Steinberger Synapse TranScale ST-2FPA Guitar with Gigbag, Plain Black

by Steinberger

Product Features

• Maple body
• Maple top
• 28 5/8 scale
• Maple body, Maple top

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 13 x 42 x 5 inches ; 10 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 11 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• Shipping Advisory: This item must be shipped separately from other items in your order. Additional shipping charges will not apply.
• ASIN: B00178HVWY
• Item model number: ST2FPPB1
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #83,790 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)

Product Description

Play it open and it's a baritone, roll the built-in capo up a couple of frets and it's a normal 25-1/2" guitar. Add to this Ned Steinberger's brilliant design features such as the tune-it-once direct-drive double-ball bridge, fold-down leg rest, and graphite-reinforced neck with ultrafast phenolic fingerboard and you've got a truly advanced and infinitely playable instrument. Low-impedance EMG USA humbuckers offer a broader bandwidth for unique and robust tone and are mounted on stabilizers that keep them from tilting. Improved intonation from a zero fret. Unique Steinberger Combo headpiece improves balance, ease of tuning, and tuning stability while the patented Direct-Drive double-ball bridge lets you change strings in seconds then tune up once and not have to tune again until you change strings.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another innovative design from Ned!, May 14, 2011

By 

Dave's two-cents on this (Honolulu, HI) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Steinberger Synapse TranScale ST-2FPA Guitar with Gigbag, Plain Black (Electronics)

If you are reading this, you either love Steinbergers like I do or at least have an interest in the unique headless design. So aside from the headless design, what else does this guitar offer?

Pros:
+ Built-in string adapter on the top of the neck. This allows you to use either the Transcale double-ball guitar strings or you can use an ordinary pack of your favorite guitar strings and lock it using the hex screws.
+ Active EMG pickups, combined with separate treble and bass EQ knobs, provide a good range of tones right at your fingertips. A convenient way to fine tune your sound without having to mess with the amplifier. I should also note that the EMG's are very quiet.
+ The piezo pickup is perhaps one of the best features. It can create a terrific "acoustic guitar" sound. There is a mixing knob to select either the active humbuckers, the piezo pickup, or you can blend a combination of the two to create even more tonal possibilities!
+ 28-5/8" scale neck. A lot of guitar manufacturers increase the range of the guitar by adding frets to the top i.e. 23rd and 24th frets. Ned Steinberger added frets going the other way. Two frets going down the neck!
+ The built-in capo allows you to quickly change your guitar tuning from D, E flat, Standard E, or anywhere up the neck to the 11th fret. By rolling the capo up or down the neck, you change the string length which in turn affects the timbre of the open string.

Cons:
- The fret markers on the fretboard are designated for D tuning (meaning the capo is not used). There are separate fret markers on the top of the neck to notate Standard E positioning (with the capo positioned on the second fret). This can be tricky to get accustomed to because many of us are conditioned to seeing the fret markers positioned a certain way. It really throws your brain for a loop when you are learning to play a new song in Eb!
- Because two frets were added going down the neck, it will take some practice and a lot of finger stretching to get comfortable playing the two lowest frets. The length of this guitar neck sort of reminds me of a bass guitar neck.
- The neck is rather thick to accommodate the sliding built-in capo. Hard to describe exactly what this feels like when you play it. It feels closer to a classical guitar neck as opposed to thin necks like Jackson, Ibanez, or even other Steinberger offerings. This may not be the most accurate description, but like I said, it's hard to describe other than to say it's thicker than usual.

Despite the negative points noted above, I must honestly say that I absolutely love this guitar! It has an innovative design and unique features that pushes the envelope for tonal range. There simply is no other guitar like it. That said, it's not made for everyone. But since when has Steinberger instruments ever tried to fit in with the norm?