Modern Guitars, Then and Now.

Increase the mass of the bridge and you increase the sustain BUT you reduce the interactivity with the body . I don't think you will get many people putting on heavy high mass tailpieces on vintage les Pauls to improve the tone. The 1996 is a far better balance of tone and sustain and doesn't just sound like a block of brass. Also the performance issues and needless added weight. And yes I've fitted it. It is a one step sideways two steps back design .
 
Andy Eagle said:
The two I want to look at first are the Steinberger GL and the Aristides 060 neither is the companies first offering and my examples are in to the life of both but represent the peak of there potential.
First up Steinberger GL4T;
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This example is a close to mint 89 that has been refreted in 57110 SS Jescar (by me) and has had the neck relief almost removed entirely (also by me) .
The reasons for this are it has no truss rod and the neck does not flex in any way under tension of strings and the amount that was cut in to the neck originally was too much IMO . This and cutting the radius to 20" was also the mods that Allan Holdsworth had done to his GLs
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No. Everyone gives you many good reasons. Today's guitars will not be worth more than the value used today, adjusted for inflation.
 
Good and fair review on the Strandberg, and I agree with a lot there. FWIW I played a new Fusion NX and it sounded better (unplugged, as I prefer Strandberg's MF pickups to Suhrs... why they're not in the new NX guitars, I dunno... another NX downgrade) than the 5(?) Strandbergs I've owned over the years. Strandbergs usually have a tinny unplugged sound which is the primary reason for my love/hate for it (especially annoying on the high E string), but the Fusion NX I played did not at all which was surprising. I want to say it's due to the new revision hardware, but maybe it was the wood on that specific guitar.

I do want to address some items:
Andy Eagle said:
The body is swamp ash (sassafras on the new one, a cheaper ash like wood first used by Leo Fender as a cheaper alternative) with a solid 4A flame top (veneer on the new one). Even the logo is no longer CNC (too risky with the veneer top).
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Apparently they had trouble sourcing sassafras, not due to scarcity but due to supply chain issues, and so they're only going to go with sassafras for the first batch of the new NX guitars. Going back to swamp ash for the following batches.
Andy Eagle said:
Hardware.
This is where it is a bit of an issue.
The hardtail is fine being built in aluminium (good for tone and weight) BUT the tuner falls off after it goes loose in order to put a new string on.
WTF.
This is ridiculous as the teflon washer also just falls off if you are not carful.
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Why the thread isn't longer and you just thread the string through the back is just poor design . You can thread the string in the back now but the fine tuner still comes off far too easily for this to be a method.
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The thread is actually quite long. How much tuner leeway you have depends on where on the thread you started when you first put the new string on. Set it to the middle of the thread once and it should be a non-issue from then on.

https://support.strandbergguitars.com/article/99-everything-you-need-to-know-about-strandberg-tuners
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And... yes, another tiny screw part on the bottom of the tuner. It's not like this one will get lost or anything, but I get the annoyance.
Andy Eagle said:
The Original 6 is far better but with the older hardware. In the first post I detail the difference. The new one also has a slightly revised heel shape, but it doesn't make any difference in practice. The Rev 7 hardware is better though. The new one is a substantial downgrade in the guitar with a heel refinement and some of the shortcomings in the hardware fixed. If it is possible to get I will fit a Rev 7 headpiece.
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The heel shape on the pre-NX Strandberg bolt-ons are ridiculous IMO. They used like twice the length of a normal bolt-on heel joint when the weight and lever it has to support are significantly less. It renders high fret access entirely non-ergonomic, which is... you know. The NX heel shape is much improved and definitely makes a difference in practice for high fret access.
 
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yeky83 said:
Good and fair review on the Strandberg, and I agree with a lot there. FWIW I played a new Fusion NX and it sounded better (unplugged, as I prefer Strandberg's MF pickups to Suhrs... why they're not in the new NX guitars, I dunno... another NX downgrade) than the 5(?) Strandbergs I've owned over the years. Strandbergs usually have a tinny unplugged sound which is the primary reason for my love/hate for it (especially annoying on the high E string), but the Fusion NX I played did not at all which was surprising. I want to say it's due to the new revision hardware, but maybe it was the wood on that specific guitar.

