I agree with pretty much all of this. It seems like strandberg has been going downhill since the OS line. Prices are up, options are missing, and the competition never looked more appealing. Glad I stuck while the iron was hot with my Strandys. The current lineup is a total mess.
Not yet, but it's on my list! Happy to see most of the new guitars they've launched, still just waiting for the 7 string neck through model lol Do you have one of the neck through's?
Yes, I finally pulled the trigger on one of the new ones they just offered. Your reviews help make the decision. Most money I've spent on a guitar. I'm loving it. @@aminorerror
I just recently traded for an NX Plini, and everything about the guitar is superb. I would be inclined to think that maybe they had to limit things a little to transfer into the new NX line. And more colors/variety are currently in the works. This is a pretty young guitar company that has grown rather quickly. Things won’t always be perfect.
I agree that they're a young company that's grown fast...but I disagree strongly that we as consumers should tolerate subpar products, especially as the cheapest 'berg is the better part of 2k. At that price there's no excuses for weak QC, especially as the OS guitars built in Korea were exceptional. Since the move to Indonesia there's been far more issues with QC. Thanks for watching!
I currently own six Strandys (Standard 6 SSH trem, Standard NX 6 trem, Plini Neck-Thru, Fusion NX, Prog Neck-Thru, and Prog NX 7). I never intended to keep all of them--it was just a process to find the ones I really want to keep and sell the rest. Here are my thoughts on Strandberg guitars: Strandberg right now feels like a company where the leadership is caught between its long-held ideals and the pressure from investors. Some decisions benefit the customers, some only benefit the bottom line, and some satisfy both needs (such as the RESQ:D line). Subjectively, I'm glad they offered an SSH for the Standard line, because I needed an SSH and I much prefer the finish in the Standard line than the Classic line with the pickguard. My Standard NX 6 trem with the flamed Maple is gorgeous. The change to the logo from laser-cut to foiled is kinda double-edge for me. The old logo while was cool, when the light source is directly from the front or very diffused, it becomes hard to see because there isn't enough shadow in the recessed area to provide contrast. The new foiled logo while may not look as three dimensional, is clearly visible in any situation. The ideal solution was to do both (putting color inside of the laser cut recessed portion), but I guess that would be too expensive. The homogenization of the models and pickup choices does seem strange, because like you said, it becomes just a choice of cosmetics in some situations. Personally, I feel like Strandberg as a concept, fits the custom or semi-custom business model much better, where you can choose your finish and pickups and bridge type. There's J-custom but they're much more expensive and not easily accessible. Something like what Kiesel is doing would be amazing for Strandberg customers. The new NX neck heel joint, which is an improvement, is still not as good as some other bolt-on neck guitars with superior upper fret access. I have an Eart W1, which is basically a cheap Chinese knockoff of Strandberg, but with different hardware and a normal neck profile and not multiscale. The neck heel joint on that is so much more comfortable and doesn't impede access even to the highest fret, making it unnecessary to also have a neck-thru model. If a cheap Chinese knock-off can figure out how to do a neck heel-joint that well, why can't Strandberg? Another gripe I have is the choice of finishes. Some of the colors they went with--I can't see how most people would prefer those. IMO, it's better to keep the most popular colors as a permanent lineup, and then periodically release the less popular colors as limited editions, for those who happen to prefer those less popular colors. Personally, the natural flamed and quilted maple tops are my favorites and they're what I think of when I think Strandberg. I always wanted that finish but couldn't get any, but I was lucky that the recent release of the natural maple tops as "rare" finishes gave me the chance to grab a Standard NX trem and a Prog NX 7 in flamed maple. Last thing I want to say, is the refurbished models are great deals, because almost everyone who bought one said it was like getting a brand new one and couldn't detect anything that's lesser in quality. Two of mine are refurb models, and although one of them had a tremolo bridge that was installed crooked, they had me ship it back for free to be adjusted, and the other one was in pristine condition.
Although I completely agree with you on how the changes are not in a good direction, I'm just too distracted by the amazing background music... What song is playing at the 1-minute mark and what song is playing during the outro?
THANK YOU! The background music is a mix of a bunch of demos that I've written for various guitar reviews through the years, the one at the minute mark was for a D'Angelico review (that bombed...it got basically no views. Sigh.) and the one in the outro was from a review of a Donner Strat clone....that didn't get many views either! Sometimes that's the way it goes, I'm glad you really liked them! The D'Angelico track I was particularly fond of and would up turning it into a fully developed track called 'Peanut' that I'll be releasing on Spotify/Apple Music ect some time in the fall probably. Hope you'll stop back and hear it in it's final form. Thanks again for the kind words!
Not the mention the very few color choices, or repeated finishes over and over. Of the recent releases, the Chameleon NX and the ResQ finally come out to freshen up the line up with some nice colors. But then you can't get them because they're SUPER limited, so that's fun. Not to mention, if you really like trems with maple necks *I come from an RG550 lifestyle* you mainly have fixed bridge options, or HSS with trems. They could at least make a fusion model with a Maple neck.
I picked up the sälen jazz at launch after waiting nearly 5 years for a strandberg that fit my vibe, and it’s an amazing guitar. I also believe that people are simply a bit more critical on this stuff because we don’t really have another recent example of an innovator coming into the industry as a custom brand and fully scaling into production models at this level. Even 5 years ago it was quite hard to get your hands on a strandberg, and to a degree it still is, but it’s a lot better than it used to be. Their prices are undeniably high, but it comes with the territory. If you are using custom hardware, patented designs like endurneck, and are simply not able to use the general manufacturing shortcuts, your guitars are going to be pretty pricey. For me a strandberg is effectively priceless since the endurneck made guitar playable again after a few difficult periods with carpal tunnel, but that isn’t necessarily true for everyone. Ultimately though it comes down to what you are looking for. If you want a cheaper headless there are some strong options available at this point below the 1000 dollar range. They won’t have an endurneck but basically everything else will be there. The NX line definitely felt like a transition period for the company, but I do think it will work out in time. Strandberg taking years to get everything locked in is arguably the norm, and always has been. To be clear, my one strandberg is enough for me. It’s an undeniably fantastic guitar, but I played one guitar for 13 years before I bought the strandberg. I’m not exactly someone who collects instruments, which my wallet is happy about.
Thanks for watching, and congrats on the Salen Jazz, those look really cool! Unfortunately I def agree about dealing with subpar QC and issues from the company though, the truth of it is the OS series that was made in Korea were outstanding instruments and most of the current QC issues stem from moving production to a new factory in Indonesia instead of sticking with the Cort factory they were using before. That makes the current issues an overseas outsourcing issue and that's just not acceptable at the prices that strandberg is asking. Pair that with the price gouge of $700 for just a pickup upgrade when they stepped the Classic model up to NX specs initially and there's plenty to be criticized fairly over bad business practices. I love the design and the playability of a 'berg as much as the next guy but there's def a bit of a lazy trend the last 5 years the company needs to correct.
Covid was a big issue, especially during the fusion neck-thru introduction. I got one of the very last Fusion neck-thru that happened to get lost in shipping for a while and ended up at Sweetwater and my dude called me immediately... Those Michael Frank pickups are amazing. Their recovery has been slow I agree in this regard. I think covid whacked the crap out of a lot of companies like strandberg and I know Indonesia was wrecked by covid. The government there kind of sucks and was not taking care of things very well. I am VERY BUMMED at the whammy bar issues... It's by far the best whammy bar I've ever used and my MF armed Trans Teal with 10-way tone shaping is my go-to for most things. I'm on the forums again because I'm looking to add the stratiest strandberg to my stable of four. As others have pointed out I guess I can agree with about half of your rants... Mostly the whammy bar elimination from so many models. That is just stupid... I'll say it again. IT'S STUPID
I came across your video and maybe can kind of play devil's advocate on a lot of these points you made through some of the things Ola said himself in past livestreams. I would think that Strandberg did have plans to start moving over to their own line of individually voiced pickups with Michael Frank Braun leading the charge. He designed Guthrie Govan's pickups, and Eric Johnson's and for a brief moment in time he had his pickups offered by Strandberg that had the plug pulled when MFB passed away very recently. Neck-thrus were cancelled because of construction issues and failure during manufacturing, so it was pulled until they can come up with a better solution. So I'm sure when they do come back, they'll be better than ever. But to be fair, it hasn't really seemed to cause people to completely stop buying Strandbergs. Not to excuse price increases, but it's their first time increasing prices since 2017, and for most of the line, it was a $100 increase across the board and the affordable Classic Boden is back without the bells and whistles of Suhr pickups. Meanwhile, almost every other guitar company has been raising their own prices every single year to make up for inflation and stuff. I think we're pretty lucky in this case that they didn't increase to match inflation.
Thanks for watching and I appreciate you playing devil's advocate. That's a shame about the pickups, firstly because MFB passed away and then secondly about the loss of the pickups. I hadn't seen those in the past, but if he made pickups that were good enough for tone masters like Guthrie or Eric Johnson that would have been an amazing combo. That's interesting there were high failure rates on the neck thru's during construction, do you happen to remember what the exact issues were? I know it's a more labor intensive process but I'm surprised that there would be that many failures that it forced them to drop them temporarily. Thanks for pointing out that the new affordable Classic is back, it wasn't when I shot and uploaded this video. I have no problem at all with a $100 price increase, that's completely reasonable. I still find the Suhr equipped Classic to be straight up offensive, there's no justifying that price. The pickups don't cost more than $300 retail and they're not getting the pickups at retail prices. It's shady and shitty, full stop. Appreciate the counter points, thanks for watching and commenting!
Strandberg has been my brand of choice for nearly 4 years now (I think I got my first one in the Fall of 2019), and I've actually never seen an Original with a trem as a production model during that time. Of course they had them back before they were making their guitars in Indonesia, but was the Prog around back then? I've always been under the impression that "Prog" means trem and a dark fretboard, "Original" means hardtail and a light board, and "Metal" means hardtail and a dark board (at least in their production model lineup). And the fact that they still haven't figured out how to make an 8-string multiscale trem is why they've never made a Prog 8. I'm with you on pretty much everything else though. I want a neck-thru 8-string with Lundgren pickups so badly. 😔
Strandberg owner here. I'd love to see you do a play through and review of an Aristides H/06 at some point. Those headless Aristides guitars looks absolutely amazing and have been well received. Love your videos, keep up the awesome work.
Thanks for watching, I'd def love to try out an Aristides! Was chatting with a dude about them just last week, he had great things to say, hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one in the next year....we'll see. Thanks again for the support!
You won’t be disappointed. Much prefer them to any Strandberg guitars I’ve played. I’ve got an eight string with a tremolo and Abasi pickups. The guitar is crazy good and the upper fret access is the best in the business. It also comes with a amazing gig bag.
Yesterday I was checking their website and I can’t find the pickups that Strandberg lists on the website anymore, I wonder if they gonna stop selling their pickups or they are gonna have any upgrades on the pickups
Thank you so much, appreciate the kind words and for giving the channel a sub! I've got a bunch of new music, guitar reviews and gear reviews coming soon, look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new content!
It's an interesting inconsistency, I'm the other way round though. A good set of passive pickups beat anything active all day long. Thanks for watching.
Completely agree here and thanks for making this video. I'm thinking about getting a prog nx now and the color and top wood combinations (gray and green on 6 string) are very disappointing. I mean blue and red on standard look great, why only a dull gray and a just ok green? No trem for most models is a huge deal breaker. HH option for standard missing. No neck through. I honestly don't know which model is the least bad to choose now and that's sad.
The good news is the Prog NX is still rocking the Suhr pickups, there was a point Strandy was saying they were gonna be rolling out their own brand of higher end pups, but that hasn't happened fortunately. Hopefully they make some changes, Strandberg is def my favorite brand and I wanna see them succeed...cause then we get better toys to play with lol Thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror Exactly, let's hope they stick to Suhr. Lack of ideal Prog or Fusion models I might get a standard NX tremolo (I love neck strat sound) and install Suhr pickups. You mentioned in the video that you prefer solid body to chambered. What differences did you experience in Strandbergs?
