Strandberg Boden OS 7

**petermelton** · 01-30-2016, 10:45 PM

I've been following this company for a while and have been really curious about the endurneck. Lately I've been getting pretty bad hand cramps in my thumb when playing for longer than an hour and it's been really bothering me and discouraging me. I can happily say that the endurneck is fantastic! It is much thicker than your typical shredder guitar neck; it's actually about as thick as my Warmoth '59 Tele neck. Adapting to the shape or the fanned frets didn't take me anytime at all.

The only negative is a personal preference negative and it's the Lace pickups. While they sound fantastic for high gain, Strandberg's primary customer, they're not the best choice for jazz or lower gain settings. They're extremely dark and have somewhat of a piezo quack to them. The 7th string is also twice as loud as the 1st string even with the pickup dropped down. I ordered a set of DiMarzio PAF 7's in double cream that should arrive soon. Hopefully they work out.

Acoustically the guitar is extremely resonate. The strings have a sort of bouncy feel to them and the natural sustain is surprising. The guitar weighs a lovely 5 pounds and it's perfectly balanced with a strap.

I picked the guitar up at the NAMM show got to play some of their made to measure guitars and the new Japanese run they have coming out. I really couldn't feel a discernible quality difference between the guitars from different factories or workshops either. It's clear they have some tight quality control.

Cheers,

Strandberg Boden OS 7-img_3769-jpg

**jads57** · 01-31-2016, 03:26 AM

Very nice indeed! I understand they offer different p/ups from various makers Seymour Duncan,etc. I
m assuming this is a 27" scale length w/ slightly fanned frets? Also how does the neck p/up sound, is it still displaced from under the natural occuring harmonics sweet spot? One more ? what's the nice looking 7 sting archtop, please tell us more!

Thanks!

**PaulHintz** · 01-31-2016, 11:16 AM

Lovely looking guitars.. If the DiMarzio pups don't give you the sound you want...A couple years ago I had Bare Knuckles Stormy Monday pups put in a tele-style 7-string I've owned since 1997. Made the guitar come alive. Tremendous pickups. Versatile, responsive, warm. Pricey but completely worth it. Just my 2 cents...Thanks for posting about the Strandburg. New name to me, and I'll have to check them out.

**petermelton** · 01-31-2016, 11:38 PM

Originally Posted by jads57

Very nice indeed! I understand they offer different p/ups from various makers Seymour Duncan,etc. I
m assuming this is a 27" scale length w/ slightly fanned frets? Also how does the neck p/up sound, is it still displaced from under the natural occuring harmonics sweet spot? One more ? what's the nice looking 7 sting archtop, please tell us more!

Thanks!

This one is 25.5 inches to 26.25 inches. It's not too drastic. The neck has 24 frets so it is pushed back a little. The 7 string archtop is my CB Hill great luthier in Southern California.

**Jim Soloway** · 02-01-2016, 12:33 PM

What type and size of string are you using for the bottom string? That's often the reason why the bottom string is so much louder on a 7-string. In order to get sufficient tension, people tend to use a much heavier string. Fanned frets should eliminate the problem but the small extent of the fan on yours may not be sufficient to do that. When I was playing 7-string, a lot of 7-string players discovered that if they used a GHS nickel compound string for the bottom string, they could use a much lighter string, resulting in a more balanced volume output. I was able to go from an 80 using conventional strings to a 64 with the GHS.

**jzucker** · 02-06-2016, 10:56 PM

looks really sweet but I have small hands and the thought of the 26.25" scale on the low side was daunting to me. If I get one, I'd opt for the 6 string because of that.

**petermelton** · 02-09-2016, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Jim Soloway

What type and size of string are you using for the bottom string? That's often the reason why the bottom string is so much louder on a 7-string. In order to get sufficient tension, people tend to use a much heavier string. Fanned frets should eliminate the problem but the small extent of the fan on yours may not be sufficient to do that. When I was playing 7-string, a lot of 7-string players discovered that if they used a GHS nickel compound string for the bottom string, they could use a much lighter string, resulting in a more balanced volume output. I was able to go from an 80 using conventional strings to a 64 with the GHS.

That's a great point. Thanks for the tip on GHS. I'll have to check those out too. I'm not sure what's on there right now but I restrung the rest of the strings with D' Addario 11-49 because that was all I had on me and the 7th string doesn't feel much larger than that 49. On my CB Hill I usually use something like 13-52 and a 70 for the A and the balance gets pretty damn perfect after adjusting the pickup pole pieces. When I ordered the pickups from Sweetwater I also ordered a few sets of the new D'Addario NYXL 11-65 sets. Once everything is swapped out and tuned up I'll try and post some clips.

**petermelton** · 02-09-2016, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by jzucker

looks really sweet but I have small hands and the thought of the 26.25" scale on the low side was daunting to me. If I get one, I'd opt for the 6 string because of that.

The scale on the 6 string is neat. I kinda wish the 7 was 25"-26.25" but the .75" difference on the OS7 is comfortable and seems to work fine enough. It is a bit of a stretch on the lower frets for a few grips if you do have small hands though. Other than that the extra .75" is hardly noticeable across the neck.

**jzucker** · 02-09-2016, 05:03 PM

post some clips. I'm thinking about one of these axes. Most of the clips are heavy metal players.

**jads57** · 02-09-2016, 11:59 PM

Yes please clips!

**petermelton** · 02-10-2016, 12:17 AM

Originally Posted by jzucker

post some clips. I'm thinking about one of these axes. Most of the clips are heavy metal players.

That's the plan and the reason. I was on the fence for over a year till I got to play one at NAMM. I'm hoping the pickup swap fixes it because acoustically the guitar is really nice and feels great. They should be here Friday so maybe Sunday I'll do a recording of the Strandberg and the CB with the same settings to compare.

**petermelton** · 02-15-2016, 02:18 PM

Swapped out the pickups and made a quick recording. New pickups are DiMarzio PAF 7s. Recorded through my pedal board with the Ethos clean, FK CNCR Ice Verb Reveb, and DM-2W direct into a cheap old Fast Track Pro and Garage Band.

**Jim Soloway** · 02-15-2016, 02:26 PM

That sounds just great!

**PaulHintz** · 02-15-2016, 02:30 PM

Beautiful tone. Great playing. One of my favorite standards (I was working on it this morning, myself). Thanks for posting this. Not that I need another 7-string guitar...but if I did, or if I travelled, you've sure made a persuasive case for the Strandberg and those DiMarzios.

**petermelton** · 02-15-2016, 02:50 PM

Thanks guys!

**eddy b.** · 02-15-2016, 10:25 PM

Sounds Great!!!!

**jzucker** · 02-15-2016, 11:07 PM

love it! Thanks for the clip. Are those stock pickups?

**jzucker** · 02-15-2016, 11:10 PM

is this the korean version?

**petermelton** · 02-15-2016, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by jzucker

love it! Thanks for the clip. Are those stock pickups?

Thanks! Stock pickups were Lace, this recording is with DiMarzio PAF 7s. Yeah it is the Korean version. I played guitars from everywhere they manufacture them at the NAMM show and didn't notice much of a difference in quality. They all have super thin satin finishes and more or less the same hardware.