What Is Strandberg Doing?

I'm a HUGE fan of Strandberg guitars and I do not understand what the company is thinking with their current changes to the model lineup. After reviewing around ten of their guitars, there's so many great things that the company offers but some of the business decisions are true head scratchers. In this video we'll walk are way through the changes they've made to the lineup of instruments and I'll share my opinions.

They've dropped the tremolo on the Original line of guitars, right at the time that Kiesel has launched multiscale headless tremolo models and Ernie Ball Music Man Guitars announced the Kaizen Tosin Abasi multi scale tremolo equipped seven string model. This will undoubtably cut into Strandberg's market share (I'm def considering both guitars).

The truly shady move is the price gouge they gave to the NX Classic line and I find this very dishonest. They've increased the price of the NX Classic by $700 over the older line of the Classic for what is essentially just a pickup upgrade. Truly upsetting and really disappointing as the older Classic really was a great professional quality instrument at a reasonable price point.

LINKS TO MY MUSIC:

0:00 - Intro
0:52 - Changes to the 'Original' Model
2:43 - Context
4:23 - 'Standard' Model
5:54 - 'Prog' Model
6:25 - THE WORST - 'Classic' Model Price Gouge
9:19 - 'Metal' Model
9:44 - 'Fusion' Model
10:26 - Wrap Up

#guitar #strandberg #review

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello internet...my name is is Rob Craft and welcome to my youtube channel!

'A Minor Error' is the creative home for all things I do in music: instrumental progressive metal music, product reviews, tip videos and free music lessons. Leave me a comment or question, I try and reply to all comments within a day!

Stop by my bandcamp to buy tabs from my songs and videos.

Follow me on all the socials:

[iLL]

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.

[SJ-yfwh]

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.

[LunatiqueRob]

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.

[IbanezGuy]

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.

[solkvist]

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.

[wonnie]

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.

[mingistech]

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.

[StevenLamphear]

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. 😔

[arielmadridejo]

You deserve 1m subs bro your reviews and demos are 90% better than everyone else

[TimHamelink]

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.

[rocknroll]

Did you pick up one of the neck thur NX originals just released?

[ripshairout]

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!

[tomtang]

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

[TommyGunzzz]

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?

[joanriudavets]

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

[NickTsatsalmas]

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.

[Mr.Goldbar]

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

[michizer]

I wonder why the Boden NX Metal 6 String does not have Fishman Pickups as the 7 and 8 String model

[ensoniqk]

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.

[mikesmoviemadness]

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.