Guitar arrived Friday the 9th. Allowed to acclimate until unboxing Saturday. Here are some stock images of how the Strandberg Boden Essential 6 looks.
First impressions:
PROS:
Extraordinarily lightweight, guessing less than 4.5 lbs.
Comfortable sitting on lap with contoured body sculpt at 45º degrees. Will likely need a guitar strap to prevent guitar from sliding off right thigh. Plugging in, output jack is recessed behind back body sculpt, either a right angle or straight plug works well.
Neck contour is multi-angle (meaning, not a smooth taper or curvature). Roasted Maple Neck has a beveled surface for proper thumb positioning, and strangely enough, feels well-played, lightly-oiled, and is comfortable. It's something that feels familiar after a brief while.
OEM pickups are loud! The specs on the pickups return higher resistance values, so these are not considered vintage-style pickups at all. The pickups compared to my other guitars sound full up on volume = 4. Beyond this is louder and more distorted. Have yet to verify tone knob function but estimate similar taper values as the volume.
CONS:
Extra loudness of pickups would suggest a lighter touch or lower FM9 output should follow. Have ordered a set of high quality vintage-sounding pickups for my tastes. Will wait an appropriate time before deciding to swap pickups.
My belly typically causes the Essential 6 body sculpt to slide off my right thigh unless a guitar strap secures it in position. A Strandberg strap was ordered and is either awaiting pickup from my mailbox or has an extra transit day with USPS.
The 5-way toggle switch for the HH pickups seem somewhat substandard (the plastic knob covers one thin piece of bendable metal flange that comprises the switch). Would happily upgrade the 5-way switch to a dual plated or sturdier shaft switch when swapping out the pickups at the same time to consolidate bench costs.
TONE:
Unique, to say the least. The series/parallel switching doesn't add Strat quack as one might expect. Each of the 5 settings sounds equally loud and has its own character, indescribable almost. Bridge, Middle, and Neck HH's sound full. 2 & 4 position are something else, but can't quite explain.
PLAYABILITY:
Very comfortable. Angled 45º degree body sculpt contour allows for better picking posture with less fatigue. Roasted satin-oiled beveled maple neck allows for faster fretting and hand position changes. Neck design takes into account need for sus2 and split triad chording. Beveled neck makes it easier to firmly grasp the neck with thumb. The Strandberg design allows for jazz, fusion, metal, thrash, blues. Typically not thought of for country, bluegrass, folk. Still can play rock, soul, R&B. First thought was Todd Rundgren. Naming my guitar "Rastro."
CARE:
Caring and maintaining the Essential 6 is easier than one might expect, but slightly more difficult because it involves the set of Allen wrenches included with your purchase. Unaware that the wrenches were included no charge, an extra set and 2 sets of locking string metal washers were purchased originally with the guitar. String changes require following the included booklet's instructions, and detuning / string removal requires the Allen wrenches. As an afterthought, I felt that it might be great if the guitar could be displayed on my display wall, but I've yet to locate a DIY video for the hanger installation and instructions. So, for now, my Essential 6 resides in its gigbag. Will check Strandberg Support for the DIY video as well as somefirst time string change walk-throughs.
