My first strandberg (review +BKP upgrade)
I finally got my hands on a Strandberg 2 months ago, it’s the N2.6 standard model.
My experience with guitars: I’ve owned Jackson dinky, soloist, schecter hellraiser, Keith merrow artist mkiii, and I still own an Ibanez RG5121.
Ergonomics: the body is light and balanced, very comfortable to play standing or seated even on a couch or in bed. It really helped me with my back problems, which is primarily the reason I gave it a shot, playing seated was worsening some problems I had for years (the main cause isn’t the guitar tho), even with a relatively healthy lifestyle and regular exercise office job+ practicing guitar was too much for me for a long time.
Playability: I find the guitar very enjoyable to play on, the neck feels thicker on the first frets as I’m a fan of super slim necks, however I didn’t really need any time to adapt, I don’t feel like the neck is fighting me, it’s comfortable enough.
The radius… I remembered its 20 after playing it for a while, felt natural to me and the 25-25.5 scale is not significant, in fact I like it and find it often convenient.
Sound and pickups: bought as a B stock and received it in flawless condition except the pickups were custom OEM strandberg, the support was very nice and they sent me a pair of new Seymour Duncan Pegasus sentinel which should’ve been there originally.
I actually liked the custom OEM pickups a lot, they are quite versatile, great cleans, nice dynamics and even heavier metalcore stuff sounded decent to me.
However my mind was already made on the upgrade to BKP black hawk alnico version, which definitely boosted the output and gain sounds, clearly superior with lovely note separation. The cleans are crystal clear, very nice, but there was something about the custom OEM pickups I liked in the low gain crunch and cleans, just felt a bit more traditional and inspiring for me.
Final thoughts: so far I couldn’t be happier with the strandberg, ultimately it allows me to play guitar more and this is what matters most, no discomfort and stiffness. I think I might give up on my Ibanez prestige and get another strandberg with lower output and more traditional feel