Steinberger Trans Trem

Sadly, there were only 200 of the Trans Trem for bass ever produced, making them extremely rare. Given the fact that the strings were clamped into the bridge, and that it used double ball-end strings that held them in place at both ends, this would make this unit probably the closest anyone has come to producing a fully-locking bass tremolo system. Steinberger vanished for a while, then were picked up by Gibson. The official website is at: www.steinberger.com , and there is also a historical site located at: www.steinbergerworld.com

Here is what SteinbergerWorld has to say about the TransTrem for bass:

Bass TransTrem

Shortly after the introduction of the guitar TransTrem in 1986, Ned went to work on a bass version of this revolutionary bridge. Introduced in early '87 and logically dubbed the "Bass TransTrem" it featured the same ability to transpose strings in tune from low B up to high C. These bridges were actually made by HAZ Labs. Not known as a machine shop, this was done as a favor to Ned from Henry Zajic (HAZ Labs founder & owner).



Though inspired, demand and interest in the bass version of this tremolo was never very great. Outside of the initial production run, no more were ever made. Best accounts are anywhere between 140 and 200 bass TT's were produced. HAZ Labs recalls it being 2 runs of 100, but actual documentation is non-existent. Steinberger offered the bass TT as an option into the '90's until all existing inventory was gone.

Though our TransTrem instruction pages are focused on guitars, the same principles of installation, setup and use apply to the bass version as well.

I sold mine back when I did because I felt the EMG's sounded weak on the D and G string. If I only knew how rare they were I would have stuck it in the gig bag and put it in the back of the closet for the next 20 years. I could sell it and get my Pedulla Pentabuzz

Huh wacky...man that arm is long!

Hi guys, this is my first post here on the forum. I'm Jim from Holland and i play a six string samick artist series which i fitted with a kahler trem (what else if you have a six string). But enough for my introduction. I posted because of a original steinberger with trans-trem that i found on ebay! Unfortunately i'm short on my budget but i figured that i'd rather share my finding with other bass trem fanatics then let that thing end up in the clauset of some boring collector!

Here's the link:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Steinberger-XL2-Bass-w-Rare-TransTremolo-system-XL-2_W0QQitemZ140367211972QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item20ae89adc4

Thanks, Jim!! What a wild machine.

Five grand, five grand, my kingdom for five grand.

And welcome to the board, Jim! Great to have you here!

EricHaven wrote:

Five grand, five grand, my kingdom for five grand.

And welcome to the board, Jim! Great to have you here!

your dream bass too huh?

And the new gibson one's suck. they aren't full graphite/carbon blend. wooden bodies, and wooden necks with carbon reinforcement knobs. not the same.

tekkentool wrote:

EricHaven wrote:

Five grand, five grand, my kingdom for five grand.

And welcome to the board, Jim! Great to have you here!

your dream bass too huh?

Its defininitely mine. If I somehow got $6000 to spend on anything I want, that's how I'd spend it.

Kugelspot wrote:

tekkentool wrote:

EricHaven wrote:

Five grand, five grand, my kingdom for five grand.

And welcome to the board, Jim! Great to have you here!

your dream bass too huh?

Its defininitely mine. If I somehow got $6000 to spend on anything I want, that's how I'd spend it.

but there's one on ebay Buy it now for 3000

http://cgi.ebay.com/vintage-steinberger-xl2t-bass-guitar_W0QQitemZ360222014133QQcmdZViewItemQQptZGuitar?hash=item53dee7bab5

i object to the term vintage, it's still mile's ahead of anything else built today, prehaps with the exception of status and Zon basses.

speaking of which



dream machine # 2

welcome to the board Jim...yep 5 grand? like Eric if I had it that kind of money to buy that thing ( or another one ) would be at my house right now....

but I'm a poor soul, and all I can afford is a Kahler

You totally said it, Mike!

tekkentool wrote:

your dream bass too huh?

Oh, definitely not the bass. I've played a few Steinbergers over the years, and none of them have ever felt right in my hands. It's the tremolo system I want.

