Bring me up to speed... Japanese ’bergs

[Valco]

I own a Korean Boden OS6 and it's a great guitar, it plays beautifully.

Here in the UK GuitarGuitar sell the Original line, they are still made in Korea, you can see the stamp on the back of the neck in the pictures. As others have said most of the other lines have moved elsewhere, though.

I recently was considering buying a Original 7 string, but I had to really weigh it up, £2100 for their 7 string is a lot of money. I decided to buy a 7 string Ormsby instead as I already own a 6 string and it is a fantastic guitar and the 7 is cheaper.

I'm not going to lie, my OS6 doesn't have the best flamed cap(somehow lucked out and got a quilted maple board) so unless you are holding one in person or the online dealer has pictures of each individual guitar they have in stock you can play Russian Roulette with the caps.

Don't get me wrong, as I've said, I love my Boden, but they are not cheap.

 

[The 1]

I own a Korean Boden OS6 and it's a great guitar, it plays beautifully.

Here in the UK GuitarGuitar sell the Original line, they are still made in Korea, you can see the stamp on the back of the neck in the pictures. As others have said most of the other lines have moved elsewhere, though.

I recently was considering buying a Original 7 string, but I had to really weigh it up, £2100 for their 7 string is a lot of money. I decided to buy a 7 string Ormsby instead as I already own a 6 string and it is a fantastic guitar and the 7 is cheaper.

I'm not going to lie, my OS6 doesn't have the best flamed cap(somehow lucked out and got a quilted maple board) so unless you are holding one in person or the online dealer has pictures of each individual guitar they have in stock you can play Russian Roulette with the caps.

Don't get me wrong, as I've said, I love my Boden, but they are not cheap.

All OS are made in Indonesia now. If you find any MIK, those are just the leftover ones from the last MIK batches.

 

[Valco]

All OS are made in Indonesia now. If you find any MIK, those are just the leftover ones from the last MIK batches.

Ah, I see. My mistake.

 

[Andrew Lloyd Webber]

Strandberg is the lowest overall value headless guitar there is at all their respective price points. The appeal is solely in the shape and hardware, and if you arent married to those things, competitor headless models are simply built better

Speaking as a fan and owner of several Bodens, this is the most concise and frank description of .Strandberg* Memetars I’ve seen.

 

[diagrammatiks]

Speaking as a fan and owner of several Bodens, this is the most concise and frank description of .Strandberg* Memetars I’ve seen.

side dots on mine are pretty straight tho.

 

[Avedas]

All OS are made in Indonesia now. If you find any MIK, those are just the leftover ones from the last MIK batches.

OS aren't made at all anymore. They've been out of production for quite a while now.

My biggest issue with Strandberg's competitor models is they're all ugly as shit. They all have disgusting "headstocks" or the bodies look like they've been produced from a Chernobyl factory.

 

[Valco]

I thought the Originals are essentially the OS line, but under a different name?

I was surprised to see the Salens on sale. I really like the deluxe, but it's quite pricey.

 

[The 1]

I thought the Originals are essentially the OS line, but under a different name?

I was surprised to see the Salens on sale. I really like the deluxe, but it's quite pricey.

Right, the "Original" replaced the OS. Though when I said OS, I just meant all productions models. The Salen prices are in line with the rest of the MII production models though.

 

[Zachman1750]

Personally I love them. I've got a 6 and a 7 fusion/original and they both look and play great. My 7 made in indonesia is a bit nicer than the Korean 6 in all regards except for the fret ends coming just a hair sharp from the factory.

Japanese strandbergs are very hard to get your hands on unless you want to spend $4-7k plus import fees, and since the Sweden custom shop is now closed your options aside from the production models consist of only the new USA custom shop, built by desert son musical instruments. I'd sure love it if someone would chime in that had any experience with those, but I'm probably going to be placing an order for one unless a nice used custom pops up on the market any time soon.

 

[Avedas]

Personally I love them. I've got a 6 and a 7 fusion/original and they both look and play great. My 7 made in indonesia is a bit nicer than the Korean 6 in all regards except for the fret ends coming just a hair sharp from the factory.

Japanese strandbergs are very hard to get your hands on unless you want to spend $4-7k plus import fees, and since the Sweden custom shop is now closed your options aside from the production models consist of only the new USA custom shop, built by desert son musical instruments. I'd sure love it if someone would chime in that had any experience with those, but I'm probably going to be placing an order for one unless a nice used custom pops up on the market any time soon.

I haven't personally seen anyone on here (or any other forum I read) say they're ordering a US custom. The options are pretty bad.

 

[laxu]

I don't think Japanese Strandbergs are worth it unless you carry it back with you from Japan. They were around 3000 euros when I last tried them a few years ago, which puts you in the same area as Skervesens. The MIJ Strandbergs were much better built than their Korean counterparts. I did not try all of them but looked them over and from a sample of about 5 in Ishibashi Shibuya, all of them were pretty much flawlessly built.

My only experience with the Korean models was an incredibly bad one with a Boden OS 8 that should not have left the factory. High action due to bad fretwork, missing a small chunk near the nut, plating on hardware was already flaking off and quilt top was the worst I've ever seen on a limited edition where the quilt top was one of the upgrades.

