Steinberger Spirits

[Razman]

This is a looong thread, so apols if I am repeating something I missed when reviewing...

I am looking for something that will give me a straighter plucking wrist when playing sat down. I have a svelte Ibanez SR and rest my forearm on the body, and am considering either something PHAT hollow body, or Steiny. What are your thoughts?

(Fear holding arm up might be tiring on shoulder muscles etc)

Not sure - with my XT it forced me to push my left arm (fretting hand) out more, both when seated and standing. Moving the rear strap button to the back of the body helped, but my XZ is much better and feels more 'normal'. I don't play in a seated position much to be of help there.

 

[Michael Vee]

I am looking for something that will give me a straighter plucking wrist when playing sat down. I have a svelte Ibanez SR and rest my forearm on the body, and am considering either something PHAT hollow body, or Steiny. What are your thoughts?

Hey, Zero, welcome. I guess I'm confused by your wanting to keep your wrist straight by resting your arm on the body. Do you mean the side, or the top, of the body? With a acoustic electric bass, if you rest your forearm on the side of the instrument, your wrist will be at a 90° angle. Maybe you don't mean resting your forearm on the side, maybe you mean on the top (front) where the bridge, pickups, etc. are.

You did say playing seated, so that obviously changes the ergonomics and the angles of the right hand and arm (assuming you're RH.)

The Spirits are relatively thin bodied instruments, the XZs a bit more so than the blocky XTs. XTs don't have much of anything upon which to rest one's forearm. An XZ, which aren't in production currently but can be found used, has a body thinness more like the Ibanez SR and would be more familiar and comfortable to you.

There are pics throughout this thread of both XZs and XTs. Take a look at both, and you'll get an idea of where your forearm and wrist would go while playing.

 

[Zerozeddy]

Well on paper having nowhere to rest arm would force me to have wrist in better angle... But I don't know whether that means you have to hold arm up from shoulder or whether resting thumb on pickup and that supporting arm weight etc is comfortable and relaxed.

 

[Snert]

XT. Use the cheap strap pin extender and a short strap and put the body between your legs with the bass more vertically like a cellist or classical guitar. Both wrists will be at much more natural angles, but both hands will need to be held as there's nothing to rest on. Might take some strengthening, but unless you have an injury, that's just a bit of work. I've been using my XL2 on the PP this way since I bought it new, and on my wooden Steinbergers/Hohners since I got them not that much later.

 

[Barticus]

Well on paper having nowhere to rest arm would force me to have wrist in better angle... But I don't know whether that means you have to hold arm up from shoulder or whether resting thumb on pickup and that supporting arm weight etc is comfortable and relaxed.

Have you tried floating Thumb approach?

 

[marionobilio]

I have a used once brass 5 string single ball adapter I am not going to use if anyone wants to purchase it. $45 shipped
I'm just going to do double balls.

Can you send me a pic of your adapter? I may end up needing it.

 

[Barticus]

Can you send me a pic of your adapter? I may end up needing it.

You may want to check out the nice brass replacement headpieces versus doing the adapter for a few dollars more, I went from the adapter over to new head peace and love the simplicity of it. (You can do 4 string or 5 string, mine are fives)

Adapter

New headpiece

 

[Michael Vee]

Barticus, I had not seen those before.. NICE.

I found the JCustom headpiences on HeadlessUSA, but they are currently out of stock. Is yours a JCustom?

 

[Barticus]

Barticus, I had not seen those before.. NICE.

I found the JCustom headpiences on HeadlessUSA, but they are currently out of stock. Is yours a JCustom?

There’s a guy in Ireland (Matt) that builds these. He had the 4 string version and I designed the 5 string version for him based on my existing 5. He built me a couple of prototypes and then refined based on feedback, I have three of them now. I’m on the road right now but if you search on my name you should see posts up above where it shows the different versions and there might even be a link to the eBay store where he sold them if not PM me and I’ll make sure you get the info.

 

[Michael Vee]

I found your posts. Good gosh, I can't even search my own thread! I must have missed them at the time.

I like this idea much better than the adapters. They look terrific, like they belong on the bass, vs. the adapters look like they are just "hung on". I'll watch for them on eBay, and may contact Matt directly through eBay as well.

Hopefully, he can sell enough of these to justify continuing to make them.

The JCustom ones on HeadlessUSA look good too, but as I mentioned, HeadlessUSA is showing out of stock and I don't see any other online presence for JCustom. It must be a HeadlessUSA exclusive.

