Talk me out of (or into) buying a Strandberg Guitar

I just deleted a long comment defending Strandberg and explaining why I love my 2022 Boden Prog NX6, but decided to just say do your research about the type of design you’re considering and I think Strandberg’s manufacturing is top notch for a production guitar. Some of the best “bang for the buck” guitars are coming from Indonesia. This is coming from someone who owns 3 Core PRS. If you’re an experienced player and understand what you’re buying I think you’ll be quite happy like 99% of the rest of the Strandberg owners.
 
I like strandbergs a lot. But I believe they're overpriced. I have 2. One odd thing I've noticed is I tend to break strings at the bridge faster on a strandberg than any other guitar. Maybe it's the design of the saddle, or my saddles might have a sharp edge, or maybe I'm just playing harder.
 
In case anyone hasn’t figured it out yet, but there has been a planned economic reset and we can all expect to pay on average 20% more for anything of quality going forward. It won’t go back to 4 years ago so adjust your cost expectations accordingly. Depending on where a company was at in their product line and development in the last two or 3 years years this increase will show itself sooner. It will eventually show itself everywhere. Sucks for sure
 
I have a Strandberg Boden neck-through, and it's amazing. I bought it on a whim, just wondering what all the hype was about, and knew I could resell it if I didn't bond with it. The Endurneck and multiscale frets are great, and required almost zero adjustment time. I don't really love the headless guitar aesthetic, and I doubt I'll buy another headless. But the Boden is neck and neck with my Suhr as being the best-crafted guitars that I own. I feel pretty comfortable taking the Boden as my carry-on guitar for fly dates, which I don't do with the Suhr; it's just the relative size of the instruments in their gig bags... the Boden is much more compact. Also, on the Boden, if I even think about wanting a note to feedback, it seems to magically sustain and soar up an octave. It's incredibly controllable for high-gain work.
 
unix-guy said:
@RoshRoslin - another option would be Kiesel. They've got the Vader, the Holdsworth and other headless options.

The Holdsworth looks smaller than Strandberg...
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The Kiesel Holdsworth is a poor look alike of what it was originally. It should have a very particular chambering and a Headless Research XS trem not the solid body and Hipshot it has now. It sounds nothing like it did and they should not be allowed to even call it the "Holdsworth model ". Allan didn't play a solid body after the SG. His Strats where swimming pool routed as was the Ibanez and GL2Ts are hollow too.The Carvin model has the chambering of the DeLap guitars.
 
zedeloc said:
I like strandbergs a lot. But I believe they're overpriced. I have 2. One odd thing I've noticed is I tend to break strings at the bridge faster on a strandberg than any other guitar. Maybe it's the design of the saddle, or my saddles might have a sharp edge, or maybe I'm just playing harder.
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Where exactly do they break? The saddle design does tend to end up with an over sharp contact point in the string groove .
 
Love my Boden Metal 6. Would prefer a Jackson neck profile on it, but aside from that it’s a phenomenal instrument.
 
zedeloc said:
I like strandbergs a lot. But I believe they're overpriced. I have 2. One odd thing I've noticed is I tend to break strings at the bridge faster on a strandberg than any other guitar. Maybe it's the design of the saddle, or my saddles might have a sharp edge, or maybe I'm just playing harder.
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You should have that looked at by a guitar tech - should be an easy fix.
 
Just received a B Stock Standard NX6 a couple days ago. Clearly in a honeymoon period, but it doesn't take me more than an hour to know if a guitar is going to work for me or not, my thoughts:

Good Things:

- Endurneck is genius. I can totally understand how some will absolutely hate it, especially those who play for a more non-traditional technique or like to play their guitar slung very low, but for me it's pretty amazing and I'm kinda surprised no one thought of it before. The trapezoidal shape both forces the thumb into more proper position yet at the same time allows a more firm anchor point for certain chord shapes/hand position and the offset just seems to work and flow naturally. It took me maybe 10 minutes to get used to.

- Pickups and switching are extremely versatile and all positions sound great. Of note, you give up a dual humbucker setting but it provides inner coils, outer coils, and neck split options. Of note the inner coils offer a very, very good Strat #2 position emulation best I've had in a guitar without a middle pickup and the neck hum split sounds very much like a Strat neck single coil. I'm not sure if they are maybe doing half splits or something tricky/complex but all the split options sound very...normal. Most guitars I've had with split coil options sound thin and weak in comparison to the humbuckers requiring very different presets/amp setting to take advantage of both, not the case here. And mine has their OEM pickups not the premium Suhr models.

-Lightest guitar I've owned. I can't think of a lighter guitar I've even played with the exception of maybe a Parker Fly back in the day.

- Awesome backpack style gigbag. The zipper has a rubber cover over it to help keep water out, there's extra internal material around the headstock and down around the controls to help prevent wear, and a nice sized outer pocket.

