Who (in the video for “Don’t Let Go The Coat”), Tony Lewis of The Outfield and Zeta Bosio of Soda Stereo. I do think that Steinberger basses have a very ugly design. Like, how the hell are you supposed to play a guitar that has no headstock? Is their an alternative to tuning the guitar? Do you use your phone to tune it?
Either way, Steinberger guitars are owned by Gibson. The usual color I see of Steinberger instruments is white.
Notable players of Steinberger guitars are Jerry Garcia of Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia Band, Warren Cuccurullo of Duran Duran, Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, David Bowie (with Tin Machine in 1991–1992 and the "Valentine's Day" music video in 2013), Reeves Gabrels (also with Tin Machine), Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, Don Felder of the Eagles, Augusto Licks of Engenheiros do Hawaii (Brazil), Vito Bratta of White Lion, Allan Holdsworth, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Steve Hillage, Mike Rutherford of Genesis, Rhoma Irama of Soneta, Buck Dharma AKA Donald Roeser of Blue Öyster Cult (one of his Steinberger guitars is called a Cheeseberger and is designed to look like a piece of Swiss cheese), Johnny Winter, Martin Tielli of Rheostatics, Paul Masvidal of Cynic, David Rhodes with Peter Gabriel, Paul Stanley of Kiss, David Torn and David Sylvian.
The best-known Steinberger design is the L-series instrument, sometimes described as shaped like a broom, boat oar, or cricket bat. Initially produced as an electric bass and later as a guitar, the instrument was made entirely of the Steinberger Blend, a "proprietary" graphite and carbon-fiber mix in two pieces: the main body and a faceplate (the "blend" being an off-the-shelf carbon fiber "system" from the DuPont product line). The headstock was eliminated, the tuning hardware instead installed on a tailpiece mounted to the face of the guitar body. The tuners utilized a finer than normal 18:1 gear ratio, with 40 threads per inch, which gave slower but more precise adjustment and helped reduce string slippage. Depending on the tailpiece, calibrated or uncalibrated double-ball end strings were used, with the former required in order to use the transposing feature of the TransTrem vibrato unit. The rationale for the overall design was the elimination of unnecessary weight, especially the unbalanced headstock, and the use of modern materials, such as graphite, for their advantages over wood.
The all-synthetic construction gave a very smooth sound and feel, immediate note attack, and very even tonal response. Depending upon the preferences of the listener, this was either a good thing, as it made the instrument sonically clean, or a bad thing, as it made the instrument sound synthetic and unnatural. Steinberger was and still is proud of this dichotomy and one of their slogans was "We don't make 'em like they used to." In fact, I've read that if you play a Steinberger with flatwound strings and an Ampeg SVT, it gives off a fat tone similar to Eighties AOR guitar solos.
But if any of you like a Steinberger please let me know.