Steinberger Spirit GU-7R Custom

Music Yo, on sale for $299 USD.

The body and neck are top-notch construction. The figured maple top is about what you would expect for this price - It looks nice, but it is not a deeply reflective peice of flame maple. The finish is very nice, and the neck plays great. The tremelo is trouble-free and stays in tune. Nice trem unit!

EMG selects are not so great. In my opinion, they sound flat and thin. I replaced these with some DiMarzios, and the guitar sounds very, very good now. The switching scheme for the pick-ups was not to my liking either - no split coil sounds, but, hey, this is a lot of guitar for $300 anyway.

Very well made, much better than the price suggests. This is a professional quality instrument except for the EMG select pick-ups.

For most people, the EMG selects will be fine. Please note that I do not like EMG pickups very well no matter what model, so this is a personal preference. For the money, this is a great buy, and is perfect for travel. Easy to recommend to anyone!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Purchased from Shinseido Rock-Inn, Tachikawa, Japan. Price roughly converts to around US$440. I purchased this model after being very impressed by the GT-Pro model I obtained a few months ago, plus the fact that I'd always been keen on the compact design after seeing Steve Howe play the US made original"live" some years back.

These little Spirits have to be one of the most innovative,and value-for-money packages on the market today. I purchased mine in the transparent blue finish, as it shows off the nicely flamed top very well. The high gloss finish on mine is very even, with no noticable flaws. A nice satin feel to the neck,too. I've heard a few people claim about the EMG Select pickups, and although I agree that they lack any real character, this works to your benefit if you're using good quality effects. This is also a characteristic of US made active EMG's, so don't think you are going to gain much by swapping them over! The Boss Chorus Ensemble I'm using sounds simply gorgeous with this little guitar.(probably helped a little by the choice of amp. Mine's a Soldano Astroverb 16) The all metal,locking R-Trem system also stays in tune exceedingly well, and that alone makes it worth the money. It also is one the most well balanced solid-bodies I've ever used in 36 years of playing. At this price, there's absolutely nothing I dislike aboutit!

Apart from the crappy gig-bag, I don't have any real complaints. BUT, we have the advantage in Japan of being able to buy them off-the-floor, so we are able to choose one we fancy VISUALLY! Meaning,not waiting for your mail-order to arrive. This definitely has it's benefits, as the first one I tried had a defective fret,but a lovely flame-top. No problem....the manager told me to try them all,(16 in stock!) and choose the best neck. Then he swapped it over on the spot!! THAT'S SERVICE!!

As I said, the quality is extremely good for the price, so don't let the"stigma"of it being Korean impede your decision. To tell the truth, I recently had a chance to try a US made equivalent, and found it to be not only heavier, but lacking the warm tone of the all-wood setup of the Spirit! It seems to be sturdy enough for live use. Even though it doesn't have the neck-through-body design of the GT-Pro, I prefer it due to its better balance and sustain.

Terrific value for money! I have both a PRS Custom and a Parker Fly, but I foind I'm playing this little fella more and more often due to it's user-friendly design. One word of caution. Not all strings will fit it! D'addario's can be guaranteed, but I've found that Steinberger(La Bella) and Music-Yo strings are very inconsistent length-wise. Strangely, GHS stings (and yes, I did choose the correct ones!) will fit the GT-Pro,but not the GU-7R! The overall scale length seems to be about 5mm longer on the GU version. Strange? You can't go wrong buying one of these at the price, but check out the fret-work. It does seem to vary considerably. A lot of fun!

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com