SPECTOR

Two members of the Brooklyn Woodworkers Co-operative, Stuart Spector and Alan Charney, established Spector Guitars in 1976. The initial SB-1 bass and G-1 guitar both featured neck-through-body design. Another member of the co-op was Ned Steinberger, who was designing and building furniture. Stuart began searching for a new bass design and Ned offered to assist. Ned built a prototype bass that would influence bass guitar design forever. He designed the NS-1 bass. "The idea of attaching the body parts at an angle and then curving the top was intended to give the instrument a more attractive appearance, and the compound curve on the back is for comfort," states Ned. It was this prototype instrument more than any other that set the stage for my work in musical instrument design. The curved body Spector NS was an instant classic. The NS-1 was updated to the two pickup NS-2, and bolt-on neck versions(NS-1B and NS-2JA) were added to the line in 1982.
Spector sold the company to Kramer Music Products in 1985. Kramer continued to produce the NS-2 bass, and introduced the first imported Spector basses, including the NS-2A, In June, 1987, Stuart debuted the NS-5 5-string bass for Kramer production. All production ceased when Kramer went into bankruptcy in 1989.
Stuart Spector´s current company, Stuart Spector Designs, Ldt, introduced the new SD bass series in 1991 under the "SSD" name. In December 1992 SSD relaunched the NS bass series.
The Gibson Guitar Corp. purchased the Kramer trademark in 1997, and Stuart Spector Designs purchased the rights to the Spector trademark. All instruments since 1997 sport the original "SS" logo (company information courtesy Stuart Spector).