EricHaven wrote:

You totally said it, Mike!

tekkentool wrote:

your dream bass too huh?

Oh, definitely not the bass. I've played a few Steinbergers over the years, and none of them have ever felt right in my hands. It's the tremolo system I want.

i would kill people for one, like with a brick.

But you wouldn't have to use a brick, TK.

You simply need $10,000 to pay Ned Steinberger to build you one.



Hmmm....maybe better re-consider the brick idea.

EricHaven wrote:

But you wouldn't have to use a brick, TK.

You simply need $10,000 to pay Ned Steinberger to build you one.



Hmmm....maybe better re-consider the brick idea.

if i just distract them for a moment i could probably hit em with the steinie.

and still be in tune

OK....so I was feeling optimistic the other night. I was cruising Ed Romans site, trying to find out about Steinberger Bass TransTrems. For the uninitiated, Ed Roman was Ned Steinberger's right hand dude back in the day, and Ed now runs a website for custom guitars, as well as for the largest selection of pre-Gibson Steinberger guitars and parts available. Ed's site is here:

http://www.edroman.com/

So I sent an email to Bob Becker, who works for Ed's customer service department. I wrote:

Greetings Bob,

Since I run a website devoted to bass tremolo users, I am aware that there were only about 200 of the bass TransTrems made. But by any chance, would you folks happen to have one in stock? And if not, any ideas on where to find one? Among bass trem users, the Steinberger Bass TransTrem is considered the Holy Grail of bass tremolo systems, and I would love to have one in my collection if at all possible. All of us on the site continue to hope that the bass TransTrem will once again find its way back onto the retail market one day.

Thanks!

Eric Haven
Bass Tremolo/Distortion Abuser
eric.haven@yahoo.com
www.myspace.com/basstremolohaven
www.basstremfanatics.forumotion.net

Obviously, I didn't expect any good news, and Bob didn't disappoint me in this regard:

Hey Eric. Thanks for the email. No, I have never even seen one! Sorry!! Bob

So....there you have it.

Sounds like the common responses ive received from the roman camp ... about everything.

you want a transtrem that bad?, go buy a 2000.00 unit that has one on it already

if you can find it.

maybe one of the TB'ers will part with theirs for under 5grand?..lol

One of these days, I will add one to my collection!

How do I post a pic??????? cant find insert pic icon.....

No prob, Bro!

When you hit "Post Reply", you will see a series of buttons just above the dialogue box. The 15th box from the left is the "Host An Image" button. It's located here:



When you click on it, it will ask you for the image you want to post. Click the "Find Image" button, locate the picture, and click the "Host It!" button. Another box will pop-up with three options. Copy the second, and paste it into the dialogue box. You'll notice that the hosting box will stay highlighted, but don't worry about that. Just click the cursor somewhere on the left side of the dialogue box, paste the line, then hit the "Preview" box. This will show you what your post will look like, then you can confirm it.

i totally forgot about that function since all my pics are on photobucket and not in my computer

ok I think I got it this time . Well here ya go fellow Fanatics we finaly have one in our club to do as we please

Do you mean that you actually own this fine piece, Born?

Yup , along with the little tedish orange alen key driver on my chestadraws about 4 frets up on the neck , see it lol , im likeing that little screwdriver alot. yes ive been surfin the wed hard core looking for a reg. steinberger bridge for a Xp2 (still need one if anyone has) and stumbled upon a local shop that had this and the rest is history.

Dude! I hope you didn't leave any of your adress information on this site or someone is gonna steal that thing soon!

yeah, thats the nice one with the actual bass looking body on it and not the, i'm stuck in the 80's mini keytar, door wedge v thingey.

Listen if someone can get past Lola , then they can have it ! lol . Ill post a pic of her one day and youll understand.
ya I allways liked the look of the M series over all the others , the Xp2 is kinda cool too. But the paddle style im not so sure about.

