Steinberger returns

Started by Elantric, February 01, 2018, 11:15:58 AM

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HecticArt

I've been checking out the Steinberger website every few days, and they haven't listed a release date yet.
They still list as "coming soon" while posting once a day to their twitter and face book. That makes me think that they aren't on the streets yet.

ZZ Sound and a couple of other retailers list the new models as being available around Feb 26th or so.

The pictures on the MF website look like the older Spirit's with the EMG Select pickups. If the guy at TGP picked up a new one, that's awesome. If it's an older one and it's that good, that's encouraging.

For the price, I'm thinking I'm likely to grab one no matter what.
I'm still going to keep my eyes open for a graphite one. Unfortunately, those are expensive enough that it's not so easy to be cavalier about picking one up.

admin

#26
Quote from: HecticArt on February 14, 2018, 05:08:48 PM
I've been checking out the Steinberger website every few days, and they haven't listed a release date yet.
They still list as "coming soon" while posting once a day to their twitter and face book. That makes me think that they aren't on the streets yet.

ZZ Sound and a couple of other retailers list the new models as being available around Feb 26th or so.

The pictures on the MF website look like the older Spirit's with the EMG Select pickups. If the guy at TGP picked up a new one, that's awesome. If it's an older one and it's that good, that's encouraging.

For the price, I'm thinking I'm likely to grab one no matter what.
I'm still going to keep my eyes open for a graphite one. Unfortunately, those are expensive enough that it's not so easy to be cavalier about picking one up.

In Stock & Ready to Ship here
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/steinberger-spirit-gt-pro-deluxe-electric-guitar

HecticArt

I think that's the old model.
Reviews go back to 2012 or so and it has the EMG pickups, not the Steinberger pups.
It also says maple body, not poplar. They also don't have any of the new colors at MF.
I could be wrong. (It happens more than I would like.)

If you look at ZZ's site, you can see the pickup difference and new colors.
https://www.zzounds.com/item--STNGTPRO

MF and GC have had the same Spirits on their sites for a couple of years.
They may be shipping the new ones without updating their sites. It's so hard to tell the difference other than colors.

admin

#28
Quote from: HecticArt on February 14, 2018, 06:36:46 PM
I think that's the old model.
Reviews go back to 2012 or so and it has the EMG pickups, not the Steinberger pups.
It also says maple body, not poplar. They also don't have any of the new colors at MF.
I could be wrong. (It happens more than I would like.)

If you look at ZZ's site, you can see the pickup difference and new colors.
https://www.zzounds.com/item--STNGTPRO

MF and GC have had the same Spirits on their sites for a couple of years.
They may be shipping the new ones without updating their sites. It's so hard to tell the difference other than colors.

Actually it just arrived at Musicians Friend

White color arrives Feb 23. 2018

New Steinberger Spirits have not been available anywhere for years

But Musiciansfriend still links the reviews from the older model

HecticArt

I'm not trying to argue or anything, but the reviews don't look like they are for used instruments, and I've been looking at Spirit's on GC's site for several months. They may very well have been old stock.

MF must not have updated their site yet. The black GT-Pro's are the old pickups, and the white shows the new pups and the corners look lithe they are a little more rounded.

Who knows.
At least there will be new ones on the streets in a couple of weeks.

mooncaine

Many of the sites you've mentioned here -- maybe all of them -- have 'listed' these guitars as 'available' for years. If you ordered, they'd happily tell you it's back-ordered, hoping you won't demand your money back. Once in 2015 or 2016 I ordered from one of them, either GC or MF, and whaddya know, it was 'back-ordered' as soon as I placed the order. I called them and said the deal's off. The jerk on the phone tried to convert the sale, of course. He even pretended to be interested in this guitar, as if he, too, eagerly awaited it and would be glad to call me the minute one became available. If you checked these listings frequently (I did), you'd see the availability date creep up by one day each day you checked. Some of them would change the date a month at a time. It looked to me as if they never intended to offer it, but were hoping to borrow your money for a few days till you wised up and realized they were just bait-and-switching.

The last time I bought one, in 2017, it was on Amazon, from a seller called Epiphone. If you get the 14 day satisfaction guarantee, I recommend it. You can examine the guitar and send it back, and get them to ship you a replacement, if it doesn't satisfy you. That's worth it. I'm glad I did, and I might do it again in a couple years if they really do start making these again.

HecticArt

The monsters.

Are they faking the reviews too?

admin


Bear

In recent years Gibson was a brick wall when it came to parts for the R-trem, which was supposedly in production.  I would advise caution until they are ready to support a product they put on the market with, for example, available replacement costs. 

