Strandberg's intuitive EndurNeck profile is a divisive design. While its angular approach may put off traditionalists, those who have experienced it themselves are quick to praise its ergonomic benefits. Now, Ola Strandberg has revealed it was partly inspired by the most unlikely everyday objects.
The firm's signature and patented asymmetrical neck design utilizes flat surfaces rather than a traditional round profile. It looks to provide a more restful grip for the thumb and ultimately helps players achieve a more intuitive grip of the instrument, which aids performance and optimizes ergonomic playing.
During a recent guitar health seminar conducted in collaboration with UK music store Andertons, firm founder Ola Strandberg opened up on the makings of the innovative neck design.
“I can't exactly remember when I had the eureka moment, but for a brief period of time, I was collaborating with another builder called Rick Toone who had experimented with the trapezoidal neck,” says Strandberg.
As a builder, Toone stands out for his quirky designs and has even built a six-string for Misha Mansoor. His unorthodox neck concept, however, was symmetrical – something that didn't quite suit Strandberg, who would later adopt a more off-kilter approach that took inspiration from an unlikely source.
“I do remember,” Strandberg expands, “that we had a remote control at home for my TV which also had this trapezoidal shape. I was messing around with that. I was attracted to the concept of this twisted neck.
“Then I realized that those trapezoidal cutaways gave room for this joint here [midway between the thumb and forefinger] when I held the remote in a certain way. So, I guess that kind of came to me. I made a prototype out of styrofoam and it seemed to work.
“It was it was an easy sell,” Strandberg adds, with the completed EndurNeck helping to transform his six-string experiments from humble garage models into full-fledged business-backed builds now proudly wielded by Plini, Jordan Rudess, and plenty more.
Strandberg's efforts have also kickstarted a headless guitar revolution after Eddie Van Halen and Allan Holdsworth failed to help them win over the public in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Once this was out,” Strandberg then says, “I think I only ever built one more guitar with a conventional neck.”
Speaking to Guitar World on the same day of the event, Strandberg also cited the oddball Lace Helix guitar – another obscure creation famed for its twisted neck – as a second source of inspiration for the EndurNeck.
“The first ever guitar that I built, the Strandberg concept, did have a conventional neck. Then I read about a bass builder called Jerome Little, who builds basses with a twisted neck to allow playing with a straighter wrist angle,” he explains. “Lace, the company that makes the pickups, had a guitar in production with this twisted neck, and that seemed like a cool thing.”
It had one major problem, though: “It would require you to change your playing technique – you can't bend upwards, because then the notes will choke out.”
In his GW chat, Strandberg echoes that the exact moment of discovery has escaped his memory. “It’s just one of those things,” he confesses.
The latest big step in Strandberg’s history was the release of its first sub $1,000 via the Boden Essential, which sliced the average cost of one of the company’s futuristic axes by around 50%.
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