The pick response and note transient feels a little bit tighter than compared to the chambered guitars, but I'll admit I don't actually have any concrete proof that it's more than placebo. Every time I pickup the Standard I just freaking love the way it plays and sounds, even with the stock 'berg branded pups. Honestly, I like the Standard line of guitars so much because they're vaguely affordable for a 'daily driver', professional quality guitar. At $1600 it's not cheap, but it's full quality hardware and you get stainless steel frets with all of the amazing Strandberg ergonomics, so it's my go to guitar for teaching (I teach six days a week so it's a LOT of sitting and playing. Stainless is a game changer for durability). Thanks again for watching!
I'm about to purchase a Prog NX 6 in natural. I was bummed to here about the company taking a turn. I realize this video is 9 months old. I'm just having second thoughts now.
I only play Strandy's for all my lessons because of the ergonomics, there's no other company that can match these guitars but unfortunately the QC can be hit or miss. Be sure that you can return it if you get a dud, otherwise pull the trigger. If you get a good one there's literally nothing else out there like em. Thanks for watching and good luck!
Kiesel also only offers one type of fisman pickup (unless you get a signature model) but they don’t just offer fishmans, they have their Kiesel brand pickups, Seymour Duncan’s certain models, and the option to send your own pickups in. So strandberg really is shooting themselves in the foot with these decisions.
Weird that this showed up after they announced a boden model for $1000. Just curious how much they could press the price down for other lineups. Still crazy that by only removing the fanned frets and less stylish finish could remove $300+ from their cheapest model
This video has been out for 10 months, they just launched the new cheaper guitars now. They've also changed out the hardware and I'm skeptical that it's up to the same quality as the other stuff. This is the first time they've used something different on the lineup. Thanks for watching.
I actually prefer the original original over the NX, purely because of the fact they got rid of the roasted maple neck in the NX. That is totally beyond me as to why they chose to do that. I think maybe they should save the active Fishmans to the metal and have the pickups in the Original and Prog be passives. Maybe some Lundgrens or BKP or even something more common like Duncan
iirc Ola stated that roasted maple necks were troublesome when it came to applying stainless frets on them, but I might be wrong. For sure Ola stated they had some sort of problems with them, thus the change
@@Marycha245 my main guitar (Ibanez AZ Premium) that's cheaper than any Strandberg out there has both a roasted maple neck and stainless steel frets, no issues. All they need to do is to glue the frets to the wood and it's perfect. Regular maple necks just feel and look kinda wrong on Strandbergs if you ask me :(
From what I remember reading, Ola said they stopped doing the roasted necks because of waste I believe but I could be mistaken. Preaching to the choir on the pups man, LOVE all of those suggestions. Maybe they'll take note and mix things up soon. Thanks for watching!
@@aminorerror kinda unfortunate, the roasted looked sick! I think they should offer it as limited edition runs at least. As far as the pickups go, the Rich Henshall signature one has Lundgren M8s so it can work pretty nicely on the originals! Maybe the Black Heavens on the Prog. If we go with BKP I think some Bare Knuckle Emerald for the Original 6, Nailbomb for the Original extended range, Juggernaut (with the permission of Misha) for the Prog, Emerald-59' Slab Board on the Classics and even the Ragnarok (again, with permission from Misha) or the Warpigs on the Metal
Had to check the Strandberg livestream a few weeks back but in there it was mentioned that they lose a lot of necks during milling process of roasted maple because of wood chipping and other similar problems. Maybe to a bigger company like Ibanez etc. those issues are not so big of an issue as production amounts are huge but for a smaller company like Strandberg it might be a different story. That being said I too prefer the roasted neck of my Boden Classic 6 compared to the Metal NX I also have :-D
I had been looking at strandbergs but couldn’t decide and watching a bunch of your videos helped me finally jump on one. Ended up going used on a standard 7 but the gen before the NX line. Fixed bridge so I can quickly change tunings. I really like the roasted maple necks so that was a big factor in not going with the NX. I definitely agree it seems like the NX line is a big price increase without justification in the upgraded factors of the guitar. Just saw a video from NAMM where Ola was showing a new neck joint that looks to be a big improvement over the old ones as I agree higher fret access is a little awkward on this guitar. But overall I’m super happy with my Strandberg and definitely a convert as I had never had a seven string let alone headless and multi scale. Thanks for the videos and helping me convince myself to get my Strandberg!
The new NX neck joint really was a big improvement over the original design, but I'm totally with you, the one they rolled out at NAMM looks really cool! I'm hoping they come out with maybe a new body design and get some new features to get the attention back on the company. Thanks for watching!
Bought a Classic(?) a couple of years ago. It was a "second" - couldn't find the blemish - and was < $1,500. I swapped out the a= pickups for a Tom Anderson HF1/HF2 set and it's a vast improvement.
That's a great deal! Why'd you choose those pups? I'm not a single coil player really. I've got an NX Classic with the Suhr pups and it isn't as great of a single coil as I was expecting, it's not 'strat' enough to me.
@@aminorerror Just to clarify: my pickups are humbuckers. I believe pickups are ~85% of the tone of a guitar. I absolutely do not believe in "tonewood." The original pickups were too "metallic" for my taste. I considered Duncans, Lollars, and Tom Anderson. The Lollars were too expensive for my budget at the time, but I would have chosen them otherwise. Tom Anderson makes some of the best guitars in the world - I would buy one if I won the lottery - and he made pickups before he started making guitars, so he's not a newcomer. I have Duncan Antiquities humbuckers in one of my other guitars - Eastman T59/V (amazing guitar) - so I considered another set of those also, but eventually decided I wanted something different for the Strandberg. I emailed Tom, told him what I was looking for - something "vintage-y" - and asked for a recommendation. He recommended the HF1/HF2 set. The set was ~$210 USD: a very good price, IMO. If you want single coils, I would suggest you check out the Lollars. Their single coils are ~$115 USD, which is very competitive.
I had a chance to play my friends 6 string prog and it felt so much different from my own last generation prog. The vibrato arm and bridge felt so much stiffer. The specs are all strange too. I feel like the nx line got rid of a ton of nice features that we all originally fell in love with like swamp ash bodies and roasted maple necks. Idk. The new stuff feels super cheap and not really special at all
Thanks for watching Tim! The feel of the bridges have been all over the place with all of the 'berg's I've tested. I've got a late Gen OG 7 with a tremolo that has the stiffest feeling bridge ever that basically won't flutter and when the bridge is adjusted to the correct hight the bridge bottoms out again the routing and can't dive bomb. Then I've got a Prog NX 7 and a Classic NX 6 that both dive bomb and the Prog flutters decently and the classic is one of the best fluttering guitars I've ever played (Angel Vivaldi Charvel with a Gotoh 510 is the undisputed king for flutter). So...who knows! There's some kind of inconsistency with the hardware, that much is certain.
My hands are massive, for upper fret access I would prefer they scallop the rear of the guitar horn where the side of your hand hits. Taking away from the body wood allows the side of your hand to disappear behind the guitar.
I'd suggest trying out a neck through model but there aren't many out there. The neck through Fusion I tested a few years back was probably the best upper fret access I've ever played.
I agree on most of your points here. However, I got my first Strandberg last year which is the Boden Prog NX6 in Charcoal and I absolutely love it. :D Also, the random Doom monster screams in this video made me burst out in laughter for some reason, so thanks for that, haha.
Thanks for watching Tim! Didn't mean to make it seem like I don't love the Prog line, the six string is insane with those Suhr pickups! My problem is with the blanket Fishman Fluence Moderns across all the 7's. Haha glad you liked the DOOM sound effects, I recently made a couple cover/tribute EP's of the music off the old school video games and kinda settled on doing the DOOM font and fx as a theme for my videos, at least for now. Lemme know when it starts to get super annoying....that'll def be when it's time to switch it up again lol Rock on!
They also seem to be dropping the Neck Thru models completely, only the Plini model still listed. I'm glad I got one of the last models including a tremolo for a steal.
Where do you buy your strandberg's so they didn't go up in price? As far as I remember it went up with a shift to NX and also with a new year. I think the new Classic works better as 'classic'. To me it always felt weird since if you want a cheep(er) Strandberg you probably don't want it to be a strat. You want it to be a Strandberg. So Classic fits better as an equal to Prog, Metal, etc. I think enterance to Strandberg should be something in the line of Resq'd. No veneer, no fancy finishes, oem pickups, black hardware, hh, fixed or tremolo, maybe pickguard.
Thanks for watching, I get em through Musicians Friend and they're basically the same price except for the price on the Standard and Classic went up. That's ok if you think the strat should be a more premium instrument, probably is it was the base entry level before and they jacked up the price WAY more than just the pickup upgrade should have. The Resq'd line is cool but let's be honest, it's just a way of trying to squeeze every dime out of the supplies they buy. IMO, they should prob be a little bit cheaper, who knows what the wood looks like that they make those guitars out of, there's a reason they have a solid finish lol
My biggest pet peeve with them is the lack of color options. I'm considering either a Metal or Original 8 string. I'm meh on the color choices and I don't like the fact that the metal is really my only option with a dark board (all my other guitars are either ebony or rosewood. Been playing 38 years and light boards have never been my thing). On the other hand, if I want a Kiesel it's more time and more money, but I'd get exactly what I want.
Hi, I have a Boden Classic 6 Trem Graphite gaiter that I bought in September 2021, and I totally agree with everything you say, I would like to improve the pickputs of my classic with the shure ones that carry the NY boden classic, because I think it is basically the same improved guitar
Good review! I'm actually curious about the company's decisions, as well. I was unable to find a neck-through Fusion, so I ended up buying a new neck-through Plini in black. Would've bought the natural finished one, but those are nowhere to be found. The black neck-through is amazing, however. Those MF pickups are fantastic.
Congrats on the neck through Plini in black, those look really cool although I wasn't sure how the neck would feel with the solid finish they're putting on the neck. Does it get gummed up or does it stay fast and nice to play? Thanks for watching!
I can say with 100% certainty that the neck is super smooth and fast. I play neoclassical in the style of YJM and this guitar is built for speed. @@aminorerror
The Original models with tremolos were discontinued in like 2018 or something. They did not last very long at all after the 2017 refresh. If I had to guess they did that to reduce the number of SKUs and increase production of other models by using the necks for the fixed bridge Originals and the bodies for the Progs. And I'm hoping for a Standard Tremolo HH
That's not true, Musicians Friend was carrying original 7's well into 2022 with tremolo's, I know because I bought one and have got a review coming out in just a couple weeks. They had regular looking original 7's with tremolo's and a limited edition Poplar Burl top which was the one I wound up going with. It must have been a decision when they switched to NX specs to drop the trem's though...and I still don't get why! Thanks for watching.
No trem on the original doesn't bother me, since the prog basically is the original with a trim (and the rich lite board, I suppose). I still think as far as the readily available production lines go, the old Korean OS models were FAR better than anything since (except the fusion neck thru which was sublime)
I just saw this is 3 months old. I think you need to update this vid. As far as trems on 7 and 8 strings. Most those players play in extreme drop tunings and don’t want to mess with trems. Here again update the vid.
There's never been trem's on 8 string models so that's irrelevant. They've always had fixed bridge models, especially the metal range is for drop tunings and just because you drop the tuning doesn't mean plenty of players wouldn't still want a tremolo. I play in drop Ab very frequently in my own music and use the tremolo all the time. The video doesn't need to be updated, strandberg is still messing up. Kiesel and EBMM just launched multi scale tremolo guitars right as Strandy dropped them in the Original line. That's a mistake. They're still just offering the same pickups blanket across all the 7 string guitars regardless if it's Prog/OG/Metal and that's a mistake. And they're still overcharging for the Classic NX. This video is very still spot on, thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror Not a great response. Whether or not the 8 strings had trems is irrelevant and missing the larger point. Nice try. Strandberg is just fine. Your point about the cost of the Classic is off. The price of those pickups are more expensive now. Also, I believe the old Classic price was without the new revised trem. Prices have and will continue to rise on products. Those who understand the market and the global mess, get it. Strandberg was ahead of curve on pricing. Also, the guitar market has softened considerably which was easy to foresee. Strandberg is adjusting to what is profitable. Like a smart business. I imagine if enough people cry about not having trems on one specific guitar they will adjust to that too. As far as Kiesel, that’s all anyone who has a beef with Strandberg jumps to and it often makes me wonder if there’s an incentive involved. They make fine guitars, but the second you put any sort of nicer refinement on their guitars the price quickly rises to the mid $2000’s or higher. The most hilarious thing about your rant was just the other day a UA-camr was upset because the one 7 string guitar he loved by Strandberg didn’t come with a fixed bridge. Why, because he didn’t want a trem on an extended range guitar. Now he was much more mature about his criticism and didn’t fly of in a rant. I will go find the vid and post it later. Main point…you kids are so entitled and easily miffed about the slightest thing. Strandberg knows what they’re doing. I’m sure they will provide what sells. They have anything I would want and the reason I own a Boden Prog NX6.
