News And Updates

#7 is completed and will ship out tomorrow to its owner Brandon Montgomery of Littleton, CO. For specs and more pictures, please see the gallery http://guitarworks.thestrandbergs.com/gallery/

It is with great pride and joy that we can today announce jointly that Strandberg Guitarworks is the first licensed user of Rick Toone’s patented Trapezoidal Neck Profile™ (TNP™) and Intersecting Plane Neck Profile™ (IPNP™) technologies.

The TNP™ has been used on a few builds already (#3, #6) and has been extremely well received by the musician community. In addition to its excellent ergonomics, I have found that the design makes for a more stable neck that also sounds exceedingly good. In build #8, commissioned by Tosin Abasi, Rick Toone has been engaged to work directly with Tosin to adapt the design to his exact specification.

I am very pleased to report that the new EGS Pro Tremolo is now available for worldwide sales, having resolved the patent licensing matter for the US Market. 6-string Dual Action and 7-string tremolos in black are available for immediate shipping. For more information, see the ordering page. For more information about the EGS Pro Tremolo, please download the brochure from the downloads page.

The baritone hybrid prototype neck is finished enough to mount on a guitar, and I chose #4 since it has a conventional scale. Since this was an experiment, I built the neck in the cheapest possible materials so I could throw it away in case it didn’t work, but it looks like I will not have to do so!

A close-up of the headstock:

This neck is destined for another demo guitar that I’m building, which will feature the new tremolo. So, as soon as it is finished and someone has figured out how to play it, I will get some sound samples up.

Here is how I mounted the string locks, showing just how flexible they are:

In preparation for Tosin Abasi’s (and John Mason’s + possibly more) I have been prototyping the baritone hybrid concept to work out the best way of carving the “headstock” and placing string locks. I could develop a new string lock especially for this, that is more out of the way, but I really want to use the standard one to showcase its versatility. Here’s what I have come up with so far and at least with my playing style, it will work. I aim to get this onto #4 ASAP to try it out. Scale lengths are 28.66″ – 25.5″.

Note custom colored (~bronze) hardware slated for Tosin’s guitar, which will have flamed maple top and rosewood neck.

Fred Brum, owner of #6, was kind enough to let me borrow his guitar long enough to exhibit it at NAMM. He had ordered a flightcase for it, and due to it being delayed, #6 also took a trip across the world in the other direction, to Tokyo. But last Thursday the long awaited case finally arrived and made its way to Lisbon, Portugal with its valuable contents.

I’m afraid there is nothing at all innovative about the flightcase – it is simply a well built one, that will keep your contents safe while touring or travelling with your guitar outside your personal control. The weight is approximately 7 kg.

I have travelled extensively with these guitars and can report that they fit nicely in the overhead bin of most aircraft. I have even travelled with two guitars in the same 3/4 size gigbag – all in the overhead. The bolt-on versions become small enough to fit in a backpack if you remove the neck. Since the strings are locked in place, there is not even a need to remove them.

I will be posting build progress under the Gallery heading in the menu from now on. Currently, I have added albums for builds #7 (Brandon Montgomery), #8 (Tosin Abasi), and #9 (Alexander Stegmayr). Soon will follow #10 (John Mason) and #11 (Alejandro Cabral).

Appropriately, #8 will be an 8-string, for Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders.

We had been communicating for a while before NAMM, so it was a great pleasure to finally meet in person and let Tosin test #6.

Preliminary specs are:

• 8-string bolt-on 27.5″ – 26.5″ (subject to change) mixed scale
• Rosewood / maple / carbon fiber neck
• Swamp ash chambered body with flamed maple top and f-hole
• Rosewood fingerboard
• Stainless steel frets
• Custom Lace Alumitone pickups

Plenty more details will follow as we hash out the details.

The lucky owner of what will be #7 is Brandon Montgomery, owner and proprietor of custom tube amp maker Bludotone. Much like a .strandberg* guitar, Bludotone tube amps are custom built to specifications to exactly match the playing style and needs of the user.

Brandon has been in the business since the dawn of time and has extensive experience as a guitar tech on his CV. With an impeccable ear for pickups, other electronics and materials – something that is much appreciated by his amp buyers – he can closely match the musician, the instrument, and the amp.

Draft specs at the time of writing are:

• 7-string EGS Pro, 26″ – 25″ mixed scale
• Black Limba (Korina) / maple / carbon fiber laminated neck-through body construction
• Black Limba (Korina) body wings
• Flamed Maple top
• Ebony fingerboard
• Evo Gold jumbo frets
• Custom Lundgren pickups
• 3-position pickup selector + 2 x series/split/parallel switches

Also of note is that Brandon has carefully calculated the string tensions and designed a custom set of strings that along with the scale lengths will provide great balance in tone and feel.

Check out these new downloads:

• EGS Fixed Bridge Brochure
• EGS Pro Tremolo Brochure
• EGS Guitar Brochure Inside
• EGS Guitar Brochure Outside