Strandberg Guitarworks » Sound Samples

.theHAARP Machine – Al Mu’min*

Ola Strandberg — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 15:59:20 +0000

One of the hottest guitarists out there currently, Al Mu’min of The|HAARP|Machine, has had #16 for a while. Check out this clip and guitar presentation for something to look forward to in the spring, when their first album comes out! I will also say that Al and I are working on a few other projects that will be worth the wait…

Video by Ethesham Haque

.tosinAbasi on #9 and #17*

Ola Strandberg — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 17:56:43 +0000

Here are a couple of clips recorded at Das Bett in Frankfurt on the day that I delivered #17 to him.

.tosinAbasi plays #8*

Ola Strandberg — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 07:23:02 +0000

Here is a first clip of #8 in the hands of Tosin Abasi.

Check it out on YouTube for HD version.

.tosinAbasi Clips*

Ola Strandberg — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 09:21:22 +0000

Tosin Abasi from Animals as Leaders and I have been communicating for a while and it was a thrill to finally meet at NAMM. I watched AALs set in the Mackie booth and he tried out #6 there and again later in the .strandberg* booth. Here are two short clips of how it went down.

.uppsalaVII International Guitar Festival*

Ola Strandberg — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:54:48 +0000

Having made it back from the US, including a quick visit to Rick Toone and his lovely wife Tricia, and then on to San Antonio, Texas, I had all of 3 hours at the house before setting up the booth at Uppsala VII International Guitar Festival.

Rick and I compared notes and messed around with his new barytone and my #3.

At the guitar festival, Simon Svärd (left) and Jonas Isaksson (right) took the opportunity to jam for a bit on #1 and #3. While the festival is geared towards classical guitarists, I have exhibited for three consecutive years as the only electrical guitar builder among a dozen classical guitar builders.

Throughout Friday and Saturday, there was a steady stream of interested visitors, which was the perfect medicine to keep the jet lag away. It was a great show and there was a lot of sharing of thoughts and ideas between us builders during the few quiet periods. Special thanks to Håkan at Uppsala Musikverkstad for providing exhibition space as well as amplifiers!

Finally, here are a couple of clips of Jonas and Simon:
Solar – Miles Davis:

Stella By Starlight – Victor Young:

.movingPictures*

Ola Strandberg — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 14:54:08 +0000

No, the title does not refer to one of the best rock albums of all time (Rush), but to four new clips on YouTube, all of #6. For the HD versions of the clips, visit my channel on YouTube.

In the first two, Jonas Isaksson has a one of his first encounters with a 7-string guitar. The low action and jumbo frets, which did cause some buzzing with a sitar-like quality, inspired him to some very oriental sounding licks.

In the third, Peter Hansson demonstrates some of the features, including different seated playing positions and what the impact on the angle of the wrist is. He was not coached to sit in any special way – it was only when editing the clip that I realized that his wrist was almost straight throughout the clip in seating position 2.

The fourth clip has Peter playing some harder stuff. If you are into metal and some drop tunings and want to stand out from the crowd – this is for you. The Alumitones and scale lengths work together in a way that I find works really well, albeit not the traditional sound.

.laceAlumitone vs Lundgren Heaven 57*

Ola Strandberg — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:35:16 +0000

Many players have contacted me and been curious about how the EGS guitars sound with “normal” pickups. Johan Lundgren of Lundgren Guitar Pickups kindly lent me a pair of Heaven ’57 humbuckers for a test.

Getting this done was not as straight-forward as I had hoped. The Alumitones are a few millimeters smaller (36 x 65 mm) than a regular humbucker (38 x 68 mm), and for aesthetical purposes I had cut the pickup cavities as close to the original Alumitones as possible. This meant that I actually had to get the router out to enlarge the holes for the test. Another interesting fact is that the two Lundgren pickups weigh 250 grams and the two Lace pickups weigh 90 grams. With the EGS#1 guitar weighing in at about 2kg, it still results in a fairly light instrument, but the increase in weight is quite large percentage-wise.

You will have to judge the results for yourself. The larger frequency response of the Lace pickups allow them to be equalized into any type of sound using tone controls and effects, but the clips are recorded with the same settings on the amp.

Some comments from Jonas – his personal views and reflections:

The Alumitones have a “sparkle” on the high end and the “punch” is high in the tonal register.
The Lundgren pickups have their “punch” much more in the mid-range.
The Lundgren pickups have a warmer and muddier sound.
When playing the Alumitones, he feels he has to hold back a little – they have a tendency to “break” when picking hard. With Lundgren pickups, he feels more “relaxed” and un-inhibited.
The EGS guitar still responds very quickly with the Lundgren pickups, but the attack is slightly less intimidating than with the Alumitone.
Jonas’ verdict: “the EGS guitar really comes together with the Lundgren Heaven 57 pickups. Having said that, in something like the sound clip featuring Joe Pesce from FUZZ Guitar Show, the Alumitones beat the Lundgrens hands down.”
My verdict: “As with anything on an instrument, the choice of pickups is very subjective. Material choices, design features, and electronics all have to blend together to form a complete instrument that resonates with its player. Both of the tested pickups have their merits. I am offering my customers a choice of whatever pickup type suits their playing style and genre the best. The Lundgren pickups turned out awesome in this particular instance, so I am definitely keeping them on. In the niche of ergonomic guitars, design and innovation, Lace Alumitones will continue to be my first choice.”

Clean sample:

Slightly distorted sample:

.moreVideos on YouTube*

Ola Strandberg — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:53:22 +0000

I have added three more clips featuring Jonas Isaksson. They all go through each of the pickup positions first clean and then distorted. The settings are the same on the signal chain across all the guitars.

#1

#2

#3

.fuzzGuitar Show 2010 – Part 2*

Ola Strandberg — Mon, 10 May 2010 20:09:56 +0000

Here are a few sound/video clips of the EGS guitars. They are recorded with the video camera built-in microphone so not particularly high quality, but should provide some comparison between the different guitars.

The clips are all recorded with identical settings of all controls, with very neutral settings. No reverb or effects, except for a bit of overdrive in the first clip.

More clips will follow.

Demo #1 – Mats Lundberg

Demo #2 – Joe Pesce

Demo #3 – Niclas Höglind

.videoKilled the Guitar Star*

Ola Strandberg — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:29:49 +0000

I have been planning to upload some sound samples for some time. I have also been planning to get some more videos, but was dreading it simply because the effort required was nightmarish and still, after hours of messing around and downloading different programs, came out not wide screen but squeezed together. But I got a new computer the other day that had the latest version of the operating system and suddenly everything worked as expected – smoothly. But now I had not made an effort when lighting the recording properly. But next time…

So, I met up with Peter Hansson, who helped me test tremolos before, and we recorded some sound samples. Rather than just putting up mp3s, I used the new software to put them up on YouTube witha single click! Sound has been lined from a Mesa Boogie Rectoverb through a Palmer speaker simulator. No effects boxes except on the distorted sample where we added a Boss Flanger and some echo.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/user/olastrandberg to see all the clips.

Here is one sample, showing the action of the tuners.

Expect more videos soon.