This was referenced last night late and I have not been back here for a while. Let's keep this going.
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Steinberger Spirits
- Thread starter Michael Vee
- Start date
sure
i may be getting one soon
perhaps christmas
heres a 'berger club i started
http://talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=476471
i may be getting one soon
perhaps christmas
heres a 'berger club i started
http://talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=476471
I always wanted a Steinberger since 1996. That was the first time I saw one in real life at a reggae festival. I checked into getting one that month but never did. Time passed and I forgot about the headless continuing to play my Ibanez SG400. A year or so later I bought a Fender Jazz American Deluxe 5 string and was content, never feeling the need to get another bass or keep up with the bass world.
This past July 2008 at a concert I saw a bass player using a headless. Immediately I thought of Steinberger. I came home and started researching. It was a Synapse. That restarted my need to get an original Steinberger. After seeing that original XL 5 strings are close to impossible to get and cost many thousands, I settled on getting a Spirit wood copy. Further study revealed they are the closest thing to the originals and can be modified to produce a similar tone.
It seems that I picked a bad time to get a Spirit because the place that came up in my searches was MusicYo. They were out of stock. The next month they announced that Steinberger would no longer be sold through them and only through retail dealers along with a price increase.
In September I placed an order for an XT-25 from Music123. I knew was to expect from reading everything I could find on the internet about the XTs. After 12+ years, I finally got my first Steinberger in the beginning of October. Still, I was dissapointed with the build quality on my Spirit. The frets were buzzing and there was a dead spot for the E note on the A string. I adjusted the action, neck and intonation however I was still not happy with it. There were a few frets that needed work to get right and I didn't feel like dealing with it so I sent it in for an exchange.
A couple weeks passed and today I received my second XT-25. It is just as bad as the first one. There are two frets that need major work on the G string (4 consecutive frets producing 2 notes due to low spots) and it has the same buzzing on various spots. I did not even bother to adjust anything because it would raise the action too high. I am planning on sending it back for an exchange or refund, I am not sure yet.
Is this common for the Spirits to have such poor fretwork quality? I thought since going retail and increasing the price the quality would improve, but with my experience it has not. Any thoughts?
This past July 2008 at a concert I saw a bass player using a headless. Immediately I thought of Steinberger. I came home and started researching. It was a Synapse. That restarted my need to get an original Steinberger. After seeing that original XL 5 strings are close to impossible to get and cost many thousands, I settled on getting a Spirit wood copy. Further study revealed they are the closest thing to the originals and can be modified to produce a similar tone.
It seems that I picked a bad time to get a Spirit because the place that came up in my searches was MusicYo. They were out of stock. The next month they announced that Steinberger would no longer be sold through them and only through retail dealers along with a price increase.
In September I placed an order for an XT-25 from Music123. I knew was to expect from reading everything I could find on the internet about the XTs. After 12+ years, I finally got my first Steinberger in the beginning of October. Still, I was dissapointed with the build quality on my Spirit. The frets were buzzing and there was a dead spot for the E note on the A string. I adjusted the action, neck and intonation however I was still not happy with it. There were a few frets that needed work to get right and I didn't feel like dealing with it so I sent it in for an exchange.
A couple weeks passed and today I received my second XT-25. It is just as bad as the first one. There are two frets that need major work on the G string (4 consecutive frets producing 2 notes due to low spots) and it has the same buzzing on various spots. I did not even bother to adjust anything because it would raise the action too high. I am planning on sending it back for an exchange or refund, I am not sure yet.
Is this common for the Spirits to have such poor fretwork quality? I thought since going retail and increasing the price the quality would improve, but with my experience it has not. Any thoughts?
Yes- I have no idea what happened with the instrument you had. All four of the Spirits I've owned, made from 2001 through 2004, have had excellent fretwork.
i bought a spirit xt2 a few days ago, second hand, it is in great condition apart from a single small chip on the body... this is the 3rd bass ive owned, the first being a westfield (fender precision copy), the second was a fender precision usa with s1 swiching, which being relativly new to the bass world i thought was an awesome guitar, i played for maybe 18 months and was doing great then a change of circumstances meant i had to ditch my fender, and now a year later i think i have a bass guitar that blows the fender out of the water (big statement i know but its just my opinion)... this thing sounds amazing and and can be made to sound like my whiney fender used to plus a load of other (better) sounds too, the sustain is a LOT better, its lighter, better balanced and more comfortable and i cant beleive how easy it is to play, and to top it all off it only cost £160 with an amp, bag, lead and strap.... result!
Hey!
Got a xz Steinberger Sprint last may and I love it! Once I changed the strings and pots the bass came alive! Anyway I was wondering if anybody had one used that they would like to part with? I would love to get my hands on a second one and make it fretless!
Please let me know if you have one
email me @ [email protected]
Got a xz Steinberger Sprint last may and I love it! Once I changed the strings and pots the bass came alive! Anyway I was wondering if anybody had one used that they would like to part with? I would love to get my hands on a second one and make it fretless!
Please let me know if you have one
email me @ [email protected]
I bought a Spirit XT-2 new from MusicYo in 2004. The neck was badly warped and frets buzzed. I returned it and ordered another. That neck was also warped. Took my luthier a month or so to straighten out the neck. The five-string Spirit I bought last year was pre-owned and had frets removed. The neck is straight and true.
Hi,
I bought 2 active EMG pickups and tried to wire them together in the v/v/t configuration. I got the wiring diagram from EMG. One of the component in the diagram which I really don't know what it is.
Please see the attached image.
I know some you guys here have done it before. Can someone please tell me what it is?
Thanks
Jim
I bought 2 active EMG pickups and tried to wire them together in the v/v/t configuration. I got the wiring diagram from EMG. One of the component in the diagram which I really don't know what it is.
