Steinberger Spirit Megathread

[gidbass]

I may give Sam Ash a call tomorrow for kicks as well. Steinberger.com still lists the spirits, but probably just because there hasn't been an official announcement yet.

[MichaelVee]

No word from Gibson yet since my inquiry last night. I'll follow up on it mid-day or so.

[gidbass]

I tried sam ash yesterday, but couldn't get through to anyone. My XT-2DB should be here monday though!

[MichaelVee]

Gid, take NBD pictures and post them here!

[gidbass]

Originally Posted by MichaelVee

Gid, take NBD pictures and post them here!

You know it!

[gidbass]

And here it is!





My initial impressions are "why did i wait so long to pull the trigger on one..."...

I have always been a fan of the paddle shape, and so far, i am liking this one. After a cleaning and some new RS 66's and a quick setup, it plays very smooth... The nut/zero fret is more narrow than my 4003, but it doesn't seem to bother me.

The sound is pretty good, but I'll be swapping in new pickups at some point....It has an emg BTC (i think), and i am not crazy about it, so I'll probably swap that out to a VVT when i upgrade the pickups. Also, it has a home made pivot plate, and the original owner did a great job! The bass sits very nice. It looks like someone at some point tried to stain the rosewood darker, which is fine, as I am going to dye it black anyways, so no big deal there...

All and all, pretty happy and excited about this purchase!

EDIT: I played it for a while last night, and I am surprised by two things, the bass sounds very bright unplugged, i am betting due to the all maple construction, and it sustains very well. I read somewhere that they didn't sustain very well due to their lack of materials, but I don't see that to be the case based on mine. Anyways, grab one while you can if you are on the fence, really fun bass to play!

EDIT #2: Based on positioning, the XT seems to be about a whole step (2 frets) farther away than where my Ric sits. Not a huge deal, but a bit of adjustment...i don't mind, as I am digging the XT!

[gidbass]

And here are the pics with the fretboard dyed black







I used Fiebings Leather Dye that i bought on amazon and some lemon oil.

This was really easy to do....

1. Clean FB with oderless mineral spirits
2. Lightly sand/scuff with 600 grit sandpaper
3. Clean FB with oderless mineral spirits again
4. Apply dye using one of those sponge brushes for stain and let sit for about an hour. A little goes a long way...
5. Clean/wipe off FB with a clean dry cloth
6. Take a pencil with eraser and erase the dye off the fret marker dots
7. Apply lemon oil (I let it sit over night before i did this though)

I wasn't sure how this would turn out as I have read mixed reviews about dying a FB black, but i am really, really glad I did it and couldn't be happier with the results.

The second item i addressed, was the bridge. The D and G were very tight and tough to turn, so i figured i would take it apart and clean it. I had a sick feeling in my stomach when i saw why...the threads on the screws were mangled up....

I tried to find replacements at 3 different local hardware stores with no success. I was a little panicked at this point, but then i thought why not buy a tap/die kit and fix the threads! Off to my local harbourfreight tools. The screws are M4 .7 so I had to have at least a die and tap for that. I figured I would get more use out of this kit, so I splurged for the $40 one with both SAE and Metric.

It worked beatifully, and cleaned up both the screws and the claws, so it is rocking once again!

Next up (once i save a bit more $) is new pickups and electronics!

[Standalone]

Just traded away my defretted 5er. It's been through 8 years of gigging with me. I miss it already, but I'm on an Ibanez bender. Can't help myself.

[gmarcus]

My ZX-25 is back on the market. It sounds great with the new Statis Graphite Flats, but I'm just a P- bass player. I try to make all of my basses sound like my p5 so I figured why not just play the P5 and sell the rest

[dave_bass5]

Here's mine (and my son) before it went missing for a few years. I had 3 Spirit's from music YO when they were still going, two of them were free due to a huge mix up and great CS. This is the only one i still have. Its been behind a large photocopier at work for the last few years, i only found it when we had a clear out.

