Burnside Crossbow

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,815
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Someone over on TGP alerted me to this guitar on Guitar Center's website. As expected it had terrible pictures and listed the guitar as "vintage" condition so I took a chance knowing that the guitar could be crap.

It looks like it's a year old! Aside from missing the tremolo arm and needing a slight neck adjustment, there's really not a scratch on it. It's got a minor hum and needs new strings, but I can fix the minor stuff and a quick setup will have this thing screaming!

Quick and dirty cell-phone pic:

IMG_7638.jpeg
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,330
Reaction score
6,504
Guild Total
2
did they mean to just not finish the headstock?

(j/k, i remember this period when they tuning heads are on the bottom of the guitars)
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,815
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
did they mean to just not finish the headstock?

(j/k, i remember this period when they tuning heads are on the bottom of the guitars)

Since it's a Steinberger system it uses special double-ball-end strings so they're the correct length from the get-go and there's no winding up and snipping excess string. The knobs on the end are kind of like fine-tuners on a Floyd Rose but they're more coarsely threaded. There are no "tuning heads", really. Well, that's kind of a lie... It's complicated. :)

A normal person would have just said, "yup!". I should work on that. 🤪
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,330
Reaction score
6,504
Guild Total
2
i remember seeing Stephen Stills play such a headstock-less wonder but it was not a Crossbow. It was black is all I recall. I just didn't get it :)
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,815
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
My real Steinberger under my X92 Breakaway. The Steinberger has had some work done. I should take more pics. :cool:

Guild-X92Citron-SteinbergerGL4TA.jpg


I didn't know Stephen Stills played one. I know Alan Holdsworth was a Steinberger player.

A lot of players discovered that they liked this body style more since it feels more like a regular guitar.

1990'S STEINBERGER GR4 Electric Guitar - Aqua w/Gig Bag - Made in the USA -  $1,509.99 | PicClick



There was also the Strandberg which is a different design but still headless.

Buy Strandberg Boden Alex Machacek Edition - Audiofanzine
 

Rambozo96

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 14, 2020
Messages
1,659
Reaction score
1,192
Location
Texas
Guild Total
5
In this video of the Buffalo Springfield reunion rehearsal in 1986.

Cool stuff.


And an aluminum necked Kramer. I had a Kramer 6 string that was an aluminum neck, it was pure crapola.
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,815
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Since it's a Steinberger system it uses special double-ball-end strings so they're the correct length from the get-go and there's no winding up and snipping excess string. The knobs on the end are kind of like fine-tuners on a Floyd Rose but they're more coarsely threaded. There are no "tuning heads", really. Well, that's kind of a lie... It's complicated. :)

A normal person would have just said, "yup!". I should work on that. 🤪

I need to recant my story a bit here!

This guitar has what appears to be a licensed copy of a Steinberger R-Trem. In order to load the string you absolutely turn the knobs all the way counter-clockwise until a little drawer pops out where you put one of the ball ends. You then tune up the string like you would with any other tuner. So I guess they're not really tuning "heads" per se, but they're still very much behave like you'd expect a tuner to behave.

I should have just said, "yup!"
 

GAD

Reverential Morlock
Über-Morlock
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
22,594
Reaction score
17,815
Location
NJ (The nice part)
Guild Total
112
Doing my new guitar routine on it and completely dismantled the bridge. It's got the dreaded (but expected) problem that most import Steinberger bridges get - bent posts that support the knife-edges.

So, it's getting a new trem from Headless USA. I have a feeling that after I write it up and record it that it will probably get new pickups and possibly new electronics, too, which will mean that I've once again put more money into parts for a guitar than the guitar itself cost. Oh, and it needs a fret leveling, but that's not an emergency.

It's just so much fun. :cool:
 

krysh

Guildarist in the mod squad
Joined
Apr 28, 2007
Messages
4,417
Reaction score
901
Location
near hamburg*germany
Guild Total
6
Doing my new guitar routine on it and completely dismantled the bridge. It's got the dreaded (but expected) problem that most import Steinberger bridges get - bent posts that support the knife-edges.

So, it's getting a new trem from Headless USA. I have a feeling that after I write it up and record it that it will probably get new pickups and possibly new electronics, too, which will mean that I've once again put more money into parts for a guitar than the guitar itself cost. Oh, and it needs a fret leveling, but that's not an emergency.

It's just so much fun. :cool:

you want some XR7 Pups? I have 3 I don't need anymore
 
Top