The D-head is here! An innovative, patent-pending detuning headpiece designed by Langley Guitars specifically for Steinberger guitars and basses.
It's the first new Steinberger-specific invention in many years - think of it like a Hipshot, EVH d-tuna and DB Bridge all rolled into one. They're direct replacements for the original graphite neck headpieces and require no modification to install. Allows you to drop to a preset note (even down to B!) with the simple twist of a wheel. Introductory discounts for Yahoo! Group members. Click here to read more.
Posted by andyyak 6/27/2002 04:49:25 PM
Added pics of two new gems to the 'Photos & Images' page - a silver Guitar Center XL and a yellow XL5W. I didn't even know they'd ever made a yellow L.
More good news on the Terada bodies. I spoke with Hap Kuffner, the former VP of Sales & Marketing for Steinberger Sound and now an international sales agent representing brands like NS Design, Aguliar and PRS. He was aware of the name. Says they are a smaller operation in Nagoya (well known area for woodworkgin craftsmen) and do great work. Have always had reputation for quality, even on the moderately priced stuff they've done. That's more reassuring news for the new line.
We've also updated and changed the format of the 'Serial Number Database'. We've got well over 1000 instruments now. On top of that the HTML format was adding a great deal of overhead. To ease downloading we've split the database in two (one list for the all graphite L's, another for the bolt-ons) and kept them in an Excel spreadsheet. The file should load directly into your browser if you've got Excel installed on your PC. If not you can download a viewer here.
Posted by andyyak 6/23/2002 04:18:46 PM
By now we know that bodies for the new USA graphites will be made in Japan. But now I may have discovered the company's name. . .
Terada
A Google search only turned up a few tidbits:
- "Terada was established in 1912, at the beginning Terada was making Violins for Toy purposes, after World War II, around 1955 Terada started to make in earnest `Strings Instruments'. In the 1970's they had three plants near Nagoya area and produced more than 10,000 guitars per month for Domestic market and also for Overseas market, but now 1/8 quantities is of our heyday."
- "Terada builds Epiphones which are still made in Japan, although most are now made by Samick in Korea. The Terada factory is now building Epiphone and Thumb brand guitars."
This one may explain how MusicYo came to choose them, as the head of MY used to head up Epiphone previously.
I also ran across a bunch of references to Gretch acoustic guitars. Seems they contracted out to Terada to make some of their higher end guitars when the company was resurrected in the mid 80's. Overall the reviews of both the Gretsch and Tarada proper guitars seem to be very favorable. Even for high price tag acoustics. Craftsmanship overall seems to be good.
Also ran across a reference from the MTD Bass (Michael Tobias) site:
" After several attempts to move the business to larger, better equipped facilities, I sold Tobias Guitars to Gibson on 1/1/90. The
first Tobias Gibson serial number was 1094. At that point, Gibson was instrumental in moving us to a bigger shop in Burbank and setting us up with a great spray booth and dust collection system. We finally met So Cal safety codes. Basses built during 1990-1992 era were built initially by the same crew that had helped establish Tobias Basses as one of the most sought after basses on the planet. We added several people during 1990 and ended up with a great 10-man shop."
"Business was still very good. We were not able to make anywhere near enough basses to fill the orders. Instead of trying to jack up production, we tried to get outside vendors to build for us. We had 110 "Model T" basses made for us by a very fine builder in New England, and then we got the Terada factory in Nagoya, Japan to make the "Standard" bass for us. This was and is a great bass, but the $/yen ratio killed the project. There were about 400 Standards."
To find out more I called Tobias himself. He had nothing but good things to say about Tarada. Says they've been making guitars "like forever". He personally visted the plant in Japan, and commented that the "probably have templates to every guitar ever built". He says walking around their factory was like walking through time, lots of great old machinery and equipment. "Just like the old Gibson Kalamazoo factory. . ."
His excerpt above mentions the exchange rate killed the project. I assume Gibson (like usual) did the rest. Tobias said Terada did really quality work, and that using them to build bodies is a good sign.
Then again if my sources are wrong and it's not Terada. . .
Posted by andyyak 6/18/2002 09:19:43 AM
The June installment of 'Ask Ned' has been posted.
It's also time for our monthly update from MusicYo. Unfortunately it's a bit quiet, and that will generally continue for the next month or so. Here's where things are:
- MusicYo has probably sold about 15 NOS instruments so far. They have maybe 15 more to assemble. There were more bodies in the trailer, but they "weren't happy with some of them" (quality wise) and won't be using those. And though they just received another shipment of necks from Moses Graphite, seems they were "wrong" and had to be re-ordered. It'll be several weeks before any new ones are up for sale. I'll try to give the Yahoo! Group a heads up when they're ready.
- The new Japanese GM & GR bodies have been finalized but are at least a couple of months out from shipping. MusicYo has all of their other vendors lined up; the bodies are the last piece of hardware to make the all-new guitars a reality. And speaking of Japan. . .
- MusicYo has entered an exclusive arrangement with the Rock Inn chain in Japan to sell many brands there through both online and retail outlets. Right now this only pertains to the Spirit line for Steinberger but will include the graphites when they're ready. If you live or travel in Japan you may have seen ads already.
- Initial work on the new XQ basses has begun. But nothing will be ready until the end of the year at the earliest. That's been the expected timeline, with the new basses coming several months after the new guitars.
- Interesting tidbit: MusicYo sells about 80% guitars, 20% basses. The Sprits are holding to that pattern and they expect the graphites to do the same.
- The new Steinberger fixed bridge Ned is designing for guitar is moving into the latter stages of development, but has probably slipped to an early next year introduction. A piezo option is now undetermined at this time.
- Other Ned news: MusicYo is actively working with him on several "new projects". They won't say what they are, but they seem excited about them. They also seem intent to put energies into these new creations rather than expanding the "old" existing Steinberger lineup. Not sure what this all means but as we know Ned is a man full of ideas and they seem eager to listen.
- Parts / Phase 2 – Not good news here. Nothing will happen with this before Summer NAMM (July 19-21). Even then it's not an `A' list priority. Here's why: parts sales started brisk but have fallen off considerably. As an example: with all of the buzz about new TransTrems being available, in actuality only 12 have been sold. They admit that it's great from a customer service standpoint but such low numbers make the economics and logistics of it a tough pill to swallow. We're a "small but vocal minority" and that may affect the availability of future/additional parts.
I know price is a factor for some of you on this stuff, but I don't know if that'd make a huge difference.
- The new Spirit XP basses are probably "on the water" - which means they've been shipped and could be up for sale in 30 days or less.
MusicYo's attention in the upcoming month will be focused on their other brands, most notably the Kramer "1984" guitar probably appearing next Friday (June 7th). So new headless stuff is kind of on the back burner for now. Funny, but it seems like everything's quiet right now. Maybe it's the arrival of summer. . .
Posted by andyyak 6/1/2002 12:14:04 AM
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