Strandberg Boden Essential Review

Today we take a look at The Boden Essential from Strandberg Guitars. I really wanted to like this guitar, but unfortunately Strandberg is too busy figuring out how to maximize profits to make a quality instrument.

[@craigbuchan]

Always appreciate a real review! Subscribed!

[@GuitarYapper_]

Appreciate you!

[@timcat88]

I bought last week the same guitar and it is absolutely amazing... mint quality and incredible versatile... love it!

[@GuitarYapper_]

That's awesome! Still very over priced but glad yours is ok!

[@simon-wq3fb]

Good review and honest. Thanks for going to the effort for us.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Always !

[@assassin1872]

Dude that JP refinished Berg looks insane. I'm sad to hear about your bad experiences with them tho, as I've had nothing but amazing experience with Strandbergs

[@GuitarYapper_]

Thanks!

[@echopoint8817]

Strandberg quality definitely took a dip after they introduced the NX line. Sweetwater 55 point inspection is literally a joke. Strandberg guitars are great if you find a good one, unfortunately there is a number of them out there that are sub par

[@GuitarYapper_]

Yeah I could agree with this, every strandberg I ever had was not 100% but they were fine. I would argue for the price though they are way worse than they should be. They are more of a lifestyle brand now it seems.

[@TommyGunzzz]

You're totally right. There are almost no honest reviews that are not sponsored for strandberg. And I love my 7 string strandberg that I got used. For $900 I got a Chapman ML3 that is amazing and super high quality, I would put it against most strandbergs so it is really nuts to think what you can get for the price of a $2000 Strandberg.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Yeah the $1500+ strands are an insane rip for what you get

[@seklay]

Finally a level-headed review of this guitar. Thank you so much! Would you feel any different about the guitar if the QC issues were not present?

[@GuitarYapper_]

Even if the QC issues weren't present I do think it's over priced, I like the concept

[@SergentPolka]

Interesting. Most reviews about this guitar seem to say it is a brilliant instrument for the price. Besides QC issues, would you say the guitar was great to play? If there were no QC issues, would you say this is a good instrument? Thanks a lot for your review.

[@GuitarYapper_]

I would say in theory this is a good guitar. I don't think it's a good guitar for the price when you consider there are a lot of similar guitars from no name brands for sub $400

[@mariacallas9962]

I just send back an Eart Gwpro 2 which was an absolute disaster contrary to a lot of reviews screaming how Amazing are those guitars. I’ll receive my Strandberg essential this week and let you know if I should had found your vid first.

[@GuitarYapper_]

You will probably be fine, I think mine was worst case scenario but I do think it's still very over priced. At least the Eart is a lot cheaper

[@mariacallas9962]

@@GuitarYapper_ yes was a lot cheaper but a lot unplayable too,intonation all over the place,out of tune in 45 sec If you do not touch it,pickups were ridiculous…would cost me more than the Essential to modify it and make I somewhat playable. Anyway,thks for encouraging words 😜.take care.

[@dudemcdudeman5274]

The reason I haven't got a strandberg over something else is the 0 fret wears and makes a plinging noise, but the open string notes of the 0 fret is like a part of strandbergs signature sound, but the essentials don't have a 0 fret so its kind of taking away from that signature sound that people want a strandberg for. Also it's odd to me that the endureneck was designed to be ergonomic symbiotically with the multiscale so wouldn't pairing the endureneck with a straight scale throw off the ergonomics? I haven't spent enough time with a strandberg so would not know. But yeah wow that QC is something else. Even on the progs and originals only veneers are used not even tops, when the boden was released initially they were almost half the price of what they are now and the quality was much better other than the now improved bridges/headstock.

[@GuitarYapper_]

I don't necessarily think the endurneck needs to be paired with multi-scale, but the QC is so bad I'll never know long term 😂

[@mylogify]

So what do you think of buying now? Again headless? Or maybe something else?

