The Steinberger legacy began with the creation of the XL Bass. This was Ned Steinberger’s first design venture into the world of musical instruments and the guitar market was given a tremendous boost by his creativity. The XL Bass was awarded "Design of the Decade" by the prestigious Designers Society of America.
The XL Series Basses are the essence of Steinberger. The look is ultra high-tech. The sound is distinctive and punchy, perfect for cutting through a thick sonic mass of drums. keyboards and guitars. All XL Series Basses are constructed from the STEINBERGER BLEND (TM), a reinforced composite material. The neck and body are modelled as one piece creating an instrument with superior sonic properties, a neck with no dead spots and incredible durability.
A STEINBERGER BLEND neck will never warp in any temperature or humidity condition. The XL PRO features the patented DH BRIDGE SYSTEM TM that allows the low E string to be de—tuned to any pitch from E flat down to low B. with the simple flip of the DB lever. The XL ELITE offers all the outstanding features of the XL PRO in addition to exquisite gold engraved lettering and at signed certificate by Ned Steinberger.
STEINBERGER GL 4STEINBERGER made the GL 4 between 1986 and 2001. The GL 4 used Steinberger's one piece reinforced body and headless neck construction. The trademark rectangular body came with a folding leg rest so you could play it sitting down. The fingerboard was made from phenolic resin (a Bakelite type material) with 24 frets and white dot inlays. Scale length with 25.5 inches and the neck width was 1 5/8 inches at the zero fret. Black finish was standard although you could get white as an option. Left handed models were also available as an option. | |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE)Production of the GL7 (ELITE) began in 1989 and ended in 2001. Decoding the model number indicates that this is an electric guitar (G), with the iconic Steinberger headless one piece composite body & neck (L), the 7 indicates that this has a H-S-H pickup configuration. Some GLs came with a gold logo on the body that read "STEINBERGER Elite" - these were made in Nashville from 1992 to 1998 after Gibson acquired Steinberger. This was more of a marketing strategy than a change of the GL specifications. | |
STEINBERGER GL2STEINBERGER made the GL2 between 1983 and 2001. It has the classic minimalistic headless Steinberger design with one piece reinforced carbon fiber composite neck and body. Optional extras were a Steinberger TransTrem bridge (GL2T), white finish, 12 string configuration and left handed configuration. The 1984 Steinberger catalog described the model as follows: | |
No image yet | STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD)XL Standard |
No image yet | STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO)XL Pro |
No image yet | Steinberger XL ELITEXL Elite |
No image yet | STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5)XL Wide 5 |
Specifications:
Model | Image | Finish colors | Number of strings | Made in | Scale length | Configuration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - | - | - | - | |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | black finish | 6 strings | - | - | - | |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | black finish, white finish | 6 strings | USA | 25.5 inches scale-length | - | |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | No image yet | black finish, white finish | 4 strings | - | 34 inches scale-length | left-handed configuration |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | No image yet | - | - | - | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | No image yet | - | - | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | No image yet | - | - | - | - | - |
Model | Body shape features | Body style | Body material |
---|---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | rectangular body | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | - | rectangular shaped body | - |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | rectangular body | - | carbon fiber body |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | - | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | - | - | - |
Model | Bridge | Hardware color |
---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | TransTrem vibrato | black hardware |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | Steinberger TransTrem, Steinberger vibrato | black hardware |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | Steinberger bridge | black hardware |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | - | - |
Model | Fingerboard material | Fingerboard position markers |
---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | phenolic fingerboard | dot fingerboard position markers |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | phenolic fingerboard | dot fingerboard position markers |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | phenolic fingerboard | dot fingerboard position markers |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | - | - |
Model | Number of frets | Peghead (headstock) | Neck material |
---|---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | 24 fret | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | 24 fret | headless | - |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | 24 fret, fretless | headless | carbon fiber neck |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | - | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | - | - | - |
Model | Pickup selector controls | Tone controls | Volume controls |
---|---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | 5-way selector switch | 1 tone control | 1 volume control |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | 3-way selector switch | 1 tone control | 1 volume control |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | - | 1 tone control | 2 volume controls |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | - | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | - | - | - |
Model | Pickups brand and model | Pickups configuration | Preamp | Circuit functions |
---|---|---|---|---|
STEINBERGER GL 4 1986 to 2001 | - | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER GL 7 (ELITE) 1992 to 1998 | EMG pickup(s) | 1 single coil and 1 humbucker pickup | active preamp | - |
STEINBERGER GL2 1983 to 2001 | EMG pickup(s) | 2 humbucker pickups | - | active electronics |
STEINBERGER XL 2 (STANDARD) 1979 | EMG pickup(s) | 2 humbucker pickups | - | - |
STEINBERGER XL 2D (PRO) | - | - | - | - |
Steinberger XL ELITE | - | - | - | - |
STEINBERGER XLW 5 (WIDE 5) | - | - | - | - |