Clearly not content with simply turning the electric guitar industry on its head, Ola Strandberg says he plans to bring his famed ergonomic designs to the acoustic guitar world – and he has already teased a prototype.
The Strandberg Guitars founder was speaking to Guitar World on the day of his recent guitar health seminar in collaboration with UK music store, Andertons. During the conversation, he confirmed that a Strandberg acoustic was indeed in the works.
“We're working on it at the moment,” he confesses when asked about the possibility of a headless acoustic. “And we kind of teased it as an April Fools thing [in 2023] – we actually showed an early prototype acoustic.”
Now, the firm is certainly no stranger when it comes to elaborate rouses on the silliest day of the year – it even claimed that styrofoam Strandbergs would put the tonewood debate to bed for good in 2022. Still, even by its own lofty comedic standards, Strandberg's 'prototype hybrid percussive guitar-like instrument' was especially madcap.
“We looked at trends and the needs of modern players, and we thought it be cool to combine the guitar with percussive techniques,” Ola said in the faux announcement video, which showcases a hollow acoustic build that boasts two sound holes: one on the upper bout and one below the bridge.
It is a nifty workaround Strandberg's EGS bridges, which need to sit at the edge of a guitar body to work.
Indeed, much of the video finds Strandberg artist Per Nilsson treating the rear of the guitar like a drum, but the guitar in the video is very much real – and it's a very tidy concept.
“It was intentional to keep people guessing, right?” Ola reveals now. “If it was real, or if it was just an April fool – that was a prototype.” In hindisght, we should have known. The 2023 prank is the only Strandberg April Fools that doesn't have a dedicated page on its website, complete with a gallery of images. They've kept this one away from prying eyes. And with good reason.
The prototype features Strandberg's signature EGS bridge and headless design, but there is notably no room for fanned frets. But a related earlier prank, which drew from a similar world, did.
Strandberg's 2021 April Fools skit was presented as every other official announcement, with Ola unveiling “the next stage in the development of Strandbeg” with the Madeira ukulele.
Named after the sun-soaked Portuguese territory, the Strandberg Madeira was touted as “the world’s first headless, fanned fret ukelele”. The final acoustic build is likely to be a more traditional size, with the minuscule prototype perhaps used as a first, tentative step into unchartered waters.
It looked like the lovechild of a traditional ukulele and Strandberg’s space-age design right down to the fanned frets and a leg carve. But it also boasted a hollowed-out construction, and, as far as jokes go, it sounded pretty authentic.
It’s unclear whether the ukulele was always meant to be the first step to a bigger vision, or if the acoustic concept only truly took hold in light of the uke build. Either way, a fully-fledged Strandberg acoustic is a bold new venture for the firm.
At the guitar health event, Ola Strandberg also spoke about the unlikely origins its trapezoidal EndurNeck, claiming an everyday household object as a key source of inspiration.
Since its inception, Strandberg has helped reverse the fortunes of the headless guitar, and today the design is more popular than ever. Plini has, in part, credited their portability as a big plus, in the same way that amp modelers like the Quad Cortex are putting heavy tube amps to the sword. Could Strandberg be about to have a similar effect on the acoustic market? Only time will tell.
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