Strandberg Guitarworks » Customer Projects

.newBuilds*

Ola Strandberg — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 08:30:58 +0000

In addition to previously advertised builds, here are a few more:

#13 – Danny Thrasher: EGS Pro 8-string baritone hybrid of custom design, zebrawood/carbon fiber neck through body construction, trapezoidal neck profile, swamp ash wings with highly figured walnut top, f-hole, ebony fingerboard, stainless frets, piezo transducers in bridge, Q-tuner neck pickup, Lace ToneBar or BareKnuckle bridge

#14 – Kohei Murakami: 6-string bolt-on, swamp ash/mahogany body, quilted maple top, birdseye maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, stainless frets, Lace Alumitone S-S-H pickups

#15 – Misha Mansoor: 7-string bolt-on, 25.75-25″ scale, black limba body, figured walnut top, maple neck, birdseye maple fingerboard, stainless frets, Lundgren M7 pickups

.didonatoGuitars*

Ola Strandberg — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:23:08 +0000

Here is an update from my friend Enrico DiDonato of Italy, who has been busy launching his own brand of guitars! Design elements include .strandberg* tuning systems, custom pickups, aluminium skeleton and carefully selected woods. For more information, check out his site http://www.didonatoguitars.it/

.benjaminMillar*

Ola Strandberg — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 15:09:39 +0000

Here are some images of a recently completed project by Benjamin Millar from Israel. I particularly like the solution for tuner access, illustrating how you don’t have to limit your body shape of a headless instrument. Some data about the build:

Sapele / figured Maple body.
Sapele neck.
Ebony fretboard, electronics cavity cover, recessed scratch-plate and knobs.
Strandberg headless system: bridge and string locks.
Gold MOP face and side dots.
Bone nut.
Schaller strap locks.
BKP custom made alnico III humbuckers.
Volume / Tone / 3 way pickup selector / Series-split-parallel mini switch for each pickup.
Double action truss rod.

.moreThunder From Down Under*

Ola Strandberg — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 14:44:17 +0000

Mark Davis of Melbourne, Australia, has completed another stunning build using EGS hardware. Congratulations!
It features a 25″ scale with 24 SS Frets, on a 16″ radius Wenge through neck bound with flame maple. Body has Afromosia wings, and Silver Ash contrasting strips. Pickups are EMG 81 & 85. Check out the full build details at http://www.guitargear.net.au/discussion/index.php?topic=24521.0

.customerReport – Gareth Parry*

Ola Strandberg — Sun, 24 Oct 2010 13:15:01 +0000

Here’s a short report from Gareth’s first build using EGS hardware – a Klein-ish guitar that sounds a looks very nice!

Gareth says:

“Report on the bridge:
The guitar is incredibly stable. NO tuning issues at all. I say this after heavily gigging it over the last 4 months (60+shows in all styles). I’ve strung it with 10′s, 11′s flatwound 12′s and now roundwound 12′s (plain third) with no issue. On my guitar i had to attach the bridge upside down, so the Strandberg logo is on the top E rather than the low E, reason being the mounting saddles wouldn’t fit the correct way round (do your research before you build!!!!!!!!) I was worried it would not work as well, but it has been magnificent.”

Here’s a clip of one of Gareth’s bands, Aria Astrobeat Arkestra:

The second build, an original ergonomic shape, is on its way. I, for one, am looking forward to seeing it!

.customerUpdate – Murray Kuun*

Ola Strandberg — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 10:35:47 +0000

Murray Kuun, South African luthier and designer, has recently completed two custom builds for an American dealer. Murray comes from a furniture design background that has evolved via violin making into making guitars.

Congratulations on these beautiful instruments!

They feature EGS hardware, EMG pickups and plain, curly, and birds-eye maple. The wings are hollow to achieve a light-weight design. Scale length is 635 mm.

For more information, be sure to visit www.murraykuun.com and www.designsunlimited.co.za

.customerUpdate – Mark Davis*

Ola Strandberg — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 06:55:59 +0000

Mark Davis, from outside Melbourne, Australia, had a busy last winter building a very interesting and innovative carbon fiber guitar. He recently purchased a second EGS bridge, so I am looking forward to seeing what is in store. Mark is active at the Aussie Guitar Gear Heads forum and has a thread documenting this whole build there.

This guitar has a core of Australian pine-like wood King Billy and is fully carbon fiber. It has several fairly unique features, such as pickups mounted out of view from behind (to give an un-interrupted CF top) and glued on frets (again to not ruin the fibers of the CF weave).

