On loan to The Met The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
XL25 5-String
Steinberger Sound
Martina Michèle "Tina" Weymouth American
Not on view
In 1979, Ned Steinberger introduced the first commercial "headless" electric basses and guitars. He based his minimalist one-piece design on the idea that the larger wooden bodies of traditionally styled electric instruments absorb and deaden too much vibration from the strings, so the most compact body possible would provide the best electric performance. He removed the headstock from the top of the neck to improve balance and relocated the tuners to the bottom of the body. Steinberger’s futuristic L Series was popular with rock musicians in the 1980s, including Sting, Eddie Van Halen, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits. Tina Weymouth bought two of Steinberger’s five-string bases in 1987 or 1988 and used them extensively with the Talking Heads and the Tom Tom Club through the late 1990s.
Technical Description:
Carbon- and glass-fiber reinforced molded plastic body, neck, and fingerboard; 34 in. scale length; black finish; integral neck with zero fret and plastic dot inlays, no headstock; two active EMG humbucking pickups, two volume controls and one tone control; black brass and stainless steel bridge with locking tuners, knobs; double-ball string system, foldable leg rest
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