Eart Headless

[John A.]

I'm looking for a guitar to travel with and am contemplating a headless with a bolt-on. I'm thinking that when disassembled it should easily fit in a carry-on backpack (I'd like to avoid having to carry it in a separate case in order to limit the number of bags I'm carrying). I stumbled on these:

Amazon.com , which have some good (and detailed) reviews. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone here has encountered one of these in person and has any thoughts one way or the other. I'd also look at other options, but want to keep things at or under this price point ($389 + free shipping from Amazon), and want something that can be broken down to a smaller size. I've also looked at the Strobel, but they're a bit more than I want to spend (and the ergonomics of the body seem worse than the Eart). My guess is that a Steinberger Spirit is better quality, but not a bolt-on, so it would need to be carried separately.

[marcwhy]

Budget??

[John A.]

Budget??

$400 or less if possible.

[st.bede]

I have a Steinberger Spirit. It is pretty small. I do not fly often, so I have never taken it on a plane. I think it might fit into a backpack. Being one piece of wood makes it pretty strong.

I was unhappy with the PUs. I put in some Barts, and a dual tone knob, so the HBs, and SC see the right pots. Sounds really good.

I have used it for gigs. The biggest downside so far has been the wired comments I get from people. The one that bothered me the most was, “where did you find a toy guitar”.

My friend and full time gigging musician, liked my guitar so much, he bought one himself. However, he does freely tell me that I am crazy for dropping in more expensive PUs then the guitar itself. My argument is, if I going to play it, I want it to work best. If I am not going to use it, then I woild just sell it.

I often take my Steinberger and my ZT lunchbox, and a couple pedals on vacations. Easy to pack, easy to move, and sounds great.

[GuyBoden]

I have a Steinberger Spirit. It is pretty small. I do not fly often, so I have never taken it on a plane. I think it might fit into a backpack. Being one piece of wood makes it pretty strong.

I was unhappy with the PUs. I put in some Barts, and a dual tone knob, so the HBs, and SC see the right pots. Sounds really good.

I have used it for gigs. The biggest downside so far has been the wired comments I get from people. The one that bothered me the most was, “where did you find a toy guitar”.

My friend and full time gigging musician, liked my guitar so much, he bought one himself. However, he does freely tell me that I am crazy for dropping in more expensive PUs then the guitar itself. My argument is, if I going to play it, I want it to work best. If I am not going to use it, then I woild just sell it.

I often take my Steinberger and my ZT lunchbox, and a couple pedals on vacations. Easy to pack, easy to move, and sounds great.

I had trouble playing the Steinberger Spirit while seated, it just didn't sit right for me, so I sold it.

[John A.]

I have a Steinberger Spirit. It is pretty small. I do not fly often, so I have never taken it on a plane. I think it might fit into a backpack. Being one piece of wood makes it pretty strong.

I was unhappy with the PUs. I put in some Barts, and a dual tone knob, so the HBs, and SC see the right pots. Sounds really good.

I have used it for gigs. The biggest downside so far has been the wired comments I get from people. The one that bothered me the most was, “where did you find a toy guitar”.

My friend and full time gigging musician, liked my guitar so much, he bought one himself. However, he does freely tell me that I am crazy for dropping in more expensive PUs then the guitar itself. My argument is, if I going to play it, I want it to work best. If I am not going to use it, then I woild just sell it.

I often take my Steinberger and my ZT lunchbox, and a couple pedals on vacations. Easy to pack, easy to move, and sounds great.

My goal here is "least cost and least effort for something playable I can pack as compactly as possible." The whole project is very much in the realm of "nice to have" rather than "need to have". The last thing I'm going to do is invest in pickup swaps. The second to last thing I'm going to do is worry about what others think of this (or any other) guitar's appearance.

[raymoan]

This gets pretty good reviews on Youtube, and the price is right: $240. The poor man's Strandberg Salen Jazz.


Amazon.com

[John A.]

This gets pretty good reviews on Youtube, and the price is right: $240. The poor man's Strandberg Salen Jazz.


Amazon.com

I saw that one too. It has a fairly high percentage of negative reviews (3 stars or less) reporting various defects, which gives me pause. The Eart looks to be to do better in that regard (consistent with costing more). Was kind of hoping for first-hand accounts here.

[Alter]

The Steinberger Spirit is pretty good, i 've used mine for years without problems, playing for hours per week in lessons, and lots of theater gigs also. It used to be much cheaper though. Never changed anything in mine except getting a small cheap addon from Thomann that lets you use ordinary strings with it (and not double ball ones).

[0zoro]

I saw that one too. It has a fairly high percentage of negative reviews (3 stars or less) reporting various defects, which gives me pause. The Eart looks to be to do better in that regard (consistent with costing more). Was kind of hoping for first-hand accounts here.

I exchanged with a fellow who ordered the Latitude headless. He told me that he finally got a good guitar after 3 or 4 exchanges due to poor construction. I have unfortunately lost the messenger thread and cant find better detail but it did put me off ordering from Latitude.

[Litterick]

Is an eart a headless heart?

[Jimmy blue note]

I had trouble playing the Steinberger Spirit while seated, it just didn't sit right for me, so I sold it.

When my friend retired from teaching at a music school, the pandemic closed the school and the Steinberger he'd played was locked in his office and he couldn't get to it. I found one on line that was cheap enough that I could get the guitar, a Duncan pickup and a Performaxe guitar lift that solved the problem of the admittedly awkward body shape resting on the leg.
It turned out to be a really good solution and he enjoyed that guitar set-up until he passed away. It was tiny within the bag, sounded great and he played serious music on it...and it was cheap. I found his guitar on Ebay. If you can find one, the Hohner version is also very good.

[st.bede]

I had trouble playing the Steinberger Spirit while seated, it just didn't sit right for me, so I sold it.

Makes sense. I always use a foot stool. Sometimes when a guitar does not sit right, I try using a strap. Sometimes that work, sometimes not.

As I have aged, I think that the foot stool might be contributing to some pain. I now get up and stretch, and often walk around a little, between segments of practice. However, I am still trying to figure out what is causing some mid to lower body muscle pain. As long as the alternative to aging is worse, I am going to keep doing the aging thing, but it sucks.