A
Spirit: pros and cons, in detail
I bought this guitar a few months ago, as a guitar for trips, rehearsals after work, practice everywhere. I will try to describe most of the pros and cons of this tool.
So, the pros:
It is compact-Yes, this is why you buy spirit, it is not necessary to take it in the Luggage of the plane – it is allowed into the cabin, it is comfortable to move on public transport or a Bicycle / scooter.
Bridge-lock machine - well holds build, after 2-3 hours in road and differential temperatures (have us now winter of until-15C), almost not needs in adjustment. Very competent system.
Supporting stand-it seems to be an extremely simple thing, but it is very convenient.
Good frets, good wood, good hardware. – this is one more plus in the piggy Bank
Bag included – a little plus more
Let's move on to the cons, maybe they will be my quibbles or unfulfilled expectations from the travel-guitar.
Weight-for all its dimensions, it has a tangible weight in combat condition (in bag, etc.), about 4.5 kg, because of the many unnecessary details, but more on that.
Set H-S-H and 5-pos switch –f or travel guitar does not require so many pickups, most often you play in the headphones through the micro-amp or without it. Humbucker at bridge and neck is enough for rehearsal. Because of this, several points suffer at once – this is the weight of the instrument and the quality of the pickups themselves. The bridge humbucker has a rather weak output signal, which does not always give the desired sound on the shred / solo, in addition, the guitar body itself is small and gives little resonance. The ideal solution would be to have a powerful humbucker in the bridge (SD Sh-4 and above for ex.) and a hot rail in the neck tied to a mini 3-position switch.
Tone and volume - not a good location of the volume knob, if you have big hands - you will always touch it. After about 2 months I was able to get used to it. This is a consequence of the problem H-S-H scheme described above, all the controls in this form could fit under the bridge (where there is a tone knob) thereby adding comfort to the right hand.
Lever tremolo - Yes this function here there is, but she always is in blocked able, for guitar minute willingness (get and play) not grinding halt after function, affecting weight tool.
The quality of gig- running is Weak, narrow belt and plastic carabiner. I already replaced it with a metal one, but the belt attachment is not secure. In addition, the zipper on the pocket opens in the wrong direction. For example, if you have guitar stands upright and you open the zipper - all the change will fall out. I will order a cover in the workshop according to my parameters.
Strings double-ball-in goes not goes adapter on single-coil strings, and either you buy expensive double-coil kits, either spend still 20 the Euro on adapter. It is very strange why it is not included with the guitar.
Summary: Like any guitar in the spirit has its pluses and minuses, in many respects, each guitarist will decide for himself that he is important in this guitar. But my choice fell on spirit, and I, in a whole, exasperated their choice.
So, the pros:
It is compact-Yes, this is why you buy spirit, it is not necessary to take it in the Luggage of the plane – it is allowed into the cabin, it is comfortable to move on public transport or a Bicycle / scooter.
Bridge-lock machine - well holds build, after 2-3 hours in road and differential temperatures (have us now winter of until-15C), almost not needs in adjustment. Very competent system.
Supporting stand-it seems to be an extremely simple thing, but it is very convenient.
Good frets, good wood, good hardware. – this is one more plus in the piggy Bank
Bag included – a little plus more
Let's move on to the cons, maybe they will be my quibbles or unfulfilled expectations from the travel-guitar.
Weight-for all its dimensions, it has a tangible weight in combat condition (in bag, etc.), about 4.5 kg, because of the many unnecessary details, but more on that.
Set H-S-H and 5-pos switch –f or travel guitar does not require so many pickups, most often you play in the headphones through the micro-amp or without it. Humbucker at bridge and neck is enough for rehearsal. Because of this, several points suffer at once – this is the weight of the instrument and the quality of the pickups themselves. The bridge humbucker has a rather weak output signal, which does not always give the desired sound on the shred / solo, in addition, the guitar body itself is small and gives little resonance. The ideal solution would be to have a powerful humbucker in the bridge (SD Sh-4 and above for ex.) and a hot rail in the neck tied to a mini 3-position switch.
Tone and volume - not a good location of the volume knob, if you have big hands - you will always touch it. After about 2 months I was able to get used to it. This is a consequence of the problem H-S-H scheme described above, all the controls in this form could fit under the bridge (where there is a tone knob) thereby adding comfort to the right hand.
Lever tremolo - Yes this function here there is, but she always is in blocked able, for guitar minute willingness (get and play) not grinding halt after function, affecting weight tool.
The quality of gig- running is Weak, narrow belt and plastic carabiner. I already replaced it with a metal one, but the belt attachment is not secure. In addition, the zipper on the pocket opens in the wrong direction. For example, if you have guitar stands upright and you open the zipper - all the change will fall out. I will order a cover in the workshop according to my parameters.
Strings double-ball-in goes not goes adapter on single-coil strings, and either you buy expensive double-coil kits, either spend still 20 the Euro on adapter. It is very strange why it is not included with the guitar.
Summary: Like any guitar in the spirit has its pluses and minuses, in many respects, each guitarist will decide for himself that he is important in this guitar. But my choice fell on spirit, and I, in a whole, exasperated their choice.
