Vai's reptilian guitar... - just want to talk about the tuni

[Spiral Acid]

http://jemsiteforum.com/board/topic....&topic=377

That thread was closed because people started giving weird comments about SSV's hair... Let's keep it out of this... :biggrin: please...

I noticed the reptillian axe had a double ball string system originally found on the steinbergers...

This system is hardly talked about...

I used to own one of those neck-thru axes by hohner which were copies of the original expensive steinbergers... That system was great! never went out of tune, and very stable. Could be locked to give a fixed-bridge feel too! But for some reason, while the sustain was fine, the tone wasn't THAT great... anyone know why? You could even adjust the bridge so far back into the body that it would feel like a set trem... great ambidextrous system...

The system was using EMG select pickups... quiet as hell, and very clean... but not very hot... would it have helped if I changed it to DiMarzios??? (don't have it now, but I'm searching for a new one... don't want the musicyo ones tho'...)

And anyone know why the old Ibanez Reb Beach explorer didn't have this instrad of the weird lo-pro which I felt didn't fit on there???

[darren wilson]

The lack of tone is almost certainly a result of the EMG Select pickups. They're definitely third-rate at best. As far as i know, the Steinberger Spirit models from MusicYo are pretty much the only double-ball guitars being made these days. (Other than Steve Klein's custom guitars.)

Rumour has it that they're even ramping up production on new composite models as well, which will be closer to the original Steinberger designs.

I've been reading some generally good things about the Steinberger Spirit models, though. For the price, they're a pretty good guitar, providing you swap out those EMG Selects.

The Voyager took design elements from guitars that Reb liked, which explains the void behind the Lo-Pro... putting a proper Steinberger system on there would have radically changed the guitar's design, and likely would have meant licensing issues for Ibanez.