Mark writes:

The total weight of this guitar is 1.3kg or 2.875lbs. Pickups are Adeson Icendiary in the bridge and a Fenton Weill in the mid position. Switching is single / single and split h/b in series , and bridge h/b. Frets are hardened SS and glued on. Nut is home made to suit purpose as are the knobs. I new exactly what I was aiming for from the beginning with the hidden P/U’s this was due to the fact that I wanted uninterrupted fibers running all the way to the bridge This creates the problem of getting the strings close to the body so as the P/U’s work. A simple mold was made that creates the top of the guitar, and a mold for the fret board. Its a piece of laminex bent and reinforced on the sides, with a bit of design work the center forms a 16 in radius. The rear of the blank was then laminated with a combination of uni and woven cloth. Peel ply was applied over to control wet out. The face will be laminated in the mold.

The Aussie Guitar Gear Heads forum thread documents the build steps and show off Mark’s impressive design skills and creative solutions.

.takethe Fifth*

Ola Strandberg — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 18:27:19 +0000

Chris Letchford has purchased #5 (which has been in the works for some time) and taken the opportunity to have it built to his specifications. He insisted on having a wenge top, although I had run out building #3. I was lucky to find some just a few kilometers away thanks to a tip from SwedishLuthier over at Project Guitar Forum. It has been in store for over 20 years, making it about as old as my previous batch.

When this is bookmatched, it should give a result very similar to #3. I bought enough for at least 4 instruments. I also got some incredibly light Sapele Mahogany: I have never used this before, but am very excited. It is very resonant and this particular piece felt like Swamp Ash in weight but with a very even color close to maple.

I also cut up the neck blank for #5 and #6 today. This has been the subject of a previous post. The original intention was to make #6 an 8-string, but I might make both of these 7-strings in order to leverage working on several instruments at a time.

#5 (Chris Letchford) specs:

7 strings headless EGS design
Mahogany back with maple neck-through-body center
Wenge top
Semi-hollow construction
Belly carve + arm bevel
2 x Lundgren M7 pickups
2 position mini-toggle switch (neck/bridge)
Master volume, master tone
EGS fixed bridge, custom color blue
String spacing at bridge 10,5 mm and nut 7 mm
Rosewood fretboard
Stainless steel Medium/High frets
24 frets
Double-acting truss rod
Zero fret
25.75″ – 25″ scale, with neutral fret at approximately fret 9 (12 mm difference between outermost bridges)

#6 specs are still not decided. The original idea was to use a piece of zebrano I had laying around, but I may use the Sapele now that I have it.

.briefEncounters*

Ola Strandberg — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:54:20 +0000

I met up with one of my customers, Gareth Parry, in London the other day. His band, Monkey See Monkey Do, had a gig at the Roxy Bar and Screen with a live re-score of the 1966 surrealist Czech film Daisies. It was a very fun (albeit hot) evening, the music blending with the film perfectly.

Gareth took #3 for a spin and enjoyed it a lot. His own project, featuring a Klein-type body, chunky Tele-style neck and EGS tuners, is all but ready. I hope to have pictures here soon when it is completed.

Next up is Washington, DC. I will be there between 13 and 17 of June. Please let me know if you are in the area and would like to meet up.

.watsonGuitars Visit*

Ola Strandberg — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:25:37 +0000

I was fortunate enough to be in the neighborhood of Watson Guitars, who I have mentioned before the week that passed and Alex and Tere made some room for me and my family in the middle of the final crunch of NAMM preparations.

We had a wonderful lunch, and a nice drive up and down the mountain although we didn’t have much luck with the weather. Idyllwild is situated in the most amazing surroundings, but due to fog, we didn’t see much farther than our noses reached. I did get to see the customer build that Alex is finishing:

Above it, you can see the second EGS tremolo build for Alex – a fitting operation for a customer.

In the above picture, you can almost see how stunning the inlay and finishing work is. In addition, there are so many nice touches on Watson Guitars’ instruments that you have to see to believe. For example, custom pickup covers cut from the top to match the grain, ditto control covers on the back, inlays, and so on. Watson Guitars are, like I said, exhibiting at NAMM so make sure to pay them a visit. The guitar pictured featuring the EGS Tremolo will be there, so it’s a great opportunity to try one out. Alex and Tere also told me about some of their plans for 2010 which are very exciting, but I will let you follow that story on their home page or in person at NAMM, obviously.

One more thing that you need to see in real life is pictured above – a semi-hollow 7-string bass. It will feature both a magnetic and piezo pickups and looks absolutely stunning already! Alex’s fingertips proved the amount of work that has been put into it and it had to be ready for applying finish the night I left… (I hope you got it done in time, Alex!)

Lastly, above is a picture of one of Watson’s CNC machines – very nice!