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Ola Strandberg ushered in a new era of headless guitars – but no one is doing it like his own company
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Ola Strandberg has shared his thoughts on the booming headless guitar market, and made clear what distinguishes his own company from those that have moved to capitalize on the trend in recent years.
Headless guitars have experienced a surge in popularity over the past decade or so, and Ola Strandberg – the mastermind behind his eponymous electric guitar brand – is largely to thank for that.
While the likes of Steinberger experimented with headless designs in the 1980s, such attempts were largely ill-fated, and it was only until Strandberg officially arrived on the scene over a decade ago that players began taking the concept seriously.
With some game-changing innovations and a roster of all-star players in tow, Strandberg established the prestige of headless guitars, reinventing the novelty format and optimizing it in order to deliver a guitar purpose-built for the modern player.
Since Strandberg's arrival, the likes of Ibanez, Kiesel, Balaguer and Schecter have all entered the headless space, offering their own take on the ever-popular design.
However, Ola sees these efforts as entirely distinct from his own, owing to fundamental differences that can be found in their respective approaches.
As he explains to Guitar World in a new interview, 'In terms of what you are as a brand and how you communicate your values, you can do that on tradition, or craftsmanship… we do it on innovation. We focus on creating tools that will create inspiration and not harm you in the process.
'A lot of other brands are making headless guitars, but it's just a model in the lineup,' he continues. 'I sometimes say with some level of seriousness that other people make guitars without headstocks, we make headless guitars. It's a small distinction but that's generally what they do.'
As for what separates 'guitars without headstocks' from 'headless guitars', Strandberg says it's all about inception: Strandberg was distinctly created to solve a problem.
'They take conventional construction techniques, they buy some headless hardware off the shelf, and they change the design to accommodate that headless hardware,' Strandberg comments, 'so they have a guitar without a headstock.
'We really designed everything from the ground up to work together as a whole. I think that the result is greater than the sum of the parts.'
Regardless of these differences, Strandberg sees the increasing popularity of headless guitars – and, by extension, the growing presence of other brands tapping into the trend – as a good thing.
'I think honestly we're still on an upward trajectory in terms of the headless guitar becoming more mainstream. I think we're all still helping to grow the market,' he notes. 'Certainly I do think the headless guitar is moving more into the mainstream and I think that's a good thing, not just because we make headless guitars but I think it's truly a better construction.'
Elsewhere in his Guitar World interview, Strandberg has recalled the unlikely origins of one of his greatest innovations, and confirms he's working on a headless acoustic.