Bornagnhooligan wrote:

Listen if someone can get past Lola , then they can have it ! lol . Ill post a pic of her one day and youll understand.

Yeah?



Is Lola a dog?

Does she like treats?

Where do you live?

What time do you go to sleep at night?

Just curious.

Dude....seriously....you have one incredibly rare item there. Guard it with your Life!

Or make me an offer.

Either way.

Bornagnhooligan wrote:

Listen if someone can get past Lola , then they can have it ! lol . Ill post a pic of her one day and youll understand.
ya I allways liked the look of the M series over all the others , the Xp2 is kinda cool too. But the paddle style im not so sure about.

Is that a challenge?

lol haha , too funny ,no challenge bootsox lol No really , lol , But seriously ...no i do not want anyone to come into my home. Lola is a 70lb amstaff(pit) I think shes cute. Guys there a cool story behind the find. And there more to the find as in I do not have the others ....yet. I still cant believe it myself. I was aware of the rareness befor I stumbled upon this XM2TA. I was kinda looking in a way ,more so for a v1 v2 0r v3 bridge. Im a natural picker in a way have found a picked a few rare odd pieces and sold them here and there . P.s. lola evidently enjoys crayola she ate a whole box of 84 crayons once ,I didnt catch her doing it but if you think long enough youll understand how I found out.

P.s Eric if you can find me a bridge for an xp2 steinberger , you will have first dibs on this bass if I ever decide to sell.

Bornagnhooligan wrote:

P.s Eric if you can find me a bridge for an xp2 steinberger , you will have first dibs on this bass if I ever decide to sell.

Thanks, Bro!

(begins to empty bank account buying boxes of crayons for Lola)

Seriously Born, You do indeed have a rare piece there, and you are VERY lucky. I don't know off-hand where to find an XP2 bridge, but if anyone would, it would be Ed Roman:

http://www.edroman.com/guitars/steinberger/parts.htm

Bornagnhooligan wrote:

lol haha , too funny ,no challenge bootsox lol No really , lol , But seriously ...no i do not want anyone to come into my home. Lola is a 70lb amstaff(pit) I think shes cute. Guys there a cool story behind the find. And there more to the find as in I do not have the others ....yet. I still cant believe it myself. I was aware of the rareness befor I stumbled upon this XM2TA. I was kinda looking in a way ,more so for a v1 v2 0r v3 bridge. Im a natural picker in a way have found a picked a few rare odd pieces and sold them here and there . P.s. lola evidently enjoys crayola she ate a whole box of 84 crayons once ,I didnt catch her doing it but if you think long enough youll understand how I found out.

a 70 pound dog does sound like a pain to get around, I think I'll just buy myself one eventually.

Just posted it under Stuff wanted, but wanted to share it with all you guys here as well. There's a bass with trantrem on ebay.

Transtrem ebay

funny thing about those things, theres a BUNCH of them on ebay this week, all around 3grand...

EDIT: FORGIVE ME I was so intrigued about the things I really didn't see only ONE bass, the others are guitars.

Man....where's three grand when you need it?

My problem is that I have three grand
But even if I can convince the seller to ship the item to Europe, it might work out badly for me relationshipwise if I have to tell my girlfriend that instead of taking het away this summer on a holliday I bought myself an awesome bass .
Women, they'll never understand .

Oh well. Makes no difference now, as the bass sold for $2,500 to the very first bidder.

here's one in Canada for 1500

http://www.spacemanmusic.com/Guitars/Bass/Steinberger+Bass

Man, why did I promise to myself that I wouldn't spend any more money on basses and accessoiries this year

I dunno....why?

I know why! How much this year? 3000-4000 euro's or something like that!

lol 3-4000 of anything can be costly.

Well... it wouldn't be an issue to me if I spent 3000-4000 eurocents this year, or some african worthless money. (I remember from before the euro that in Italy you couldn't buy a small ice-cream for 5000 lire)

BTW, notice that this bass is selling for $1500 Canadian, which is around $1200 American.

The temptation to pull the trigger on this is overwhelming!