Steinberger Guitars GT-Pro Deluxe BK

great wee guitar with a big heart

A perfect little guitar, comfortable for home practice, robust for travel, compact for cramped stages, in its current HSH form it has a broad enough range of tones for many folk. A capable workhorse for gigging, and competitively priced.

A modernist choice for a minimalist savant. Ideal

Exceeded Expectations!

I own two other headless guitars (Kiesel and Strandberg) and, while they're excellent, I wanted another, cheaper, model to bring w/ me when teaching students so I wouldn't have to worry about damaging my expensive instrument(s). I also wanted a Steinberger Spirit as I liked the minimalistic design, apparent reliability, and overall look.

I was happy to see this model here for a decent price - including the shipping to Australia - and had to place an order. Also happy w/ the shipping progress updates and time; it arrived a day earlier than expected and this website kept me up to date well.

The guitar was decently set up right out of the box. I'd planned to swap the factory double ball end strings for lighter ones using the single ball end adapter I'd purchased previously, but I still enjoyed playing the 10's for a while.

I'd highly recommend anyone considering this guitar to either stock up on double ball end strings or purchase an adapter beforehand; the former aren't widely available and the latter allows use of your preferred string brand and gauge (within reason - I installed D'addario NYXL 8-38's and the 1st string was apparently too thin for the adapter screw to keep in place when tuning to pitch; it kept slipping down. I ended up using a single 9, which has worked well so far).

After swapping the strings and adjusting the intonation, action, and tremolo spring (all a breeze, even compared to my other headless guitars), I was pleasantly surprised by how well it played. I was able to drastically lower the action before there was any hint of fret buzz, and the lack of a headstock makes truss rod adjustments a no-brainer. While I wasn't expecting a lemon, I didn't expect a <$500 AUD guitar to feel or sound this decent. Like most headless guitars, it balances perfectly and is also lightweight w/o feeling flimsy. The pickups won't win any awards anytime soon, but they don't sound terrible. Tuners, knobs, selector switch, and the quaint little leg/lever for playing sitting down all feel solid and satisfying. As for the fretboard radius, I generally prefer something very flat (20" or above) but the 14" doesn't feel radically different here.

One minor quibble is the bridge and tremolo arm. On the on hand, I adore the ability to lock the bridge w/ a simple switch and adjusting the spring tension is super easy; on the other, the tremolo feels rather stiff, the arm never feels secure enough in its hole no matter how tight the accompanying hex screw is adjusted, and it doesn't feel as 'buttery' as I'd like a floating tremolo to be. Granted, I've been spoiled by my previous guitars, but it does make me want to use the tremolo less. Tuning does stay relatively stable, however, even after a few dive bombs.

Ultimately, this instrument exceeded expectations. While certain quality aspects reveal its cheaper nature, the fact that it feels and operates this well for its price is a definite plus, as is the fact that I feel like playing it just as often as my other, higher-quality, instruments. Satisfied customer here, and might even consider another one somewhere down the line!

Great player

Great guitar for travel.Aswell as recording and stage.

Wouldn’t be without it

I bought this 10 years ago to use on stage only. I was in an electronic duo with a retro-futuristic image so it seemed ideal.

It actually sounded better than expected and I used it in recordings as well as live.

To this day I use it a lot even though I have lots of other guitars, mostly because it’s so handy.

The size and shape mean it will stand anywhere leaning without needing a guitar stand so I can keep it by my work desk and grab it any time inspiration strikes.

Double ball end strings aren’t cheap but very quick and easy to change. The trem can be locked if you don’t need it, and it stays in tune for weeks when locked. When not locked it’s still pretty good at staying in tune tho.

There are two strap buttons on the back making it easy for left handed players to use as well as giving it balance when leaning on a wall.

Easy to set up and get a very low action.

My only complaint is the trem system can cause the strings to lift off the saddles when dive-bombing. Pickups aren’t the best but ok for high gain sounds.

Being so small, but still full scale, makes it great for practicing or travelling, and I have used mine for recording in a hotel room.

Won’t get a Les Paul or strat tone out of it but a great guitar for anyone creative

I love this guitar. Even though it is not high end, it has many features. Very good for travelling and practicing at home

Simple and works just fine

Interesting guitar, good quality and features for this price, I like it therefore I recommend it.

Ok travel guitar

Decent guitar, not sure how much quality you can expect at this price point.

I wish Gibson would do more with this IP and create some higher end steinberger guitars with better specs and quality control.

pros

- Changing strings, intonation and action is a breeze, stable tuning.

- Trem feels solid and can be locked in place with the flip of a lever.

- Obviously very portable and fits in a large suitcase.

- Very comfortable and balanced to play standing or sitting.

cons

- Double ball strings are more expensive and hard to find gauges, they should just ship it with the adapter for regular strings included. It's also really hard to find the adapter now.

- Fretwork is kind of iffy, out of the box it plays if I don't set the action too low but it was only a couple spots that I fixed myself.

- One of the strap bolts didn't fit the hole drilled and came lose so look out for that. Not something you can't fix yourself.

- Had to resolder the bridge pickup.

- Neck profile was thicker than I expected, much more than an ibanez or jackson but this is personal preference.

Pickups are low output for humbuckers. But they sound good enough to me so I'm not going to replace them soon, works fine from clean to high gain.

Very nice guitar

Surprisingly, it is very comfortable instrument - I had some doubts, but it is really very good balanced guitar, with enough support for right arm. Overall build quality is quite good, but factory setup was poor - strings were too high, and bridge was not set up properly. Pickups are ok, no more, no less. For a travel guitar they are more than adequate. I wanted to replace them immediately after purchasing with the active EMGs, but battery does not fit into the body cavity, so I left it as is and it sounds decent. If you need light and compact guitar - this instrument worth every penny.

Steinberger Guitars GT-Pro Deluxe BK

This guitar stays in tune very well, partly because of Steinberger's "double ball" strings and 40:1 tuners, and partly because of the zero-fret arrangement instead of a traditional nut. It's capable of very impressive sustain for a guitar in this price range.

The 14" radius fretboard is flatter than most guitars, and it's very easy to play.

It's good value for money. Everything is well-finished and the quality is good. The HSH pickup arrangement is versatile, and the 5-way pickup selector gives access to a good range of tones. Output from the two humbuckers is not super-high, but they are quite capable, particularly when paired with a decent amp. The trem system is particularly good.

A very unique guitar

Wow, what a great instrument, almost like a "concept" guitar! Two hum-bucking pickups sound fantastic. There is one single coil pickup which is only alright and the five-way switch (middle position is the single-coil only, which is a bit unexpected) and two controls (one is master volume and one is master tone, perhaps two for each would have been nicer, but given the small size of the guitar, I can understand why they didn't provide the two other ones). This bridge and the tremolo system are very unusual, yet very very good and useful (you can fix the brind and release it in order to use the tremolo, as you wish, with very little effect on the guitar's tuning, if any you can also retune your strings all at once using the bridge lift screw). It's probably one of the best and most stable tremolo systems out there on the market once you get used to it, in fact. Tuning the strings individually can sometimes be a bit more difficult, due to the orientation of the tuners and their size, they are a bit hard to turn. They guitar is well-built, very nicely balanced in terms of weight and doesn't feel too small. It's fantastic for traveling, playing around and even for beginners and well worth the price!