Steinberger - Instrument Design

Instrument Design

The most famous Steinberger design is the L-series instrument, sometimes described as shaped like a broom, boat oar, or cricket bat. Initially produced as an electric bass and later as a guitar, the instrument was made entirely of the Steinberger Blend, a proprietary graphite and carbon fiber mix in two pieces: the main body and a faceplate. The headstock was eliminated, the tuning hardware instead installed on a tailpiece mounted to the face of the guitar body. The tuners utilized a finer than normal 18:1 gear ratio, with 40 threads per inch, which gave slower but more accurate adjustment and helped reduce string slippage. Depending on the tailpiece, calibrated or uncalibrated double- ball end strings were used, the former required to use the transposing feature of the TransTrem vibrato unit. The rationale for the overall design was the elimination of unnecessary weight, especially the unbalanced headstock, and the use of modern materials, such as graphite, for their advantages over wood.

The all-synthetic construction gave a very smooth sound and feel, immediate note attack, and very even tonal response. Depending upon the preferences of the listener, this was either a good thing, as it made the instrument sonically clean, or a bad thing, as it made the instrument sound synthetic and unnatural. Steinberger was and still is proud of this dichotomy and one of their slogans was "We don't make 'em like they used to."

Another innovation created by Ned Steinberger for some of these instruments was the TransTrem, a patented transposing vibrato assembly that proportionally adjusted the string tensions to enable immediate accurate retuning of the instrument with the transposing vibrato lever. The TransTrem provided the functionality of a capo in addition to vibrato effects. Bass and guitar versions were available.

Later designs included:

• P-series guitars and basses featured a smaller wooden body with bolt-on composite neck. The body was shaped more like an arrow or mini-A than the rectangular L series body.

• S-series which featured the only Steinberger with a headstock. Very rare with about 300-350 built. The guitar featured Ned Steinberger's 40:1 gearless tuners.

• M-series guitars and basses, designed by Mike Rutherford, guitarist of Genesis, with English luthier Roger Giffin. These had a twin-cutaway wooden body and a bolt-on graphite neck, resulting in a more traditional look, yet still with the headless tuning system and optional TransTrem.

• K-Series guitars designed by American luthier Steve Klein. These featured an ergonomically designed body of non-standard shape again married to a headless graphite neck. A similar version is still made by luthier Lorenzo German, an employee of Klein who currently owns and runs Klein Electric Guitars

• Q series basses featured twin cutaway bodies and a bolt-on graphite neck. The body style was more modern than the M series. Introduced in 1990 the body underwent a significant revision in the mid 90's but kept the same moniker.

• Synapse guitars and basses are the latest instruments manufactured by Gibson under the Steinberger name, and are in current production. While they appear to resemble the original Steinberger line, none of the Synapse guitars feature the original Steinberger parts or dimensions. As well as a regular guitar model, the Synapse line also includes baritone guitars with a built-in Transcale capo that can be rolled up the frets.

Several companies licensed the headless technology from Steinberger and produced all-wood clones or similar instruments. Hohner, for example, produced licensed all-wood L-series copies and Cort produced headless guitars with different body designs. Current official all-wood instruments are sold under the Spirit by Steinberger brand.