@@aminorerror Actually it was because it didn’t have a Richlite board and the models with Richlite had trems. Although he corrects that mistake in his comments. Still my point stands. Picky, picky picky! To be fair he admits as much. ua-cam.com/video/5oFvPJYJKJQ/v-deo.html
@@aminorerror Oh and EBMM, talk about overpriced guitars. Nah… Also, I’m pretty certain you can contact Strandberg and have them make a custom model. It may take a long time and cost a lot more. If they stopped this then correct me.
Don't know what to tell ya bud, you're just straight wrong. The single coils are Suhr 60VLP's and they're $99 each and the bridge pickup is a Thornbucker plus that costs $150. Like I said in the video, that's the RETAIL price, not whole sale price. Strandberg isn't paying $350 for the full set of pickups and even if they were that doesn't justify a $700 price increase. When they launched the NX line, the Prog, Metal and Original lines all got NX spec FOR FREE. They didn't charge for it. The Standard went up $100. ONLY the Classic NX went up $700 and they hid behind the pickup upgrade to make it seem like the price increase was reasonable. Only recently did they increase the price on most guitars by $100 to keep up with inflation. They also closed the custom shop ages ago, only if your name is Plini can you get a custom one off guitar. There's a link below to see for yourself. www.humbuckermusic.com/collections/suhr-pickups
The worst thing is that they not offering real flamed maple tops anymore and after increasing the price they just offering a plain top+flamed veneer which is equal to a cheaper guitars on the market but at +2k price.
Oh shit good call, I hadn't realized they were doing that on the all models now. Def some disappointing business decisions being made that I think are going to hurt the brand in the long run. Thanks for watching and thanks for the input!
Awesome video! I agree with you on pretty much all points. The only one I feel different on is the Metal and the Prog. I think the Prog should have the Moderns. Or maybe Fishman Classics! But the Metal... Why not Lundgren? The M series would fit that guitar so well.
Thanks for stopping back David! I haven't been lucky enough to play any Lundgren's yet but I've heard great thing. Some variation across the line shouldn't be that much to ask lol
@@aminorerror Lundgrens are fantastic, I've got them in almost all of my guitars. The ones that don't have Lundgren have Instrumentals. I will say that Lundgren are REALLY expensive though, like 300 USD for a set. But I feel the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to them.
You mention about one having Suhr pickups... The NX line is their expensive version of a project guitar. Their pickups are based on really famous pickups. The bridge humbucker on the standard is somewhere between an Aldrich bridge pickup and a JB which makes sense and sounds professional level. The single coils are just very classic in sound for all the Polyphia people. Whereas I bought the Standard 6 and put in rails so you can get those humbucker tones in those small spaces. You can get insanely fat sounds in the neck with a Dimarzio Tone Zone S or Air Norton in the Neck. PAF neck tones? Dimarzio Protrack. Plus their signature rails. You might be able to tell already but I think single coil sized rails are better than full humbuckers. All the pros just clearer. But I stand by the fact there are no brand name pickups in the NX models would mean you should be extra encouraged to customise your guitar
Thanks for watching, you are incorrect about the kinds of pickups that come stock from Strandy. The prog/high end classic/metal are a combo of Fishman Fluence moderns, Suhr humbucker or single coils and it's the cheaper line of guitars that you get the strandberg own branded pups. It's the cheaper guitars where a pickup swap is kinda implied since the prices on those guitars are a bit less.
Although i own 2 Strandberg's from 2019, I have to admit that selling an Indonesian guitar for 3k euros, its not descent at all.I just bought two Kiesels and you can't even compare the quality among these two brands. Custom Usa models with a great build variation and excellent quality control vs massive Indonedian guitars with poor QC and limited options. Ola is a great guy but I think they went into an Apple philosophy..trying to sell design and innovation in a high price with no compromises.
As much as it pains me to say it, you're 100% spot on. Great dude, and I love the design but it's spotty QC and lack of options are hurting the brand for sure. Thanks for watching!
They need to offer more solid colors in more universal color choices. Imagine if Fender only offered baby blue and mint green strats? It all feels random.
I can't believe they are making their guitars in Indonesia and not lowering the price because of that. I bought an 8 string for $4500 Canadian and that was a on SALE! (the guitar had quality control issues too, like fret sprout and a grounding problem). I didn't realize it was made in Indonesia until I got it and saw the "made in Indonesia" on the back of the guitar, it even has a Swedish flag on the gig bag which is false advertising at this point. You can buy an American made Kiesel at a third of the price of some of these Indonesian Strandbergs, every other company lowers the price of their Indonesian made guitars like PRS with their "SE" line. I'd like to know how much cost they saved my moving their production to Indonesia? Whatever it is, their definitely not passing it on to customers and just pocketing it.... I think part of the problem is that Strandberg has such "fan boys" they can get away with lowering quality and people will still buy them.
Thanks for watching, sorry to hear about your bad experiences, sadly I've ran into the same QC issues with Strandy's coming from the Indo factory. Some have been perfect and others have been a mess and the fret sprout issue is a very real probably. There is however a huge difference between a PRS SE and the Strandy's made in Indo. If you get a good Strandy from Indo it's just as good as a Kiesel or really anything else out there. The PRS SE line is an outstanding instrument for its price but it also not a pro level guitar like the Strandy Indo shop is capable of *if* you get lucky. I always advise anyone looking to buy a strandy to only do so if they're able to return in. It shouldn't be that way but it is what it is. Thanks again for watching!
I'm interested in Strandbergs. The only thing I'm apprehensive about is the neck design. I haven't tried one, and I know I might very well like it. Your concerns are all very valid. Strandberg needs to offer a trem option with these models. This is a bad move on their part. There is a LOT of competition in the headless and prog guitar industry right now. I'm going to be getting my first headless this year. I've been wanting one since I first tried a Steinberger way back in 1986. At the time they were too expensive, and they had a waiting list because they couldn't produce them fast enough. I'm thrilled to see the concept catching on with a new generation of players. I'm more of a dinosaur rocker, into 70s era fusion/prog/jam band/space rock, but it works for me. I want to see a company like Strandberg be successful, but they must listen to the players who will buy their instruments if they build them right.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It's prob best to try before you buy when it comes to the endure neck, I think it really is a game changer but it's not for everyone. It felt like 5 years ago the company was really going to take over the industry, they had a bunch of high name players beyond plini using their instruments but unfortunately that seems like it was more of a fad that's passed. I absolutely LOVE the ergonomics of their instruments though, def the most comfortable instruments I've ever played sitting or standing and think you'll like it too, especially with the kind of stuff you're into. I'm a bit of a dinosaur myself with my musical tastes, being an elder millennial that's first love was buying old Led Zeppelin LP's from flea markets...before all the music that has ever been recorded was easily found online in a quick google search lol Fingers crossed Strandberg innovates and doesn't fade behind.
@@aminorerror They need more than Plini as an endorser if they want to grow. They need more than the djent crowd as well. They need classic rockers, blues players, jazz impresarios, traditional metal, world music players, etc. I want to see them innovate. The thing is proving you have the ability to innovate does not mean you have business sense, and this is the issue with Strandberg. I didn't know about this till you pointed it out in this video. I think it's lame that they include horrible stock pickups on their entry level model. That's atrocious. Because I look at companies like Suhr and Kiesel who make stock pups that give Duncan, DiMarzio and Bareknuckles a run for their money. And why shouldn't they? If Stranberg can design a great ax from the bottom up they can sure as hell design a good pickup. Stock pups shouldn't suck. There's simply no excuse for it. I don't like having to pop in Duncans, DiMarzios or EMGs into every ax I buy, and until Strandberg gets their act together from the most basic entry level model to the top of the line model I won't even consider buying one, even if I like the model I try in some store. I'm actually thinking about the Holdsworth Kiesel.
You might have taken away slightly a more negative impression on the stock 'berg pickups than I meant to convey in the video. The older stock Classic pickups def left much to be desired, especially the bridge pickup was pretty bad but the stock 'berg pickups in the Standard 6 fixed bridge were pretty solidly mediocre if that makes sense. Not terrible, but could be better. I don't have any experience with their 'berg branded 7 or 8 string pickups so they could be kinda crappy though. Either way, I'm def with you! Would love to see a wider range of pickups in the various models so that we don't have to go through the hassle of changing em on out. I've got a student who just picked up a Holdworth Kiesel and I had a chance to play it for a bit and loved it! The body is tiny and with the headless design it's almost as small as most travel guitars, but still sounded great. You really can't go wrong with Kiesel...except for the horror stories of customer support lol
i don't think the first run of the classic line came with stainless steel frets. I believe they were nickel frets and the first run was chinese made but I do agree with you on the price. That classic line up made a huge jump in price which is disappointing. I remember I bought the titanium boden and although I did return the guitar because it just wasn't for me that guitar was nice
Thanks for watching, that's a good call! I've heard a few people reference the Chinese made 'Berg's I've never been able to find them for sale anywhere and have no experience with them. The Classic that I reviewed back in 2020 did have stainless steel frets though, and it was the one for $1500 that I reference in the video, so a $700 price increase doesn't seem justified. I never played the Titanium one's, but those looked pretty cool. Why didn't you keep it?
@@aminorerror oh ok I didn't know the old classics came with stainless steel frets so my apologies on that and these prices though are getting absolutely ridiculous lol. I returned the titanium because I didn't feel no connection to the guitar at all so I returned it. It was an amazing and comfortable guitar though
There are too many "old sayings" that I could add here... Innovate or Die How many guitar players does it take to replace a lightbulb? A million, 1 to change the lightbulb and 999999 to say I can do that You can not make every individual happy with the choices you make, you can just try to get as close as possible. Thus, no trem on one model, only trem on another model, HH on this model, HSH or that model. If you want to custom order a strandberg to meet all your criteria, I am sure it'll come with a hefty price. At the end of the day, are you still enjoying the strandbergs that you have? If so, pick one up and play! Who knows what 2024 will bring...
Fair enough! I still think it sucks what they did with the pricing of the Classic NX though, there's no reason for a $700 price hike. Thanks for watching!
I would pay almost anything for a neck-through 7 string prog with a trem. I have the 6-string neck-through prog and it's the best guitar I've ever played!
To be fair they use what is available on the market when it comes to electronics but manufacture almost everything else themselves. Fishman, EMG and Lace have the choke hold on the fanned fret market. Dimarzio don't make any of their pickups in 8 string compared to what they have in their catalogue. If there was more interesting options like single coil sized rails and their other pickups with a sliding base on the pup so you can fan the pole pieces properly into alignment with the strings. I would kill for a Dimarzio D Activator X, Fast Track 1 and Chopper in 4.5" sizes for fanned fret 8 strings but the market doesn't exist. Add in a tremolo with evertune, piezo pickups in the saddles and I think Stranddberg would be god level. Why not do something similar with the Kiesel business model? So they take their production guitars and you can get them laser etched for wicked designs, crazy options for pickups, extra electrics like Tesi switches installed etc. So boutique production. The problem with a lot of heavier music is that everyone sounds very similar in either a Djenty way or Polyphia way.
I actually got a Boden Metal 8 Ebony White Pearl and now they dropped the white color from their lineup. I would imagine it's because they used really shitty paint for it. The white has turned into an ugly yellow in less than two years. I don't smoke and I didn't leave the guitar in direct sunlight. I cannot imagine that many customers are happy with the choice of picking Strandberg's ebony white pearl color.
