I have struggled with posture and position since I started learning. I suffered a neck injury as a teen that is not forgiving when I am in questionable posture for playing guitar. This purchase is an attempt (and agreement with my wife as condition to buy itā¦) to improve playing posture.
As an engineer, I really like the design elements that went into this. They seem to have thought through a lot of what a guitar needs to be. They used modern techniques so were not bound by maintaining an old design limitation.
Flat surfaces so you can place it left leg, right leg, neck generally horizontal to floor or up over your shoulder.
Light-weight aluminum bridge and string fixturing after the nut.
The ānutā is really a combination of slotted traditional nut but with the height set with a fret.
the body is hollowed out a little. they call it āchamberingā. this reduces the weight.
headless to reduce the weight
multi-scale to even out string feel and response characteristics
Physical, after 5 days with it:
This has a lot of positions to play in. I find that placing it on my right leg, rotating into a position with the neck near my left shoulder is probably the easiest on my head/neck, but does mean I need a strap to hold the guitar in position. It is a little difficult to get used to the new rotation of both hands, but that is coming along reasonably well. I like it in regular position but that defeats the purpose (cough agreement) and placing it on my left leg is a good balance of those two, but I tend to bend the cable a little more than I like (it comes out behind the bridge).
The neck being a trapezoid is REALLY comfortable for my hand. There is good depth for gripping with the whole hand, and there are flat edges for a thumb when trying to play more with finger tips. The flat edges are rotated a little along the length and seem about right no matter where on the neck you are trying to play.
Tremolo bridge can easily detune your strings if you are heavy-handed with placing the picking hand down on it
Strings are a little higher above the body than anything else I have. I tend to mute the big E unintentionally. Not muted by much, but I need to get used to holding my hand a little higher.
Tuning screws are ok, but I feel more control with the traditional machine that has the big āpaddleā to grip. It is very easy to engage the tremolo when tuning, so you need to just let go to see if you tuned it to the right pitch.
The angle of the frets barely feels different. Maybe this is because I donāt have a strong hand-mind connection yet? Just isnāt an issue for me at all.
Tonal after 5 days with it:
this has a lot of pretty harmonics in all switch positions. I think this is in part from the chambering.
It is a bit darker than I wanted, but it is easy to EQ where I want
I have lot more of the rabbit hole to investigate, but there are amp models in the Helix that are not exciting on other guitars, and really interesting on this one. The Helix GSG100 model is wonderful on other guitars but sounds a little too noisy on this. I think it is the interaction of the resonances in the guitar and the feedback in the GSG model colliding.
Switch settings are interesting: 1=neck HB; 2=outer split coils combined; 3=HB combined; 4=inner split coils combined; 5=bridge HB. Doesnāt have a single coil attack, but has about the right tonal mix.
Still fine-tuning EQ settings and gain settings. I have been able to get acceptable sounds for acoustic, clean blues, Heart, Metallica, AC/DC. Almost SRV, missing the pop from those single coils but could be me too.
Still a lot to chase. rabbits everywhere! Why am I still writing thisā¦
This guitar looks interesting, still guitar-alike, not as silent guitars or other light-weight solution. Cool stuff.
Good to hear itās also nice to play and offers a lot of possibilities to hold it. Keep my fingers crossed it will also be truely helpful for your posture and neck issues.
Wish you lots of fun together and many joyful hours of playing around. In case you make it out of the rabbit hole occasionally ( ) you can give some update after fully getting used to your new toy.
Happy NGD Michael
Very nice guitar ā¦ I hesitated between a Strandberg and my current one (Ibanez Q54) ā¦ the unknown of the multi-scale held me back
Have fun with this great lightweight guitar
Greetings,
Happy NGD Michael. That is an interesting looking instrument. I hope it does what you are wanting it too and I look forward hearing it being played sometime, hopefully.
Donāt let it. At the very least see if you can try one out at your favorite dealer. I went to Git Center and let them open a box for me. It wasnāt the model I wanted, but the shape was the same. Sat with it for 10 minutes and knew it was the most comfortable neck I have ever tried. Sat with it another 20 minutes and decided it was worth the very high price. Never thought Iād buy a guitar this pricey.
@Lisa_S, @Malz, @amandaw57, @SgtColon
I do think this is helping with posture. It s also encouraging me to stop looking at the fretboard so much. I am trying to just glance once in a while to re-center my hand.
@brianlarsen
yes - I like wood, lol. Lived in a log house at one time in the middle of a forest. That table and chair were old when my great grandmother had them. If you look at my user summary page, I have a similarly colored Ibanez in the image.
