this bass had been Ned’s very
first attempt at a composite-construction bass, but unconfirmed rumors floating around
the Steinberger community said
it had been lost or stolen at the
time, and that it had not been
seen again since. This meant
it had been missing in action
for almost 35 years! This tale
reminded me of stories of the
elusive Gibson Moderne guitar,
of which a confirmed example
has never (yet) been found.
Now that I have a business dedicated to my love of
all things Steinberger, many
customers contact me directly
when they have a Steinberger
guitar or bass they are interested
in selling. But I still spend
plenty of time surfing the
web—usually eBay, Craigslist,
or the many internet forums on
guitars and basses.
In early August of 2011, I
came across an internet listing for a supposed Steinberger
bass that looked unlike any
Steinberger I had ever encountered. In fact, the seller apologized in the ad for even using
the term “Steinberger” in the
title, because he was fairly convinced it wasn’t one of Ned’s
designs. He claimed to have
found it at an auction for repossessed storage rental units in
Texas. He posted lots of photos
and described it as very unusual
looking, but said it “sounded
great.” I emailed and asked
him to contact me so we could
discuss the bass in more detail.
After discussing it for a few
minutes, we agreed on a very
reasonable price—well under
$1000! I paid him via PayPal
and asked him to send me the
tracking number when the bass
was on its way.
Of course, I was totally
thrilled—I was fairly sure I’d
just secured a rare Steinberger
prototype at a very low price.
But as the days passed with no
Some of the most obvious design differences between this first Steinberger bass prototype and production models are the rough tex- ture of the composite body and the blade humbuckers.
I’d heard rumors over the years about a missing
Steinberger bass prototype … unconfirmed rumors
floating around the Steinberger community said it
had been lost or stolen at the time, and that
it had not been seen again since.
reply and no tracking num-
ber from the seller, I began
to worry. On the third day, I
emailed him again to see what
was going on. A few hours
later, he replied and said he’d
been combing the internet and
discovered a photograph that
convinced him it was, in fact,
a very rare Steinberger. He
told me he wasn’t willing to
honor his original agreement
and would refund my money.
I was, of course, quite upset—
I’d lost the yeti of bassdom.
The missing link had slipped
through my hands, never to
be seen again. When I asked
the seller what he planned to
do, he said he planned to post
it on eBay for an outrageously
astronomical sum.