Haha you and me both! Mine had been in it's case unused for the last year and a half and I just started playing it a bunch...HOT DAMN it's very yellowed. We'll see how the color ages, if it goes cream like an old school Les Paul I probably won't be all that mad but yea it's def not good and almost 100% why they dropped the color. Are you planning on keeping yours? Thanks for watching!
@@aminorerror I bought mine in 2019 and it turned yellow by 2021. Now, four years later, the color hasn't changed one bit since then. No sight of anything that resembles the Les Paul cream. It also didn't yellow homogenously. There are white "shades" everywhere. So, to me it's really an eyesore. I'm currently inquiring with various luthiers to see if I can get a new paint job. Probably gonna turn it black...
You're totally right, I took a close look at mine and it seems to be yellowing only in the spots where I touch it most often...so it's probably something to do with a reaction with the oils in skin. Yet another case of subpar QC from Strandberg. I still love the company but DAMN there's been some growing pains with the Indo factory.
@@aminorerror I learned my lesson. No more white guitars/basses. ;) Coincidentally I just am back from bringing the guitar to a luthier. He's going to paint it in matte black...
I love strandbergs design but each one I pick up i feel like youre paying more for the hype and R&D than the actual quality of the instrument. especially when compared to other guitars in the same price range. Im not saying theyr ebad guitars btw but for what you pay you could get better woods, fit , finish etc
What I think is happening is strandberg are looking at modern trends and just trying to cater to that market. A lot of 7 and 8 string players have fishmans and fixed bridges. But just pigeonholing your consumers drives away possible buyers. I’m a 7 and 8 string player and I prefer passive pickups over actives, I might be the minority but now I definitely won’t get a strandberg if my only choice is a fishman set. As for the neck-through’s, neck-through is highly expensive to make and not to mention strandberg have very unique necks, my guess is they might’ve hit a wall in the design process in order to cost effectively mass produce a neck through in multiple string configurations. And for the only trem equipped 6 string model being HSS and not HH, there is no logical reason to that other than maybe they have a manufacturing issue with they’re trems to select models lessens the likelihood they’ll run out or run into more issues.
I agree with you, and especially wrt the absence of through neck guitars. I have looked at Ibanez (and bought as well as having sold on, a blue RGAT621. It looked phenomenal on paper but not nearly as wonderful IRL), Chapman (but the one, the first generation RS6, that I was after was nearly always out of stock, nor did it have a case, and now they are out of production!), and Schecter (again, no case of any sort; worse yet, matches the price of the Strandberg close enough if bought at the same time with a Schecter hard case) for a through neck guitar. So for something extra a Strandberg would fit the bill very nicely. BUT THERE AIN'T NONE AVAILABLE TO BUY. It's okay, I am setting money aside. A through neck Boden in natural, SSS NX6 with a wiggle stick would be pretty darn close to perfection for me. I just really do really "need" (ok ok, want) it to have ash wings, their polygonal neck, and the headlessness.
I kind of went the other way. I had a washburn built USA strandberg, and I was so disappointed with the hardware quality, that I just put my money into more traditional guitars. Theyve updated them over the years to fix my issues, but I don't like the zero fret and want something more than indonesian builds, but the refuse to offer it to the western market. I love headless guitars, strandbergs mild fan as opposed to the more extreme versions other companies do, and endurneck, but in the less tangible things that aren't visible on a spec sheet I'd just rather play my old suhr modern that wasn't even much more expensive than these pre-covid.
Thanks for watching and commenting, I've never had a chance to play or review a Suhr guitar but I'm hoping that changes in the future. Thanks for watching!
3k guitars for mass produced Indonesian models with wood veneer... I'm sorry, but as ergonomic as they are, I'd prefer to drop that amount for something else!
None of the mass produced models cost 3k, they're closer to 2k if you're rounding and they've got plenty that are under 2k. For an instrument with proprietary hardware, best in industry ergonomics, the endureneck and stainless steel frets, IMO is a reasonable deal. Thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror Thank you! I can ride the train of patent and vision, ergonomics and endurenecks and I'd pay for that, just not that much! They're all CnCed. I was rounding, and more than half of their models are north of 2,5k with half of those more than 3k. Made in Indonesia, to cut down the costs (and increase the profit margin). The Japan made ones are cool, but not for 7,8,9k! Even some Fender Custom Shops and Suhrs which are made in the States are comparable in price (and you know what the difference in salary is between US and Indonesia):P C'mon, I'm not being cheap here, but I think it's too much objectively.
You can still get a trem. And the 6 versions have diffeent pups the suhr. The fishmans are a perfect match for me. The only thing i dont is the veneer. But whatever. The fact that you like the standards is just weird to me. But what ever. And the standards have oem pups. Just bought my 5th.
I'd say ever since the NX line came out they've been on the decline overall imo. Getting rid of the premium woods like roasted maple necks and swamp ash bodies was enough for me to move on from the brand. I feel like they've just stripped down the brand so much even with a few things that were considered "upgrades" like the new neck heel and forearm contour, to me they aren't worth what you pay for... granted I haven't tried the NX line nor have I tried another strandberg since after trading my prog 6 for a mayones hydra a yr and a half ago now and the couple bad experiences I had with a couple prog 7's I got from strandberg directly... I just haven't had any desire to give the brand another go lol. I did recently get a final fantasy 14 fender Stratocaster though lol. Actually was really surprised how well it plays after giving it a proper setup. Out of the box it was unplayable with action 2-3mm high and needed the neck adjusted in the pocket ever so slightly. The fretwork on JP fenders from what I've always heard is top notch and after having it in hand I can definitely say that is the case. Some of the best/cleanest fretwork I've personally seen, and I have kiesel and Mayones to compare to...and you know how I feel about my Hydras lol. Great video and points as always Rob, Strandberg should take some of these ideas to heart and implement them, I really think they'd reach a wider customer base if they still had some of the previous options the former lines had.
That's a killer deal! The standard is probably my favorite out of all of them, such great work horse guitars. I've still got the pre NX Standard 6 with dual hum buckers I reviewed relatively recently, freaking love that guitar! At that price you've got a pro level instrument for sub $1500 is crazy!
A lot of people use foot operated whammy bars these days. Keeps you in tune and saves your string life. As a Tele player who uses pitch bend I have no choice but to use a pedal device. The Whammy look is sexier but audiences don't care about your equipment. All they care about is the lead voice or lead instrument tone and if the rhythm is tight. Only musicians give a darn about equipment. That's a fact. On these guitars, I'd say the proprietary equipment scares the crap out of me. Good luck getting parts in the future. I've had BAD experiences trying to get parts for bespoke equipment. NO fun. THINK folks.
Idk if I'd say a lot of people are using those electronic whammy bars but they are an option. The bigsby game changer audio pedal is probably the best one out there right now as far as being close to matching the expressiveness of a real bar. Getting parts is a breeze with Strandberg's, their customer support is fantastic and if you're worried about something breaking while you're on the road, it's easy to get spare parts ahead of time in case something happens. Obviously only musicians care about their gear...my channel and this video is only directed at players. Thanks for watching.
I find the whole NX line a downgrade from what was before. even the original and prog now are the same tops as the standard, they are no longer using roasted maple for the necks, etc... I'm glad I have a 2018 standard, upgraded it with a set of BKPs and it is amazing
There's def some issues with QC for sure, I do prefer the new nut and bridge tweaks over the pre NX but post OS series of guitars. The new nut is especially a big upgrade, the older design just isn't durable. What BKP's did you go with? I put some Emerald and Holy Diver's in my Original 7 Poplar burl that's the same generation as your guitar and absolutely love it now over when it had Fishman's in it.
@@aminorerror mine is a standard 6 trem so I put a Silo in the bridge and Trilogy suite singles in the middle and neck. It is probably going to be my only trem guitar tbh and it has some problems with the trem, would not to put a shim in there sometime
Damn, sorry to hear about the tremolo issues. The trem on mine seems to be slightly crooked (which I didn't even catch in my initial review video) and it breaks the high E string any time I go for an oversized bend. Sigh. Mine is a '21 so late run just before they switched to NX so you'd think the factory would have it down but I guess the tooling was extra worn when they made mine lol How do you like the 2 singles and hum bucker bridge in that guitar? I've looked at those but I'm more of a hum bucker guy, wish they had a dual hum bucker option on the standard 6 with a trem.
@@aminorerror mine is also a 2020 batch, tremolo was not sitting in the right position so kept being in contact with the body while moving. Now when the action is set low the high e pops out when you put a lot of downward pressure on the trem. The problem is the neck angle so thats why Im gonna put a shim in there. Initially I thought the singles output was too low for me and the bridge was lacking character. Went for the trilogy suite because its a very high output alnico 5 single and I love how it sounds now. It is my only guitar with trem and in standard tuning since I like to play in drop tuning and alternate tunings like DADGAD. All of my guitars have now bkps including a custom warmoth kit I finished building last year
Sorry to hear you've had bad luck with the trem's, that hasn't been my experiences though. It's not as stable as a true double locking system for sure and I ran into some weird quirks when I would gig them every once in a while but they def stayed in tune overall for me. Thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror just my experience with two brand new ones. Maybe it was a qc issue and not design flaw. My fender strat trem is more stable and buttery feeling imo.
It's ironic how Stranberg doesn't seem to have a clue what guitarists really want when it comes to certain specs on new models. Fishmans and Evertunes are all the rage, and 7-8 strings with floating trems are popping up everywhere. I thought the whole point of a Stanberg was to be bare bones, neck through construction headless guitar, thats lightweight with a Floyd that stays in tune? Personally I think they're hideous and keep getting worse. When will guitar companies learn that trends are just that, and to stop chasing their tail in search of the next big thing. Eliminating basic key features of already successful models in order to make way for the next gimmick is a recipe for disaster. It's gotten to the point where 90% percent of the guitars on the market are abominations. Is this what people want? Weird quirky shit that very few can even utilize?
What cosmetics? The standards now only come in ugly grey and ugliest shade of pale blue ever. For the Originals they didn’t even bother painting them anymore. PRS SEs proved some colours even on veneers can go a long way. Just really strange decisions all round. Oh, they’ve thrown out the really budget RESQ series but international customers are completely left out in the cold. Another daft decision which is turning customers off.
This really isn't complicated, they did a 46% price increase on just one specific guitar while not raising the prices on the other models to get to NX spec. Since then they've raised all the other models 10%. If you don't get how outrageous that is than idk what to say. It is slimy for just a pickup upgrade.
I agree with pretty much all of this. It seems like strandberg has been going downhill since the OS line. Prices are up, options are missing, and the competition never looked more appealing. Glad I stuck while the iron was hot with my Strandys. The current lineup is a total mess.
You are so correct.
@@sauce_aux also the woods. horrible. an what a bad excuse not to roast the necks. the salen jazz is at least abit appealing
Did you pick up one of the neck thur NX originals just released?
Not yet, but it's on my list! Happy to see most of the new guitars they've launched, still just waiting for the 7 string neck through model lol Do you have one of the neck through's?
Yes, I finally pulled the trigger on one of the new ones they just offered. Your reviews help make the decision. Most money I've spent on a guitar. I'm loving it. @@aminorerror
I just recently traded for an NX Plini, and everything about the guitar is superb. I would be inclined to think that maybe they had to limit things a little to transfer into the new NX line. And more colors/variety are currently in the works. This is a pretty young guitar company that has grown rather quickly. Things won’t always be perfect.
I agree that they're a young company that's grown fast...but I disagree strongly that we as consumers should tolerate subpar products, especially as the cheapest 'berg is the better part of 2k. At that price there's no excuses for weak QC, especially as the OS guitars built in Korea were exceptional. Since the move to Indonesia there's been far more issues with QC. Thanks for watching!
I currently own six Strandys (Standard 6 SSH trem, Standard NX 6 trem, Plini Neck-Thru, Fusion NX, Prog Neck-Thru, and Prog NX 7). I never intended to keep all of them--it was just a process to find the ones I really want to keep and sell the rest.