I do want to address some items:

Apparently they had trouble sourcing sassafras, not due to scarcity but due to supply chain issues, and so they're only going to go with sassafras for the first batch of the new NX guitars. Going back to swamp ash for the following batches.

The thread is actually quite long. How much tuner leeway you have depends on where on the thread you started when you first put the new string on. Set it to the middle of the thread once and it should be a non-issue from then on.

https://support.strandbergguitars.com/article/99-everything-you-need-to-know-about-strandberg-tuners
uBJjpaB.png


And... yes, another tiny screw part on the bottom of the tuner. It's not like this one will get lost or anything, but I get the annoyance.

The heel shape on the pre-NX Strandberg bolt-ons are ridiculous IMO. They used like twice the length of a normal bolt-on heel joint when the weight and lever it has to support are significantly less. It renders high fret access entirely non-ergonomic, which is... you know. The NX heel shape is much improved and definitely makes a difference in practice for high fret access.
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Much appreciated.
I personally have no issue with the heel on the original.
The Suhr pickups are definitely not a budget consideration and a bit Hi Fi alnico 5 sounding for me but certainly not enough for me so swap them out. The tuner information is very helpful (thanks.) The guitar I would like to see is a solid swamp ash ( weight selected ) solid maple cap original with roasted neck 57110 SS frets (not just the zero) and the rev 7 hardware. I would also like the neck set deeper in to the body to give a lower strings off the body hight. They could just recess the existing hardware and pickups. You could use the new heel but if you did this it wouldn't need to be an issue either way. This would sound better (not tinny) and be more ergonomic for your picking hand IMO. Also finishing (soft) hardwoods in a thin soft finish is very poor durability cosmetically . The gloss painted models far far better in this resect and if you are going to paint very thin (best for tone ) then the finish needs to be hard to actually take advantage of the thinness from a tone perspective.
 
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Eliziah Smith said:
No. Everyone gives you many good reasons. Today's guitars will not be worth more than the value used today, adjusted for inflation.
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Elaborate please on the first part and the second is just not true. If a famous person plays a particular piece of equipment the desirability and value are vastly changed . 59LP and a Klon are good examples of this.
 
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Oh and it will be the wood as the fundamentals of the hardware are unchanged really ( materials ,mass, part count and basic design .)
Light hollow small bodies rarely sound good acoustically.
 
Andy Eagle said:
The Suhr pickups are definitely not a budget consideration and a bit Hi Fi alnico 5 sounding for me but certainly not enough for me so swap them out.
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Oh yeah, I feel the same way about them and I wouldn't swap them out either. But I do prefer the Strandberg MF pickups, and wanted to point out yet another downgrade with NX cus the MF pickups are priced at twice the Suhr ones.
I would also like the neck set deeper in to the body to give a lower strings off the body hight. They could just recess the existing hardware and pickups. You could use the new heel but if you did this it wouldn't need to be an issue either way. This would sound better (not tinny) and be more ergonomic for your picking hand IMO.
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I didn't know a deeper set neck would have such an effect on the sound! Would it be cus there's more surface area of contact between the neck and body?
 
yeky83 said:
Oh yeah, I feel the same way about them and I wouldn't swap them out either. But I do prefer the Strandberg MF pickups, and wanted to point out yet another downgrade with NX cus the MF pickups are priced at twice the Suhr ones.

I didn't know a deeper set neck would have such an effect on the sound! Would it be cus there's more surface area of contact between the neck and body?
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The deep set neck is about feel not tone. The thing to help the tone would be a solid body.
 
