“That’s the last barrier we have to tear down”: The one thing stopping headless guitars being embraced by traditional players, according to Ola Strandberg

Ola Strandberg has opened up on the brand’s final frontier in its quest to win the hearts and minds of the guitar-playing community at large.

Thanks to its innovative approach to ergonomics and playability, Strandberg Guitars has helped pave the way for a whole new era of electric guitar design. Not only has it changed the way people are viewing the headless guitar concept, it’s also pushing the limits of what a guitar actually can be.

Such radical experimentation, though, inevitably comes with some resistance and skepticism, not least from those rooted in a more traditional background, who may be more comfortable and familiar with guitars of a more orthodox design.

Likewise, some corners of the guitar ecosystem are, naturally, more receptive to the Strandberg school of thought. As such, the angular, headless, EndurNeck profile-equipped instruments have become a go-to choice for some of the biggest and brightest progressive guitarists – Plini, Sarah Longfield, Per Nilsson among them.

Because of this – and because of their overall sci-fi-esque appearance – Strandberg guitars are often associated with particular types of music, prog metal being the most common.

That’s an association, Ola Strandberg says, that the brand is keen to move away from, because as he notes – and as this writer can corroborate – Strandbergs are more than just metal guitars. The mission now? Make the average player realize this.

The next generation of Strandberg Guitars! Ola Strandberg at Guitar Summit - YouTube

Watch On

“Obviously, we're somewhat pigeonholed still in the prog metal scene, so there's a lot of room to grow,” Strandberg told Guitar World at Guitar Summit 2025. “We try to build a product range that will meet everyone's needs regardless of music genre.

“I think the visuals, that's the last barrier we have to tear down, because in terms of playability, in terms of sounds, we have it. It's more in the minds of the players that we have more work to do.”

Some of that work is already being done thanks to a select few players far removed from the metal scene who have made Strandberg their go-to guitars. Multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier – who has his own signature five-string model – is an example.

And with the way the guitar world is going, there is more opportunity to preach the Strandberg message in areas outside of prog metal, as Strandberg himself observes.

He continue, “I think the evolution of the guitar as an instrument has always been in tandem with some new musical genre coming out and new needs from the player, whether it's being louder in a particular setting or achieving some new kind of sound.

“I'm just hopeful that with the player community that we have already we can follow that and tag on to something new. That's what really the genesis of the brand was.

“I came along when Chris Letchford, Misha [Mansoor], Tosin Abasi… they were the ones that spearheaded the growth. That was an entirely new style of music and they had new requirements for the performance of the instrument.

“And there are other genres of music developing in that same way and I think currently we're seeing a lot of players moving away from being too technical, or moving away from eight-strings, with no expectation of playing a million notes per second.

“With the younger generation growing up now, we want to make them feel inspired, and we're going to evolve with them and meet whatever needs they might.”

In related news, Ola Strandberg recently revealed how his game-changing EndurNeck profile had been partly inspired by a TV remote.