Frankencat
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First impression, these are both cool guitars. The Hils is an unbelievable value for the money and the Strandberg is definitely something special. Neither is perfect however. More to come...
Standberg Boden Essential vs HILS Next
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Frankencat
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Quickie review of the Hils: The setup out of the box was fair but I had to lower the action quite a bit. There are a few areas where the fret rocker is rocking but it plays ok with decently low action. There is some minor fret sprout but I can deal with that easily enough and it's not anything that is very noticeable. I don't hate the pickups on it. I mean they are hot ceramics for sure but they sound decent, the bridge pickup kind of reminds me of a Super Distortion. The neck is nice but a little thinner than I would like down by the nut. It fattens up a little as you move up and is very comfy up there. The neck feels slightly wider that the Strandberg neck which I like - the Strandy neck feels a little cramped sometimes. This thing is as light as a feather and feels good in hand. I am going to do a tear-down and setup on Tuesday when I am at the shop and I will cover my findings afterwards. It's definitely a cool guitar and an excellent road guitar to take along when traveling. I have a Traveler guitar that I don't like at all, this is much more better. 
littlebadboy
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Check GOC headless guitars too. I love mine.
Frankencat
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Some pics...
Strandberg:
Strandberg:
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Frankencat
Roadie
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Hils:
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Frankencat
Roadie
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Just some basic thoughts after setting up both guitars and playing them for a bit...
Both guitars are very light and have great ergonomics. Both needed about the same amount of work to get them playing well by my standards. I had to tap down some high frets on both, file fret ends, polish the frets, adjust the truss rod, action and intonation. They share similar electronics, basically Alpha pots and import switches and jacks. These are decently high quality and not the super cheapo crap that you want to rip out and throw in the garbage immediately. I would say a slight step up from that. As a pro-level gigging guitar, I would replace all of that stuff with CTS and Switchcraft, just my preference.
Hils
-$499US
-Traditional neck shape with a slim/narrow profile
-24 stainless steel medium jumbo frets
-Resonant
-Pickups sound ok
-Symmetrical body shape lets you stand it up on end by itself without a stand
-Head shape makes it easy to use a conventional stand.
-Finish looks great
-Build quality is better than expected
-Hardware is good quality and requires no special tools or approach to adjusting the bridge.
-Support - The only interaction I have had is with Ron at the point of sale. They were very responsive to my questions prior to purchase and helped make arrangements to get me the guitar before I left town for the holidays. Based on that experience I would expect excellent support from Hils.
Strandberg:
-$999US
-Proprietary EndurNeck neck shape
-24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets
-More resonant acoustically than the Hils
-Pickups sound very good and match the guitar
-Finish looks great
-Build quality is good but not great
-The shape of the body makes it almost impossible to stand on end
-The shape of the head and body makes it difficult to use a traditional guitar stand
-Hardware is good quality but requires multiple tools and an unconventional approach to adjusting the bridge.
-Support - The guitar had some springy frets which is common on Asian guitars and some companies do it better than others. I contacted Standberg support about it and they basically blew me off and said have a nice day, thanks for the purchase. I give Strandberg a mediocre score in this department. Lots of other companies do it better.
Overall, they are both cool, very playable guitars that are light, ergonomic and fun to play. The Hils leaves me feeling like I want a fatter neck but everything else is great and it's especially great at the price point. The Strandberg leaves me feeling like I wished it had cost $699 instead of $999. Don't get me wrong, I love the guitar and am fine with its quirks because it feels and sounds like a quality instrument. It's just that, for the work I had to put into it and the fact that it's an Indo made guitar with much the same quality as the Hils, it feels a bit more like $699 than $999. For me the Hils is probably going to be my traveling companion and in fact, I spent last week in the Carolinas and had it with me in the hotel room. The Strandberg is going to be my computer chair guitar and maybe occasionally I will take it out to play. I have already used it in church for a week and it was great fun and got a lot of comments.
Bottom line:
If I was on a tight budget I would buy the Hils, no question it is the bang for buck leader. If you have a little more to spend and are interested in the Strandberg design then the Boden Essential is your gateway drug.
Well I hope that gives a little more light on the differences between these two guitars. I will try and consolidate this into one post if I have time. In the meantime enjoy! Happy New Year all!