In thinking about it, JCustom must be something Jeff Babicz is doing. I need to go dig around on the Steinberger threads here and confirm that.

(Update: In a subsequent post, sonojono said that JCustom headpieces do not fit Spirits. Scratch that.)

 

[Razman]

I found your posts. Good gosh, I can't even search my own thread! I must have missed them at the time.

I like this idea much better than the adapters. They look terrific, like they belong on the bass, vs. the adapters look like they are just "hung on". I'll watch for them on eBay, and may contact Matt directly through eBay as well.

Hopefully, he can sell enough of these to justify continuing to make them.

The JCustom ones on HeadlessUSA look good too, but as I mentioned, HeadlessUSA is showing out of stock and I don't see any other online presence for JCustom. It must be a HeadlessUSA exclusive.

Not really in the market but I might look into one if I have some extra pin money. I still have two more sets of Status strings but it would be neat to put on a set of balanced Kalium's on my XZ. @Barticus, any idea of how wide a B string will fit? I like 'em in the .140's so I'd be curious if they would fit.

 

[sonojono]

I found your posts. Good gosh, I can't even search my own thread! I must have missed them at the time.

I like this idea much better than the adapters. They look terrific, like they belong on the bass, vs. the adapters look like they are just "hung on". I'll watch for them on eBay, and may contact Matt directly through eBay as well.

Hopefully, he can sell enough of these to justify continuing to make them.

The JCustom ones on HeadlessUSA look good too, but as I mentioned, HeadlessUSA is showing out of stock and I don't see any other online presence for JCustom. It must be a HeadlessUSA exclusive.

I used to own a JCustom. They only fit the American Steinberger models. Not the Gibson China products like the Spirit. Great looking adaptors too!

 

[Michael Vee]

I used to own a JCustom. They only fit the American Steinberger models. Not the Gibson China products like the Spirit. Great looking adaptors too!

Thanks for the tip on these fitting only the domestic Steinbergers. I won't go dig through the Steinberger threads looking for JCustom!

HeadlessUSA has never tried to support the Spirit guitars or basses, so I'm not at all surprised to read this.

 

[-Stingray]

I have an aluminum finished adapter that I picked up for my spirit XT from HeadlessUSA that I'll sell to anyone who is looking for one. It's essentially brand new and fits my Spirit perfectly.

Tried it.......didn't like it so I put it away thinking someday I may not be able to find double ball ended strings. PM me if you need one.

I don't see myself ever using it.......

 

[Michael Vee]

HeadlessUSA has never tried to support the Spirit guitars or basses

I don't have the numbers, but I would think that there are many, many more Spirit guitars and basses out there than original Steinbergers. HeadlessUSA is overtly disdainful toward Spirits, but they could make some money if they would stock a selection of replacement parts and upgrade parts for Spirits. I've written both Don and Jeff about this, but they are just not interested.

 

[-Stingray]

I purchased a hard shell case for my Spirit through HeadlessUSA. It was advertised as fitting the XT Spirit......and it fit perfectly.

I think they are finally realizing they are missing a much larger market by ignoring the Spirit line.

 

[Altitude]

Here is Mike Ballard playing a Spirit with Trombone Shorty on Conan.

I always thought it seemed unlikely that he would have been playing one in that particular band, and in fact my band had opened for them just before this at the Fox Theater in Boulder, he had an Ibanez. I wonder if he carried this as a backup and used it that night. Sounded good though.

 

[sonojono]

I don't have the numbers, but I would think that there are many, many more Spirit guitars and basses out there than original Steinbergers. HeadlessUSA is overtly disdainful toward Spirits, but they could make some money if they would stock a selection of replacement parts and upgrade parts for Spirits. I've written both Don and Jeff about this, but they are just not interested.

I can understand and see why. It’s like asking an American dealer to mess with MIM and MIJ instruments that they’re not familiar with and would rather not take the time to learn.

 

[EdO.]

I wonder if he carried this as a backup and used it that night. Sounded good though.

I always take mine as my second/backup (I have a hardshell case for mine too, small and easy to haul around) and occasionally gig it just to give it some occasional love. Every time I do I remember why I like it and keep it in the rotation. Sounds good and is fun to play.

 

[Altitude]

I always take mine as my second/backup (I have a hardshell case for mine too, small and easy to haul around) and occasionally gig it just to give it some occasional love. Every time I do I remember why I like it and keep it in the rotation. Sounds good and is fun to play.

Fully agreed. But do you pull it out on the night you're on national prime time TV on the Conan O'Brien show would be my question.

It's completely unimportant but I always wondered...