Here are my thoughts on Strandberg guitars:
Strandberg right now feels like a company where the leadership is caught between its long-held ideals and the pressure from investors. Some decisions benefit the customers, some only benefit the bottom line, and some satisfy both needs (such as the RESQ:D line).
Subjectively, I'm glad they offered an SSH for the Standard line, because I needed an SSH and I much prefer the finish in the Standard line than the Classic line with the pickguard. My Standard NX 6 trem with the flamed Maple is gorgeous.
The change to the logo from laser-cut to foiled is kinda double-edge for me. The old logo while was cool, when the light source is directly from the front or very diffused, it becomes hard to see because there isn't enough shadow in the recessed area to provide contrast. The new foiled logo while may not look as three dimensional, is clearly visible in any situation. The ideal solution was to do both (putting color inside of the laser cut recessed portion), but I guess that would be too expensive.
The homogenization of the models and pickup choices does seem strange, because like you said, it becomes just a choice of cosmetics in some situations. Personally, I feel like Strandberg as a concept, fits the custom or semi-custom business model much better, where you can choose your finish and pickups and bridge type. There's J-custom but they're much more expensive and not easily accessible. Something like what Kiesel is doing would be amazing for Strandberg customers.
The new NX neck heel joint, which is an improvement, is still not as good as some other bolt-on neck guitars with superior upper fret access. I have an Eart W1, which is basically a cheap Chinese knockoff of Strandberg, but with different hardware and a normal neck profile and not multiscale. The neck heel joint on that is so much more comfortable and doesn't impede access even to the highest fret, making it unnecessary to also have a neck-thru model. If a cheap Chinese knock-off can figure out how to do a neck heel-joint that well, why can't Strandberg?
Another gripe I have is the choice of finishes. Some of the colors they went with--I can't see how most people would prefer those. IMO, it's better to keep the most popular colors as a permanent lineup, and then periodically release the less popular colors as limited editions, for those who happen to prefer those less popular colors. Personally, the natural flamed and quilted maple tops are my favorites and they're what I think of when I think Strandberg. I always wanted that finish but couldn't get any, but I was lucky that the recent release of the natural maple tops as "rare" finishes gave me the chance to grab a Standard NX trem and a Prog NX 7 in flamed maple.
Last thing I want to say, is the refurbished models are great deals, because almost everyone who bought one said it was like getting a brand new one and couldn't detect anything that's lesser in quality. Two of mine are refurb models, and although one of them had a tremolo bridge that was installed crooked, they had me ship it back for free to be adjusted, and the other one was in pristine condition.
Although I completely agree with you on how the changes are not in a good direction, I'm just too distracted by the amazing background music...
What song is playing at the 1-minute mark and what song is playing during the outro?
THANK YOU! The background music is a mix of a bunch of demos that I've written for various guitar reviews through the years, the one at the minute mark was for a D'Angelico review (that bombed...it got basically no views. Sigh.) and the one in the outro was from a review of a Donner Strat clone....that didn't get many views either! Sometimes that's the way it goes, I'm glad you really liked them! The D'Angelico track I was particularly fond of and would up turning it into a fully developed track called 'Peanut' that I'll be releasing on Spotify/Apple Music ect some time in the fall probably. Hope you'll stop back and hear it in it's final form. Thanks again for the kind words!
@@aminorerror thanks again for the info, for sure will be
Not the mention the very few color choices, or repeated finishes over and over. Of the recent releases, the Chameleon NX and the ResQ finally come out to freshen up the line up with some nice colors. But then you can't get them because they're SUPER limited, so that's fun. Not to mention, if you really like trems with maple necks *I come from an RG550 lifestyle* you mainly have fixed bridge options, or HSS with trems. They could at least make a fusion model with a Maple neck.
Preach Ibbyguy! Thanks for watching.
I picked up the sälen jazz at launch after waiting nearly 5 years for a strandberg that fit my vibe, and it’s an amazing guitar. I also believe that people are simply a bit more critical on this stuff because we don’t really have another recent example of an innovator coming into the industry as a custom brand and fully scaling into production models at this level. Even 5 years ago it was quite hard to get your hands on a strandberg, and to a degree it still is, but it’s a lot better than it used to be.
Their prices are undeniably high, but it comes with the territory. If you are using custom hardware, patented designs like endurneck, and are simply not able to use the general manufacturing shortcuts, your guitars are going to be pretty pricey. For me a strandberg is effectively priceless since the endurneck made guitar playable again after a few difficult periods with carpal tunnel, but that isn’t necessarily true for everyone.
Ultimately though it comes down to what you are looking for. If you want a cheaper headless there are some strong options available at this point below the 1000 dollar range. They won’t have an endurneck but basically everything else will be there. The NX line definitely felt like a transition period for the company, but I do think it will work out in time. Strandberg taking years to get everything locked in is arguably the norm, and always has been.
To be clear, my one strandberg is enough for me. It’s an undeniably fantastic guitar, but I played one guitar for 13 years before I bought the strandberg. I’m not exactly someone who collects instruments, which my wallet is happy about.
Thanks for watching, and congrats on the Salen Jazz, those look really cool! Unfortunately I def agree about dealing with subpar QC and issues from the company though, the truth of it is the OS series that was made in Korea were outstanding instruments and most of the current QC issues stem from moving production to a new factory in Indonesia instead of sticking with the Cort factory they were using before. That makes the current issues an overseas outsourcing issue and that's just not acceptable at the prices that strandberg is asking. Pair that with the price gouge of $700 for just a pickup upgrade when they stepped the Classic model up to NX specs initially and there's plenty to be criticized fairly over bad business practices. I love the design and the playability of a 'berg as much as the next guy but there's def a bit of a lazy trend the last 5 years the company needs to correct.
Covid was a big issue, especially during the fusion neck-thru introduction. I got one of the very last Fusion neck-thru that happened to get lost in shipping for a while and ended up at Sweetwater and my dude called me immediately... Those Michael Frank pickups are amazing. Their recovery has been slow I agree in this regard.
I think covid whacked the crap out of a lot of companies like strandberg and I know Indonesia was wrecked by covid. The government there kind of sucks and was not taking care of things very well.
I am VERY BUMMED at the whammy bar issues... It's by far the best whammy bar I've ever used and my MF armed Trans Teal with 10-way tone shaping is my go-to for most things.
I'm on the forums again because I'm looking to add the stratiest strandberg to my stable of four. As others have pointed out I guess I can agree with about half of your rants... Mostly the whammy bar elimination from so many models. That is just stupid... I'll say it again. IT'S STUPID
I came across your video and maybe can kind of play devil's advocate on a lot of these points you made through some of the things Ola said himself in past livestreams.
I would think that Strandberg did have plans to start moving over to their own line of individually voiced pickups with Michael Frank Braun leading the charge. He designed Guthrie Govan's pickups, and Eric Johnson's and for a brief moment in time he had his pickups offered by Strandberg that had the plug pulled when MFB passed away very recently.
Neck-thrus were cancelled because of construction issues and failure during manufacturing, so it was pulled until they can come up with a better solution. So I'm sure when they do come back, they'll be better than ever. But to be fair, it hasn't really seemed to cause people to completely stop buying Strandbergs.
Not to excuse price increases, but it's their first time increasing prices since 2017, and for most of the line, it was a $100 increase across the board and the affordable Classic Boden is back without the bells and whistles of Suhr pickups. Meanwhile, almost every other guitar company has been raising their own prices every single year to make up for inflation and stuff. I think we're pretty lucky in this case that they didn't increase to match inflation.
Thanks for watching and I appreciate you playing devil's advocate. That's a shame about the pickups, firstly because MFB passed away and then secondly about the loss of the pickups. I hadn't seen those in the past, but if he made pickups that were good enough for tone masters like Guthrie or Eric Johnson that would have been an amazing combo.
That's interesting there were high failure rates on the neck thru's during construction, do you happen to remember what the exact issues were? I know it's a more labor intensive process but I'm surprised that there would be that many failures that it forced them to drop them temporarily.
Thanks for pointing out that the new affordable Classic is back, it wasn't when I shot and uploaded this video. I have no problem at all with a $100 price increase, that's completely reasonable. I still find the Suhr equipped Classic to be straight up offensive, there's no justifying that price. The pickups don't cost more than $300 retail and they're not getting the pickups at retail prices. It's shady and shitty, full stop.
Appreciate the counter points, thanks for watching and commenting!
Strandberg has been my brand of choice for nearly 4 years now (I think I got my first one in the Fall of 2019), and I've actually never seen an Original with a trem as a production model during that time. Of course they had them back before they were making their guitars in Indonesia, but was the Prog around back then? I've always been under the impression that "Prog" means trem and a dark fretboard, "Original" means hardtail and a light board, and "Metal" means hardtail and a dark board (at least in their production model lineup). And the fact that they still haven't figured out how to make an 8-string multiscale trem is why they've never made a Prog 8.
I'm with you on pretty much everything else though. I want a neck-thru 8-string with Lundgren pickups so badly. 😔
Strandberg owner here. I'd love to see you do a play through and review of an Aristides H/06 at some point. Those headless Aristides guitars looks absolutely amazing and have been well received. Love your videos, keep up the awesome work.
Thanks for watching, I'd def love to try out an Aristides! Was chatting with a dude about them just last week, he had great things to say, hopefully I'll be able to get my hands on one in the next year....we'll see. Thanks again for the support!
You won’t be disappointed. Much prefer them to any Strandberg guitars I’ve played. I’ve got an eight string with a tremolo and Abasi pickups. The guitar is crazy good and the upper fret access is the best in the business. It also comes with a amazing gig bag.
@@attomicrooster7823 Did we just find someone willing to send their Aristides into A Minor Error for a full review? :)
Yesterday I was checking their website and I can’t find the pickups that Strandberg lists on the website anymore, I wonder if they gonna stop selling their pickups or they are gonna have any upgrades on the pickups
You deserve 1m subs bro your reviews and demos are 90% better than everyone else
Thank you so much, appreciate the kind words and for giving the channel a sub! I've got a bunch of new music, guitar reviews and gear reviews coming soon, look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new content!
Yeah. The neck-thru going away is puzzling. I was really interested in getting one. Oh well.
Just release the 7 string neck thru Prog models already Ola, and take my damn money! Thanks for watching lol
I wonder why the Boden NX Metal 6 String does not have Fishman Pickups as the 7 and 8 String model
It's an interesting inconsistency, I'm the other way round though. A good set of passive pickups beat anything active all day long. Thanks for watching.
Completely agree here and thanks for making this video. I'm thinking about getting a prog nx now and the color and top wood combinations (gray and green on 6 string) are very disappointing. I mean blue and red on standard look great, why only a dull gray and a just ok green? No trem for most models is a huge deal breaker. HH option for standard missing. No neck through. I honestly don't know which model is the least bad to choose now and that's sad.
The good news is the Prog NX is still rocking the Suhr pickups, there was a point Strandy was saying they were gonna be rolling out their own brand of higher end pups, but that hasn't happened fortunately. Hopefully they make some changes, Strandberg is def my favorite brand and I wanna see them succeed...cause then we get better toys to play with lol Thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror Exactly, let's hope they stick to Suhr. Lack of ideal Prog or Fusion models I might get a standard NX tremolo (I love neck strat sound) and install Suhr pickups.
You mentioned in the video that you prefer solid body to chambered. What differences did you experience in Strandbergs?
The pick response and note transient feels a little bit tighter than compared to the chambered guitars, but I'll admit I don't actually have any concrete proof that it's more than placebo. Every time I pickup the Standard I just freaking love the way it plays and sounds, even with the stock 'berg branded pups. Honestly, I like the Standard line of guitars so much because they're vaguely affordable for a 'daily driver', professional quality guitar. At $1600 it's not cheap, but it's full quality hardware and you get stainless steel frets with all of the amazing Strandberg ergonomics, so it's my go to guitar for teaching (I teach six days a week so it's a LOT of sitting and playing. Stainless is a game changer for durability). Thanks again for watching!
I'm about to purchase a Prog NX 6 in natural. I was bummed to here about the company taking a turn. I realize this video is 9 months old. I'm just having second thoughts now.