Andy Eagle said:
The deep set neck is about feel not tone. The thing to help the tone would be a solid body.
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Oh, I thought when you wrote "This would sound better (not tinny) and be more ergonomic for your picking hand IMO," you were talking about the neck set. So you were talking about solid swamp ash, got it.
 
They are sending me a head clamp spacer and I will find some better screws as a temporary fix for the head piece until I can fit the NX version .
This may work completely though so I will report back after the work. Also the guitar had a shim under the neck which I discovered when removing it in order to do a very small dress to the last few frets. This is completely unneeded so I removed it. Also on another note is the neck pocket is an unnecessarily tight interference fit. I know some builders sell this as a precision thing and I get that but in practice I find it just makes cracks in the finish more likely during differential expansion over time. This isn't a quality issue but it should be something to stop inexperienced people trying to remove it for any reason.
Also for those players that like to practice unplugged this guitar is extremely sensitive to the pick you chose in its acoustic tone. If it sounds thin and plinky use a heavy jazz pick and the tone is completely different.
 
I still need to do the Suhr Modern ,IMO the least modern guitar ever to pretend it wasn't. And Finally the Fender Broadcaster/ Telecaster, the most modern guitar ever made. Name one other instrument that is played in pretty much every genre of music and accepted by the players and audiences without question in all circumstances ?
 
Andy Eagle said:
I still need to do the Suhr Modern ,IMO the least modern guitar ever to pretend it wasn't. And Finally the Fender Broadcaster/ Telecaster, the most modern guitar ever made. Name one other instrument that is played in pretty much every genre of music and accepted by the players and audiences without question in all circumstances ?
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Strat, LP, SG? :p
 
Andy Eagle said:
They are sending me a head clamp spacer and I will find some better screws as a temporary fix for the head piece until I can fit the NX version .
This may work completely though so I will report back after the work. Also the guitar had a shim under the neck which I discovered when removing it in order to do a very small dress to the last few frets. This is completely unneeded so I removed it. Also on another note is the neck pocket is an unnecessarily tight interference fit. I know some builders sell this as a precision thing and I get that but in practice I find it just makes cracks in the finish more likely during differential expansion over time. This isn't a quality issue but it should be something to stop inexperienced people trying to remove it for any reason.
Also for those players that like to practice unplugged this guitar is extremely sensitive to the pick you chose in its acoustic tone. If it sounds thin and plinky use a heavy jazz pick and the tone is completely different.
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I tried to remove the neck on a Strandberg, and just gave up when it wouldn't even budge out of the neck joint with moderate pressure. How do you manage with tight neck joints, is it just a matter of experience and being careful or are there some tricks/rules that help? I have a neck-thru model now so it doesn't matter anymore, but just wondering.

And I already use heavy jazz or triangle picks as is with other guitars, so Strandbergs usually sound thin in comparison. Not the case though with the neck-thru I have currently or the Fusion NX I recently played, but still on some days I'm more sensitive and have to switch guitars.
 
yeky83 said:
I tried to remove the neck on a Strandberg, and just gave up when it wouldn't even budge out of the neck joint with moderate pressure. How do you manage with tight neck joints, is it just a matter of experience and being careful or are there some tricks/rules that help? I have a neck-thru model now so it doesn't matter anymore, but just wondering.

And I already use heavy jazz or triangle picks as is with other guitars, so Strandbergs usually sound thin in comparison. Not the case though with the neck-thru I have currently or the Fusion NX I recently played, but still on some days I'm more sensitive and have to switch guitars.
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It is mostly just experience . You need to support everything and lift the neck straight up out of the pocket gently ,slowly and getting the leverage purely from your hands. I tend to place my thumb against the side of the neck (where the logo is on this) and my fingers firmly against the other side of the neck (in the cutaway). Then place your other thumb next to the other one but this hand (on the neck side) has your fingers hooked underneath . Now between the two you can get quite a lot of controlled leverage against your thumbs while supporting the neck to keep it dead straight and lift it up out. This neck fit is not a benefit in tone just a PITA and likely to crack the finish.
 
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