Steinberger Guitar Serial Numbers

[Terina]

Thebolt-on neck on my bass has "STEINBERGER USA N115" stamped into it. I've never known the original date and location; I presume, by what I read on the Serial # Database" link that it's a Newburgh assembly, but not sure of the year.

Well, the L-type list shows #114 and #116 in 1982, but at this time bolt-on models didn't exist yet, I believe. What type is your bass? XP2? Then I'd think 1983 could be a plausible date, and Newburgh is the place of manufacturing.

The list of serials (and the whole SteinbergerWorld website) are maintained by Andy Yakubik. If you hope to find more information, then you could probably ask him (via the "Links & Credits" page on the SW website). SteinbergerWorld contains the most comprehensive information about Steinies on the whole web, so if you don't find your answer there, I doubt you'll find it anywhere.

One last option you could also try is contacting Gibson service. I did this once regarding a Newburgh GM, but even they didn't have a complete SN list, and were only able to date it by a range of numbers. As I already said, the original production logs haven't been complete.

The list at SteinbergerWorld is old, no longer updated. Its successor on the headless-europe.eu website is still continuously updated. The L2 bass with the serial number 1008 is already in the list. L-type instruments don't have a prefix (N or TN). Just the number. Is there anything you'd like to add to the existing entry?

I bought a GM7TA in 2005. It is printed "STEINBERGER USA N000941". The database does not appear to have anything beyond 1998 nr any number close to N000941. Is this a mistake or just no one bother to put up the serial numbers?

instruments in that numbering range can be found right at the beginning of the headless europe database. For example, there's a GM7TA with the prefix (MY)N and the serial 000961. That prefix (MY) stands for Music Yo, to distinguish between Newburgh and Music Yo instruments, both using "N" as a prefix. Your guitar is not yet there, but I will add it, if you give me more details. Please also read the description at the link above. This is not an official list published by Steinberger or Gibson, who both never published such a list and never will do. This is tedious manual work by fans, once started by Andy Yakubik (Steinberger World list, with about 1050 serials), and now continued by me (meanwhile 4050 serials). So it's neither a mistake nor "no one bothering" that your guitar isn't listed yet, it's just that nobody sent me the details yet to add it.

Besides the serial number list also check the "Steinberger Instruments Timeline", also at the link above. This will show you that your instrument was most likely built in 2004. An exact date is impossible to find out, because this info is not available from Gibson.

500kb is small lol so I had to chop the pic. Anyways, here is the body, front view, headstock and the serial. I tried to give a pic of the back but it was denied because it exceeded a 200kb file size lol

This is a Steinberger GM-4T, made in Newburgh 1990/91. The "4" in the designation describes the H-S-S pickup configuration, the "T" stands for the TransTrem. Yes, this guitar has active EMGs (most likely 85-SA-SA) as a standard, and if the tone pot has a center notch it also has an active HazLabs EQ. In that case it would be a GM-4TA, with the "A" describing the additional active EQ.

Upon further inspection, I do not see a center notch on the tone pot. So Im guessing its a GM-4T, which brings me to my next question. What is the value of this model? is it rare? Should I have it insured? Could Steinburger do any kind of modifications to it, if I wanted that?

Regarding your further questions: you wouldn't see a center notch/detent, but feel it when turning the knob all the way up and down, in about the middle position. Does the tone knob lock in middle position? If not, it's a passive tone and thus a GM-4T.

Steinberger as a company doesn't exist any longer, so they cannot do any modifications for you. There are some luthiers working on Steinbergers and can do customizations, but they are expensive. HeadlessUSA comes to mind, with Jeff Babicz (a former Steinberger employee) doing the actual work, but there you'll pay about $1,000 just for a basic cleaning, setup and restoration job (including replacement of some standard TransTrem components like bearings etc.). Jeff does good work, but the pricing scheme is really, really high. Another really good luthier for Steinbergers is Peekamoose/Paul Schwartz. Great work, but also not cheap.