I only play Strandy's for all my lessons because of the ergonomics, there's no other company that can match these guitars but unfortunately the QC can be hit or miss. Be sure that you can return it if you get a dud, otherwise pull the trigger. If you get a good one there's literally nothing else out there like em. Thanks for watching and good luck!
Kiesel also only offers one type of fisman pickup (unless you get a signature model) but they don’t just offer fishmans, they have their Kiesel brand pickups, Seymour Duncan’s certain models, and the option to send your own pickups in. So strandberg really is shooting themselves in the foot with these decisions.
Is the new factory not able to produce neck thru models?
Maybe….I don’t know!
Weird that this showed up after they announced a boden model for $1000. Just curious how much they could press the price down for other lineups. Still crazy that by only removing the fanned frets and less stylish finish could remove $300+ from their cheapest model
This video has been out for 10 months, they just launched the new cheaper guitars now. They've also changed out the hardware and I'm skeptical that it's up to the same quality as the other stuff. This is the first time they've used something different on the lineup. Thanks for watching.
I actually prefer the original original over the NX, purely because of the fact they got rid of the roasted maple neck in the NX. That is totally beyond me as to why they chose to do that.
I think maybe they should save the active Fishmans to the metal and have the pickups in the Original and Prog be passives. Maybe some Lundgrens or BKP or even something more common like Duncan
iirc Ola stated that roasted maple necks were troublesome when it came to applying stainless frets on them, but I might be wrong. For sure Ola stated they had some sort of problems with them, thus the change
@@Marycha245 my main guitar (Ibanez AZ Premium) that's cheaper than any Strandberg out there has both a roasted maple neck and stainless steel frets, no issues. All they need to do is to glue the frets to the wood and it's perfect.
Regular maple necks just feel and look kinda wrong on Strandbergs if you ask me :(
From what I remember reading, Ola said they stopped doing the roasted necks because of waste I believe but I could be mistaken. Preaching to the choir on the pups man, LOVE all of those suggestions. Maybe they'll take note and mix things up soon. Thanks for watching!
@@aminorerror kinda unfortunate, the roasted looked sick!
I think they should offer it as limited edition runs at least.
As far as the pickups go, the Rich Henshall signature one has Lundgren M8s so it can work pretty nicely on the originals! Maybe the Black Heavens on the Prog.
If we go with BKP I think some Bare Knuckle Emerald for the Original 6, Nailbomb for the Original extended range, Juggernaut (with the permission of Misha) for the Prog, Emerald-59' Slab Board on the Classics and even the Ragnarok (again, with permission from Misha) or the Warpigs on the Metal
Had to check the Strandberg livestream a few weeks back but in there it was mentioned that they lose a lot of necks during milling process of roasted maple because of wood chipping and other similar problems. Maybe to a bigger company like Ibanez etc. those issues are not so big of an issue as production amounts are huge but for a smaller company like Strandberg it might be a different story. That being said I too prefer the roasted neck of my Boden Classic 6 compared to the Metal NX I also have :-D
I had been looking at strandbergs but couldn’t decide and watching a bunch of your videos helped me finally jump on one. Ended up going used on a standard 7 but the gen before the NX line. Fixed bridge so I can quickly change tunings. I really like the roasted maple necks so that was a big factor in not going with the NX. I definitely agree it seems like the NX line is a big price increase without justification in the upgraded factors of the guitar. Just saw a video from NAMM where Ola was showing a new neck joint that looks to be a big improvement over the old ones as I agree higher fret access is a little awkward on this guitar. But overall I’m super happy with my Strandberg and definitely a convert as I had never had a seven string let alone headless and multi scale. Thanks for the videos and helping me convince myself to get my Strandberg!
The new NX neck joint really was a big improvement over the original design, but I'm totally with you, the one they rolled out at NAMM looks really cool! I'm hoping they come out with maybe a new body design and get some new features to get the attention back on the company. Thanks for watching!
Bought a Classic(?) a couple of years ago. It was a "second" - couldn't find the blemish - and was < $1,500. I swapped out the a= pickups for a Tom Anderson HF1/HF2 set and it's a vast improvement.
That's a great deal! Why'd you choose those pups? I'm not a single coil player really. I've got an NX Classic with the Suhr pups and it isn't as great of a single coil as I was expecting, it's not 'strat' enough to me.
@@aminorerror Just to clarify: my pickups are humbuckers. I believe pickups are ~85% of the tone of a guitar. I absolutely do not believe in "tonewood." The original pickups were too "metallic" for my taste. I considered Duncans, Lollars, and Tom Anderson. The Lollars were too expensive for my budget at the time, but I would have chosen them otherwise. Tom Anderson makes some of the best guitars in the world - I would buy one if I won the lottery - and he made pickups before he started making guitars, so he's not a newcomer. I have Duncan Antiquities humbuckers in one of my other guitars - Eastman T59/V (amazing guitar) - so I considered another set of those also, but eventually decided I wanted something different for the Strandberg. I emailed Tom, told him what I was looking for - something "vintage-y" - and asked for a recommendation. He recommended the HF1/HF2 set. The set was ~$210 USD: a very good price, IMO.
If you want single coils, I would suggest you check out the Lollars. Their single coils are ~$115 USD, which is very competitive.
I had a chance to play my friends 6 string prog and it felt so much different from my own last generation prog. The vibrato arm and bridge felt so much stiffer. The specs are all strange too. I feel like the nx line got rid of a ton of nice features that we all originally fell in love with like swamp ash bodies and roasted maple necks. Idk. The new stuff feels super cheap and not really special at all
Thanks for watching Tim! The feel of the bridges have been all over the place with all of the 'berg's I've tested. I've got a late Gen OG 7 with a tremolo that has the stiffest feeling bridge ever that basically won't flutter and when the bridge is adjusted to the correct hight the bridge bottoms out again the routing and can't dive bomb. Then I've got a Prog NX 7 and a Classic NX 6 that both dive bomb and the Prog flutters decently and the classic is one of the best fluttering guitars I've ever played (Angel Vivaldi Charvel with a Gotoh 510 is the undisputed king for flutter). So...who knows! There's some kind of inconsistency with the hardware, that much is certain.
My hands are massive, for upper fret access I would prefer they scallop the rear of the guitar horn where the side of your hand hits. Taking away from the body wood allows the side of your hand to disappear behind the guitar.
I'd suggest trying out a neck through model but there aren't many out there. The neck through Fusion I tested a few years back was probably the best upper fret access I've ever played.
I agree on most of your points here. However, I got my first Strandberg last year which is the Boden Prog NX6 in Charcoal and I absolutely love it. :D Also, the random Doom monster screams in this video made me burst out in laughter for some reason, so thanks for that, haha.
Thanks for watching Tim! Didn't mean to make it seem like I don't love the Prog line, the six string is insane with those Suhr pickups! My problem is with the blanket Fishman Fluence Moderns across all the 7's. Haha glad you liked the DOOM sound effects, I recently made a couple cover/tribute EP's of the music off the old school video games and kinda settled on doing the DOOM font and fx as a theme for my videos, at least for now. Lemme know when it starts to get super annoying....that'll def be when it's time to switch it up again lol Rock on!
I'm waiting on a new B-stock now, exactly as you have . Your comment pleases me as new guitar is days away!
They also seem to be dropping the Neck Thru models completely, only the Plini model still listed. I'm glad I got one of the last models including a tremolo for a steal.
Where do you buy your strandberg's so they didn't go up in price? As far as I remember it went up with a shift to NX and also with a new year.
I think the new Classic works better as 'classic'. To me it always felt weird since if you want a cheep(er) Strandberg you probably don't want it to be a strat. You want it to be a Strandberg. So Classic fits better as an equal to Prog, Metal, etc. I think enterance to Strandberg should be something in the line of Resq'd. No veneer, no fancy finishes, oem pickups, black hardware, hh, fixed or tremolo, maybe pickguard.
Thanks for watching, I get em through Musicians Friend and they're basically the same price except for the price on the Standard and Classic went up. That's ok if you think the strat should be a more premium instrument, probably is it was the base entry level before and they jacked up the price WAY more than just the pickup upgrade should have. The Resq'd line is cool but let's be honest, it's just a way of trying to squeeze every dime out of the supplies they buy. IMO, they should prob be a little bit cheaper, who knows what the wood looks like that they make those guitars out of, there's a reason they have a solid finish lol
@@aminorerror, went to look for an e-mail they have sent. They have raised prices for 7-9% in 2023, but only in Europe (USD-EUR exchange).
Ah gotcha! My video is from just the US perspective, I didn't check the price increases for Europe. Thanks for the info!
My biggest pet peeve with them is the lack of color options. I'm considering either a Metal or Original 8 string. I'm meh on the color choices and I don't like the fact that the metal is really my only option with a dark board (all my other guitars are either ebony or rosewood. Been playing 38 years and light boards have never been my thing). On the other hand, if I want a Kiesel it's more time and more money, but I'd get exactly what I want.
Hi, I have a Boden Classic 6 Trem Graphite gaiter that I bought in September 2021, and I totally agree with everything you say, I would like to improve the pickputs of my classic with the shure ones that carry the NY boden classic, because I think it is basically the same improved guitar
Good review! I'm actually curious about the company's decisions, as well. I was unable to find a neck-through Fusion, so I ended up buying a new neck-through Plini in black. Would've bought the natural finished one, but those are nowhere to be found. The black neck-through is amazing, however. Those MF pickups are fantastic.
Congrats on the neck through Plini in black, those look really cool although I wasn't sure how the neck would feel with the solid finish they're putting on the neck. Does it get gummed up or does it stay fast and nice to play? Thanks for watching!
I can say with 100% certainty that the neck is super smooth and fast. I play neoclassical in the style of YJM and this guitar is built for speed. @@aminorerror
The Original models with tremolos were discontinued in like 2018 or something. They did not last very long at all after the 2017 refresh. If I had to guess they did that to reduce the number of SKUs and increase production of other models by using the necks for the fixed bridge Originals and the bodies for the Progs.
And I'm hoping for a Standard Tremolo HH
That's not true, Musicians Friend was carrying original 7's well into 2022 with tremolo's, I know because I bought one and have got a review coming out in just a couple weeks. They had regular looking original 7's with tremolo's and a limited edition Poplar Burl top which was the one I wound up going with. It must have been a decision when they switched to NX specs to drop the trem's though...and I still don't get why! Thanks for watching.
I see. Might be old stock or a regional thing then because those models were removed from the EU shop a long time ago.
Ah gotcha, yea that could def be the case.
I love my bergs, but I haven’t touched them since I got a Keisel Zeus.
No trem on the original doesn't bother me, since the prog basically is the original with a trim (and the rich lite board, I suppose). I still think as far as the readily available production lines go, the old Korean OS models were FAR better than anything since (except the fusion neck thru which was sublime)
The background music seemed a bit too loud in this video, it made it difficult to focus on what you were saying.
Thanks for watching and thanks for the feedback.
I just saw this is 3 months old. I think you need to update this vid. As far as trems on 7 and 8 strings. Most those players play in extreme drop tunings and don’t want to mess with trems. Here again update the vid.
There's never been trem's on 8 string models so that's irrelevant. They've always had fixed bridge models, especially the metal range is for drop tunings and just because you drop the tuning doesn't mean plenty of players wouldn't still want a tremolo. I play in drop Ab very frequently in my own music and use the tremolo all the time. The video doesn't need to be updated, strandberg is still messing up. Kiesel and EBMM just launched multi scale tremolo guitars right as Strandy dropped them in the Original line. That's a mistake. They're still just offering the same pickups blanket across all the 7 string guitars regardless if it's Prog/OG/Metal and that's a mistake. And they're still overcharging for the Classic NX. This video is very still spot on, thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror
Not a great response. Whether or not the 8 strings had trems is irrelevant and missing the larger point. Nice try. Strandberg is just fine. Your point about the cost of the Classic is off. The price of those pickups are more expensive now. Also, I believe the old Classic price was without the new revised trem. Prices have and will continue to rise on products. Those who understand the market and the global mess, get it. Strandberg was ahead of curve on pricing. Also, the guitar market has softened considerably which was easy to foresee. Strandberg is adjusting to what is profitable. Like a smart business. I imagine if enough people cry about not having trems on one specific guitar they will adjust to that too. As far as Kiesel, that’s all anyone who has a beef with Strandberg jumps to and it often makes me wonder if there’s an incentive involved. They make fine guitars, but the second you put any sort of nicer refinement on their guitars the price quickly rises to the mid $2000’s or higher.
