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

[SignoftheDragon]

Fixed Pix

[del]

What a cool guitar-ship! That late 20th C space-age styling is just stunning!

The joy of finding your obscure-grail guitar is palpable. Congratulations!

[wproffitt]

Good for you! This is a fascinating instrument. I’m thinking about 80s Genesis or Starship just looking at it. I’ll bet it plays like a dream!

[cestlamort]

So cool and what a piece of engineering.

It does a good job dodging the SteinbergerDanger (Lou Reed in sweatpants).

[cestlamort]

Yes, it's missing a string.

You’re sending it back, right?

[SignoftheDragon]

Yes, it's missing a string.

You’re sending it back, right?

Already filed the dispute with the 'Bay.

(Actually, it came with 2 full sets of extra strings- I'm rocking it 11-style for the moment- I don't want to break a set until I have time to do a full change-out)

[MattK]

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWW

[shoule79]

That looks awesome.

Love Steinbergers, even the paddle shaped ones since seeing Martin Tielli play one back in the 90's.

[Bradley-Jazz]

I can see the pics, and it looks amazing!!!

Enjoy your dream guitar, while I revisit my childhood..... well, teenage years!

[SignoftheDragon]

ZOINKS!

just got a bill from Fedex/US Customs for another $205 bux - Customs duty and a couple handling fees.

Bit of a kick in the wang right before Christmas, eh?

(still worth it 10x - Merry Christmas to the Customs folks, too. They got it here to me in good shape.)

[SignoftheDragon]

Okay, so-

I've been plinking around on this as it arrived to me- missing string, old (maybe original?) strings on the remaining 11, through my at-work practice amp (Roland Cube 30x) and it's pretty impressive. Very alien/robotic feeling- I've only played it sitting, so I can only judge balance/comfort from that standpoint at this time. First-blush impressions before handing it off to my tech for a complete setup:

1) This thing is engineered to the max- every component is there for a purpose, and is carefully fit for maximum function with minimal presence. All components work in symphony- smooth feel and function with all knobs/tuners/switches. Literally feels like the freaking future.

2) Continuing on the theme- it's DEAD quiet. No hum (even from the single-coil mid pickup or the split coil options) anywhere, no popping or clicking or scratching, etc. when switching positions or adjusting the controls. I can hear even the most nuanced knock-on-the-body string response- just NO NOISE. At ALL. I can begin to understand Steinberger's reputation as recording instruments!

3) The stock EMG pickups sound surprisingly alive, responsive, and AMAZING. I've always been turned off by the tones (or lack thereof) coming out of other HB-equipped 12-strings I've played/owned. NOT the case here- every position on every switch has a distinct and useful voice. I'm excited to explore more in the full rig!

4) The headless thing totally adds to the future/alien feel- almost to a fault. I (unconsciously, it turns out) tend to orient my chording-hand position by feeling for the limits of the neck- usually where the headstock curves begin to sprout out of the neck profile line. Without that 'homing bump' I have to be far more deliberate in positioning- probably something I'll gain muscle memory for down the road as it begins to feel more familiar.

5) The graphite composite neck is AWESOME. Apart from the homing issue, it feels different, but just right somehow. Good profile, unique-feeling matte-ish finish on the back of the neck. Doesn't feel like anything else, just nice and smooth. Bends and nuanced left-hand vibrato work very well- even neck-wanking seems to work

I'm trying to decide what kind of strap to go for- clean and racy like a surf-green-and-white Couch Strap? or something more along the lines of Chewbacca's space baldric?

[SignoftheDragon]

Setup. Restring. Perfection.

Getting used to how it hangs quite a bit further aft-ward (ass-ward? bridge-ward? hopefully you get the meaning...) than the rest of my guitars- even more so than the Venus XII, which is closest in feel/position. Basically, since the bridge is ALL THE WAY at the butt-end of the guitar, there's no extra space/length between the bridge and the bottom strap button. The 25.5" scale feels a bit short because of this- Same thing with the Venus XII, but more so. Like I said before, a bit of muscle-memory building is going to be necessary to keep my fretting hand from shooting right off the top of the neck. (I'm used to the looooong 25.5" plus plenty of room 'down there' on the Fender ARXII and Charvel Surfcaster 12.)

Apart from that though- damn. The only way I can express the difference is that it feels... German (if that makes sense?) Just SO dialed in and precise like 'everything has been thoroughly researched, and each element optimized to seamlessly interact with its mated components viss flahless presciszhunn, Herr Dragon.'

Tone-wise it is also entertainingly DRY to start out with- a perfectly clear canvas to paint with effects and shaping and amp voicing and whatnot... Like mentioned upthread there are no overtones or sympathetic ringing- (other than the 12-string thing...) just that super focused fundamental NOTE that is expressed as clearly as the skill of the player is able to produce. Just so freaking pure.

Controls are great- nice, diverse palette of options to choose from: Standard 5-way switching goes back-to-front as usual, but with the added option of the coil-split to turn the HB-involved positions into single-coils, accessed via the small toggle switch. The tone knob is pretty unique- basically a 2-band EQ, both stacked knobs have a 'noon' detent point that can be adjusted up or down, boosting or cutting the desired frequencies- treble on top, bass on the bottom knob. Again- butter smooth and noiseless adjusting.

Light and effortless- this thing is FUN to play, too. Somehow it seems like I'm actually better at playing on it, too!

If you can't tell- I'm over the freaking moon with it. Thanks, Ned!

[CaptainCrunch]

I used to have a guitar with EMG's, and I really miss them. They're their own voice for sure, as interesting and different as a Tele bridge to a Strat neck to a JM both on.

Super cool guitar. I remember this future.