Both guitars are very light and have great ergonomics. Both needed about the same amount of work to get them playing well by my standards. I had to tap down some high frets on both, file fret ends, polish the frets, adjust the truss rod, action and intonation. They share similar electronics, basically Alpha pots and import switches and jacks. These are decently high quality and not the super cheapo crap that you want to rip out and throw in the garbage immediately. I would say a slight step up from that. As a pro-level gigging guitar, I would replace all of that stuff with CTS and Switchcraft, just my preference.
Hils
-$499US
-Traditional neck shape with a slim/narrow profile
-24 stainless steel medium jumbo frets
-Resonant
-Pickups sound ok
-Symmetrical body shape lets you stand it up on end by itself without a stand
-Head shape makes it easy to use a conventional stand.
-Finish looks great
-Build quality is better than expected
-Hardware is good quality and requires no special tools or approach to adjusting the bridge.
-Support - The only interaction I have had is with Ron at the point of sale. They were very responsive to my questions prior to purchase and helped make arrangements to get me the guitar before I left town for the holidays. Based on that experience I would expect excellent support from Hils.
Strandberg:
-$999US
-Proprietary EndurNeck neck shape
-24 medium jumbo stainless steel frets
-More resonant acoustically than the Hils
-Pickups sound very good and match the guitar
-Finish looks great
-Build quality is good but not great
-The shape of the body makes it almost impossible to stand on end
-The shape of the head and body makes it difficult to use a traditional guitar stand
-Hardware is good quality but requires multiple tools and an unconventional approach to adjusting the bridge.
-Support - The guitar had some springy frets which is common on Asian guitars and some companies do it better than others. I contacted Standberg support about it and they basically blew me off and said have a nice day, thanks for the purchase. I give Strandberg a mediocre score in this department. Lots of other companies do it better.
Overall, they are both cool, very playable guitars that are light, ergonomic and fun to play. The Hils leaves me feeling like I want a fatter neck but everything else is great and it's especially great at the price point. The Strandberg leaves me feeling like I wished it had cost $699 instead of $999. Don't get me wrong, I love the guitar and am fine with its quirks because it feels and sounds like a quality instrument. It's just that, for the work I had to put into it and the fact that it's an Indo made guitar with much the same quality as the Hils, it feels a bit more like $699 than $999. For me the Hils is probably going to be my traveling companion and in fact, I spent last week in the Carolinas and had it with me in the hotel room. The Strandberg is going to be my computer chair guitar and maybe occasionally I will take it out to play. I have already used it in church for a week and it was great fun and got a lot of comments.
Bottom line:
If I was on a tight budget I would buy the Hils, no question it is the bang for buck leader. If you have a little more to spend and are interested in the Strandberg design then the Boden Essential is your gateway drug.
Well I hope that gives a little more light on the differences between these two guitars. I will try and consolidate this into one post if I have time. In the meantime enjoy! Happy New Year all!
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Jkist7
Groupie
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- 98
You got lucky with how dark they got the roast on your HILS. Love that look.
What do you mean by "springy frets"? Also I think I like the Essential hardware more than the Strandberg higher end model stuff, at least from a design point. Materials are probably cheaper. Great review!
What do you mean by "springy frets"? Also I think I like the Essential hardware more than the Strandberg higher end model stuff, at least from a design point. Materials are probably cheaper. Great review!
- Messages
- 556
Nice review! I agree with the Strandberg assessment - if it was a Schecter or Ibanez model it’d probably be $600 but we are paying the Strandberg tax.
I’m having one issue with my Essential where the output is grounding out (I think) - the wiring is all solid but I think the jack spins a bit after many times of me unplugging my wireless dongle. My guess is it’s due to the metal cavity cover? I fixed it a couple of months ago by opening and repositioning the jack but it just happened again (haven’t had a chance to crack it open to fix again yet). Not a huge deal but mildly annoying.
I’m having one issue with my Essential where the output is grounding out (I think) - the wiring is all solid but I think the jack spins a bit after many times of me unplugging my wireless dongle. My guess is it’s due to the metal cavity cover? I fixed it a couple of months ago by opening and repositioning the jack but it just happened again (haven’t had a chance to crack it open to fix again yet). Not a huge deal but mildly annoying.
Frankencat
Roadie
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Springy frets are frets that are not seated fully and will not stay down with simple tapping. Usually I glue and clamp these down but I haven't gotten around to it yet. This is a common problem on cheaper guitars.
Frankencat
Roadie
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- 415
I have heard of people having this issue. I think I would take it apart and add a star washer on the inside and tighten it up again.
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