HOLY CRAP- I FINALLY FOUND ONE (Steinberger 12 content)

[SignoftheDragon]

I remember drooling through the catalog at the local guitar store at the Steinbergers when I was 16ish, and always dreamed of owning a Steinberger 12. There was a picture of one of the canoe-paddle versions with the 12-string bridge, and I always thought that it would be my dream to have 'that setup, but on the assless strat shape.'

$4 grand was a lot to think about on my paperboy's salary- so I left it there in dream-land. Steinberger soon thereafter was absorbed/dismantled/frankensteined by Gibson, and there ended up being less than 100 12-strings ever completed. Most of them were in the basic 'berger paddle shape, but it looks like ONE at least made it into reality with the wierd bat-arang shape. I've had 'Steinberger 12' saved on eBay to notify me if one is ever listed for going on 8 years now, and this is only the second legit SB 12 string to hit the 'bay in that time- in any shape.



The Trac-Tuner hardware alone has sold for over $3K in recent memory- probably the most legitimate leap forward in 12-string bridge setup in the history of time.



just slide the knob to the proper position, click, and tune!

Dude wants $10 grand for this one, so it's still in dream-land for me, but at least it's a little bit closer.

[pp1d00d00]

Whoa! That's... words fail. I don't even know what that is. But I am very jealous that you have such a particular dream from such a long time ago!

[WonderCouncil]

Holy hell...that's...something to look at I concur though, it's very awesome you have such a specific dream that's lasted so long. I'm far too flipity-flopity. At least you know one thing you'll buy if you ever win a big jack pot

[SSquirrel]

Most of them were in the basic 'berger paddle shape, but it looks like ONE at least made it into reality with the wierd bat-arang shape.

I've always thought of it as a butterfly honestly. Officially the body type is the M series and the body styling was designed by Mike Rutherford of Genesis. Odd little nugget of trivia I came across years ago that has made its way around. 10 grand is a lot for a guitar, but super-rare is super-rare.

[SignoftheDragon]

submitted the best I can offer- not really optimistic, but I figured I'd give it a go just in case.

[SignoftheDragon]

BACK FROM THE DEAD!

Just found this one in Japan for a STEAL. (Bought it immediately- waiting on shipment confirmation)

This is the second-to-last guitar on my bucket-list top 10, and definitely the most expensive. I'll likely have to sell about half of my current collection to appease the wife & budget.



Obviously these come up so rarely that I had to... right, honey?

If only 100 sets of the 12-string Trac-tuner were produced, likely less than half of them installed on this M-style body shape- and half of those installed on the later, rounded non-bound version; I'm guessing that this guitar is one of less than twenty in existence.

Thoughts?

[Ceylon]

Man, congratulations! I can't begin to imagine the feeling of getting my hands on something super-rare like that after wanting one since my teens. Insane guitar too!

[Flurko]

Congrats ! I've been fascinated by Steinbergers bridge hardware for a long time, their transposing trems seem out of this world, and I can't understand why they havent come back now, with all the fashionable musicians playing headless guitars again.

I'm not sure I get what their 12-string bridge does, but it seems really interesting !

[SignoftheDragon]

I'm not sure I get what their 12-string bridge does, but it seems really interesting !

Basically it just has one tuning knob that slides along a metered track at the butt-end, when it 'clicks' into the position for the string you need to tune up, you engage the knob and tune that particular string. Rinse & repeat as needed.

This bridge definitely pre-dates the diamond/gotoh 12-saddle bridge seen on most 12-strings these days: My Surfcaster 12s, Alternate Reality XIIs, etc. all have that bridge in common. I'm pretty sure that this was the first 12-saddle-adjustable 12-string bridge in production- at least the first that offered individual string height adjustment as well as intonation for each saddle.

Here's a pic from the listing- a little hard to see detail, but I'll shoot some nicer shots when I get my mitts on it.

[cestlamort]

WOW! Congratulations. That's amazing and couldn't be in better hands.

[marqueemoon]

Incredible. Congrats.

[Harmoncj]

Just wanted to say Nice. I would love playing that guitar.

[mackerelmint]

My only thought is that I'm genuinely happy for you to have found your grail guitar. And it's a hen's tooth at that. Not everyone gets to realize a dream like that, congratulations are in order.

So are pix, when it arrives.

[SignoftheDragon]

Thanks everybody- I'm in full realization that this isn't necessarily the cup-of-tea guitar 'round these parts, but I definitely feel the love from the community-

I've been lusting after this in my mind for 30 years- I was 16 in 1990, so the universe is trying to convince/reward me for sticking around I guess. I've never gotten closer than 10 feet to a 'real' Steinberger- Played several Hondo/Cort knockoffs and a Spirit or two before I found true love with the Surfcaster 12 in 1994. The only ones I've seen pop up on eBay & Reverb have been at outlandish-even-for-46-year-old-me-with-a-guitar-budget $10,000 price range. Even so, I've still seen fewer than a dozen 12-string 'bergers of any shape come up for sale since I discovered the 'guitars on eBay' thing around 2001. So when my eBay notification for this one at less than HALF that price, I jumped immediately. I figure worst-case and I hate the way it plays, I can still move it on rather easily without loss (other than the stuff I have to sell to balance the purchase.)

[Maggieo]

Ark of The Covenant level guitar!!!