Eddie Van Halen and Steinberger GL2T

Eddie Van Halen debuted his Steinberger GL2T headless guitar during the 1986–1987 Live Without a Net tour supporting the 5150 album, using it on songs like “Summer Nights” and “Get Up.” During the early days of Ned Steinberger’s groundbreaking headless guitar project, La Bella Strings developed the specialized double-ball-end strings that helped bring his revolutionary design to life.

In the early days of Ned Steinberger’s revolutionary headless guitar project, La Bella Strings developed specialized strings that helped bring his innovative design to life. In 1979, Richard Cocco Jr. met with Ned Steinberger at the La Bella string factory. Ned explained the considerable challenges he faced in convincing other string makers to embrace his revolutionary headless guitar concept. Richard, however, immediately recognized the potential of Steinberger’s groundbreaking design and what it could mean for the future of the electric guitar. 

During the early days of Ned Steinberger’s groundbreaking headless guitar project, La Bella Strings developed the specialized double-ball-end strings that helped bring his revolutionary design to life. Unlike a conventional vibrato, the TransTrem could shift all the strings’ pitch together while preserving their relative tuning intervals. It gave Eddie a distinctive way to create dramatic pitch movements and unusual musical textures.

A lasting recording legacy: The Steinberger is associated with five Van Halen tracks: “Summer Nights,” “Get Up,” “Pleasure Dome,” “Fire in the Hole,” and “Me Wise Magic.