The most hilarious thing about your rant was just the other day a UA-camr was upset because the one 7 string guitar he loved by Strandberg didn’t come with a fixed bridge. Why, because he didn’t want a trem on an extended range guitar. Now he was much more mature about his criticism and didn’t fly of in a rant. I will go find the vid and post it later.
Main point…you kids are so entitled and easily miffed about the slightest thing. Strandberg knows what they’re doing. I’m sure they will provide what sells. They have anything I would want and the reason I own a Boden Prog NX6.
@@aminorerror
Actually it was because it didn’t have a Richlite board and the models with Richlite had trems. Although he corrects that mistake in his comments. Still my point stands. Picky, picky picky! To be fair he admits as much.
ua-cam.com/video/5oFvPJYJKJQ/v-deo.html
@@aminorerror
Oh and EBMM, talk about overpriced guitars. Nah…
Also, I’m pretty certain you can contact Strandberg and have them make a custom model. It may take a long time and cost a lot more. If they stopped this then correct me.
Don't know what to tell ya bud, you're just straight wrong. The single coils are Suhr 60VLP's and they're $99 each and the bridge pickup is a Thornbucker plus that costs $150. Like I said in the video, that's the RETAIL price, not whole sale price. Strandberg isn't paying $350 for the full set of pickups and even if they were that doesn't justify a $700 price increase. When they launched the NX line, the Prog, Metal and Original lines all got NX spec FOR FREE. They didn't charge for it. The Standard went up $100. ONLY the Classic NX went up $700 and they hid behind the pickup upgrade to make it seem like the price increase was reasonable. Only recently did they increase the price on most guitars by $100 to keep up with inflation. They also closed the custom shop ages ago, only if your name is Plini can you get a custom one off guitar. There's a link below to see for yourself. www.humbuckermusic.com/collections/suhr-pickups
The worst thing is that they not offering real flamed maple tops anymore and after increasing the price they just offering a plain top+flamed veneer which is equal to a cheaper guitars on the market but at +2k price.
Oh shit good call, I hadn't realized they were doing that on the all models now. Def some disappointing business decisions being made that I think are going to hurt the brand in the long run. Thanks for watching and thanks for the input!
Awesome video! I agree with you on pretty much all points. The only one I feel different on is the Metal and the Prog. I think the Prog should have the Moderns. Or maybe Fishman Classics! But the Metal... Why not Lundgren? The M series would fit that guitar so well.
Thanks for stopping back David! I haven't been lucky enough to play any Lundgren's yet but I've heard great thing. Some variation across the line shouldn't be that much to ask lol
@@aminorerror Lundgrens are fantastic, I've got them in almost all of my guitars. The ones that don't have Lundgren have Instrumentals. I will say that Lundgren are REALLY expensive though, like 300 USD for a set. But I feel the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to them.
You mention about one having Suhr pickups... The NX line is their expensive version of a project guitar. Their pickups are based on really famous pickups. The bridge humbucker on the standard is somewhere between an Aldrich bridge pickup and a JB which makes sense and sounds professional level. The single coils are just very classic in sound for all the Polyphia people. Whereas I bought the Standard 6 and put in rails so you can get those humbucker tones in those small spaces. You can get insanely fat sounds in the neck with a Dimarzio Tone Zone S or Air Norton in the Neck. PAF neck tones? Dimarzio Protrack. Plus their signature rails. You might be able to tell already but I think single coil sized rails are better than full humbuckers. All the pros just clearer. But I stand by the fact there are no brand name pickups in the NX models would mean you should be extra encouraged to customise your guitar
Thanks for watching, you are incorrect about the kinds of pickups that come stock from Strandy. The prog/high end classic/metal are a combo of Fishman Fluence moderns, Suhr humbucker or single coils and it's the cheaper line of guitars that you get the strandberg own branded pups. It's the cheaper guitars where a pickup swap is kinda implied since the prices on those guitars are a bit less.
Although i own 2 Strandberg's from 2019, I have to admit that selling an Indonesian guitar for 3k euros, its not descent at all.I just bought two Kiesels and you can't even compare the quality among these two brands. Custom Usa models with a great build variation and excellent quality control vs massive Indonedian guitars with poor QC and limited options. Ola is a great guy but I think they went into an Apple philosophy..trying to sell design and innovation in a high price with no compromises.
As much as it pains me to say it, you're 100% spot on. Great dude, and I love the design but it's spotty QC and lack of options are hurting the brand for sure. Thanks for watching!
They need to offer more solid colors in more universal color choices. Imagine if Fender only offered baby blue and mint green strats? It all feels random.
I can't believe they are making their guitars in Indonesia and not lowering the price because of that. I bought an 8 string for $4500 Canadian and that was a on SALE! (the guitar had quality control issues too, like fret sprout and a grounding problem). I didn't realize it was made in Indonesia until I got it and saw the "made in Indonesia" on the back of the guitar, it even has a Swedish flag on the gig bag which is false advertising at this point. You can buy an American made Kiesel at a third of the price of some of these Indonesian Strandbergs, every other company lowers the price of their Indonesian made guitars like PRS with their "SE" line. I'd like to know how much cost they saved my moving their production to Indonesia? Whatever it is, their definitely not passing it on to customers and just pocketing it.... I think part of the problem is that Strandberg has such "fan boys" they can get away with lowering quality and people will still buy them.
Thanks for watching, sorry to hear about your bad experiences, sadly I've ran into the same QC issues with Strandy's coming from the Indo factory. Some have been perfect and others have been a mess and the fret sprout issue is a very real probably. There is however a huge difference between a PRS SE and the Strandy's made in Indo. If you get a good Strandy from Indo it's just as good as a Kiesel or really anything else out there. The PRS SE line is an outstanding instrument for its price but it also not a pro level guitar like the Strandy Indo shop is capable of *if* you get lucky. I always advise anyone looking to buy a strandy to only do so if they're able to return in. It shouldn't be that way but it is what it is. Thanks again for watching!
I'm interested in Strandbergs. The only thing I'm apprehensive about is the neck design. I haven't tried one, and I know I might very well like it. Your concerns are all very valid. Strandberg needs to offer a trem option with these models. This is a bad move on their part. There is a LOT of competition in the headless and prog guitar industry right now. I'm going to be getting my first headless this year. I've been wanting one since I first tried a Steinberger way back in 1986. At the time they were too expensive, and they had a waiting list because they couldn't produce them fast enough. I'm thrilled to see the concept catching on with a new generation of players. I'm more of a dinosaur rocker, into 70s era fusion/prog/jam band/space rock, but it works for me. I want to see a company like Strandberg be successful, but they must listen to the players who will buy their instruments if they build them right.
Thanks for watching and commenting. It's prob best to try before you buy when it comes to the endure neck, I think it really is a game changer but it's not for everyone. It felt like 5 years ago the company was really going to take over the industry, they had a bunch of high name players beyond plini using their instruments but unfortunately that seems like it was more of a fad that's passed. I absolutely LOVE the ergonomics of their instruments though, def the most comfortable instruments I've ever played sitting or standing and think you'll like it too, especially with the kind of stuff you're into. I'm a bit of a dinosaur myself with my musical tastes, being an elder millennial that's first love was buying old Led Zeppelin LP's from flea markets...before all the music that has ever been recorded was easily found online in a quick google search lol Fingers crossed Strandberg innovates and doesn't fade behind.
@@aminorerror They need more than Plini as an endorser if they want to grow. They need more than the djent crowd as well. They need classic rockers, blues players, jazz impresarios, traditional metal, world music players, etc. I want to see them innovate. The thing is proving you have the ability to innovate does not mean you have business sense, and this is the issue with Strandberg. I didn't know about this till you pointed it out in this video. I think it's lame that they include horrible stock pickups on their entry level model. That's atrocious. Because I look at companies like Suhr and Kiesel who make stock pups that give Duncan, DiMarzio and Bareknuckles a run for their money. And why shouldn't they? If Stranberg can design a great ax from the bottom up they can sure as hell design a good pickup. Stock pups shouldn't suck. There's simply no excuse for it. I don't like having to pop in Duncans, DiMarzios or EMGs into every ax I buy, and until Strandberg gets their act together from the most basic entry level model to the top of the line model I won't even consider buying one, even if I like the model I try in some store. I'm actually thinking about the Holdsworth Kiesel.
You might have taken away slightly a more negative impression on the stock 'berg pickups than I meant to convey in the video. The older stock Classic pickups def left much to be desired, especially the bridge pickup was pretty bad but the stock 'berg pickups in the Standard 6 fixed bridge were pretty solidly mediocre if that makes sense. Not terrible, but could be better. I don't have any experience with their 'berg branded 7 or 8 string pickups so they could be kinda crappy though. Either way, I'm def with you! Would love to see a wider range of pickups in the various models so that we don't have to go through the hassle of changing em on out. I've got a student who just picked up a Holdworth Kiesel and I had a chance to play it for a bit and loved it! The body is tiny and with the headless design it's almost as small as most travel guitars, but still sounded great. You really can't go wrong with Kiesel...except for the horror stories of customer support lol
i don't think the first run of the classic line came with stainless steel frets. I believe they were nickel frets and the first run was chinese made but I do agree with you on the price. That classic line up made a huge jump in price which is disappointing. I remember I bought the titanium boden and although I did return the guitar because it just wasn't for me that guitar was nice
Thanks for watching, that's a good call! I've heard a few people reference the Chinese made 'Berg's I've never been able to find them for sale anywhere and have no experience with them. The Classic that I reviewed back in 2020 did have stainless steel frets though, and it was the one for $1500 that I reference in the video, so a $700 price increase doesn't seem justified. I never played the Titanium one's, but those looked pretty cool. Why didn't you keep it?
@@aminorerror oh ok I didn't know the old classics came with stainless steel frets so my apologies on that and these prices though are getting absolutely ridiculous lol.
I returned the titanium because I didn't feel no connection to the guitar at all so I returned it. It was an amazing and comfortable guitar though
I already have the plini sig. id get the metal model if it had a trem
There are too many "old sayings" that I could add here...
Innovate or Die
How many guitar players does it take to replace a lightbulb? A million, 1 to change the lightbulb and 999999 to say I can do that
You can not make every individual happy with the choices you make, you can just try to get as close as possible. Thus, no trem on one model, only trem on another model, HH on this model, HSH or that model. If you want to custom order a strandberg to meet all your criteria, I am sure it'll come with a hefty price.
At the end of the day, are you still enjoying the strandbergs that you have? If so, pick one up and play! Who knows what 2024 will bring...
Fair enough! I still think it sucks what they did with the pricing of the Classic NX though, there's no reason for a $700 price hike. Thanks for watching!
I would pay almost anything for a neck-through 7 string prog with a trem. I have the 6-string neck-through prog and it's the best guitar I've ever played!
You and me both! Thanks for watching.
To be fair they use what is available on the market when it comes to electronics but manufacture almost everything else themselves. Fishman, EMG and Lace have the choke hold on the fanned fret market. Dimarzio don't make any of their pickups in 8 string compared to what they have in their catalogue. If there was more interesting options like single coil sized rails and their other pickups with a sliding base on the pup so you can fan the pole pieces properly into alignment with the strings. I would kill for a Dimarzio D Activator X, Fast Track 1 and Chopper in 4.5" sizes for fanned fret 8 strings but the market doesn't exist. Add in a tremolo with evertune, piezo pickups in the saddles and I think Stranddberg would be god level. Why not do something similar with the Kiesel business model? So they take their production guitars and you can get them laser etched for wicked designs, crazy options for pickups, extra electrics like Tesi switches installed etc. So boutique production. The problem with a lot of heavier music is that everyone sounds very similar in either a Djenty way or Polyphia way.
