.Strandberg Boden Original NX 6

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DECEMBER 2021 GUITARIST
REVIEW
.STRANDBERG BODEN ORIGINAL NX 6
what many of us might consider a ‘travel’
guitar – it’s 800mm (31.5 inches) in length
from tip to tip, a good 180mm (seven inches)
shorter than a Stratocaster. It’s feather light,
too, at just 2.07kg (4.56lb) – but grabbing the
neck with your left hand moves it further
away from any electric guitar you might
ever have played. But we’ll get to that in a
short while…
Still, you’ll find some classic references
in the materials used. The diminutive body
is – on this first production run – made from
sassafras, which is actually chambered,
presumably not for weight consideration,
and topped with a flame maple veneer
over a solid maple cap, similar to what
PRS uses on its SE guitars, for example,
and this shares a similar-style natural edge
‘binding’. There’s also a forearm curve over
.STRANDBERG BODEN ORIGINAL NX 6 £1,664
CONTACT .strandberg WEB https://strandbergguitars.com
W
hile the mainstream guitar
industry seems more than
content to continue recreating
the past, the majority of forward-thinking
and genuinely new designs come from
what we used to call the underground.
Except, of course, thanks to social media,
the underground is worldwide and very
visible. Radical, niche guitar designs are just
a tap or mouse-click away. Ola Strandberg’s
designs might certainly appear out-there,
but the new NX level guitars are made in
Indonesia by Cor-Tek (one of the largest
guitar factories in the world), a reflection
of their increasing popularity.
Our first impression of the Boden NX 6
Original is just how well the package is put
together. The combination of the headless
design and foreshortened body creates
What You Need To Know
C’mon, it’s not the April issue…
Haha… Headless guitars aren’t new
(even Les Paul had one, we believe),
but they are associated with their
heyday in the 80s thanks to Ned
Steinberger. And for many of us
classicists, they just look wrong.
So, why the review?
To let you know that – divisive looks
aside – this is one of the most
inspiring electric guitars we’ve ever
played. As you’ll read, it has a very
unusual neck shape with a very flat
fingerboard radius, but ergonomically
it’s superb with a super-light weight.
Fanned frets, though. Why?
Again, this is far from new, even
old-school luthiers such as George
Lowden are a fan (pardon the
pun). Compared to some seven- or
eight-string guitars, the multi-scale
difference is slight here: 635mm
(25 inches) on the top E moving to
648mm (25.5 inches) on the low E.
In theory, the basses are slightly more
‘piano-like’, the trebles slightly softer.
Our advice is don’t knock it till you’ve
tried it – a bit like the overall guitar.
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1. The hardware on the Boden
is superb. This string lock
at the tip of the neck is very
easy to use when restringing.
Note the string guide and
larger-gauge zero fret
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