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berger

KiNgPauL aLCaNtara reCOuNtS NeD SteiNberger’S

StruggLe tO reiNVeNt tHe eLeCtriC baSS

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GBV&C 1991 STEINBERGER Xl2A

... Conceived over 30 years ago by a designer with a

background in furniture rather than musical instruments, the Steinberger carbon-graphite headless bass was the most radical rethink in four-string design since Leo Fender launched the Precision Bass back in 1951.

Here, we discover how Ned Steinberger came to design this innovative and instantly recognisable instrument, with help from a fine example from the early ‘90s. Meanwhile, on page 116, we talk to the man himself.

NEW THINKINGlike leo Fender before him, Ned Steinberger came to the guitar industry unencumbered by tradition. A graduate of the Maryland Institute of Art with a BFA in sculpture, his introduction to the world of musical instrument manufacture was the result of a chance meeting with Brooklyn bass maker Stuart Spector back in the mid-1970s. Ned went on to design the NS range of basses with Spector, an experience that would eventually lead to the development of the headless basses for which he

is perhaps best known.In an attempt to improve the

balance of the basses that he designed for Spector, Ned installed a lead weight in the body. “I succeeded in getting the thing to balance but I didn’t like the idea of adding weight to the structure. I wanted it to be comfortable to hold,” he comments. This was a eureka moment for Ned: “I figured that, rather than put weights in the body, why not just move the tuners to the butt end of the guitar? Once I got this headless idea I became a true believer, because it just

112 guitarbuyer July 2008

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EMG pickups mounted on a removable ‘lid’ constructed from the same material. A separate fingerboard of fibre-reinforced phenolic resin was fitted with conventional frets.

Neither the headless concept nor the use of composite materials were new – les Paul had built a guitar with its tuners positioned on the body in the early 1940s and the Modulus Graphite Company was already producing carbon graphite guitar necks. Ned Steinberger, however, united the two ideas to create an instrument quite unlike anything that had gone before.

OUR GUITAR“My Steinberger Xl2A bass was an eBay purchase,” says owner Dave Swift, bassist with Jools Holland’s Rhythm & Blues Orchestra. “I bought it seven or eight years ago. It had been sitting in a shop in Texas for a long time, so although it has been played it is still in great shape.”

Assembled in late 1991 in the Newburgh, New york plant, the featured Steinberger is fitted with two low-impedance EMG pickups. These feature an offset split-coil design that is concealed within a humbucker-sized housing.

The active electronics, which were supplied by HAZ labs, feature a master volume control, a centre-detented pickup blend control and a single centre-detented active tone control. (Though active and passive versions of the bass were available during production, most were shipped with the active EQ.) Power for both the pickups and EQ is supplied by a single 9V battery that is accessed via a small cover on the

made so much sense.“The first prototype that I built

was a disaster,” Steinberger continues. “From an ergonomic standpoint, I wanted to make the bass as light as possible, but I soon discovered the importance of weight and stiffness.”

A series of experiments convinced Steinberger that, in order to improve the instrument’s sustain, he needed to increase its rigidity. A fortuitous meeting with boat designer Bob young provided the solution. “Bob was an amazing guy and a brilliant engineer,” Ned recalls. “He knew all about composites. Remember this was 30 years ago and graphite was still considered a space-age thing that wasn’t used much in recreational stuff.”

CARBON DATINGThe two men experimented with various compositions before settling on epoxy resin reinforced with carbon graphite and glass fibre. “The graphite instruments were all about providing a rigid structure that was still light enough to be comfortable,” Ned comments.

The design of the production model of Steinberger’s l2 bass was elegantly simple. The body and neck were a one-piece moulding, with the

back of the instrument. The proprietary body-mounted

tuning system requires the use of special double-ball-end strings. One end of the string locks into a recess beyond the nut while the other is clamped at the bridge end by a ‘jaw’ that is adjusted lengthwise by turning a sturdy knurled tuning knob. The bridge saddles can be adjusted for both height and intonation. Once this has been set, the saddles can then be locked with a grub screw.

