jim g

Thanks, Harmonotrophic. First, I apologize for the late reply. This forum would not accept my main email address, so it notifies me on an email account I seldom use, and I ended up not finding that notification until today. I am an EMG active pickup fan, and I checked out the EMG 35P pickups you spoke about. The spacing of the 5 strings of my XT-25 was right at the edge of their recommended limits, particularly the bridge pickup. Would it have worked? Probably, but perhaps not. I've thought about custom pickups, but should I spend that kind of money on an inexpensive bass? The Seymour Duncan STC-2C -BO active 2-band EQ (no affiliation) really perked up the Steinberger pickups a lot. They're still pretty dark by nature, but with the Seymour Duncan active EQ and stainless steel wound strings, I've ended up getting a very good sound out of this bass.

Talk about weird, I hadn't done a setup on my Spirit XT-25 for a few years being as I hardly ever play it. I was not surprised to find some fret buzz since wood shrinks a lot here in the desert and backbows are fairly common. Relief was down around .010, so I went to back the truss rod off and discovered that it's seized up. Add to that that I stripped out the truss rod nut trying to loosen it. Not even a Stew Mac Gripper truss rod tool wants to move it. Cheap Chinese steel, I guess. I don't know if the truss rod is single action or double action. I found nothing on the website that said. If it's single action, I can perhaps get the nut off and replace it. If it's double action, the bass essentially becomes firewood. Does anyone know which it is? If it matters, I believe mine is a 2018.

Did you ever get your intonation problem solved? Frankly, I never checked the intonation on my XT25 at fret 24. I rarely play above the 12th or 15th fret, so I set it up to be correct at fret 12 and went from there. While it's not unheard of for a bass to be difficult to intonate, it always seems easier to intonate a quality bass. These Spirit XTs were basically built by Epiphone as a last ditch effort for Gibson to make some money off the Steinberger line. As such, it's apparent that keeping costs down was the main emphasis for these basses. The method they use to intonate the bridge is a perfect example--not even any intonation screws. But the quality is good enough for me, as I mainly play 4-string and just keep this bass for the possible once a year gig where I might need a 5-string. One thing to consider is fret height. You'll find a string's pitch, especially at the 24th fret, will vary depending on how hard you push the string down, whereas the harmonic is constant, of course. Though these are cheaply built basses, they were machine built. Therefore it seems to me that you should not be the only one having this problem. As I say, I'm reasonably on through fret 12. After that, I just don't care, but I'd be curious to know what happened with your bass.

I've asked about replacement pickups for my Spirit XT-25 several times, especially now that one has stopped working. Obviously nobody makes a drop-in aftermarket, and Gibson has obviously forgotten Steinberger ever existed. I really don't want to spend a bunch of money on custom pickups for a cheap 5-string, especially since they'd be worthless if, say, the neck crapped out..SO...has anybody out there in Forumland attempted a 7-string guitar pickup in one of these little 5-strings, or know of anyone who has? The dimensions are very close, but what one would work? Would it have to be a rail? Here's a link to a DiMarzio 7-string rail I was thinking of. My Sweetwater rep said it would sound terrible. Anybody here have an opinion? https://www.dimarzio.com/pickups/7-string/x2n-7

Unbelievably, I've had a pickup go bad on my Spirit XT-25. Since I'm not crazy about the pickups anyway, this would be a good opportunity to replace both of them. Does anybody know if there is a replacement pickup available for for an XT-25? I'm especially interested in a passive pickup, but I'll put actives in it if I need to. Wild guesses as suggestions are OK. I can sort through them as I go. thanks in advance!

I was told by a dealer in Knoxville (not the one I got the JCB from) that Epiphone had a refurb facility south of Knoxville, TN. I read it on the internet, so it has to be true, right?😁🤪 Well, maybe not... You are correct in saying that this one was refurbed by MIRC in Nashville (Franklin, TN). They placed a new orange stick-on serial number over the old one. The dealer I bought it from in Bristol, TN has verified he got it from them, and they verified that they do Epiphone licensed refurbs. I have not pressed them for any additional info on it, like, "What is the pickup?" and "What does their varitone switch actually do?" As I said, I am very happy with the bass, so as far as I'm concerned, they did a great job. In this case, it's like the old saying says, "Ignorance is bliss." Thank you for your response!

I bought a "used" Jack Casady signature bass only to discover later that it's apparently a refurb. I'm not upset because the bass sounds great, but I'm a little mystified because (1) It obviously doesn't have the Jack Casady low impedance pickup. My pickup is chrome rather than cream of black. (2) It has what looks to be a different varitone switch (labelled 1, 2, 3 instead of 50, 100, 250). (3) The pickguard is not the standard Epiphone pickguard--it doesn't have the Epiphone "E" on it. (4) The serial number has a new serial number sticker over it. As I said, I'm not upset about any of this because the bass is great. However, I am curious why, if Gibson/Epiphone actually refurbished this bass, they didn't just use the real stuff. Or was it refurbished by an outside company? The dealer seems to be as much in the dark as I am. He claims he just took it in on trade and has no knowledge of the bass's history. Any ideas?

