Big strandberg development...

[jleader]

Ola should dump S7, or at least not give them more orders than they can handle. I paid my roughly $1400 deposit for my Boden 7 in Nov and was told Feb completion. In January Jim was asking that it would really help him out if I could pay the final $1400 to help him out. I didnt do it as I dont feel comfortable paying for a custom guitar until its finished. So 3 weeks ago he emails me saying its approaching completion and feel free to send in payment at any time. I didnt do it. Then he kindly says a week later that they are projecting to ship out Mon or Tues of last week, so I send him my final payment and my guitar is now fully paid for. I still dont have my guitar, I still havent received any shipment or updated info, I have emailed Jim twice and gotten no response.

Waiting is OK by me, but Im not OK with paying in full for a guitar before its done and ready to ship. Big lesson learned. Thing is, I only paid cause he had said it was "almost" done and will ship next week. So, next time, "almost" done isnt gonna be the key word for me, its gonna need to be "is" done.

Strictly 7 has proved that they cant keep up. Ola is doing what is necessary and the smart thing for him to do which is expand and get people guitars fast.

Sounds like I'm on the same boat as you. I'm all paid up as well (ever since I got my tax refund, actually) and I'm still waiting to get my Boden 7 as well. I'm guessing my build was one of the ones with a cracked top or other less than ideal body issues from the latest Boden update videos?

To me, it sounds like they're (S7G) being really critical of what's leaving the shop now... But I've never played an S7G or a Boden, so I'm simply hoping for the best and giving them the benefit of the doubt that they're doing right by Ola and that it'll be awesome when I get it.

As far as this new venture goes, I'm glad to see that Ola's designs are going to be more easily come by in terms of both availability and price point. That's pretty awesome!! I mean a Varberg base cost is like $5200USD or something, right? That Masvidalien is really close to what I'd spec out, so I'm itching to see how this goes.

 

[crg123]

This is interesting to here. My friend is on the boden waitlist since it came out last year, and has been waiting for the perfect options. Now that S7G isn't working on these it should be interesting to see the difference in quality. He had a strictly 7+1 prior to this and neither him or I was very impressed with the build quality. How this turns out well! I'm not so sure about having a factory build this guitar though? The handcrafted nature of the guitars before seemed to be what allowed for the high price. I'm a bit worried about loosing that handcrafted detail and attention to detail a smaller shop would use?

 

[StevenC]

...holds about as much water as the nonsense Letchford was spouting prior to things hitting the fan with S7G.

Just a thought, but based on the original spec sheet for the CL7, it may never have been intended to go through S7G. The Boden 7 and 8 spec sheets at the time both had mention of S7G and listed their email and website, but this information was missing from the CL7 announcement. We were told to order through paul@strandberg, even though he had left S7G and who we now know is part of this company with Ola. Chris might just have been covering himself, knowing that AES was happening, but not being able to talk about it.

Or I'm reading too far into it...

 

[dudeskin]

Woah my bad dude, I didn't realize you had to own a given guitar to identify glaring issues with it.



Good on you for having one that is evidently free of defects, but your opinion holds about as much water as the nonsense Letchford was spouting prior to things hitting the fan with S7G. There have been QC issues with S7G's Bodens. This isn't an opinion, it's a fact.

I'm quite excited by this Looking forward to more options coming down the line and maybe ordering a production model! Still not sure how I feel about the Endurneck though... Maybe this'll give Ola an opportunity to get some hands-on marketing going.

i said most cannot comment, you can and thats that.
next, i also said its my opinion. sorry if i forgot that a guy cant have an opinion based on the guitar he has to help people who want one to make a decision.

 

[baptizedinblood]

Just a thought, but based on the original spec sheet for the CL7, it may never have been intended to go through S7G. The Boden 7 and 8 spec sheets at the time both had mention of S7G and listed their email and website, but this information was missing from the CL7 announcement. We were told to order through paul@strandberg, even though he had left S7G and who we now know is part of this company with Ola. Chris might just have been covering himself, knowing that AES was happening, but not being able to talk about it.

Or I'm reading too far into it...

I thought the same as well.

 

[InfinityCollision]

Just a thought, but based on the original spec sheet for the CL7, it may never have been intended to go through S7G. The Boden 7 and 8 spec sheets at the time both had mention of S7G and listed their email and website, but this information was missing from the CL7 announcement. We were told to order through paul@strandberg, even though he had left S7G and who we now know is part of this company with Ola. Chris might just have been covering himself, knowing that AES was happening, but not being able to talk about it.

Or I'm reading too far into it...

Letchford said something to the effect of "any 12 year old can build a guitar from CNC'd parts", among other things, in response to criticisms of S7G in the thread about his signature model.

i said most cannot comment, you can and thats that.
next, i also said its my opinion. sorry if i forgot that a guy cant have an opinion based on the guitar he has to help people who want one to make a decision.

You're entitled to your opinion, but that has no bearing on its validity. The owner of a guitar is by no means the only person who can make an objective assessment of its build quality.