11
4
Report
MA
It's the perfect design! Easily the best guitar I've ever owned!
This is my 4th electric guitar and 9th guitar overall and it is the best one I've ever owned. I am a jazz musician and I love everything about this guitar, despite it is the most affordable instrument I own. The set up of the guitar out of the box was very very good, I don't know if it's Thomann's work or the factory setup but it is very good.
The design is perfect, super lightweight (mine is about 2.1 kgs) and very easy to set up and tune. Guitar doesn't feel weird at all, in fact, it feels a lot like my (now previous) main guitar Epiphone Sheraton.
Holds the tune sooo good. I tune it every 3-4 days and that's it, and I've been playing it over 10 hours a day since it arrived.
Thanks to its wood choice and neck-thru construction, the guitar is very resonant and surprisingly quite loud unplugged. I like the feel and sound of the fingerboard, whatever if it is.
In every review I've read/seen of this guitar they dislike the pickups but I like them. I don't like the middle pickup and will eventually remove it and use it as HH.
Very easy to travel with, very very light and comes with a great gig bag. I've flown with the guitar and they accept it as overhead luggage without any problem.
The guitar is super affordable, as you can see, and it's worth every penny.
Only issue about MY guitar is, the pickup selector is very poor quality, it doesn't click and doesn't stay where it is but it is a pretty cheap change.
Since it arrived, I've been practicing everywhere. On the bus, taxi, metro, plane, ferry, beach, school, park... It really liberated me and I think every guitar player should get one (except maybe complete beginners, since it might be a little harder for them to learn how to hold a guitar with this than a regular guitar).
The design of the string adapter isn't the best, it works fine but is a little hard to use but that's optional and there are 3rd party solutions.
Thomann did very good job packing it, it safely arrived in a very short time.
The design is perfect, super lightweight (mine is about 2.1 kgs) and very easy to set up and tune. Guitar doesn't feel weird at all, in fact, it feels a lot like my (now previous) main guitar Epiphone Sheraton.
Holds the tune sooo good. I tune it every 3-4 days and that's it, and I've been playing it over 10 hours a day since it arrived.
Thanks to its wood choice and neck-thru construction, the guitar is very resonant and surprisingly quite loud unplugged. I like the feel and sound of the fingerboard, whatever if it is.
In every review I've read/seen of this guitar they dislike the pickups but I like them. I don't like the middle pickup and will eventually remove it and use it as HH.
Very easy to travel with, very very light and comes with a great gig bag. I've flown with the guitar and they accept it as overhead luggage without any problem.
The guitar is super affordable, as you can see, and it's worth every penny.
Only issue about MY guitar is, the pickup selector is very poor quality, it doesn't click and doesn't stay where it is but it is a pretty cheap change.
Since it arrived, I've been practicing everywhere. On the bus, taxi, metro, plane, ferry, beach, school, park... It really liberated me and I think every guitar player should get one (except maybe complete beginners, since it might be a little harder for them to learn how to hold a guitar with this than a regular guitar).
The design of the string adapter isn't the best, it works fine but is a little hard to use but that's optional and there are 3rd party solutions.
Thomann did very good job packing it, it safely arrived in a very short time.
3
3
Report
A
Disappointing.
At this price point I expected quality comparable to a new Epiphone. This falls short.
1. The locking trem doesn't stay locked, it keeps slipping out of lock.
2. The middle pickup is useless - poor sound, and too low output to use with the humbuckers, even after adjusting pickup heights.
3. The worst set-up out of the box of any new guitar I've bought in over 40 years. Weeks after purchase I'm still struggling to get a reasonable action without horribly rattling E and A strings. Every time I come back to it after a few days the neck has moved again.
I don't put the allan keys away now, I leave them next to the guitar.
Not a Keeper.
1. The locking trem doesn't stay locked, it keeps slipping out of lock.
2. The middle pickup is useless - poor sound, and too low output to use with the humbuckers, even after adjusting pickup heights.
3. The worst set-up out of the box of any new guitar I've bought in over 40 years. Weeks after purchase I'm still struggling to get a reasonable action without horribly rattling E and A strings. Every time I come back to it after a few days the neck has moved again.
I don't put the allan keys away now, I leave them next to the guitar.
Not a Keeper.
3
2
Report
B
Travel Guitar
A lot of the gigs I go to on my motorbike so it's easy to transport. I've been pleasantly surprised by it's sound. There's a great combination of Gibson and Fender sound using different pickup settings. The front is a nice fat Gibson sound, the front/middle gives a Strat sound. I think the front humbucker switches to single coil. Very convincing. The middle single coil gives a great strum sound. Middle back, again strat equivalent and back humbucker pretty strong output for overdrive solos. The build quality is good. It's been bashed about a bit and even been rained apon on the way home from a gig. It stays in tune well and the wammy bar works a treat. Very impressive. There is a conversion you can buy for the nut string attachments which then allows you to use any string and not be restricted to the double ball end type. A pity it's not included. However the S946 strings suite me so no problem! Last thing, the feel of the neck is a bit weird at first because it's longer than usual so initially I would grab an A barre chord instead of a G. You get used to it! Fun guitar.
