Founded by industrial designer Ned Steinberger in Brooklyn, New York, Steinberger revolutionized electric guitar and bass design with its iconic headless instruments. After studying sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art, Steinberger began designing instruments in 1975 while working in a Brooklyn woodworking co-op. The first prototype, the L2 bass, debuted at the NAMM summer show and caught immediate attention for its radical departure from traditional instrument design — a compact, rectangular body with no headstock, constructed entirely from a proprietary graphite and carbon-fiber composite known as the "Steinberger Blend." The L2 was followed by the GL guitar in 1982, and in 1984 the brand introduced the TransTrem, a patented transposing vibrato system that maintains proper string-to-string intervals while shifting pitch, allowing players to transpose entire chords with the tremolo bar.

Steinberger instruments gained widespread adoption across genres throughout the 1980s, with players like Eddie Van Halen, Mark Knopfler, Geddy Lee, Allan Holdsworth, Sting, David Gilmour, and Tina Weymouth all embracing the distinctive headless design. Bassist Tony Levin of King Crimson and John Entwistle of The Who were among the first to receive L2 prototypes. Gibson acquired the company in 1987, and production eventually moved to Nashville, Tennessee. The Spirit Collection, introduced in 1992, brought the headless concept to a wider audience with more affordable all-wood construction. The Spirit line, featuring models like the GT-PRO Deluxe guitar and XT-2 bass, remains the core of Steinberger's current catalog and is popular among traveling musicians for its compact size.

Steinberger has 51 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Solid Body Electric Guitars, Electric Basses, and Extended Range Guitars. Their gear is featured by 124 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock, Pop, and Electronic. Notable users include Humberto Gessinger, Buck Dharma, and David Gilmour. Most Steinberger products fall in the mid-tier range — professional-grade without flagship pricing.