[@GuitarYapper_]

I recently ordered another Aristides 060R. It's my favorite guitar for the last year or so

[@LMerchant01]

I suspect the neck is like that cause they didnt drill the holes in the body big enough for the screws to pass through freely, thus pushing the neck away while tightening instead of sucking it tight to the body.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Could be! Not something I wanted to find on this guitar though

[@d77sauce]

Dude why did you post this on two channels

[@GuitarYapper_]

@@d77sauce ones a backup

[@unskilled_worker]

I feel the exact same way about the pricing. The guitars are built in the same exact factory as so many other brands (cort) and are priced at 2-3x the amount. For what you get its def not worth it. The body style is cool though (shrug).

[@GuitarYapper_]

Yeah it's just ridiculous, I hope more people start to realize this and abandon the brand till they align themselves with reality

[@brutalieri]

Get a Legator Ghost Anniversary if you can.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Good suggestion

[@circedge]

That gap is insane.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Could fit another guitar in there

[@imeverywhere3969]

do not compromise audio quality

[@GuitarYapper_]

Don't understand

[@imeverywhere3969]

@@GuitarYapper_ use mic or something for better, louder and clearer voice.

[@GuitarYapper_]

@@imeverywhere3969 oh yeah there was a lot of background noise so needed to run filters to clean it up

[@imeverywhere3969]

@@GuitarYapper_ yes, all the best

[@mylogify]

I can't find a nice guitar around 1000-1200 price tag. RG550 is excellent but very thin neck, not for me... EC-1000's are great, but I need something like Strat shape this time, M-1000's are great but I have one. I also have Q-52, it's fine, I like it... I was thinking of buying this Strandberg, I am not sure... ESP LTD M-1 Custom ´87 Candy Apple looks great, but I kind of want Stainless frets now...

[@GuitarYapper_]

Look for something used, there are so many amazing guitars for this price range used. If you want a little thicker of a neck you can look into the Ibanez RGT series they use wizard 3 necks, or you can look into used Kiesel's. DO NOT BUY THIS GUITAR. These will eventually be on the used market for $500.

[@mylogify]

@@GuitarYapper_ Used market in my country is crazy, in Turkey*. I can buy a guitar from thomann, someone would bring it to my country. So The only way is buying brand new. I actually like those RGT's even though not made in Japan, a bit pricey, at 1500 Euro, but will see what happens. Thanks for your recommendation, and warning. I agree, those would cost a bit cheaper, they are even 1200 Euros in Europe somehow... Even though the company is Swedish... It's like 250 USD more when you buy them here in Europe. Will check out those RGT's and maybe also some others. Cheers!

[@davidnowhere2637]

@@mylogify Its a Swedish company but are made in Indonesia.

[@mylogify]

@@davidnowhere2637 Yes I know but they cost 250 Euro more in Europe than U.S.

[@davidnowhere2637]

@@mylogify Just a thought I think that American prices are advertised as before tax so after tax it could be a bit closer?. But if you ask me they are over priced anyway.

[@MadJackChurchill1312]

For the price you pay, the Strandberg better be polished to a mirror goddamn shine. It’s simply unacceptable that Ola has grifted off of this design for over a decade without prioritising quality.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Yeah it's a nice concept that has poor execution. I assume the J series are how they all should be but there's no chance I would spend that kind of money on such a simple guitar.

[@Carson-bd4zx]

dude I'm sure they have a return policy. They didn't make the guitar.

[@GuitarYapper_]

But they "inspected" it and signed off on it. If this passes inspection they shouldn't bother doing one at all in my opinion

[@AliensWanted]

Every brand has a handful of guitars that come out with less than ideal results. Giving Strandberg a chance to resolve your issue versus making this video and concluding it with 'don't buy it' is in poor form. The majority of people who own a Strandberg do NOT share your issues at all. I'm giving your video a thumbs-down due to how you handled this.

[@GuitarYapper_]

I love when people are on the large companies side 😂. It's because of people like you that companies continue to crank out low quality items at higher prices. 🫡

[@jarexxsuvexx8212]

That's BS. The fellow was absolutly right to do what he did in this video. He spent his hard earned money and no one can tell him how to handle a situation when receiving a guitar he ordered with a major quality control issue. Two things likely occured when this product was shipped to him. 1 It was never inspected 2 During inspection problem was discovered but the shipping line signed off on it anyway. They wanted to save money by turning a blind eye at the customers expense so why should he do them any favors as if he and them are great buddies.

[@GuitarYapper_]

Exactly!