IN USEThe combination of an ultra-rigid composite construction and a tuning system that offers a precise 40:1 gear ratio provides a very high degree of tuning stability.

A flip down leg rest allows the bass to balance comfortably when played sitting down, while a ‘pivot plate’ attached at the bass’s centre of gravity provides strap mounts for playing standing up. The pivot plate rotates into its storage position when not in use.

“The headless design makes so much sense,” says Dave Swift. “The tuners are recessed into the body so they can’t get knocked, and once the bass is tuned you almost don’t have to check it again… ever! What I like best about Steinbergers is their consistency across the fingerboard. There simply aren’t any dead spots. I’ve got some old Fenders and you hit certain notes and they just disappear.”

Despite the enthusiasm Dave has for his Steinberger bass, the instrument doesn’t get used on stage with the Jools Holland band. “Jools is not a fan of anything that is too high-tech or modern,”

GBV&C 1991 STEINBERGER Xl2A

n Four Steinberger bass models were originally offered: the H1 and the H2 (one or two high-impedance DiMarzio pickups) and the L1 and L2 (one or two low-impedance EMG pickups).

The DiMarzio-equipped versions were soon dropped, and since the L2 was by far the most popular, this name has become synonymous with the Steinberger bass. The composite used in the manufacture of Steinberger’s basses does not age gracefully. That’s not to suggest that these instruments weren’t tough – they were – but to look their best, the plastic material needs to be free of chips and scratches. A beaten-up Strat may look cool but a battered Steinberger doesn’t.

Early models came with a detachable leg rest that is often missing. Also the logo on these basses was either a silk-screen print or a sticker, both of which would often wear away with use.Over the years, Steinberger basses

have maintained a small but loyal following and today a clean, all-original four-string XL2 bass can fetch as much as $2,000. Expect to pay $3,000 or more for the five-string version and rare colours (though most L models are black, the company did produce white, red, blue and even a run in custom silver) push the price still higher.

WHAT TO lOOK OuT FOR WHEN SEEKING OuT AN ORIGINAl STEINBERGER

buyiNg a SteiNberger baSS

n The XL2A’s ‘pivot plate’ gives it perfect balance when worn on a strap

114 guitarbuyer July 2008

1976Ned Steinberger designs the NS basses for Stuart Spector

1977Several prototypes built from graphite-reinforced epoxy are manufactured

1979The L2 is introduced at the summer NAMM show. Three prototypes are sold to John Entwistle (the Who), Tony Levin (King Crimson) and Andy West (Dixie Dregs)

1980Steinberger Sound Corporation is founded and Ned is granted a patent on the design of his L2 bass

1981The L2 is awarded the Industrial Designers Excellence Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America (ISDA)

1982The GL Prototype Guitar is introduced

1983 Steinberger Sound relocates to a larger facility in Newburgh, New York, allowing the company to increase production. The XL2 bass is introduced

1984 The TransTrem (the first ‘pitch-bending’ mechanism to maintain pitch relationships throughout tremolo travel) is introduced at the Winter NAMM show

1985New electronics manufactured by Henry Zajac of HAZ Labs in Washington, New Jersey are introduced to the line

1987 Steinberger Sound is purchased by Gibson Guitar Corp

1992 Steinberger relocates to Nashville, Tennessee

1998 Production of composite-bodied instruments is halted

STEINBERGER TIMELINE

laughs Dave. “On stage, I use a customised yamaha Silent bass and a five-string, fretless semi-acoustic bass guitar made by a guy in California called Rob Allen.”

CONCLUSIONlightweight construction, compact size, unimpeded 24-fret access, superior tuning stability and an absence of the dead spots that plague the necks of most wooden basses are just a few of the virtues to which the Steinberger bass can lay claim. So why aren’t all basses built this way today?