[Chakanafir7]

Ok. New guy here. These questions are directed to MichaelVee, since you seem to be the resident expert on these basses.

After reading all 9 pages of forum in this megathread, I cannot seem to find just which pickups are 'good' or 'really good' for the 5 stringers? Maybe it's just late, and I just missed it, but I thought that most of the info, modding wise, is pertaining to the 4 stringers.

Also, which strings do you prefer? Currently, I play a Traben Tribal Sun 5 string Fretless with active pickups (I don't know right offhand what brand they are. They sound great, so I have never messed with them).

I realize that this is a highly subjective set of questions, and would be impossible to answer without the proper information.

I tend to play a flat tone, not bright at all. I like a warm, funky bass sound... Tone knob turned all the way down. It's almost as though I like a nice sine wave type sound if you can picture that.

However, every now and again, I like to play bright, especially when I'm trying to teach myself popping and slapping.

So, I play with flatwound strings, and I really prefer them, and I don't think it would be anathema to put flats on these basses, especially since they seem to have a bright tone anyway.

I have an opportunity to pick up a nice XT-25 for 325 bucks, and I'm going to do it, but I just want to know what a good, all around setup for my playing preferences would be.

Again, I realize that you fellows don't necessarily like answering the same questions over and over, but I don't think I'm asking questions that have been asked in this thread before.

Thanks for any and all helpful replies and thoughts on the matter.

[Chakanafir7]

Also, any thoughts on preamps that would be a good combination with some of these active pickups?

Oh, btw, the bridge spacing is 0.64", which comes to 16.256mm.

[MichaelVee]

Chakana- This has all been covered in various places in this thread, as well as in others, but I'll do a short recap.

The pickups are the same for both the 4-string and the 5-string models. The routing and rings are sized for standard guitar humbucker dimensions. You can use any pickup that matches those dimensions, including actual guitar humbuckers.

There's nothing different about the electronics on a Spirit than any other bass. What works as far as electronic mods on other basses works for the Spirits. If you know guitar electronics or have done modding work previously, it's exactly the same as a passive Jazz bass, only with humbucker-sized pickups. Two pickups, three potentiometer holes and an output jack. Any combination that works in another bass, works here. It's really too much detail to list out a lot of possible combinations, so I'd refer anyone who's interested to the Pickups & Electronics section of Talkbass.

My current XZ configs are unchanged in the past 4-5 years. For reference, they are:

XZ-2: EMG HBCS active pickups, EMG BTC active volume/blend/stacked bass and treble pot
XZ-25: EMG Select stock passive pickups, Stan Hinesley passive harness with volume/blend/varitone
XZ-25F: EMG Select stock passive pickups, Audere 3ZB active electronics with volume/blend/Z-mode switch

Strings: You can definitely find good double-ball flats out there. Click here for double-ball string sets at Bassstringsonline.com.

Thanks for your sentiments, but I would not consider myself an "expert" on Spirits. I've just owned three of them for the last ten or so years, have tinkered with them quite a bit, and have my own opinions, right or wrong or better or worse. There are several other guys here on TB that have owned more of them than I have, and probably know more.

Here's an old "family portrait", circa 2006:

[MichaelVee]

Since buying two Synapses, this year I plan to move the EMG HBCS/BTC set from the XZ-2 to the XZ-25, put the Selects back into the XZ-2, put good pots in, and sell the XZ-2 for a nominal price. This is a heads-up, if anyone might be interested, keep in touch. It's not that I don't like the XZ-2, it's just that I have way too many basses right now!

[Marley's Ghost]

I just snagged the last XT-25 Spirit Standard (lefty) from Sam Ash. So count me in. NBD in 3 days or so!

[dave_bass5]

My 8 year old son has taken over mine. He enjoys playing around on basses and this one is easier for him to play.


No Headstock by dave_bass5, on Flickr


Bass pose by dave_bass5, on Flickr