Steinberger Guitars Gt-Pro Deluxe FB

Ho deciso di acquistare questa chitarra principalmente per le dimensioni ridotte nonostante avesse il ponte mobile e la configurazione HSH dei pickup, cosa di solito proibita nelle chitarre da viaggio.
E' arrivata perfettamente imballata nel giro di pochissimi giorni (grande Thomann!!!) e subito ci ho montato il sistema Steinberger Guitars STADG06 Adapter Guitar BK che permette di montare qualsiasi corda, non solo quindi le double-end strings, permettendo di risparmiare non poco sull'acquisto delle corde stesse.
Provata con i miei sistemi digitali devo ammettere che i pick-up sono abbastanza deboli, li ho sostituiti senza problemi o modifiche con dei Seymour Duncan i quali hanno ridato vita al suono della chitarra stessa, lasciando comunque il pick-up centrale per comodità, anche se nel futuro ho intenzione di montare degli EMG attivi, i quali però mi obbligheranno a fare uno scasso nel vano dei potenziometri posteriore.
La chitarra arriva con il set-up un pò altro e con qualche tasto che frigge qua e la, di conseguenza è super consigliato portarla dal liutaio di fiducia per un set-up più consono alle proprie abitudini.
Per ultimo aggiungo che.. è fantastica da suonare sul Divano! Anche con la moglie accanto, ci si può rilassare davanti alla tv mentre le nostre mani corrono su e giù lungo la tastiera, ed il profilo "slim Taper" aiuta veramente tanto a non stancare la mano... Sto già mettendo da parte i soldi per comprarne un'altra!

Apartenly the newest batch (novermber 2020 ) are made in indonesia!!! I am a headless fan and have a collection but first time I saw an indonesian one !

There are a few differences to the older ones...
-Fretwork seems much better and cleaner to me than the Chinese
-There is some extra sturdy metal in the truss rod .
-Satinwood is much cleaner then before , almost like rosewood. Or it may even be rosewood for all I know.
-There is a cool sticker included 😉

I gotta admit guys... There is also a difference in neck width. It is like tiny ! Really small . I have to watch that the smallest string doesn't slip of the frets while playing ...

It was really setup high out of the box, but after my brief setup, it had a nice low action of +/-1.8 mm without any buzz

I actually deceided to retur this guitar because of the smaller neck dimensions... Could be a design choice also, but I was always slipping the thinnest string when soloing... You could easily bend it upwards, but vibrato was almost impossible. My fingers are to big! But great guitar overall !

First of all, Thomann's team did a great job, as always.
I am playing this guitar for almost 2 years now, and I find myself to be quite found of it. Traveling a lot for my job, this wee thing was definitely the best choice.

Body: I am not tall, so having a small guitar in my hands is not an issue (not sure I would recommend it for very tall folks out there). The system to put it on your leg is quite clever and the weight balance is rather good (speaking of weight, it feels like a real guitar here, not a toy). The finish is not perfect, with small defects in the paint but hell, nothing to complain about: did you see the price tag?

Bridge and tunning system: What a great system it is! The guitar does not move even a bit after several weeks! The lock system works perfectly. Highly adjustable to get the perfect tunning.

Neck: It is a good C shape (or even U shape, do not really know). But while quite thin, the neck feels a bit "chunky" at first. Not the best to my taste (I prefer D shape) but it is classic. I find it to be a bit short though (I lack tension), but the frets are really nice so after a while, I got used to it. You can also level the strings quite low for a quick and easy play, which is awesome on such guitar.

Pickups: They do more than the job for my style. I play with Bias Amp from Positive Grid and Archetype Plini and I like tones with a clean/bright attack (a bit jazzy) and an overdrive and organic sustain. The single coil in pos. 3 has a very low gain compared to the over positions and I miss a bit of attack there so I never use it. But when combined with the humbuckers in pos. 2 and 4, well, that's another story cause I do love the dynamic you can get from these. Not as punchy as a telecaster for instance (I might blame the short neck length), but still rather nice. The neck pickup is quite round, a bit muddy in the low frequency band, which is the complete opposite for the bridge pickup which has a cutting high frequency band. I find the two not perfectly balanced but still, I was able to find my good tone. The knobs feel solid. Just a bit of a scratchy noise after some time (I did not address this issue yet).

Overall: A nice guitar that I would easily recommend to anyone looking for a nice, versatile, lightweight, reliable, highly adjustable, and fun guitar to play.

NB: I bought an adapter to set up normal strings because I do not find the one provided with the rings on both sides extraordinary. Also, nothing surprising but the guitar arrived unplayable: it needs a good set up and adjustment (curvature of the neck, bridge height etc.)