First off, the l2 was expensive. Priced at $1,400 in 1980 (that’s around $3,550 in today’s money), it cost considerably more to produce than a traditional wooden instrument. Then there was the question of image. The instrument’s minimal aesthetics may have appealed to design types – the l2 was awarded the coveted Industrial Designers Excellence Award by the Industrial Designers Society of America in 1990 – but from a rock ’n’ roll perspective, the Steinberger’s minimal body lacked

the sexy curves and overt visual appeal of a custom-coloured Fender Precision or Jazz Bass. Moreover, The success of Nirvana’s Nevermind album (released in 1990) ushered in the grunge movement, which consciously rejected glossy 1980s pop in favour of murky lo-fi sounds, often produced using bargain-basement instruments.

Perhaps the most important legacy of Ned Steinberger’s groundbreaking instruments was to legitimise the use of composite materials so that today, the use of graphite neck reinforcement and phenolic nuts is commonplace. Moreover, luthiers like Ken Parker and Brian Moore continue to explore the potential of non-traditional materials. GB

n For more on Steinberger check out www.steinbergerworld.com

n Special thanks go to Andy Yakubik and Ned Steinberger for their generous help and cooperation with this feature, and to Dave Swift for the loan of his Steinberger bass

GBV&C 1991 STEINBERGER Xl2A

n Known as the ‘Steinberger Blend’, the composite material used to create the body and neck of the Steinberger bass was a combination of graphite, fiberglass and resin.

The basses were built in reverse order, so that the outer gel coat is sprayed into the mould first of all.

This formed a durable exterior skin that was up to an eighth of an inch thick in some areas. The phenolic fingerboard was attached prior to moulding so that it effectively became an integral part of the neck. Ned Steinberger comments,

“I experimented with carbon graphite fingerboards but the phenolic material proved more practical from a manufacturing perspective. This so-called phenolic is actually a paper composite, so it’s actually made out of wood fiber. A phenolic fingerboard can be re-fretted just like a wooden one.”

The pickups and knobs were mounted to a separate composite faceplate that was finished in the same gel coat as the body. The engraved Steinberger logo was filled with a contrasting gel coat colour that was then sanded flush.

HOW IS A BASS lIKE THE Xl2A PuT TOGETHER?

MaKiNg a SteiNberger

117guitarbuyerJuly 2008116 guitarbuyer July 2008

PauL aLCaNtara taLKS tO NeD SteiNberger, a MaN NeVer aFraiD tO taKe a NeW aPPrOaCH tO iNStruMeNt DeSigN

better by DeSigN

n Ned Steinberger’s NS Design Bass Cello: it has the same scale length as a bass guitar

... WHat DiD yOu DO beFOre beCOMiNg iNVOLVeD iN

MuSiCaL iNStruMeNt MaNuFaCture?“I flunked out of college, then got involved in photography and went to art school. later I worked as a cabinet-maker and eventually got a job as a furniture designer, but the musical instruments were way more exciting. Since meeting Stuart Spector I have never really looked back!”

HOW DiD yOur baCKgrOuND iN FurNiture iNFLueNCe tHe DireCtiON tHat yOu tOOK iN MuSiCaL iNStruMeNt DeSigN?“My specialty was industrial furniture – office chairs and so on. The chair is one of the most interesting and challenging pieces of furniture to design. It is all about a relationship with the human body and that’s what originally drew me to musical instruments. I don’t think I ever would have got started if there hadn’t been that link, because I knew very little about instrument manufacture or music when I started out.”

yOur FirSt iNVOLVeMeNt iN tHe baSS guitar MarKet FOLLOWeD a MeetiNg WitH baSS MaKer Stuart SPeCtOr…“At the time I was sharing space with Stuart in a Brooklyn, New york woodworking co-op. He was building custom guitars with natural wood finishes and was getting feedback from dealers to the effect that

these would be real cool if they were basses. He figured that they had a point and I became involved with him in designing what would become the Spector NS bass. Stuart taught me everything I knew about musical instruments at that time.”

at WHat POiNt DiD yOu DeCiDe tO braNCH Out ON yOur OWN?“While designing the basses for Stuart, I became aware of the imbalance created by having heavy tuning machines at one end of a long neck and a guitar-sized body at the other. Remember that I came to this from an ergonomic standpoint. I didn’t want the balance to be sort of OK, I wanted it to be perfect! I tried putting a lead weight in one end of the body and it worked. I got the thing to balance but I didn’t like the idea of adding weight to the structure. So I figured that, rather than put weights in the body, why not just move the tuners to the body end of the guitar?”