Every store I can go into is my favorite guitar store
But that store which is within a normal (for me) distance, did not have a multi-scale (this brand) ā¦ I get the idea/feeling/the itch to try one with a multi-scale, and if I like it, I have something online again to watch now I have that teribble feeling for a while now that I donāt have a guitar in mind and that I was not looking forward to a new guitar for a long timeā¦
so thank yā¦ Nooooo what are you doing??? G.A.S
the .strandberg* multiscale is different if you look at more strings. The neutral fret will move. On the 6-string it is at the nut. Might be interesting to try a 7 or 8 string where the neutral in in the middle somewhere.
Thanks for posting this, Michael, thatās a really interesting, and aesthetically pleasing, guitar. What does Multi-scale mean? Its not a term Iām familiar with
Look at the bridge and frets, they are at an angle - more than just the regular intonation tweaks. The small strings are shorter than the thick strings by about half and inch. This is called multi-scale because the scale length is different on each string.
Multi-scale is supposed to improve intonation - not sure how as my engineering mind considers it tho. It does even out the string tension a bit. I think I need to calculate that just for fun and see how even it is. One more rabbit hole!
Hi, Michael @sequences. Iāve been drawn to this guitar for a while now and have recently been very seriously evaluating ergonomics - which has really brought it to the fore.
For myself, I just canāt find a fully comfortable way to rest the guitar on my thigh. Standing is best, but I canāt stand for 3 hours, and sometimes Iād like to play for that long. Classical position is good in concept, but I havenāt found a way to position my legs to make that work. The Strandberg body design looks like it would sit comfortably between my thighs.
I also think that multi-scale and zero nut make a lot of sense, so thereās even more appeal.
So, after 8 months, what are your thoughts? And would a 90-degree cable connector solve the problem of the bent cable?
If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask. I will somewhat throw out some thoughts here, but may not hit what you need to know.
I have seen other headless body styles that look pretty similar for a lot less money. I liked the engineering that went into this one so no regrets, but if you wanted to look at other brands, there are some.
The strap button is my biggest discomfort with holding this in a classical position. I donāt like the feel of it poking into my ribs.
Be aware that classical position it is also noticeable for palm position for muting and also getting used to a slightly different picking angle. Be sure you are willing to work with that as it will take some getting used to.
I blocked the bridge. I wanted to work with lighter strings because the multi-scale has a unique tension profile. lighter strings were too touchy for the palm on the bridge detuning everything after reducing the spring tension to match the strings. I really like the feel of bends this way! See the tension calculations below:
I donāt see a way around the cable problem. Right angle wonāt fit because it would need to poke you in the belly. Instead, I found some rubber cable ties that I can hook to the strap buttons and loop around the cable to keep the bending limited. It still can get a bad bend on my lap but I am mindful and it hasnāt broken yet.
playing in the classical position keeps my head up where it belongs. I tend to droop my head too far down and I eventually start to feel it in my upper back and neck. My fretting wrist also has more range it can cover and tends to be in a more neutral position.
Maintenance is lower because I donāt need to oil this fretboard. I just wipe it with cleaner and Iām done.
One change I think Iāll make to my initial assessment on sound - The heavy strings seem to lack higher harmonics, where the lighter strings seem to have more. This can make the lower strings seem lost when playing with the thumb and make the thin strings sound too shrill with a pick. This guitar takes a very different EQ shape than others I have.
tremolo is harder with this neck. I seem to do best with a wide thin neck, and this is average thick. the trapezoidal shape means there is not much room to wiggle the fretting hand because it fits so cleanly on the back.
Final thought is that this is a LOT of money for a guitar. You really need to sit with one and decide if you like it. It feels different, sounds different. I like mine.
Thank you. These are great follow-up observations. I was primarily wondering whether you were still happy with it in terms of ergonomics and sound. It appears that you are.
I am curious about exactly how you hold it. I envision having the lower point (by the bottom knob) between the legs so that the curve marked in red (below) is resting on the right thigh. Is that how youāre positioning it? If not, would it work?
Am I seeing correctly that itās a half-inch difference in the scale lengths?
How did you choose your string sizes? Was that a set that you found, or did you have to scavenge from several sets? What is āDY?ā
Iām a puzzled by the loss and gain of higher harmonics. Iād thought the longer scale length and lighter string was supposed to add harmonics to the lower strings. And 25" and shorter is common, so I wonder why the higher strings would have more. Thereās a lot I donāt know about all of this.
Does it have the Suhr pickups? How do you feel about those?
The cable thing is disappointing. Iām really surprised that, with all of the thought that went into the design, this isnāt better.
Thank you for all of your great input. I havenāt found any Strandbergās near me that wouldnāt require a full day to drive there and back, so itāll be a while before I can see and feel one myself.
) you can give some update after fully getting used to your new toy. 
)
G.A.S 
