Endur monologue

What's an EndurNeck?

It's a proprietary design for Strandberg guitars where the neck surface is flattened diagonally across its length from the lower fret bass side to the treble end at the neck-body joint area.

What does it serve?

The manufacturer purports that the flattened surface helps the thumb rests better during playing unlike the conventional curved surface. This reduces lethargy & increases playing proficiency.

After trying, what is your view of this design?

Coming from someone who dislikes a V-neck profile, the EndurNeck design manifests similar protrusions. It feels like something is digging into the thumb while playing unless your thumb is placed exactly on the flat surface. The diagonal design means your thumb moves down diagonally as well during play & this might not be the preferred movement for some players. The human aspect of playing the guitar is such that the player becomes more proficient when the thumb placement & overall hand posture conforms to the player's personal comfort. The EndurNeck design might compel the player to move according to the designed profile & not according to the player's natural preference.

So you are saying the EndurNeck is a bad design?

Of course not. The EndurNeck profile might address some playing inefficiency for some players by subliminally guiding the hand posture during play. However, it's not a sure formula for all players. The strength of the EndurNeck design lies in its flat surface consideration which is not new. There are already flat-ish neck profiles out there like the Flat C & U (ESP guitars, notably) but nobody made efforts to strategically provide flat surfaces on specific parts of the neck as a mean to address efficiency till the EndurNeck comes along. 

Final thoughts?

The EndurNeck profile is a hit / miss affair, it is definitely not a superior design but a very commendable innovation. If you are the type who enjoy owning a few guitars for inspiration, having a different neck profile like the EndurNeck might just be the inspiration you need on some days. Really hope the Strandberg brand could be more accessible here (currently no local distributors) & more affordable iterations would be offered along the way. 

Pics: Strandberg / GKW

Work ethics

One of my favourite S-Series - SIX6FDFM. Love the satin finish. I know it's not to everyone's liking but a lack of final lacquer overcoat somehow makes the instrument a little lighter. Not that the S-Series are heavy guitars to begin with.

A fresh set of DRs before play started.

I play the upper frets more when I'm with this one so I decided to shim the pocket to lower the action & was taken aback by this sight. After drilling the holes, it seems that the factory hands didn't give a hoot about clearing the mess before attaching the neck. The work ethics at the Indonesian plant could have been better. Does it take long to clear this mess? Darn.

540PIII - up

The Ibanez 540PIII HH is now available at Swee Lee & it's $50 more than its HS counterpart. 

Does it cost more due to its 1) Full size neck humbucker + 2) Pickguard? I have absolutely no idea. Manufacturers / dealers would take every opportunity to exercise product differentiation through prices. They will cite additional manufacturing materials & even extra man hours to address that bit of a difference. We see this happening in the Fender / Gibson camp, among others. 

We must also not rule out the fluctuating exchange rate when dealers price their inventory. Bottom line - many factors contributing to price hikes, it's very difficult to pin point the culprit for sure, especially when you are at the buying end.

Pic: Ibanez

R304

I'm rather partial to short scale basses namely because they're better suited for smaller built individuals like yours truly. Cort has this new release - the Retro 304 in the finishes you see above. These are 30" in scale length, very much in the Fender Mustang ballpark. I encourage guitar players to actually own a bass so that they can re-think their playing while handling the bass. Let's see how much these would list for once they get here.

Pics: Cort

Headless spot

This is Schecter's JOL Series OL-NV_HL headless guitar. You won't find any of these listed on Schecter's web page any more as they were spot models. They were there to test some things out so production was limited & terminal. If you wish for a headless Schecter now, the Synester version is the way to go. As for me, signature models are not my thing.

The guitar came in with a set of 10s in there which strangely felt normal for a 25.5" scale length, no extra tension felt. The action at the upper frets could have been better, all these before a re-string & set up.

As suspected, the neck tilt was already addressed at the factory. This is a factory default shim, it was not replaced with a thicker substitute. I merely added a thin layer on top of this one & it addressed the situation well.

My final set of DR 9s into this one. Will be getting more DRs once some sort of promo kicks in 😅 This is my personal headless guitar after-thoughts, you are free to disagree:

• The headless unit lacks counter-tension at the headstock to properly manifest that standard tension feel. That's right, once you lock the nut end of the strings, all tension related adjustments would be at the bridge end & it's a pulling mechanism, not a winding one like we are used to when re-stringing guitars with proper headstock tuners.
• There's play at the bridge which affects tension. I only discovered this after stretching each string & realized there's some wiggle space at the bridge each & every time a string is stretched. This is why, after stretching each string, it could be detuned to as much as a whole step down. This is true for all such bridge / tuning mechanisms. I've been through three thus far; Ibanez, Kiesel & Schecter. Each guitar manifested this same issue. So folks, if you wish to embrace thicker string gauges because you detune your instruments, best if you don't play a headless unit. 

PS: This guitar was actually mentioned here back in 2024: CLICK

ONPA T-Style

Good Tuesday morning. Played this yesterday & a little bit more this morning before leaving the house.

Saw mould forming on the hardware, decided to remove the strings to attend to that. A fresh set of Rotos for the next round.

I'm very impressed with the Seymour Duncan Five Two; very snappy at the bottom end. The top end, according to the manufacturer, had been tamed a tad but it still sounds very clear with good note separation.