Please see the attached image.
I know some you guys here have done it before. Can someone please tell me what it is?
Thanks
Jim
That's a tone pot capacitor. A set of EMG controls will have that presoldered on the tone pot. If you don't have one, then you'll need to get one.
I just scored this bass in an auction on ebay and recieved it Tuesday - I started a thread in "Luthiers Corner" but I think it would be better continued in this thread.
Anyway i have attached a couple pics and I have more - she is in AWESOME condition and ready for parts. The neck that came with it is in excellent shape. No fret wear to speak of and a slight back bend (because of no strings I figure)
What I was hoping for was maybe someone had hardware for sale that I could use to complete this baby.
I am excited to finally be able to own this model. I had the black/5 string/fretless "boat oar" model years ago and had to sell it (and my other gear) for financial reasons.
Great info on pups in the previous posts - I will be doing my homework
hope to hear from you guys!
Thanks,
Chris
Anyway i have attached a couple pics and I have more - she is in AWESOME condition and ready for parts. The neck that came with it is in excellent shape. No fret wear to speak of and a slight back bend (because of no strings I figure)
What I was hoping for was maybe someone had hardware for sale that I could use to complete this baby.
I am excited to finally be able to own this model. I had the black/5 string/fretless "boat oar" model years ago and had to sell it (and my other gear) for financial reasons.
Great info on pups in the previous posts - I will be doing my homework
hope to hear from you guys!
Thanks,
Chris
Attachments
Anyone have any thoughts on replacement passive pickups for the EMG Selects used in the Spirits? I know there are replacement active pickups but I'd rather stay passive.
Thanks.
Thanks.
++10
Passive is where it's at foe me too - anything that is a "drop in" replacement for the XZ-2?
also found a fledgling Steinberger community that appears to be getting along fairly well:
Invalid Link Removed
Wierd name but seems to be pretty cool.
BLUBOLT, nice spirit body score. what GK210 do you play through? I have an old 210T that I really dig.
I love my spirit. I picked up a 5 knob preamp for my Carvin, but decided that it wouldn't work out, and considered putting it into my defretted spirit 5. I paid only $50 + a traded bass wah for it (to a very generous TB'er).
I'd have to rout out the back a little more, I think, but the pre is relatively compact. I figure it's worth a try, and I can always just plug the two holes I'd have to drill. (or add dummy knobs"
I love my spirit. I picked up a 5 knob preamp for my Carvin, but decided that it wouldn't work out, and considered putting it into my defretted spirit 5. I paid only $50 + a traded bass wah for it (to a very generous TB'er).
I'd have to rout out the back a little more, I think, but the pre is relatively compact. I figure it's worth a try, and I can always just plug the two holes I'd have to drill. (or add dummy knobs"
I was pretty excited when I won! 59$ and change - shipped! It came with the neck too!
I really dig your white model - The five string bridge drops into the same route on the body as the 4 string, right?
Hope the pre works out for you. Make sure you shield the body cavities really well to avoid hum. Actives are really touchy that way.
are those the original pups?
I am using a GK 210SBX currently.
Have a good one!
Chris
I really dig your white model - The five string bridge drops into the same route on the body as the 4 string, right?
Hope the pre works out for you. Make sure you shield the body cavities really well to avoid hum. Actives are really touchy that way.
are those the original pups?
I am using a GK 210SBX currently.
Have a good one!
Chris
Orig pups. I dig into the strings a lot, so I've worn some of the black anodizing off. Looks like some kind of gold colored metal underneath on the pups. They sound decent to my ears, though. I don't know anything about the bridge rout. I doubt they're the same as the spacing is not extremely tight. I could take measurements if you need.
Remember that the EMG Selects are the standard guitar humbucker size. Dimensionally, you should be able to experiment with any guitar humbucker. Rick Hunt at EMG recommended several of the EMG passive humbuckers for the Spirit bass application. I haven't tried these, so can't say for sure if it's a good sound.
Also, the Rio Grande pickup line has a bass humbucker. Schaller had one at one time, but I don't know if it's still available.
I'd like to try the Carvin guitar humbuckers sometime, as well.
There are a lot of passive guitar humbuckers out there that should fit fine and might sound great in a Spirit.
The 4 and 5 string Spirit bridges are different sizes. The string spacing is narrower on the 5 strings, but the overall bridge size is wider.
Regarding what Chris said about hum and active pickups, that may be true for some brands, but it isn't true of EMG actives. I have three basses with EMG actives, none have cavity shielding, and none hum. The shielding isn't needed. There are some extreme noise situations in which the the EMGs will hum if the pickups are not at equal volume, but that's rare.
The EMG HBCS actives are very impressive active pickups for Spirits. Here's a link to my TB review.
Thanks for the tip, MichaelVee. I never would have thought of that. This does open up a whole new wide world of pick ups to ponder.
I guess it's back to the old drawing board for some R&D time.
Michael,
that is GREAT info! Thanks for doing the legwork! That will make the choices a little easier if we don't have to worry about size. and thanks for the info on the shielding.
I had a question about the route size for the bridge - Do you know what the difference is? My route is 3 and 5/8ths inches wide - would that be the size for the four string or five string bridge (my guess is 4) I don't want to go hunting for the wrong one.
Thanks!
that is GREAT info! Thanks for doing the legwork! That will make the choices a little easier if we don't have to worry about size. and thanks for the info on the shielding.
I had a question about the route size for the bridge - Do you know what the difference is? My route is 3 and 5/8ths inches wide - would that be the size for the four string or five string bridge (my guess is 4) I don't want to go hunting for the wrong one.
Thanks!
