Ever since I was 15 or 16 years old (some 30 years ago) I wanted to own a Steinberger or even just a Hohner at half the price (which is what this Spirit basically is). There were quite a few of those being played on stages around my home town back then and I was taken by the sheer innovative shape and the distinct uniqueness of the sounds those players who used them did create.
So last year I said "screw it, we're not going on holiday anyway, so why don't I just make that dream come true and spend some of the cash on the Spirit?"
So I did and I was happy as Punch when it arrived and I could finally free it from its gig bag (which is nothing to write home about) and hold it in my hands.
The construction of this thing is (imho) one of the greatest inventions concerning the electric guitar since the Telecaster:
The tremolo really works (almost) as advertised. You could actually really break a string in mid-play, lock your trem and keep your tuning, change the string, tune it, unlock the trem and continue as if nothing had happened.
Tremolo action is extreme both up and down with incredible tone stability.
I like that it's quite heavy (weighs in at about the same as a DC style guitar). For me it fits perfectly and comfortably with my body - I always had my guitars that little bit higher up on my strap.
There's good resonance from the neck and "body" even without amp.
String action can be very low - the fretboard is rather flat, so those of you who want to go all string wizard - knock yourselves out.
The frets are a bit fat for my taste - I think thinner ones but stainless steel would fit this guitar better.
I totally love how you can play this guitar "on the go" and simply walk through doors without having to think about breaking your headstock all whilst strutting out your favourite tunes.
I highly recommend getting a good headphone amp and a nice speaker box to put on your strap as well and go play the pied piper in your town. Seriously, people will follow you round.
Now for the negatives and unfortunately there are some:
The strings that came with it were simply horrible. After about three hours of play I had black fingertips, the strings were scraped down to pure brass and there was this awful smell of well circulated coinage. (Money really *does* smell as opposed to latin wisdom).
The Pickups are very disappointing:
The single coil in the middle is half the volume ( and NO, this doesn't have to be the case. They could have provided for this in the circuitry). So single coil use or even combination use isn't really doable maintaining a good level sound.
That leaves you with a twofold switch-option: Bridge or neck.
In clean to slight crunch they're both okay but not amazing. Going into higher gain overdrive or even distortion there's no distinguishable differences in the sounds switching back and forth.
The only remedy I see here is to replace all three pickups with something real which will easily double the price of the guitar (which is kind of okay because I love the overall concept so much).
I guess I'm just a bit disappointed with Gibson (who own the Steinberger brand) that they did't really try to make this the premium guitar that it could be and in my opinion deserves to be. They seem to market this simply as a "deluxe travel axe" which of course it can be seen as but it could at the same time be a professional's first choice on stage and in the studio if only there had been more attention to detail and LOVE for the actual product on the side of Gibson.
It almost seems like they did't want to create competition for their own branded premium guitars. (And I stand by it: The concept of the spirit could easily be that if done right!)
Okay, rant off.
One more thing: I haven't just checked if the none double ball string adaptor is available again. Everyone should get one if they can. I totally hate that I can't play my favourite coated strings with this. Double ball end string choice is very limited. (Right now I have "La Bella" on which are okay but not great).
Although I'm not giving this a great rating I really love this guitar, the concept, the amazing possibilities and if Gibson don't go and make this model the Axe that it deserves to be then I most certainly will do so myself - at least with my personal Spirit - one of these days...
