NS – Tales from the Shop

We’re very excited to invite you to subscribe and join us as we share our NS Design – Tales from the Shop.

Tales from the shop is an ongoing series of stories from Ned Steinberger’s workshop. Join us as we tell the stories behind the designs and ongoing innovations. Think of it as an all-access pass to the creative processes, inspirations, and relationships that led to some of our most innovative and boundary-pushing guitars, basses, and bowed-stringed instruments

Our first series was inspired by this picture Ned took of a Spector NS2 bass beside his latest NS Design FIN Bass. The Spector was the first instrument Ned ever designed. The FIN guitars and basses are the very latest. 

You can follow along with regular emails from NS Design or head over to Substack and subscribe to the Stack.

From First to FIN

Part 1 – Getting to First Bass

Picture yourself sitting in the courtyard of the old Ansonia Clock building. You’re hanging out, having lunch with your friends in the Brooklyn Woodworkers Co-op. Stuart Spector is a young luthier trying to make a name for himself. He’s having some success, but it’s slow in coming. The discussion turns to basses, and twenty-seven-year-old Ned Steinberger, who had never designed an instrument before, asked Stuart if he could take a shot at coming up with something.

Ned put pen to paper. He may not have known about instruments, but he knew about comfort and ergonomics. He took Stuart’s bass design, which was flat and wide, curved (radiused) the body, and shrunk the size. Next, he carved out a proof-of-concept from discarded pieces of old Spector basses.

All that was left was to create a prototype, which came to life in March, 1977. 

Prakash John, of the Alice Cooper band, bought one of the first. Tens of thousands of other players have bought them since. Ned’s first instrument design is the cornerstone of the Spector line to this day. 

If that had been the end of Ned’s instrument design story, it would still be a great one, but he was only just barely getting started…

Stay tuned for Part 2. of Tales from the Shop

“Mass vs Rigidity – lifeboats to guitars”

Learn more about Ned’s new NS FIN Bass Guitar!

NS – Tales from the Shop

An ongoing series of stories from Ned Steinberger’s workshop. The stories behind the designs and ongoing innovations. An all-access pass to the creative processes, inspirations, and relationships that led to some of our most innovative and boundary-pushing guitars, basses, and bowed-stringed instruments. Follow on Substack!