The student with last weeks Steinberger brought in another Bill Delap guitar today.

Mark Wein

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member
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This is essentially the Allan Holdsworth guitar. Toms student has bought a few of them custom ordered from the builder. I usually don't get very excited about a guitar like this but I sat and played it for a few minutes through an amp and not only is it incredibly easy to play (22" radius :eek:) but it is the most acoustically balanced instrument I've ever had in my hands. Every note rings perfectly at the same level as any other note on the instrument. I played some fairly dense Holdsworth-style chords and they sounded incredible. The intonation is crazily spot on for such close intervals. The body is completely hollow with no center block. Its a small instrument but still a 25.5" scale length. It also has 25 frets (request from the customer, not a standard feature). I really loved playing the instrument although if I saw it first in a store I wouldn't have picked it up to play in the first place.
 
I have always dug the idea of the steinberger headless thing. It seems super easy to string up
 
I played a Delap steinberger once. It was really nice, but not very different from my old GL model. Of course, the GL is one of the best guitars I have ever played, and I have several friends who offer to buy it all the time, so that is a compliment to Delap.
 
Tiltsta said:
I played a Delap steinberger once. It was really nice, but not very different from my old GL model. Of course, the GL is one of the best guitars I have ever played, and I have several friends who offer to buy it all the time, so that is a compliment.
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I thought the Delap Steinberger be brought in was nice but I wasn't very excited about the instrument itself. Just not my thing. This guitar isn't really my thing either but its really transcendent both in how it plays, feels and sounds. It's not the "bring to the blues gig or cover gig" guitar but it really is something special on its own.
 
:love:

I'm not sure what other forum members thought about my Steinberger (I brought it to this years Pragestock), but some of the points on the above guitar you mention, Mark, is what I love about it.

Mine only has a 16" radius, but it is better intonated than other guitars, not just mine, that I've played. You know that 'wobble' you get when you play an open D chord because even though the strings are in tune with the tuner, they aren't quite in tune with each other? It's much less so on the Steinberger than other guitars I've played. Product of the zero-fret?

Plus, very low action & once the strings stretch a bit, it never goes out of tune.
 
Is that a spruce top? Slightly flamey maple back? That thing is really beautiful in that it's all business. Nothing unessential.
 
He does beautiful work.

I had an email corrrepondence with Bill for some time. I was considering ordering a guitar from him even though I knew DeLap takes a long time to do anything and also that it was going to be very expensive, very likely more expensive than all of my instruments put together and then some. I realized it was just too much cash and too long without a guitar (I'd have to sell everything I had just to get it) and I wouldn't have callouses anymore so I tabled that thought.

So I ended up with my Carvin Holdsworth type guitar that has fulfilled that option nicely.
 
I remember when Andy, Bill, and David were playing Kleins. Andy played the small solid and Bill played a chambered/semi similar to the one above. Then he modded the bridge.

Anyway, cool guitars.
 
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