Meh Things:

- I have a Harley Benton Dullahan headless as well, and one thing the Benton actually does slightly better is include thrust bearings in their tuners making tuner action incredibly smooth and easy. The Strandberg has some sort of plastic or maybe Teflon washer which has more friction. I was actually kinda shocked that they weren't employing the types of washers used in the Benton and will absolutely be upgrading them on the Strandberg at some point. My only real disappointment in the guitar.

- Side marker location past the 12th fret is kinda weird. I've been playing so long that I rarely use visual markers, just thought it odd. I think it has to do with the fanned frets, but if one relies on side markers significantly it would definitely take some getting used to.

- Very thin matte finish. Some people love them and think it let's their guitar "breath" or something, but I would've preferred a slightly thicker (don't care it it's gloss necessarily) finish which I think would provide a bit more protection from small scuffs scratches.

- Volume pot texture feels just a little rough. Nothing that I'd call sharp, just feels like it wasn't from the "A" batch.

So are they overpriced? Maybe. It boils down to the Endurneck as that's the one thing you just can not get anywhere else. I have a PRS SE Custom 24 as well which is a $950 vs $1,645 for the Standard 6 non B stock. In addition to the Endurneck I feel tonally the Strandberg is a much more versatile guitar as the split options on the PRS are near useless stock and even after updating it to match the 5-Way switching of the regular Custom 24 it's no match for the Strandberg. On the flip side I feel the finish of the Custom 24 is much better than the Strandberg and access to the 24th fret is better given the Strandberg's neck joins around the 15th fret vs the PRS weird heel thing starting around the 18th (I think a neck though Strandberg would be an absolute dream).
 
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Sorry to jump off topic, but what kind of gig bag comes with the Harley Benton Dullahan?
Also, how’s the neck and fretwork on the Dullahan?
I’ve thought about getting one for a travel guitar.
 
RoshRoslin said:
Hey All,
I've been doing some international travel to work with clients over in Europe and the UK. I have more travel on the horizon and am looking into better options for a travel guitar. I've toured all over using standard guitars. Both Les Pauls and Fender style guitars. Usually begging for the guitar to go into an overhead, storage/wardrobe locker etc. I'm currently in London with my Suhr Modern in a mono vertigo ultra gig bag. I got lucky and did the usual things like catching the last flight out of LA, checking in online as early as possible to not get seated in the last rows etc. Checked luggage has been clothing with either an FM3, a tech21 flyrig or sometimes even an Axe FX 3. I always travel with everything in various size pelican and pelican air cases

I'm looking ahead and trying to see if a Strandberg model may be something I can rely on in the future. Most of the smaller international airlines already force you to check even carry-on sized luggage and with it being small format, it has more of the "violin" vibe and may even count as a personal item or just fit much easier in overhead bins.

So, just seeing what everyone's experience has been in terms of travel with these guitars. I'm currently looking at the Alex Machacek signature model or some variant of it. Price isn't an issue and while the look may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's not a concern of mine. I'm just looking to avoid bringing my Les Pauls and Suhrs on the road for the forseeable future.
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Rosh - DO IT!
I've just jumped on the .strandberg* train as of this year, and it's EPIC! Boden+ NX* true temperament frets, and an NX6.
the playability is very similar to Suhr's Modern with the "thinner" neck nut-wise :p (vs my Ibanez's), and the Suhr SSH's are sooo familiar on my boden NX6 - get the spank and crunch altogether. you won't regret it.
my Mono bags and Suhr's are so sad now :p
Endure necks are so easy to transition to..... i also love how the guitar sits on me when standing/performing - for the record i also use the strandberg guitar straps
 
GitGuy513 said:
I just deleted a long comment defending Strandberg and explaining why I love my 2022 Boden Prog NX6, but decided to just say do your research about the type of design you’re considering and I think Strandberg’s manufacturing is top notch for a production guitar. Some of the best “bang for the buck” guitars are coming from Indonesia. This is coming from someone who owns 3 Core PRS. If you’re an experienced player and understand what you’re buying I think you’ll be quite happy like 99% of the rest of the Strandberg owners.
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^^^this right there! 👏 👏
 
eddyrox said:
Rosh - DO IT!
I've just jumped on the .strandberg* train as of this year, and it's EPIC! Boden+ NX* true temperament frets, and an NX6.
the playability is very similar to Suhr's Modern with the "thinner" neck nut-wise :p (vs my Ibanez's), and the Suhr SSH's are sooo familiar on my boden NX6 - get the spank and crunch altogether. you won't regret it.
my Mono bags and Suhr's are so sad now :p
Endure necks are so easy to transition to..... i also love how the guitar sits on me when standing/performing - for the record i also use the strandberg guitar straps
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I have and original 6 and I don't think the multi scale adds anything. Fair on a 7 plus string but not a 6 and not how it is.
 
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