Did I Purchase the Right Travel Guitar? The Steinberger Spirit GT-PRO Deluxe Review

#guitar #music #goals #midlife
Back in July, I was going to be traveling for nearly two months. How can I practice guitar if I'm traveling? Well, I needed to get a travel guitar. I chose the Steinberger Spirit GT-PRO Deluxe. This video details what I thought of the guitar.
You can support me at the link below, because I need time to practice and time is money.
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[@simonkormendy849]

That big knob underneath the 6 smaller knobs is your master tuning knob, it does two things simultaneously, it globally tunes all six of the strings so that they are all neither sharp or flat when you lock/unlock the bridge using the locking lever, the master tuning knob also balances the string-tension with the spring-tension that's counteracting the string tension, first thing to do is lock the bridge using the locking lever next to the master tune knob, then use the six smaller knobs to tune each string up to pitch, next unlock the bridge and see if the tuning of all six strings have gone sharp or flat, if they are all sharp loosen the tension on the spring with the master tune knob, if the strings are flat tighten the tension on the spring with the master tuning knob, you want to adjust it so that the tuning of all six strings doesn't go sharp or flat when you lock or unlock the bridge.

[@LeftEarth2]

I've used this method for a few years now. My only addition would be to also check intonation at frets 12 and 24. This will dial your tuning spot on. You will eventually notice that this guitar needs to be tuned less than any other.

[@simonkormendy849]

Even though these Steinberger Spirit GT Pro Deluxe guitars are currently made by Gibson, they actually use a Fender 25.5 inch scale on their necks, so, when you're doing a setup on them you can use Fender factory setup specs for Telecasters or Stratocasters, for the neck relief on my Steinberger, I adjust the truss rod so that I get a clearance of .012 inch at the 8th fret when I put a capo just behind the first fret and fret the two E strings just after the 24th fret, then I set the string heights for the two E-strings to 4/64 inch at the 17th fret, once that's done I use one of my Stewmac radius gauges to set the heights of the other four strings to the radius on the fretboard, that gives me a nice low playable action, the fretboard is about a 14 inch radius, I may need to get the frets levelled on my Steinberger though.

[@simonkormendy849]

I bought myself a Steinberger Spirit GT Pro Deluxe guitar in Metallic Blue finish in 2022 for my 53rd birthday, been absolutely loving it ever since, it's a wonderful guitar to play once you get used to it, and it only weighs about 4kgs so it's not going to hurt your back or shoulders.

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

The blue one was my 2nd choice. It's sweet looking for sure. It usually takes me a few minutes to adjust to playing my Steinberger, but I do find it a nice guitar for when I travel or when I'm sitting in long Zoom meetings.

[@simonkormendy849]

​@@IStillWanttobeaRockStar For me, these Steinbergers are not only great travelling guitars, they are also great gigging guitars in their own right, I've already gigged my Steinberger twice so far in a live band performance, I play mine through a Boss Katana KTN-100 100W 1 x 12 combo amp, and it does sound good enough for gigging and recording, I'm using a set of D'Addario single ball-end strings in 42-09 gauge on my Steinberger, you do need to lock the string wraps on the plain G, B, and high E string to stop them slipping under tension and making the string go flat, the wound E, A, and D strings don't need their wraps locked, just a standard soldering iron and some 60/40 electrical solder, or lead-free solder is enough to lock the wraps, to make tuning easier, I put the nylon washers from six old standard tuners on each of the six tuner screws in between the bridge and the knurled knob, doing that seemed to get rid of the grittiness, making the tuners smoother to tune.

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

You are a wealth of knowledge on this.. :D I'm not even familiar with what it means to "lock the string wraps" 😂 However.. I'm eager to learn. However, at least for me and my body shape, I have a tough time playing the Steinberger when I'm standing because the face of it points down and it's hard for me to see what I want to see... perhaps just more familiarity would help. Or, maybe just some slimming down on the ole gut! :D

[@simonkormendy849]

​@@IStillWanttobeaRockStar If you have a look at the strings the next time you replace them, particularly where they have little round pieces of brass attached to them (these are called ball-ends) you'll notice how on the plain strings the string is wrapped or twisted round on itself a few times, those are the string-wraps I'm referring to, they attach the strings to the ball ends, most of the time they are strong enough to resist the string tension, but on the thinner gauge of the strings I've found that the string-wraps tend to slip a bit making the string go flat in pitch, a quick fix for that is to coat the string wraps with a little bit of electrical solder which is what I meant by locking the string wraps, most people don't realize this but guitar strings are solderable, a lot of my knowledge about this was mostly trial and error, but also doing some searching on Google too, I have a bit of a pot belly too so I know what you mean, I probably need to go on a diet too....hahahaha, I'm currently 54 years old.