It's a pleasure to receive a reply to this thread after all this time. THANK YOU! I believe you're 100% correct about this. I think essentially the pickups are the same as the ones that they use for the bolt-on-neck version of the Epiphone Thunderbird bass--the cheaper one of the two they offer. I owned one of those and they sound about the same. Those are also approximately guitar humbucker size, but there is no 5-string version of that bass available. In fact, if Gibson brands makes another 5-string bass, I don't know what it is. And I don't know of a 7-string Epiphone guitar that they make. That begs the question, are these pickups specially made for the XT-25? That seems unlikely as they seem to put as little money into Steinberger as possible. I haven't checked lately, but are they even still manufacturing Steinbergers since their restructuring? I'd love to carve up one of these pickups to see what's inside, but since I don't know of a replacement, that's not gonna happen. I did solve my tonal issue by installing a Seymour Duncan Blackouts 2-band active concentric EQ where the tone control was. This gives me boost and cut for both treble and bass, and it made a massive difference for a small price. Plus, no routing or drilling necessary. Of course, that makes this an active bass, but there's room for the battery and I've played active basses for years so they don't bother me. Thanks again for the info!...Jim...

Does anybody know for certain what the values are on the blend pot of a Synapse bass? For instance, is it a 250k audio taper or 500k MN taper, etc?...Jim

Hi Uncle Freddie. It's been many months since I visited this forum, so if you've already found an answer to this thread, just ignore this reply. I recommend that you take careful measurements of the routed cavities for the pickups and call Seymour Duncan. Their phone number is on their website. They have a wide variety of passive pickups you can choose from. Let them know the bass you're putting the pickups into and, if possible, what kind of wood it is. They should have some recommendations. My guess is that any PJ set will fit into the cavities, but having the measurements handy will still be important...jim g

Try this: http://headlessusa.com/bass-jaws You can call them first to make sure they'll fit a Synapse, but I'm pretty sure they will. Jim

Since I received no replies to this thread, I have to assume that there are no aftermarket pickups available for the XT-25 bass. Damn! The ones on there sound just like the 'buckers that I had on an Epiphone T-bird years ago--weak and thumpy and dull. That should be no surprise--they're probably the same pickup, and Gibson is not known for their great bass sound. I know tone is subjective, but I prefer something articulate and musical. I was hoping maybe an EMG HB series would work, but I think the string spacing on this bass is too wide, and the gap in the magnets in the middle worries me with the 5-string alignment having a middle string. Has anybody swapped pickups on the XT-25? Any advice would be appreciated...Jim

Does anybody have any suggestions for aftermarket pickups for a Spirit XT-25 5-string bass? Either passive or active suggestions are OK...Jim

I very recently purchased a Spirit XT25 bass with the same problem. I picked up some of the nylon washers at the local hardware store, and that helped, but what I also did was remove the bridge, flipped it over and took it apart. I then unscrewed the string cups completely and put a very small amount of white lithium grease on the threads. Then I re-assembled it. Between the lubrication and the washers, the tuning changed completely--much easier. I like a small amount of the white lithium grease on this for several reasons: (1) It does not thicken up. (2) It lasts a long time. (3) It's not runny, so it doesn't end up somewhere that you don't want it. (4) It's easy to find. Most any auto parts store will have it in a small tube. This lubrication is very important. I also own a 1988 XL2. I don't know what metal the threaded tuners on the Spirits are made of, but they're a cheap overseas instrument that Gibson cares little about, so I'd guess they aren't made of premium materials. The original tuners on my made-in-Newburgh XL2 are brass. This means they move smoothly, but brass being a soft metal, one of mine stripped out completely when I was changing strings. If this happens at the wrong time--say as you're tuning for a gig--you're screwed, and if there's is no lubrication on these tuners, they could easily strip out. I know this process is more difficult on a trans-trem instrument, but I think you'll be happy you did it in the long run. When I opened mine up, I found that the factory didn't lubricate these threads at all, so what you put there is the only lubrication that will be there. Here is a video that was sent to me that should help you...Jim https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFhJv9lfYyQ&feature=youtu.be

Yeah, this is definitely a bass, but I appreciate everyone's efforts. That's what it's all about, isn't it? Players helping players. And I did manage to get the bridge/tuner off and apart this afternoon. I'll lubricate it tomorrow and put in the washers I bought. I have some other stuff ordered to "make the bass mine" and I'll be up and running. Thanks to all of you who pitched in and helped answer my questions...Jim

I hate to just spray oil up in there. You get a bunch of oil in on things where you don't want oil. I've found on this (and other musical/mechanical instruments I've worked on, like pedal steel) that just a light Q-tip's worth of white lithium grease or even 3 in 1 oil does a good job and lasts a long time. For this bass, somebody also mentioned placing nylon washers between the tuner knob itself and the tuner/bridge assembly, so I've purchased some of those. It doesn't look like there are any washers in there now. I hope to have this bass up and running well this week. Thank you again for your help.

Thank you r2bflash. I would think that taking the bridge loose and exposing the spring and all-thread tuner would be the same whether it was a bass or guitar bridge. I have no trem, so no worries there. This will give me access to these tuners to properly lube them. No use in having a brand new bass only to strip out a tuner thread. Back in the previous century, I took the bridge on my XL-2 apart to replace a stripped out tuner, and I lubricated the tuners in it at that time. That was a long time ago and with the help of a licensed Steinberger repairman who is no longer around. I've forgotten everything I learned about that, so thank you again. I'm sure my old XL2 needs it done again, so this advice will be doubly helpful...Jim

I just bought a refurbished Steinberger Spirit, and I find that the tuners are extremely hard to turn. I want to remove the cover over the tuners to lubricate the threads, but I can't figure out how to do that. Not even anything I found on YouTube explains that. Can anyone please tell me how to do that, or point me in the right directions? ...Jim