 

[Lorcan Ward]

I completely missed the announcement that the Swedish shop was closed. I also checked guitarguitar and some Korean models are now £2000/$2600 + which is just crazy.

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

I was surprised to see the Salens on sale. I really like the deluxe, but it's quite pricey.

"On sale". Strandberg just finally put the Salen model out there for purchase. So, they are just marketing it with a sale price for now to try to sell more units.

I haven't personally seen anyone on here (or any other forum I read) say they're ordering a US custom. The options are pretty bad.

I have yet to see a single custom from this new new USA shop anyway on the internet.

I don't think Japanese Strandbergs are worth it unless you carry it back with you from Japan. They were around 3000 euros when I last tried them a few years ago, which puts you in the same area as Skervesens. The MIJ Strandbergs were much better built than their Korean counterparts. I did not try all of them but looked them over and from a sample of about 5 in Ishibashi Shibuya, all of them were pretty much flawlessly built.

My only experience with the Korean models was an incredibly bad one with a Boden OS 8 that should not have left the factory. High action due to bad fretwork, missing a small chunk near the nut, plating on hardware was already flaking off and quilt top was the worst I've ever seen on a limited edition where the quilt top was one of the upgrades.

Regarding the Japanese Strandbergs, I totally agree about the quality. The Sugi + Strandberg collaboration Bodens have been some of the nicest guitars that I've ever seen. Not going to lie, I still totally drool over them whenever I see photos of one.

The price is bumped up for outsiders, and then you have to deal with import fees/tariffs. So it's really not worth it unless (like you said) you're obtaining the guitar in-person yourself and bringing it back from Japan with you. (Shout-out to Ishibashi. Great group of people over there!)

And regarding the Korean Bodens, the flaws and quality control issues have been more prevalent and widespread than what we think, but a lot of players who get Strandbergs try to bury the issues or sweep them under the rug because they are lost in this fantastical notion that "OMG! I have a Strandberg! They are the perfect company! I am a cool kid now!" due to all the hype generated around the company still. I've seen so many flaws and quality control issues on the Korean OS models, and now again on the Indonesian models. (Granted, I am seeing less on the latter now, which is obviously a good sign despite the fact that they are cranking out more guitars with more variations since there are more different models offered compared to when the OS line was a thing.)

 

[xzacx]

I have yet to see a single custom from this new new USA shop anyway on the internet.

https://www.themusiczoo.com/collect...t-2018-namm-display-electric-guitar-sandstone

 

[Emperor Guillotine]

https://www.themusiczoo.com/collect...t-2018-namm-display-electric-guitar-sandstone

Nice top, but for that price...

 

[Malkav]

Fwiw I organised that the company I work become Strandberg dealers in SA, we got 7 in and other than the two 7 strings having iffy high E nut slots (easily rectified) they were all stellar instruments, sure they're not cheap, in South Africa they're like the same price as a Fender American Pro, but honestly all the ones we got in were great and had no real defects at all. The tops on them are okay, not as crazy as some of the pics I've seen online but nowhere near as meh as others I've seen either.

Out of the 7 two of them were Korean (prog models), my friend and I grabbed those and they are killer guitars but honestly they weren't hugely different to the Indo ones, they were all really just great guitars, I looked really hard for faults cause I had to inspect them when they came in but there just weren't any of the issues that I've seen touted around, maybe the QC is much better, maybe we just lucked out, but as someone who's worked in instrument retail and distribution for about a decade now I have played literally hundreds of guitars and these were way up there sound and feel wise.

I have also gotten to try a Vader and it was great but honestly I preferred the bergs myself, the Vader weighed a fair amount which was quite a turn off, it was a through neck though so that would contribute heavily, and I'm not really a fan of through neck myself. My buddy who took the Prog 6 also got an Ormsby Goliath 8 and it is a stellar instrument but it was maybe like R3k cheaper for him *we did get staff pricing on our bergs* and all in all it's rad but the specs kinda aren't as good in my opinion, I mean the neck isn't roasted and that's definitely the price difference right there, the pickups are Ormsby's own which honestly sound great but some people might see that is being a lesser spec than the Suhr or Fishmans that come with bergs (I actually took out the Fluences and threw some Duncans in mine cause I don't like actives), but also I really personally dig the Endurneck, understandably it's not for everyone but I dig it a lot, and honestly I think that Strandberg is the best looking headless offering still

So yeah, you do pay a premium for the bergs, maybe to you it wouldn't be worth it, maybe it is but from my experience with them QC has been on point, so it could be improving, we could have just gotten lucky. I will say that whether it's Korean or Indonesian in my experience won't really be a difference quality wise, only reason I had to go with the Prog 7 instead of the Original is just cause I prefer ebony to maple.

 

[narad]

https://www.themusiczoo.com/collect...t-2018-namm-display-electric-guitar-sandstone

Sandstorm? More like shitstorm, amirite??

 

[KnightBrolaire]

Sandstorm? More like shitstorm, amirite??

it looks like what happens when a dust storm picks up a portapotty.

 

[Seabeast2000]

it looks like what happens when a dust storm picks up a portapotty.

Definitely a Google Earth quality about it.

 

[Xaios]

Sandstorm? More like shitstorm, amirite??

Uh, actually, Sandstone.

Shitstone just doesn't have a the same ring to it, and sounds deeply unpleasant to boot.