I actually got a Boden Metal 8 Ebony White Pearl and now they dropped the white color from their lineup. I would imagine it's because they used really shitty paint for it. The white has turned into an ugly yellow in less than two years. I don't smoke and I didn't leave the guitar in direct sunlight. I cannot imagine that many customers are happy with the choice of picking Strandberg's ebony white pearl color.
Haha you and me both! Mine had been in it's case unused for the last year and a half and I just started playing it a bunch...HOT DAMN it's very yellowed. We'll see how the color ages, if it goes cream like an old school Les Paul I probably won't be all that mad but yea it's def not good and almost 100% why they dropped the color. Are you planning on keeping yours? Thanks for watching!
@@aminorerror I bought mine in 2019 and it turned yellow by 2021. Now, four years later, the color hasn't changed one bit since then. No sight of anything that resembles the Les Paul cream. It also didn't yellow homogenously. There are white "shades" everywhere. So, to me it's really an eyesore. I'm currently inquiring with various luthiers to see if I can get a new paint job. Probably gonna turn it black...
You're totally right, I took a close look at mine and it seems to be yellowing only in the spots where I touch it most often...so it's probably something to do with a reaction with the oils in skin. Yet another case of subpar QC from Strandberg. I still love the company but DAMN there's been some growing pains with the Indo factory.
@@aminorerror I learned my lesson. No more white guitars/basses. ;) Coincidentally I just am back from bringing the guitar to a luthier. He's going to paint it in matte black...
why a 8 string is always purples ! They must detached colors and make orthogonals characteristics !
I love strandbergs design but each one I pick up i feel like youre paying more for the hype and R&D than the actual quality of the instrument. especially when compared to other guitars in the same price range. Im not saying theyr ebad guitars btw but for what you pay you could get better woods, fit , finish etc
Def agree! More variety would do the line wonders. They’re kinda the Porsche or Apple of the guitar world lol
What I think is happening is strandberg are looking at modern trends and just trying to cater to that market. A lot of 7 and 8 string players have fishmans and fixed bridges. But just pigeonholing your consumers drives away possible buyers. I’m a 7 and 8 string player and I prefer passive pickups over actives, I might be the minority but now I definitely won’t get a strandberg if my only choice is a fishman set.
As for the neck-through’s, neck-through is highly expensive to make and not to mention strandberg have very unique necks, my guess is they might’ve hit a wall in the design process in order to cost effectively mass produce a neck through in multiple string configurations.
And for the only trem equipped 6 string model being HSS and not HH, there is no logical reason to that other than maybe they have a manufacturing issue with they’re trems to select models lessens the likelihood they’ll run out or run into more issues.
It’s all about the money. Same pickup’s, all bolt on necks. What next Wal Mart?
I agree with you, and especially wrt the absence of through neck guitars. I have looked at Ibanez (and bought as well as having sold on, a blue RGAT621. It looked phenomenal on paper but not nearly as wonderful IRL), Chapman (but the one, the first generation RS6, that I was after was nearly always out of stock, nor did it have a case, and now they are out of production!), and Schecter (again, no case of any sort; worse yet, matches the price of the Strandberg close enough if bought at the same time with a Schecter hard case) for a through neck guitar. So for something extra a Strandberg would fit the bill very nicely. BUT THERE AIN'T NONE AVAILABLE TO BUY.
It's okay, I am setting money aside. A through neck Boden in natural, SSS NX6 with a wiggle stick would be pretty darn close to perfection for me. I just really do really "need" (ok ok, want) it to have ash wings, their polygonal neck, and the headlessness.
I kind of went the other way. I had a washburn built USA strandberg, and I was so disappointed with the hardware quality, that I just put my money into more traditional guitars. Theyve updated them over the years to fix my issues, but I don't like the zero fret and want something more than indonesian builds, but the refuse to offer it to the western market. I love headless guitars, strandbergs mild fan as opposed to the more extreme versions other companies do, and endurneck, but in the less tangible things that aren't visible on a spec sheet I'd just rather play my old suhr modern that wasn't even much more expensive than these pre-covid.
Thanks for watching and commenting, I've never had a chance to play or review a Suhr guitar but I'm hoping that changes in the future. Thanks for watching!
3k guitars for mass produced Indonesian models with wood veneer... I'm sorry, but as ergonomic as they are, I'd prefer to drop that amount for something else!
None of the mass produced models cost 3k, they're closer to 2k if you're rounding and they've got plenty that are under 2k. For an instrument with proprietary hardware, best in industry ergonomics, the endureneck and stainless steel frets, IMO is a reasonable deal. Thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror Thank you! I can ride the train of patent and vision, ergonomics and endurenecks and I'd pay for that, just not that much! They're all CnCed.
I was rounding, and more than half of their models are north of 2,5k with half of those more than 3k. Made in Indonesia, to cut down the costs (and increase the profit margin). The Japan made ones are cool, but not for 7,8,9k! Even some Fender Custom Shops and Suhrs which are made in the States are comparable in price (and you know what the difference in salary is between US and Indonesia):P
C'mon, I'm not being cheap here, but I think it's too much objectively.
You can still get a trem. And the 6 versions have diffeent pups the suhr.
The fishmans are a perfect match for me.
The only thing i dont is the veneer. But whatever.
The fact that you like the standards is just weird to me.
But what ever.
And the standards have oem pups.
Just bought my 5th.
I'd say ever since the NX line came out they've been on the decline overall imo. Getting rid of the premium woods like roasted maple necks and swamp ash bodies was enough for me to move on from the brand. I feel like they've just stripped down the brand so much even with a few things that were considered "upgrades" like the new neck heel and forearm contour, to me they aren't worth what you pay for... granted I haven't tried the NX line nor have I tried another strandberg since after trading my prog 6 for a mayones hydra a yr and a half ago now and the couple bad experiences I had with a couple prog 7's I got from strandberg directly... I just haven't had any desire to give the brand another go lol. I did recently get a final fantasy 14 fender Stratocaster though lol. Actually was really surprised how well it plays after giving it a proper setup. Out of the box it was unplayable with action 2-3mm high and needed the neck adjusted in the pocket ever so slightly. The fretwork on JP fenders from what I've always heard is top notch and after having it in hand I can definitely say that is the case. Some of the best/cleanest fretwork I've personally seen, and I have kiesel and Mayones to compare to...and you know how I feel about my Hydras lol. Great video and points as always Rob, Strandberg should take some of these ideas to heart and implement them, I really think they'd reach a wider customer base if they still had some of the previous options the former lines had.
I just bought a standard nx 7, with 20% off, total cost. $1396. 😊
That's a killer deal! The standard is probably my favorite out of all of them, such great work horse guitars. I've still got the pre NX Standard 6 with dual hum buckers I reviewed relatively recently, freaking love that guitar! At that price you've got a pro level instrument for sub $1500 is crazy!
Good, I prefer hard tail.
A lot of people use foot operated whammy bars these days. Keeps you in tune and saves your string life. As a Tele player who uses pitch bend I have no choice but to use a pedal device. The Whammy look is sexier but audiences don't care about your equipment. All they care about is the lead voice or lead instrument tone and if the rhythm is tight. Only musicians give a darn about equipment. That's a fact. On these guitars, I'd say the proprietary equipment scares the crap out of me. Good luck getting parts in the future. I've had BAD experiences trying to get parts for bespoke equipment. NO fun. THINK folks.
Idk if I'd say a lot of people are using those electronic whammy bars but they are an option. The bigsby game changer audio pedal is probably the best one out there right now as far as being close to matching the expressiveness of a real bar. Getting parts is a breeze with Strandberg's, their customer support is fantastic and if you're worried about something breaking while you're on the road, it's easy to get spare parts ahead of time in case something happens. Obviously only musicians care about their gear...my channel and this video is only directed at players. Thanks for watching.
I find the whole NX line a downgrade from what was before. even the original and prog now are the same tops as the standard, they are no longer using roasted maple for the necks, etc... I'm glad I have a 2018 standard, upgraded it with a set of BKPs and it is amazing
There's def some issues with QC for sure, I do prefer the new nut and bridge tweaks over the pre NX but post OS series of guitars. The new nut is especially a big upgrade, the older design just isn't durable. What BKP's did you go with? I put some Emerald and Holy Diver's in my Original 7 Poplar burl that's the same generation as your guitar and absolutely love it now over when it had Fishman's in it.
@@aminorerror mine is a standard 6 trem so I put a Silo in the bridge and Trilogy suite singles in the middle and neck. It is probably going to be my only trem guitar tbh and it has some problems with the trem, would not to put a shim in there sometime
@@aminorerror I think 2018 was peak guitar design for many companies, especially the likes of Strandberg and Chapman. Only downgraded from there
Damn, sorry to hear about the tremolo issues. The trem on mine seems to be slightly crooked (which I didn't even catch in my initial review video) and it breaks the high E string any time I go for an oversized bend. Sigh. Mine is a '21 so late run just before they switched to NX so you'd think the factory would have it down but I guess the tooling was extra worn when they made mine lol
How do you like the 2 singles and hum bucker bridge in that guitar? I've looked at those but I'm more of a hum bucker guy, wish they had a dual hum bucker option on the standard 6 with a trem.
@@aminorerror mine is also a 2020 batch, tremolo was not sitting in the right position so kept being in contact with the body while moving. Now when the action is set low the high e pops out when you put a lot of downward pressure on the trem. The problem is the neck angle so thats why Im gonna put a shim in there. Initially I thought the singles output was too low for me and the bridge was lacking character. Went for the trilogy suite because its a very high output alnico 5 single and I love how it sounds now. It is my only guitar with trem and in standard tuning since I like to play in drop tuning and alternate tunings like DADGAD. All of my guitars have now bkps including a custom warmoth kit I finished building last year
Nice edit point
Haha you caught the fuck up huh? Ooooops!
Their tremolos had the absolute worst tuning stability I've ever seen. Many 100$ guitars with tremolos have better tuning stability. Good ritance
Sorry to hear you've had bad luck with the trem's, that hasn't been my experiences though. It's not as stable as a true double locking system for sure and I ran into some weird quirks when I would gig them every once in a while but they def stayed in tune overall for me. Thanks for watching.
@@aminorerror just my experience with two brand new ones. Maybe it was a qc issue and not design flaw. My fender strat trem is more stable and buttery feeling imo.
Philly eh? Shout out from Berks Co.!!
Hahaha nice!
First world problem? more like a right handed problem, never enough for you guys is there? :o)
Why, why.... because strandberg is apple from guitar's world.
Haha that's a backhanded insult...there's a grain of a compliment in there too lol
Its like when I see a Holdsworth Fatboy with no trem. My soul cries and Allan prolly rolls in his grave at the sight of it. XD
It's ironic how Stranberg doesn't seem to have a clue what guitarists really want when it comes to certain specs on new models. Fishmans and Evertunes are all the rage, and 7-8 strings with floating trems are popping up everywhere. I thought the whole point of a Stanberg was to be bare bones, neck through construction headless guitar, thats lightweight with a Floyd that stays in tune? Personally I think they're hideous and keep getting worse. When will guitar companies learn that trends are just that, and to stop chasing their tail in search of the next big thing. Eliminating basic key features of already successful models in order to make way for the next gimmick is a recipe for disaster. It's gotten to the point where 90% percent of the guitars on the market are abominations. Is this what people want? Weird quirky shit that very few can even utilize?
I HATE fluance pickups
What cosmetics? The standards now only come in ugly grey and ugliest shade of pale blue ever. For the Originals they didn’t even bother painting them anymore. PRS SEs proved some colours even on veneers can go a long way. Just really strange decisions all round. Oh, they’ve thrown out the really budget RESQ series but international customers are completely left out in the cold. Another daft decision which is turning customers off.
Have you noticed that not just a Strandberg guitar has gone up in price? Everything has gone up.
This really isn't complicated, they did a 46% price increase on just one specific guitar while not raising the prices on the other models to get to NX spec. Since then they've raised all the other models 10%. If you don't get how outrageous that is than idk what to say. It is slimy for just a pickup upgrade.
Shtrandberg? What’s that? Do you say Shtratocaster too?
Ok.....?