NGD: Strandberg Boden NX6

Brio

Well one week on and the sun finally came out. So I went and sat in a dark room with mates to play guitar.
Here it is:



Totally addictive to play, I find it hard to put down. After 5 minutes I didn't notice the fan frets or the neck shape.
I do find myself wearing the guitar higher as that seems to make the most of the above features. The thing i do notice is the comfort of the body shape when sitting down. It really encourages to use a more 'classical' position.
The bag that came with it is pretty neat too.
The only fault I could find was a tiny ding in the 13th fret that looked like something had smacke a sting into it even though it was between the D and G strings. A few minutes with micromesh pads polished that out.
The 5 positions on the switch all sound really clean/wide/separated. Somehow you can pick out the individual strings and yet they all sound right and balanced, probably because of the multiscale concept. The high E is PRS scale at 25" and the low E is Fender at 25.5"
The pickup switching is:

1. Neck
2. Neck Outer Coil
3. Neck Outer Coil + Bridge Outer Coil in parallel
4. Neck Inner Coil + Bridge Inner Coil in parallel
5. Bridge

nero1701

I must say, I've always been a "traditionalists" with guitars, les Paul's, strats, teles ect. These really are peaking my interest. How's the right hand playability? 

digitalkettle

I’m at the one week mark with mine…keep thinking I should post a follow-up

I see you got the official strap. Same here as I knew I’d need it super short. The strap ends seem to be the squeakiest thing ever (a tiny dot of vaseline fixed that).

…and that’s all I have to complain about! I’d read about some QC concerns so I knew I was taking a bit of a punt, buying unseen, but it’s flawless

 They appear to leave the factory with a dead low action so I kept nibbling away at that: put a few tweaks on the truss rod and ended up lifting the action by 1.5 to 2 rotations across the board…top E is still under 4/64”.

I made a pretty quick adjustment to playing it considering it’s an 8-string but I’m a long way off doing something really useful. The weirdest thing was when I went back to my regular guitar: the neck was like a pencil Very disorienting…a physical/optical illusion…took fifteen minutes to get through and I dare say I could repeat the experience! Have you had anything similar with your 6-string? 

TheBigDipper

nero1701 said:

I must say, I've always been a "traditionalists" with guitars, les Paul's, strats, teles ect. These really are peaking my interest. How's the right hand playability? 

It's absolutely fine for me. 

HT986M2

Out of interest, does anyone know the reason behind the two shapes that Strandberg offer? 

Normally I'd say it's just to give another style option.  However, I know Ola has a very engineering-orientated mind so I'd have to assume he wouldn't make a change for the sake of it and that it has a reason behind it? 

Also, stupid question but how to you store Strandbergs?  I keep my guitars out, but it looks like normal wall hangers and Hercules-style floor hangers would be totally imcompatible?

Brio

Fender do an asymmetric stand for offset guitars.

Philly_Q

HT986M2 said:

Out of interest, does anyone know the reason behind the two shapes that Strandberg offer? 

Normally I'd say it's just to give another style option.  However, I know Ola has a very engineering-orientated mind so I'd have to assume he wouldn't make a change for the sake of it and that it has a reason behind it? 

I must admit I'd assumed it was here's a "Strat", here's a "Tele".  They look like the balance would be about the same, and little difference in terms of upper fret access.  Looking at them side by side, I think I actually prefer the Sälen shape.

baderica

HT986M2 said:

Also, stupid question but how to you store Strandbergs?  

Hercules do inserts for mandolins and suchlike to fit their hangers. They work fine for the Boden too 

wibble

I have mine on a regular Ultimate stand, it works fine...

Brio

Right. A few weeks on and I'm still loving the Boden. The clarity of the string separation is brilliant and I find the new guitar syndrome stopped me playing the other guitars maybe too much.
I'm now starting to play my PDS DGT SE a lot again. It feels and sounds different and that is great, there is little overlap.
Still very happy with the playability of the Boden. It tends to be the first thing I pick up and I can certainly play complex chord stretches around the nut a lot easier on it. I can get a shock transferring stuff to the PRS or Tele but that soon eases.
Overall a great purchase.
I now realise I have bought two of the most influencer hyped guitars of the last few years,  but fuck it, they're both excellent guitars.

Nerine

GAS for a Boden is strong atm. 

FelineGuitars

Well I joined the Strandberg owners club this week.

A Plini Boden Prog model in Mahogany with Suhr Pickups and 3 way switch that gives outer coils in the middle position

Having played a few customers ones that came in for work I got quite smitten 

I'm liking it a lot 

Brio

Oooh! That singlecut.... 

nero1701

Nerine said:

GAS for a Boden is strong atm. 

mine also!

Bigsby

FelineGuitars said:

Well I joined the Strandberg owners club this week.

A Plini Boden Prog model in Mahogany with Suhr Pickups and 3 way switch that gives outer coils in the middle position

Having played a few customers ones that came in for work I got quite smitten 

I'm liking it a lot 

Good to see you've joined the club!
Strandberg should be seeing that as a prized endorsement (though they're probably mostly interested in influencers - just a sign of the times). 

GuyBoden

Strandberg have the best ergonomic guitar shape for playing while seated. IMO

Boden is a small town in Sweden.

carlos

FelineGuitars said:

Well I joined the Strandberg owners club this week.

A Plini Boden Prog model in Mahogany with Suhr Pickups and 3 way switch that gives outer coils in the middle position

Having played a few customers ones that came in for work I got quite smitten 

I'm liking it a lot 

How long until you chuck some Dunlop SS6000's on it?

FelineGuitars

carlos said:

FelineGuitars said:

Well I joined the Strandberg owners club this week.

A Plini Boden Prog model in Mahogany with Suhr Pickups and 3 way switch that gives outer coils in the middle position

Having played a few customers ones that came in for work I got quite smitten 

I'm liking it a lot 

How long until you chuck some Dunlop SS6000's on it?

Hush ....dont give me more ideas
I'm already modding it - flush mount straplock on rear of horn
Swapped the A5 magnet in the Suhr bridge pickup for a ceramic
and added Anomaly pickup surrounds - pickups are still direct mounted but have protection now

sweepy

Both those Strandbergs are lovely, I keep gassing for a 7string with trem……who knows 

Elwood

Is there anything clever to the pickup mounting in a strandberg?