Steinberger is a series of distinctive electric guitars and bass guitars, designed and originally manufactured by Ned Steinberger. The name "Steinberger" can be used to refer to either the instruments themselves or the company that originally produced them. Although the name has been applied to a variety of instruments, it is primarily associated with a minimalist "headless" design of electric basses and guitars. History The first Steinberger basses were produced in 1979 in Brooklyn, New York by Ned Steinberger, essentially alone. While attempting to source materials in an industrial area of New York City, he visited Lane Marine, a lifeboat builder, where he met with Bob Young, an engineer with deep knowledge of carbon fiber. Though Young was more than twice Steinberger’s age and had no experience with musical instruments, he joined forces with Steinberger after getting great feedback from his son, Gary Young, a recording engineer and the original drummer for Pavement, who took to the instrument and understood the appeal of its construction. A company, Steinberger Sound, was duly set up to manufacture the basses and later the guitars on a larger scale at Newburgh, New York. The company was eventually sold to Gibson in 1987, although Steinberger remained part of the company for some time. Gibson still retains rights over the "Steinberger" name, precluding Ned Steinberger from calling his new instruments "Steinbergers". Ned Steinberger has operated a company called "NS Design" since 1990 and produces electric violin family instruments: double basses, cellos, viola, violin. All of these instruments have a number of interesting innovations in materials and design. An NS Bass Guitar (headless) was added later to the production line. With changing musical fashions and the complex manufacturing and inordinately high prices putting off buyers and producer alike, Gibson stopped selling Steinberger guitars in the mid-1990s. Enthusiasm for the instruments has now revived to a sufficient extent that they are again being produced and sold, although the newer versions share few commonalities with the original "Newburgh" designs. The latest Gibson/Steinberger line, known collectively as the Synapse line, are produced in South Korea. This comprises two guitar models and one bass guitar model. The new instruments are part wood and part graphite composite, and are not interchangeable with the original Steinberger guitars. The two guitar models most resemble the original Steinbergers with rectangular bodies only slightly larger than the originals. One of the guitar models, the Trans Scale