Steinberger

The first Steinberger basses were produced in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York by Ned Steinberger alone. While attempting to source materials in an industrial area of New York City, he visited Lane Marine, a lifeboat builder, where he met with Bob Young, an engineer with deep knowledge of carbon fiber. Though Young was more than twice Steinberger's age and had no experience with musical instruments, he joined forces with Steinberger after getting great feedback from his sons, Rory Young, an audio engineer, composer, musician and salesman of musical instruments and equipment who went on to win three Grammy awards, and founded the progrock band “Artificial Intelligence”; and Gary Young, a recording engineer and the original drummer for Pavement. The two brothers took to the instrument and understood the appeal of its construction.^[2] A company, Steinberger Sound, was duly set up to manufacture the basses and later the guitars on a larger scale at Newburgh, New York.^[3] The company was eventually sold to Gibson in 1987,^[4] although Steinberger remained part of the company for some time. Gibson still retains rights over the "Steinberger" name, precluding Ned Steinberger from calling his new instruments "Steinbergers". Ned Steinberger has operated a company called "NS Design" since 1990 and produces electric violin family instruments: double basses, cellos, viola, violin. Their instruments have been described as "innovative".^[5] An NS Bass Guitar (headless) was added later to the production line.

With changing musical fashions and the complex manufacturing and inordinately high prices putting off buyers and producer alike, Gibson stopped selling Steinberger guitars in the mid-1990s. Enthusiasm for the instruments has now revived to a sufficient extent that they are again being produced and sold, although the newer versions share few commonalities with the original "Newburgh" designs.

Steinberger Spirit, a low-end line of all-wood guitars and basses, was introduced in 1992 and has been in production since, with occasional interruptions. Steinberger Synapse was introduced in 2006 and consisted of two guitars and one bass guitar model. Synapse was manufactured in South Korea for several years before production ended. As of 2026 only Steinberger Spirit guitars and basses are in production, meaning Spirit guitars and basses have been manufactured for longer than any other Steinberger model. ^[6]

Spirit electric guitar

L-series bass

The best-known 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 "Steinberger Blend", a "proprietary" graphite and carbon-fiber mix in two pieces: the main body and a faceplate (the "blend" being an off-the-shelf carbon fiber "system" from the DuPont product line). 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 precise adjustment and helped reduce string slippage. Depending on the tailpiece, calibrated or uncalibrated double-ball end strings were used, with the former required in order 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. L-series basses came with one or two pick-ups; a high-impedance DiMarzio or two low-impedance EMGs, with the L2 having two EMGs. In 1990, the design would win Ned Steinberger a "Design of the Decade" award from the Industrial Designers Society of America.^[7]

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 (now long lapsed) 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 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 '90s but kept the same moniker.
• Synapse guitars and basses were manufactured by Gibson under the Steinberger name, with Ned Steinberger contributing to the design. The bodies are through neck maple construction with maple wings. The truss rod is in a graphite channel with a phenolic resin fretboard. They have a non tremolo fixed bridge. These guitars can use double ball or standard guitar strings without an adapter. Fitted with two active EMG pickups the on board pre-amp is able to boost and cut treble and bass frequencies. Additionally there is a mix pot for the built in piezo under bridge pickups. As well as a regular guitar model, the Synapse line also included a baritone guitar branded Transcale. The Transcale guitar features a built-in adjustable capo. By moving the capo closer to the end of the neck, one can play notes lower than standard guitar tuning without having to detune. By not forcing guitarists to detune to play lower notes, the Transcale allows guitarists to maintain consistent tone while playing in a lower-than-standard range. The Transcale guitar can be strung with standard guitar strings or baritone strings. The Synapse series was introduced in 2006 and is no longer in production although not formally discontinued; by 2018 the Steinberger website was no longer promoting it.^[8][9]
• Spirit guitars and basses were introduced in 1992, discontinued in the late 1990s, resumed production in 1999,^[10] and is the only Steinberger series currently manufactured. Bodies and necks have no carbon fiber. For current models, the bodies are neck-through construction with three-piece maple necks and basswood bodies, and fingerboards are made of "engineered hardwood". Some discontinued models have bolt-on necks. There are two current base models: GT Pro Deluxe guitar^[11] and XT-2 bass^[12]. Pickups are Steinberger-branded passive, and the tone controls are passive. Guitars have a locking tremolo rather than the Steinberger TransTrem. The GT Pro Deluxe has humbuckers in the bridge and neck positions and a single coil between them. A GT Pro Standard version, with a bridge humbucker and two single coil pickups, has been discontinued. The GT Pro Deluxe Quilt Top also has a quilted maple veneer.^[13] The XT-2 bass is available in four and five string (XT-25) versions.^[14] All guitar and bass models are available in both left and right hand versions except for the GT Pro Deluxe Quilt Top and the XT-2DB, which has a drop-tuner allowing the player to change the lowest string's tuning up or down one whole step.^[15]

Several companies licensed the headless technology from Steinberger and produced numerous 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.

The Washburn Bantam was an unlicensed 1980s imitation of the Steinberger headless style. The Bantam did not require the double-ball end strings of the Steinberger.

The Hohner B2 and Jack Basses were licensed imitations, the Jack with a full wooden body, and using the same patented locking and tuning system as the L series, although without the graphite neck. As such, it required double-ball end strings in the same way as the Steinberger originals. Hohner continues to offer the G3T Steinberger licensed guitars, which have been available since "the late 1980s". The G3T is a wooden rendering of the Steinberger composite guitar in appearance, with maple neck and rosewood fingerboard, and licensed tremolo bridge.

A wooden licensed solid bass inspired by Steinberger's designs was produced by Cort Guitars in the mid-1980s.

In the early 1980s, Kramer Guitars also manufactured a headless bass called the Duke series. Although the overall form was similar to Steinberger's, the Duke series had an aluminum/wood neck and wood body. Standard geared tuning pegs were located at the bridge-end of the instrument.^[16]

• 
  Mark Knopfler, guitarist of Dire Straits
• 
  Markie Sanders, bass player
• 
  Tina Weymouth, bassist of Talking Heads
• 
  Bill Wyman, bassist of the Rolling Stones