[@mrpotato4441]

I travel for work and fly with my LP every week. Check my roller bag, board with my guitar as a carryon. Spark mini amp in my backpack.

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

Nice!

[@EveyoneCallsMeTheDude]

No bro, you totally need to be buying more guitars… the perfect number of guiters to own is exactly one more guitar than you already own. Before you got that thing tuned up I was going to suggest tuning down half a step to Eb, glad you were able to sort it out

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

I like the way you think... I will commence guitar buying when I get back to North America! And your tuning down idea... never would have thought of that. I have learned another trick from my trusty viewers! Thanks dude.

[@MrScrofulous]

Completely agree. He needs a parlour size acoustic for dragging around.

[@Bopsterjazz]

I picked up a Stewart Stowaway guitar a few years ago and that thing has been my main guitar for learning! Plus, it’s always fun to pull it out in the middle of a road trip because it packs so small that no one even realizes you have it on you! And it just feels like my usual Strat!

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

Awesome... I had to look one of those up... they look super cool. How much was it when you bought it?

[@simonkormendy849]

The original inventor/designer of the Steinberger headless guitars, Ned Steinberger, was actually an American cabinet maker.

[@Planet9_music]

Im between this and the donner Hush x. Both seem ideal for carry on travel!

[@JoeR203]

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

All I did is when I removed the string... I just turned the screw up and down a few times. I kind of wonder if there's some gunk on the threads that makes it hard to turn when there is tension. That seemed to have done it.

[@Joobie]

@@IStillWanttobeaRockStar This is a very common problem with these. I sent the guitar back to Gibson multiple times, they did not fix it both times. The solution is to use cheap roller washers on the tuners. And ALOT of machine oil/lube. I just use the cheap 3 in 1 stuff. (I also had a problem with the bride staying in tune with even light tremolo use, which seems to have been fixed after the second time I sent it back to Gibson. But only time will tell.) This guitar is so close to being AMAZING, but it's a bit finnicky. I am currently using it for cover band gigs. It's perfect for that because I don't need a perfect studio level guitar just to make some dough playing bars and restaurants to 50-100 people. It's extremely portable and it's versatile with the tremolo and pickup specs, so it doing what I need it to do so far.

[@simonkormendy849]

You can also put some small nylon washers in between the tuner knobs and the back of the bridge to alleviate friction issues, you can get nylon washers off of worn out conventional tuning machines.

[@eprohoda]

I~ unusual travel!🙃

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

My wife and I have a travel channel... it makes for unusual travel sometimes.

[@bloodbeats]

Luke Skywalker plays guitar.

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

The force is strong in you.

[@randybarrios2383]

What was wrong with the low e string and how did you fix it

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

It was the action, which I raised just a tad via the saddle screws (I think that's what they are called) for that string. Then it stopped ringing.

[@MrScrofulous]

😀😀

[@MrScrofulous]

For some reason, I don't seem to be able to write comments under videos at present on my main computer, not sure why, but I can hear and I could use emojis. Good choice of travel guitar. It will fit in a suitecase and good EMG pup.

[@davidbeaudoin7923]

How do you like the trem system?

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

Not sure yet... I have to embraced this part of guitar playing quite yet. Perhaps soon.

[@xyholland]

For ideal playing, you don't need to see the frets like you showed

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

Agreed, but to me, I still think I like it for security sakes. :) As the years progress, I suspect I will become more and more comfortable.

[@xyholland]

@@IStillWanttobeaRockStar With all my respect, just give yourself 2-3 weeks regular everyday practice trying playing seeing the frets jus by side of your eye. Even with a glance. You'll feel very comfortable. And pls share the result. Thanks for the video btw

[@kopirasthaofficial130]

Is the guitar made in China or Indonesia?

[@IStillWanttobeaRockStar]

Unfortunately I don't know. I think it had an Indonesia sticker on it that I removed when I got it... but I don't know for sure. The invoice doesn't say either. :(

[@synthesighs]

As I understand it, the suppliers for this guitar have changed occasionally since the new millennium. The specs have changed a lot since then, including a change from thru to set necks, different pickup configurations, and different woods. From my memory, they've been made in both Indonesia and China, and I've heard they have very slightly different dimensions, such a varying neck width. I've only ever seen an Indonesian one, and it has a narrow neck. Some people say the R-trem has had a minor update at some point that helps a bit with durability of the tremolo. It's hard to get straight answers on this guitar lol

[@Neshek023]

@@IStillWanttobeaRockStar China