I checked the tone and volume pots and neither lock in the middle position, so I guess its settled, a GM-4T. After reading your response as to modifications and the fact it would lowerthe value, I've decided to keep this in it original state.

I was thinking about those pickups, dont get me wrong, they sound awesome and so clean. I just hate dealing with the battery and thought about the possibility of an upgrade there. Or downgrade depending onhowyou look at it. But nonetheless, I will keep it as is.

The GM was first introduced in late 1986/early 1987. Just check the information here, the serial number list is one source, and I've tried to display the timeline in a kind of "poster", showing which instruments where built when.

If you think about replacing the pickups, just remove the complete original harness including pickups as they are, and keep them to be reinstalled when desired. The electronics wouldn't work with passive pickups anyway, so just keep things together and put them in a box for later. This will help to maintain the value, because you can simply restore it to original state.

I was gifted a stripped XP-2 With the marking N0646. All I have is the pickguard, body (with leg rest), and neck. What is a ballpark cost estimate to put it back together myself? Also any info on the bass would be great.

Yes, 6567 is the serial number. Surrounding serial numbers here show that it most likely has been built in 1989. If it's an XL2"A" (A = active) depends on the EQ. If the tone control has a center detent it's an active HazLabs EQ, and then it's an XL2A. Otherwise it's a passive tone control, which makes it an XL2.

Hi, I have 2 Steinbergers that I am trying to identify by model name, time period, and value. The serial numbers are on the side of the necks: Black one is N4449 and mahogany(?) one is N9970. I believe these to be from the Newburgh Series. I think they both have the trans trem. Please let me know any information that you have. Thanks!

you've got two Steinberger GP-4T guitars, and yes, both serials point to the Newburgh era. The black one (N4449) seems to be in original condition, as far as I can see on the tiny pic. The other one (N9970) is not. GPs have been built from late 1984 until 1987, the serial N9970 most likely is 1990/1991. This serial is also listed in our serial list as a (modified) grey GM-4T, which *could* have started life as a GR. So your GP is the second or third incarnation of this guitar, which simply means: somebody took the neck from the listed guitar and put it onto a modified GP body. GPs never have been made out of mahogany (they had hard maple bodies), and were either black, white, or red. I can't tell from the pic if it's an original body with removed finish or a newly made one. Looks nice, though :)

Update: meanwhile I've seen the other pics in your introduction posting. These seem to confirm what I've said above: the mahogany GP is a "Partsberger", also having an EMG 89 in the bridge position, which is a great and useful pickup, but not original. There's nothing wrong with Partsbergers, I've built and own a couple of them myself. These guitars, however, are hard to appraise. Being tailored to your needs, they might be of great value for the player, sometimes even better than any original configuration. But the "market" doesn't honor that. Money is paid for original, unmodified Steinies, and big money is paid if these are in great condition. The TransTrem on this GP looks pretty new, so maybe it was newly bought during the Music Yo days, when these have been available for a limited time. If these were my guitars and I'd have to think about selling them, I'd sell the original one for a reasonable price and keep the other one, which is probably a great "player". Preserving GPs is also something honorable, because these are the guitars most often disassembled and sold/used for parts :)

Thanks so much! I was very confused when the serial number didn't match the description on the Partsberger. It's a shame that they aren't worth more due to their age. GREAT information and thanks again! I had trouble uploading my photos to this forum, even with reducing the file size. That's why more pics were on the other forum.

Thanks so much! I was very confused when the serial number didn't match the description on the Partsberger. It's a shame that they aren't worth more due to their age. GREAT information and thanks again!

You're welcome. Don't worry about the value. Usually Partsbergers get more playing time than those all original collectibles. And that's what guitars are made for, aren't they? And if money is really important: this guitar's value won't fall below the price of the parts alone, so it will keep its current value. Money "parked" on a bank account will not. I'd play it and have fun with it. Invaluable :)

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