Luthier (Changing Careers)

EDITOR'S NOTE: Guest author Ola Strandberg shares thoughts about his evolving career path.

It started at Christmas 2007 after a 15-year hiatus to raise children and run a "normal" career. Suddenly, with kids running themselves to schools and practices, there was a tiny increase in the amount of time available to return to what had been a passion so many years before.

In the search of a concept to tie things together, I stumbled on Rob Irizarry's buildingtheergonomicguitar.com and realized immediately that this was a worthy cause to dedicate myself to. This community, which has partially morphed into eLUTHERIE.org, has a large number of very dedicated readers and followers, and has indeed offered a lot of cheers of encouragement as well as good discussions on the way.

The theories that I picked up on and formulated for myself were:

• Low total weight to save shoulders and back
• Weight distribution that centers the guitar's weight in line with the player's centre of gravity
• Allow multiple standing and seated playing positions to minimize static loads
• Minimize strain on the wrist and palm when playing
• Restful on the eyes
• Bonus design goal: experiment, take chances, be innovative and have fun!

I started with pen and paper and CAD drawings and published the progress on a blog of my own. It quickly became apparent that there was no hardware available that met the requirements I had, which were: headless and light-weight. It was logical for me to start in this end, because I was originally trained as a mechanical engineer and had access to a metal workshop, but not a woodworking workshop. Before I knew it, I was contacted by readers who wanted to buy the hardware that I had designed and prototyped.

I completed the first series of hardware, both separate fixed combined bridge/tailpiece/tuners and a tremolo version that had Floyd-Rose measurements. (This leads me to an additional design goal: stay standard. Luthiers all over the world have routing templates for Floyd Rose tremolos, and Strat type neck pockets already, so as long as I am not severely constrained by these I try to stick with them.) This hardware design track has kept me occupied for over a year now and is in its second iteration. A complete concept of parts that would allow conversion of a guitar into an ergonomic one was born: Torzal Natural Twist neck, and while trying to figure out how to make it, via machined aluminium, to twisted aluminium beam, I discovered and learned how to mold carbon fiber — again, no woodworking shop, and a desire to take chances and experiment. Heavily influenced by Gus Guitars and the Luis and Clark carbon fiber cello, my goal was to make the back of the guitar and neck in one piece.

After experimenting though, I quickly realized that I should begin by making smaller pieces at a time simply due to how tricky it was to work with carbon fiber and epoxy. I designed a Torzal twist neck with dimensions that would be possible to retrofit on any Strat type guitar without modifications, but have had to shelve it due to lack of time, still believing that it is a good idea in terms of ergonomics.

In the summer of 2009, I travelled across the atlantic to meet up with one of the luthiers I had made "virtual" friends with: Rick Toone. He had combined his Trapezoidal Neck Profile with a not-so-extreme version of fanned frets. I liked both of these concepts a lot, so when it became time to build an exhibition/demo guitar and I only had a few weeks to do it, I put the Torzal twist plan on the shelf and charged ahead.

I had launched my EGS hardware at the Uppsala International Guitar Festival in 2008, having picked up and assembled the first tuners the same morning as it started. There was interest for sure, but mounted on a piece of MDF, they didn't look very exciting. When I was invited to exhibit again at the 2009 show, I decided to complete a whole guitar in time for the show.

So, running with what I had, which was my almost 20 year old stash of left-over wood (ebony, maple, wenge) and some Louisiana Swamp Ash I had picked up on eBay. With the maple and wenge not being thick/big enough for a carved top, it turned into a flat top. With a flat top, I wanted to try carving a decorative f-hole. With an f-hole, let's try to make it semi-hollow. And so on: it's been an improvisation from start to finish.

For the neck, I tried to find an off-the-shelf fretless neck that I could modify, which was impossible on such short notice. I then tried to find a cheap neck that I could shave off the fretboard and replace but I couldn't find a good one for that either. I did find, however, the left-over piece from a neck-through bass I made a long time ago. That would have to do, and while taking chances, I put a carbon fiber tube into it as a truss rod experiment, a technique I learned from Rick Toone. I had previously discovered Lace Alumitone pickups that fit well into my overall design concept in terms of looks and "innovativeness" and that are incredibly lightweight.