Were yOu aWare OF tHe HeaDLeSS guitar tHat LeS PauL HaD buiLt?“I wasn’t aware of les Paul’s guitar until we started to market the Steinberger bass. Actually, it’s kind of a funny story. I was going around bragging, saying, ‘look at this – the world’s first headless guitar!’ and les said, ‘No, that’s wrong – I built the first headless guitar back in 1942’. Of course, he was right. I went to his house to see the guitar but he couldn’t find it! He had so many inventions in his house that

they were bursting out at the seams. To les, it was just something that he did that went into the closet along with a lot of other great ideas.”

DiD yOu try VariOuS DiFFereNt MateriaLS beFOre SettLiNg ON CarbON graPHite?“The process that led from the wooden prototype to the carbon graphite production model was totally experimental. First, I made a maple instrument that was very light and flexible but the sound was uneven and weak. I then attached a bunch of heavy C clamps to it to hear the effect on the tone of adding weight without increasing rigidity, and the improvement was encouraging. Next, I took the same instrument and clamped it solidly to a workbench that was built from a three-inch-thick section of rock maple. Adding all that weight and stiffness made a huge difference to its sound. It rang out true and clean at every fret. I realised then that to achieve my goal I needed to build an instrument that was rigid and as heavy as is comfortable to play. That’s what became the Steinberger bass. I used graphite because it was the only material that could give me the stiffness and weight that I was after.”

HOW DiD yOu COMe tO DeVeLOP tHe COMPOSite iN CONjuNCtiON WitH bOat DeSigNer bOb yOuNg?“I was looking for someone capable of manufacturing composite

instruments under contract. Word got out and a local fiberglass supplier put me in contact with Bob. He took the Steinberger bass home with him to show his son Rory, who turned out to be a talented musician and a recording engineer. Rory said, ‘This is the real deal, Dad – help this guy out,’ and eventually Bob and I went into business together.”

HOW LONg DiD tHe baSS taKe tO DeVeLOP?“Development of the l2 started somewhere around 1977. It was a product by 1980. The original l2 had some practical and aesthetic issues and these were addressed with the introduction of the Xl2 in 1983. “

HOW DiD tHe reSt OF tHe iNDuStry reaCt tO tHe L2?“Mostly with derision. When we went to our first Chicago NAMM show in 1980, people laughed at us. The show featured a musical event that most people attended, and Andy West, the bass player with the Dixie Dregs used his brand new Steinberger. It was a great performance that brought the house down, and that’s what turned the corner for us.”

yOu SOLD tHe COMPaNy tO gibSON iN 1987 – WHy?“To tell you the truth, I never really wanted to have my own business. It was a terrific experience but it was just too much for me. Besides, I was ready to get back to designing instruments and doing the work that I really enjoy.”

WHat HaVe yOu DONe SiNCe SeLLiNg tHe COMPaNy?“I worked for Gibson for three or four years but it wasn’t easy for me to do what I wanted to do within a corporate structure. I needed to do my own thing, so I set up NS Design to develop bowed electric instruments. We now have a full line, from violin to double bass, including fretless and fretted models of the Bass Cello, which has the same scale length as the original l2 [see www.nedsteinberger.com for more information on Ned’s post-Steinberger instruments]. About five years ago I got back together with Gibson. We signed a new contract and today I’m involved with Gibson and other companies as a design consultant.” GB

GBINTERVIEW NED STEINBERGER