Headless, fanned frets, *and* tremolo opinions?

bleujazz3 said:
There are good qualities and not so much. The basic take-away from this is that what one gains in quality in one area might be lacking in another.

Case in point:

Body weight: I personally own a Strandberg Sälen Jazz NX6 Natural whose approximate weight is 5 lb. +- 10%. The weight is one of the primary concerns for my purchase. If perhaps you are younger than 50 years old you may not feel the need to own lighter weight guitars. Part of my tone quest the past 5 years has been one of trying to locate gear that prevents back injury. Age 66 y.o. means you gotta pick what health hassle you least want to deal with. Anything that doesn't aggravate my health I'm entirely happy with.

Neck profile: The ErgoDyne neck feels comfortable and as if it were well-played prior to my ownership. The neck is sanded and feels smooth. The angled design is something you get used to quickly. The fact that Strandberg necks lack noted curvature or defined profile really doesn't matter that much. The angled neck is comfortable and easy to play.

Frets: Stainless Steel, Fanned, Tru-Temperment. Most all of Strandberg's designs consist of the fanned tru-temperment frets. There are some entry level and lower cost designs that are straight non-fanned. The stainless steel frets are nicely polished without noticeable fret tang, sharp edges, or snag.

Tuners: Regards tuners, this is where my only concern about tuning easily might occur. The tuners are located as part of the bridge system some with or without a tremolo. Because the hunters are spaced closely together, there might be some slight confusion as to what note one is currently tuning. Simply monitoring your device's tuner as you select your string tuner eventually becomes intuitive, and instead of going with it, you grow with it. Nice, huh?

Pickups: Again, one of the variables that needs improvement. My Sälen Jazz NX6 has Suhr nickel covered Thornbuckers in the neck and bridge. I'm personally satisfied with these. Others may not be so satisfied with uncovered "OEM pickups." The OEMs somewhat define the way a Strandberg sounds, and they typically are higher output wound (hotter sounding) than vintage PAF types.

All in all, Strandberg's R&D team has done most of the preparatory work that has brought a recent upstart company into the view of many progressive artists who seem to be leading the way regards the future of progressive rock, jazz, and fusion. It's interesting to note that because Ola Strandberg has interactively worked with guitarists who can suggest ways of improving the design, Strandberg Guitars has quickly made its way into the mainstream of quality instruments. As Ola refines his build processes, we may see greater variety with greater respect to artistic value. Until that time, Strandberg's price point should not need vary that much for the existing quality already being built into Strandberg's design.
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The OEM humbuckers didn't suit me either.
I'm waiting for the day when Strandberg will produce a Salen Jazz for left-handers!
 
Andy Eagle said:
Is there a Salen Jazz with “ true temperament “ ?
Almost no Strandbergs are true temperament.
This it true temperament;
View attachment 150842
In case you are unsure.
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Realize that you're speaking about an 8-string guitar compared to a fanned 6 or 7 string. TBH, the fret positioning of the 8 string seems misaligned and doesn't lend to its overall look. Because my prefs are only for a 6 string at most, the fret angle of a Strandberg NX6 are better described as this: Mildly fanned and angled favoring the lowering strings. The phrase "tru-temperment" seems more like a marketing ploy designed to describe perfectly angled or fanned frets. That 8 string sorry to say, is like trying to introduce a grizzled old grandpa to the granddaughter's fiancé. I see loads of string twangs and boinks to be had.

dUp1anO.jpg
 
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bleujazz3 said:
Realize that you're speaking about an 8-string guitar compared to a fanned 6 or 7 string. TBH, the fret positioning of the 8 string seems misaligned and doesn't lend to its overall look. Because my prefs are only for a 6 string at most, the fret angle of a Strandberg NX6 are better described as this: Mildly fanned and angled favoring the lowering strings. The phrase "tru-temperment" seems more like a marketing ploy designed to describe perfectly angled or fanned frets. That 8 string sorry to say, is like trying to introduce a grizzled old grandpa to the granddaughter's fiancé. I see loads of string twangs and boinks to be had.

dUp1anO.jpg
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True temperament is a brand name for the bent frets in the picture. It has absolutely nothing to do with the number of strings or fan frets .
 
Lolo-G said:
It improves the accuracy of the instrument, what happens when you bend a string?
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You can’t really hear but it’s not that good.
A guitar intonated on only fretted notes is nearly as good and doesn’t have the issues caused by the bends. Also the bends are only really correct for a particular gauge of string.
 
I have a Strandberg Boden neck-through with Suhr pickups. It's headless, has a great trem, and fanned frets. It stays in tune perfectly despite vigorous whammification. It's probably the best-engineered and best-executed guitar that I have ever played. Everything about it is extremely well thought-out.
I don't always love the look of headless guitars, and modern sculpted body shapes aren't always my thing. But I can tell you that my Strandberg is a playable piece of art that is amazingly responsive and fun to play. I got accustomed to the fanned frets almost immediately; most people who play my guitar tell me they didn't even notice a difference as it's pretty subtle and the shape of the (back of) the neck guides your hand position quite naturally.
 