(Take my money with the ridiculous parts upcharge, FFS.)

Bear

Confirmed through a major MI retailer that reached out to Gibson:  they will not make Steinberger repair parts available.

Run.

Elantric

#35
Quote from: Bear on April 18, 2018, 06:40:27 AM
Confirmed through a major MI retailer that reached out to Gibson:  they will not make Steinberger repair parts available.

Run.
They have far bigger battle that will get resolved by August, 2018 - when Gibson and Steinberger Guitars has a new owner
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=22000.0

HecticArt

At this point I wonder if they will even make it to market.

admin

#37
Quote from: HecticArt on April 18, 2018, 09:57:30 AM
At this point I wonder if they will even make it to market.

Already been available for a few months now
https://www.zzounds.com/item--STNGTPRO


Quote
- Warranty: Steinberger Limited Lifetime

that warranty remains suspect

HecticArt

I was being a bit facetious, due to Gibsons inability to get their act together, and the lack of activity from the one part-time employee they have in the Steinberger division. (There's more of my award winning humor right there.)

ZZ has had a couple on their site, but the quilted tops, and everything else, seems to be on a drawn out "coming soon" schedule.

Steinberger has a rotation of 4 twitter/Facebook posts, and they don't seem all that excited about getting people excited about the new product.

My cynical imagination pictures Gibson shutting down, and a shipping container of Steinbergers coming from China getting dumped into the ocean because the check for the shipment bounced. I also picture an octopus at the bottom of the ocean playing 4 of them at once, but that's a different story.

The warranty is suspect for several reasons, but for the price, I'm not too hung up about it.

Bear

JCustom does have an R-Trem replacement that HeadlessUSA (=Jeff Babicz maybe?) is importing and selling for $160 plus shipping.  Maybe not that absurd compared to going prices for quality Floyds, but that's half what I paid for my Spirit new.  So ouch.

mooncaine

HecticArt, what's suspect about the warranty? Is it not a warranty against manufacturing defect, for the life of the original buyer? (I noticed on the Epiphone warranty that the *replacement* for a defective guitar is only warrantied for 30 days... is that what you mean? That's suspicious, sure enough.)

mooncaine

Quote from: Bear on April 18, 2018, 06:35:50 PM
JCustom does have an R-Trem replacement that HeadlessUSA (=Jeff Babicz maybe?) is importing and selling for $160 plus shipping.  Maybe not that absurd compared to going prices for quality Floyds, but that's half what I paid for my Spirit new.  So ouch.
I have one. It's fine after a few months. It doesn't see frequent playing, so I wouldn't say that I road-tested it. Seems about as good as the original.

Considering the paucity of options, the apparent quality of the piece, and the paucity of potential customers, I think the price is good. I'll get another soon just to have a backup for my main guitar. I wish they were as common as Telecasters, so that I could wait to buy one till I needed it, and find sources for parts all over, on short notice, but I'm delighted this bridge is available.

I've worn out my first Spirit GT and it's about to get a fret job. It's my VG project guitar and became the main axe. The 2nd one is perfect and untouched. Action and intonation very good. Both sound great. The 3rd, I'm not so sure about. It's a little off. It might be defective. I bought that one in Aug 2017, before the announcement of 'new' Steinbergers. I'm still a little wary that they might not really be new, but rather patched up returns and leftover unsold stock. I like to keep up with reviews of the latest ones delivered, cuz if they really are making new ones, I may want one of those.

HecticArt

Moon,

It's funny that you replied today. I have a red quilt top that's supposed to get delivered to me today.

The main thing I was commenting about with the warranty has to do with the uncertainty of Gibson's future. I can picture Gibson killing the Steinberger brand during their restructuring efforts.

Generally, considering how inexpensive the Spirit is, I'm not too worried about warranty repairs as long as it doesn't have any serious issues in the first several months.

If I like playing it enough, I might put an internal gk pickup on it. That'll pretty much void the warranty anyway. Again, for the price........

mooncaine

Thanks, Hec. I'm eager to hear about your experiences with it. I want to contact them about warranty replacement, but I want to wait till the Gibson thing settles down enough that I have confidence that I'll get a replacement guitar. An imperfect Steinie is still a Steinie.

HecticArt

It actually showed up today.
Not too bad all things considered. You can feel the difference between this $450 guitar and a $2,000 guitar.

The action was a little high, at both the bridge and the zero frett. I only had a little time to adjust it, but after lowering the bridge, adjusting the intonation, and giving the neck a little more relief, it's playable. I'll put some more time into it soon.

I may get one of those single ball end adapters.