I'm done, didn't mean to derail this back to S7G. Again, excited to see where this project goes in the future.

 

[ECGuitars]

Letchford said something to the effect of "any 12 year old can build a guitar from CNC'd parts", among other things, in response to criticisms of S7G in the thread about his signature model.


You're entitled to your opinion, but that has no bearing on its validity. The owner of a guitar is by no means the only person who can make an objective assessment of its build quality.

I'm done, didn't mean to derail this back to S7G. Again, excited to see where this project goes in the future.

That is because Letchford is a jackass who clearly doesn't know a thing about what he's talking about LOL.

In other news, glad to see this move made by Ola, S7 was looking really shady. Really respect this man as a builder and business man, would love to get my hands on a strandberg bass

 

[Rook]

Yesssss..... Everybody buy production models and take yourself off the custom wait list... Muahahaha

 

[dcoughlin1]

That is because Letchford is a jackass who clearly doesn't know a thing about what he's talking about LOL.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Chris has built guitars for himself. So I think he does know what he is talking about lol.

 

[Khoi]

so it looks like the only production Varberg is the 6-string Paul Masvidal signature?

 

[Rook]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think Chris has built guitars for himself. So I think he does know what he is talking about lol.

I've written some songs in my life, doesn't make me an authority on music.

Not saying I agree with the point but, I don't agree with you either hahaha.

 

[StevenC]

Yesssss..... Everybody but production models and take yourself off the custom wait list... Muahahaha

NO!

I'm all for getting more customs, Strandbergs specifically, sooner, but I need everyone to stay on the wait list so I have a hope in hell of being able to afford my interesting second custom in 8 years. Don't ruin this for me, guys.

EDIT: According to Chris Letchford's Facebook, Washburn are doing all of the production series, implying S7G are out entirely.

 

[Rook]

^That was my interpretation from the off.

8 years?!? You having a 23 string, 1-45" scale made out of rare fossilised balsa wood with gold bricks as pickups?!?

I was exaggerating. My deposit's up in a month or two and I'm actually thinking 'oh shit'

 

[Hollowway]

The owner of a guitar is by no means the only person who can make an objective assessment of its build quality.

So, what was wrong with his? He said he had a quality instrument, but you seem to feel pretty strongly that he does not. What did you see that made you feel that way?

 

[Grand Moff Tim]

I'm not so sure about having a factory build this guitar though? The handcrafted nature of the guitars before seemed to be what allowed for the high price. I'm a bit worried about loosing that handcrafted detail and attention to detail a smaller shop would use?

Unless I misread the thread so far, the "production" models will be made in the Washburn USA custom shop, which isn't really a "factory," as far as I know. It'll still have handcrafted detail and attention to detail, or at least as much as you'd expect were you to order a custom Washburn.

I for one hope there's eventually something made in an actual factory. A factory in Asia, even. I've always been curious about Strandbergs, but there's pretty much no way I could ever justify (to myself) the price of a genuine Ola-built Strandie or one of the S7 or Washburn "production" models. If there was a significantly more affordable one made in, say, Korea or something, that'd be pretty tits. I don't care if the guitar isn't flawless, I'd just like to try out the ergonomics and hardware without having to destroy my bank account.

 

[JP Universe]

Great news

I'm still going full custom though and delving deep into my brain to come up with a space station of a guitar from Ola

 

[Seanthesheep]

fuck. now its harder than ever to decide wether to wait for my spot to come up on olas list or buy one of these washburn bodens

the regular Boden 7 is almost perfect now. it would be a tough choice between the boden 7 and the CL7 if I went with a WashBoden

 

[InfinityCollision]

Breaking my own rule here...

So, what was wrong with his? He said he had a quality instrument, but you seem to feel pretty strongly that he does not. What did you see that made you feel that way?

I don't recall ever speaking negatively regarding his own instrument, actually quite the opposite:

Good on you for having one that is evidently free of defects

"Evidently" because to my knowledge I haven't seen his own guitar, and as such I can't make any statements on it beyond inferences from his own assessment of his personal Boden (which is evidently positive). On the other hand, there's plenty of documentation regarding S7-made Bodens that do have issues, hence the following (generalized) statements regarding QC issues with S7G.

Factory Strandbergs would be tits if they ever somehow made their way to a shop in my area so I could try them out I think I read earlier that they're phasing out IPNP as an option? Might have to pick Ola's brain on that.

 

[Hollowway]

^Ah. I thought you were saying that his opinion that he got a good was wasn't valid. So yeah, looks like the consensus is they're hit or miss.

At any rate, I gotta agree that I'd like to see a much cheaper model made overseas. But at the same time I think if I were Ola I probably wouldn't do it. Right now if you have a strandy it's the expensive, nice one. There is no "cheap" one. There are knock offs from other luthiers, but there's no official one like the multiple lines other companies have. Not every company has been successful with keeping their high end product reputation while releasing an inferior cheaper version.

 

[engage757]

Yesssss..... Everybody buy production models and take yourself off the custom wait list... Muahahaha

PLEASE do this ^