Sleestak said:
I have a Strandberg Boden neck-through with Suhr pickups. It's headless, has a great trem, and fanned frets. It stays in tune perfectly despite vigorous whammification. It's probably the best-engineered and best-executed guitar that I have ever played. Everything about it is extremely well thought-out.
I don't always love the look of headless guitars, and modern sculpted body shapes aren't always my thing. But I can tell you that my Strandberg is a playable piece of art that is amazingly responsive and fun to play. I got accustomed to the fanned frets almost immediately; most people who play my guitar tell me they didn't even notice a difference as it's pretty subtle and the shape of the (back of) the neck guides your hand position quite naturally.
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Indeed. I have a Prog Neck Through with the Michael Frank pickups and it is a wondrous beast. Others have commented on Strandberg QC issues, but this guitar is pretty much on par with my PRS DGT in terms of build quality, despite being a very different beast in just about every way.
 
OP - you can get used aristides especially if you drive to Toronto, they come up surprisingly often. Northerner Guitars in Edmonton is a dealer as well.
 
Sleestak said:
I have a Strandberg Boden neck-through with Suhr pickups. It's headless, has a great trem, and fanned frets. It stays in tune perfectly despite vigorous whammification. It's probably the best-engineered and best-executed guitar that I have ever played. Everything about it is extremely well thought-out.
I don't always love the look of headless guitars, and modern sculpted body shapes aren't always my thing. But I can tell you that my Strandberg is a playable piece of art that is amazingly responsive and fun to play. I got accustomed to the fanned frets almost immediately; most people who play my guitar tell me they didn't even notice a difference as it's pretty subtle and the shape of the (back of) the neck guides your hand position quite naturally.
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And the trem on the headless bridge doesn't have any issue? Lots of hate out there led me to post this query in the first place
 
Dpoirier said:
And the trem on the headless bridge doesn't have any issue? Lots of hate out there led me to post this query in the first place
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I have a sample size of 1, so I can only speak of my own direct experience. The trem is very stable and stays in tune beautifully. I know a couple of other Strandberg owners who say the same thing about the high level of quality and functionality in these instruments.

That said, I also have read reports of varying QC on some of the (especially lower priced) newer Strandbergs. My guitar isn't a top-of-the-line instrument, but as a neck-through Boden with Suhr pickups, it's probably in the upper third of their production line. I bought mine from Sweetwater, and they perform a detailed examination / setup on instruments before shipping. That may be a factor, but I am quite picky about my guitars and almost always wind up re-doing my setups myself. I'm very pleased with my guitar and find its engineering to be excellent.

There are many other headless / fanned fret options. Aristides, as noted above, are great. I've played a couple of Kiesel guitars that were amazing too.
 
Sleestak said:
I bought mine from Sweetwater, and they perform a detailed examination / setup on instruments before shipping.
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I've read many threads about the 55 point inspection being BS. I think when a guitar comes well set up and in great shape in general it's likely because it came that way from the factory!
 
Andy Eagle said:
I think they meant to say 55 second inspection.
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I don't know what other people have experienced or reported. The several instruments that I have purchased from Sweetwater have all shown up with near-perfect setups. In a couple of cases I have made specific requests when buying guitars, such as the acoustic / electric that I bought a few years back, asking them to set it up in Robert Fripp's "New Standard Tuning" (C G D A E G). I sent them the strings, which are an unusual gauge from top to bottom, and they set it up for me, making the necessary adjustments. If my experience is atypical, then I am glad for my good luck :)
 
Sleestak said:
I don't know what other people have experienced or reported. The several instruments that I have purchased from Sweetwater have all shown up with near-perfect setups. In a couple of cases I have made specific requests when buying guitars, such as the acoustic / electric that I bought a few years back, asking them to set it up in Robert Fripp's "New Standard Tuning" (C G D A E G). I sent them the strings, which are an unusual gauge from top to bottom, and they set it up for me, making the necessary adjustments. If my experience is atypical, then I am glad for my good luck :)
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They deserve credit for this .
 
Not to go too much off-topic, but Phil McKnight (one of the few YouTubers I trust) did an informative video explaining the whole 55-point inspection stuff. Being european, I have never dealt with Sweetwater, so IDK if they've been slacking in the meantime since the video was released.



All I'll say is that the individual 'checkpoints'/the overall process seems a bit too involved to have been just setup once to shoot a video and in reality never doing it. But what the hell do I know?
 
Weirdly enough, of the headless I have played so far, and I have a Boden Essential, and a HILS HN3, the fan fret Strandbergs feel the best to me, I wasn’t expecting that at all. Andy has been showing off those awesome looking Aristedes and I have been eyeing those as well, I will pounce when the time is right. Just looking at the pictures the craftsmanship appears to be flawless and that is something I really can appreciate being a luthier myself.
 
When I was looking to buy my first seven string i found out about Strandberg and they had fanned frets and Endurneck. I figured since I had to adapt to seven strings I might as well get used to all of them “ergonomics “! No regrets! It was no detriment at all! Au contraire!
Mine doesn’t have a Trem (it’s an OS7) so I’ve always “gassed” for a Prog 7! I’d recommend checking them out!
 
I was extremely nervous about buying a first fan fret and no opportunity to try one first. However I find (to both my relief and surprise) my headless Aristides H/0 6 is just the easiest instrument to play and genuinely do not notice the fan fretting. The extra 1" of scale length definitely beneficial in drop D. Ergonomically it's fantastic too .
 
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