6
2
Report
e
Very good value for the money
I work offshore, for which I fly around the world at least 6 times per year and I love playing guitar. Not always the easiest combination in the past... until I bought this guitar. This one fits nicely in my suitcase, is a sturdy build and a good quality instrument. I plug my guitar into a cheap small pre-amp/fx processor Nux PG-1 and then play through my headphones or hook it up via aux cable to a bluetooth speaker. For travelling this is a very simple easy setup that allows me to play and practice. But the guitar is also good enough to hold its own at home hooked up to a guitar amp. and I wouldn't mind performing with it either. It is definitely good enough for it. Only the middle pickup output is very weak so I don't really use it, but the neck and bridge pickups are quite good, so that is not a big issue. Very happy with this purchase. I have been using it for about 6 months now.
0
2
Report
A
An interesting guitar
I am by no means an expert on guitars, but I'd like to share what I've found out from using this guitar for practise over the last month and a bit.
Pros
- Lightweight and relatively small; works well as a travel guitar
- Comes with a nice soft padded bag
- Sound quality is very nice, quite distinct from other guitars
- Stays in tune very well
- As usual, fantastic quick delivery from Thomann and good packaging
Cons
- A few tool marks here and there
- The strap screws aren't great (not completely unexpected given the odd shape of the guitar), have one screw that won't tighten fully
- Was some annoying fret buzz on the E and D strings, so I've had to tinker and adjust a bit with the bridge saddles to try and solve this
- It's more difficult to make adjustments with this guitar than with standard guitars, but again this isn't something unexpected
- It didn't come with a single-ball string adapter, so I'll have to buy that separately when the time to change strings comes
Also I've not tried out the tremolo system properly yet, so hopefully I'll come back to this review a few months down the line and update it.
Overall I am satisfied with the guitar for the price, but they could've made it a bit better. We'd live in a perfect guitar world if all companies made their budget price-range products to the same high standard as Thomann does with the Harley Bentons, but alas this is not the case yet!
Pros
- Lightweight and relatively small; works well as a travel guitar
- Comes with a nice soft padded bag
- Sound quality is very nice, quite distinct from other guitars
- Stays in tune very well
- As usual, fantastic quick delivery from Thomann and good packaging
Cons
- A few tool marks here and there
- The strap screws aren't great (not completely unexpected given the odd shape of the guitar), have one screw that won't tighten fully
- Was some annoying fret buzz on the E and D strings, so I've had to tinker and adjust a bit with the bridge saddles to try and solve this
- It's more difficult to make adjustments with this guitar than with standard guitars, but again this isn't something unexpected
- It didn't come with a single-ball string adapter, so I'll have to buy that separately when the time to change strings comes
Also I've not tried out the tremolo system properly yet, so hopefully I'll come back to this review a few months down the line and update it.
Overall I am satisfied with the guitar for the price, but they could've made it a bit better. We'd live in a perfect guitar world if all companies made their budget price-range products to the same high standard as Thomann does with the Harley Bentons, but alas this is not the case yet!
1
0
Report
m
Sturdy build
I'm a new guitar player talking my first learning steps, so this review might need to be edited in the future as I gain more experience. This review is based on the guitar knowledge I have so far.
This is my first electric guitar, which I bought to keep practicing away from home.
The build quality seems very good and sturdy. The guitar is quite heavier compared to my classical guitar.
I can't say much about the sound quality of the pickups, because I'm so new to electric guitars, but what I can say is that everything seems to be working fine.
I like the aesthetics and the engineering thinking behind the headless design and the tuning system. I also like it has three pickups and a tremolo. Not many travel guitars offer all these features.
I'm hoping this guitar will serve me for many years.
This is my first electric guitar, which I bought to keep practicing away from home.
The build quality seems very good and sturdy. The guitar is quite heavier compared to my classical guitar.
I can't say much about the sound quality of the pickups, because I'm so new to electric guitars, but what I can say is that everything seems to be working fine.
I like the aesthetics and the engineering thinking behind the headless design and the tuning system. I also like it has three pickups and a tremolo. Not many travel guitars offer all these features.
I'm hoping this guitar will serve me for many years.
1
2
Report
Sp
Good enough for traveling
For a long time, I dream about travel guitar. First time I thought about it when I went to the Czech with my family 2 years ago. And this year I decided to buy a travel guitar as a birthday gift for myself :) I read tons of reviews and watched hours of videos about travel guitars. As a result, I choose Steinberger Deluxe. It has 3 pickups in my favorite combination HSH. It's really small and lightweight.
When guitar came I found the issue with a single pickup. it doesn't work properly. After some discussion with support and investigation with a multimeter, the issue was found and fixed. Now I'm super happy with the guitar.
When guitar came I found the issue with a single pickup. it doesn't work properly. After some discussion with support and investigation with a multimeter, the issue was found and fixed. Now I'm super happy with the guitar.
0
1
Report
M
Good quality great for traveling!!! Neck is easy to play. I thinking about changing the pickups a specially single coil.
1
1
Report
