u/lofbergscoffee

Well the search is now over, got an amazing deal on this pre-NX Masvidalien. The price was so good it almost feels like I stole it. It is amazing, probably the most versatile out of all the guitars that I've ever tried.

Now the rig is complete with all of the Strandbergs I've ever dreamed of, maybe a Henshall 8 if I stumble upon one? Or a Prog 5 bass?

Got a bit sidetracked when changing strings and buffed out the fretboard from fingerwear and rounded fret ends.

Well, being so impressed with the original 7-string guitar that I couldn't pass up an older Plini model.

Not a huge fan of tremolos in general and I tend to block them in any guitars I have, but for now I'll keep it floating and see how it goes.

Overall I'd say in comparison the Original 7 seems to have better build quality in term of frets. first thing I did to this one is round the fret ends and shave off some extra material to get the action right. After getting the frets level and doing a but of cleaning, the guitar plays like a dream.

It has the older MF humbuckers with the Plini moon on the front, which is a cool touch. But I might swap in some higher output pickups later tbh.

Lucky to have found such instruments, let the strandberg craze flow through you!

So I've been looking to get myself a Strandberg Plini model for quite some time, but they're pretty scarce here in Europe. Got really unlucky and missed the one B-Stock that was on sale for -30%.

The reason for looking at the Plini model has been the lack of natural finishes on other models. (Standard would be cool, but I can't stand the painted back.)

So by mistake I stumbled upon a seven string version that had all the qualities that I was looking for. Natural finish, actual flame maple cap, CNC'd logo and Fishman's as the pickups. (I don't understand the hate for them, they're wonderful pickups IMO.)

The guitar wasn't that well looked after, was very dusty and dirty, but after a quick cleanup it's almost like new. There's still the usual dents in the zero fret, but overall the frets are in immaculate state. When I have the time and patience (for stainless), I will be doing a lil fretjob as well, but for now a polish will suffice.

Don't really know what the point of this post was, other than me being very happy about finding a pre-NX model with the exact specs I was hoping for. The quality of the finish and the parts is just incredibly good. My main issue with the new ones being the switch to using veneers, a sticker for the logo and getting rid of natural finishes, whilst driving the price up.

Now only remains the quest for finding a perfectly specced six string model to accompany the seven string one!