So, I give you the EGS Prototype Guitar:

• Weight: 1850 grams/4 lbs
• Swamp ash back, stained “Ebony Black”, finished with Danish Oil
• Large tone cavities cut both top and bottom
• Curly maple top (5 mm thickness), finished with Danish Oil
• Black veneer strip in centre
• Three-piece wenge neck with cherry veneer strips
• Ebony fretboard
• Carbon fiber truss rod
• Super wide/high frets
• 25.5″ scale length on low E, 25″ scale on high E string
• Strandberg EGS fixed bridges
• Lace Alumitone humbucker pickups
• 5-position pickup selector (front HB, front SC + rear SC out of phase, front HB + rear HB series, front SC + rear SC in series, rear HB

Initial impressions by players to date include:

• Low weight is awesome
• Trapezoidal Neck Profile feels comfortable and is easy to get used to
• Fanned frets feel natural and are easy to get used to
• It is a very "fast" instrument
• Sustain is great
• Sound is unique (in a good way)

Watch this space for follow-up instruments or visit Strandberg Guitarworks.

Comments

[Ola Strandberg]

Hello Rick, thanks for your comments! I have a play-date with a friend on Thursday to do some recordings. We will make some comparative samples with well known models which I will post ASAP.

I will bring a video camera and see if we can't get some comments too.

Cheers,
Ola

[Rick Toone]

Beautiful, Ola.

You built that very rapidly and under difficult working conditions, which is a testament to your advanced hand skills.

I love hearing and seeing it in action. It will also be cool to explore how the sound character of your instrument and hardware changes with the addition of different types of pickups: Alumitones are quite neutral.

We'd also enjoy musician's impressions of your hardware (tuning) because that is such an important part of the musican/instrument connection...and because you've invested so much time, effort and care into your designs.

[Mark Frith]

Hi Ola - Congratulations !

Very nice work.

Best wishes,
Mark

[Ola Strandberg]

Hi Marc,
yes, it has a 25.5" ("Fender") scale on the low E and a 25" ("PRS") scale on the high E.

I string it with 10-46 D'Addarios but players think it has super light gauges on.

Cheers,
Ola

[Marc Ybaben]

Ola,
Very cool! Congrats on the build.
It's hard to tell -- is it a very slight fanned fret or not?

Thanks!
Marc

[Mark Vermette]

Ola...

It sounds like a perfect match for modern jazz or fusion. I'm surprised how much "wood" is in the tone for such a small body, but there's a lot of singing high end there as well. I think you've got a hit on your hands.

Regards;
-- Mark

[Ola Strandberg]

Thanks Mark,
I did some recordings with a friend yesterday and will post them ASAP. Although these recordings don't really reflect the jazz/fusion thought it does confirm your thoughts.

Peter, who played, loves the sound of the Alumitones on this particular guitar. It is clear and open and "airy" when played distorted. It may have less bottom than a regular humbucker, but this bottom seldom works in your favor anyway in a recording/live situation.

Cheers,
Ola

[Ola Strandberg]

I have created some samples comparing the EGS guitar with a Strat equipped with humbuckers as well as a couple of clips demonstrating the action of the tuners. Check out my channel on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/olastrandberg or my blog.

Cheers,
Ola

[typondis]

The stints of clean tone in the posted video are really interesting. A lot of body, yet really focused, and the attack is very....soft, despite pick use.

Conversely, in the gain portions of the vid, the seeming treble shelving didn't sing in the upper registers - although that might've been more the amp/gain circuit, or even just gain structure of it.

This guitar might be really great with much higher amp gain scenarios. (I have an all-mahogany neck-thru that might remotely be similar, and at high gain it has a bit of 'wooo' in it, but still more treble than yours.)

[Ola Strandberg]

Thanks a lot for your comments.

The setup was a Tech 21 Power Engine and a demo setup of a range of Tech 21 SansAmp Character Series. Especially "Blonde" and "Liverpool" sounded awesome, both clean and overdriven, but in general all sounds were better than those picked up in the video.

I will make sure to get more samples up soon.

Cheers,
Ola

[Rick Canton]

Very nice work Ola!
Rick