The Steinberger KB trem was used on several guitars in the late 1980ies (Gibson, Epiphone, Hohner, and maybe others). If you own such a guitar, then the photo below most likely displays what your tremolo looks like. I‘m pretty sure that almost all of them suffer from the “bent posts syndrome”. Due to the weakness of a component (the posts and the pedestal they‘re mounted on), the trem doesn’t work as it should, intonation of the guitar is way off, and – if at all – you can play the guitar with a locked trem. If this is the case and you want to fix it, you should download the PDF linked below, explaining the problem… and the solution.

NEW: another weak part of this trem is the spring tension adjuster, a combination of a threaded bolt and a moving plate which compresses the spring. On many trems the thread on either the bolt or the plate is stripped. Once this happens, you cannot adjust the spring tension, which also leads to an unusable trem. You may continue to use it only in locked mode (as a fixed bridge)… or get a new, improved spring tension adjuster :-)

I also wrote a little setup guide for this trem, explaining the function (and the internals) of the lever for setting the spring tension. I have combined those (previously separate) documents into one. If you want to fix or just set up your trem and don‘t know how, download the new, combined PDF (updated May 01, 2012). It contains installation instructions for the posts, the spring tension adjuster and finally, setup instructions. Make sure you have read and understood all the information given, before starting to work on your trem :-)

Steinberger KB Trem Repair and Setup Instructions (English)

Steinberger KB Trem Reparatur- und Einstellanleitung (Deutsch)

Steinberger KB Trem - Original Instructions (scan)

For more information (also about how to get the parts), just send me an e-mail.