We are very proud to announce our relationship with Paul Masvidal as a .strandberg* signature artist!

Best known for fronting the critically acclaimed progressive rock group Cynic, Paul Masvidal is a renowned guitarist, songwriter, composer and international touring artist. Masvidal’s professional recording career began in 1991 when he and fellow Cynic founder, drummer Sean Reinert, were recruited by Death to record Human, Death’s most critically acclaimed album. 1993 saw the release of Cynic’s debut, Focus, on RoadRunner Records, regarded as a landmark work in the field of progressive rock and metal.

The group reunited after a 13-year hiatus to record Traced In Air, their comeback opus. New York Times music critic Ben Ratliff wrote of the release, “On the basis of Traced in Air, more so than its 1993 predecessor Focus, Cynic should be understood not so much alongside any metal bands but along with the radical harmonic progressives in the last 45 years of pop and jazz: composers like Milton Nascimento, the Beach Boys or Pat Metheny.”

Masvidal’s alternative rock project Aeon Spoke received BBC Radio 2 and XFM accolades along with numerous TV and film placements.

Cynic has since released two conceptual EPs titled Re-Traced (2010) and Carbon-Based Anatomy (2011). Pitchfork music critic Hank Shteamer wrote in his review of the latter: “The title track is a perfectly paced stunner…Cynic sounds fully liberated, not just from their metal past but from any aesthetic concern other than assembling a great song…further proof that Masvidal and Reinert’s core ideas are sturdy enough to withstand drastic shifts in style.”

Masvidal also writes and performs music for television and motion pictures, having gotten his start as a session musician on That ’70s Show and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Recently, he co-wrote and sang on “Sad, Sad Story,” the theme song of 2013 German-language comedy Der perfekte Mann (The Perfect Man). His music can also be currently heard on H2 series How Sex Changed the World and Discovery Channel’s hit reality shows Deadliest Catch and Ice Road Truckers.

Masvidal has spent the better part of 2012 and 2013 forming and working with composing collective Still Motion Music and writing, recording and mixing Cynic’s third full-length album, due Fall 2013. Masvidal also launched his own line of signature guitars through .strandberg* Guitars. Dubbed the Masvidalien 01, the headless model will be available for purchase in Winter 2013.

Discography / Timeline

1991 – Death “Human” – Sony / Relativity Records

1991 – Master “On The Seventh Day” – Nuclear Blast

1993 – Cynic “Focus” – RoadRunner Records

1994-95 – Portal “The Portal Tapes” – Collectors edition released Season Of Mist – 2012

1996-2007 – Attends MIT Hollywood full scholarship, works as session musician and composer for television and motion pictures, writes songs for artists, TV and film placement.

2005 – Cynic “Focus” RoadRunner reissue

2007 – Aeon Spoke – “Aeon Spoke” – SPV Records

2008 – Cynic “Traced In Air” – Season Of Mist

2010 – Cynic “Re-Traced” – Season Of Mist

2011 – Cynic “Carbon-Based Anatomy” – Season Of Mist

2013 – Cynic – New album slated for fall release – Season Of Mist

Here is a brand new song called Stranded that Fred has recorded exclusively on #28 for his upcoming album Transcendence.

A short clip from MusikMesse Frankfurt:

More clips will be added as soon as time permits.

I have been to several Holdsworth gigs over the years in various places, but met him in person for the first time in 2006 in Huntington Beach. I had stepped off the plane from Sweden that same day and went straight from LAX, jet-lagged, to watch the band set up, sound check, and ultimately play the set. I pulled him aside and showed him pictures of the guitars I had built 20 years before and he politely watched and commented.

When the current incarnation of .strandberg* was born, late 2007, the initial focus was on hardware. A set of string locks went out to Rick Canton, who was building a guitar for Allan at the time. There was some issue with the TransTrem III, and they thought that my string locks might take care of it and use conventional strings. But this would have been the first time Allan heard of me, I suppose. I later bumped into him at NAMM 2011, but he was in a rush, and again at NAMM 2012, where I simply stuck a guitar in his hands. He commented on how light it was and said “We have to talk”.

Fast forward to October 2012, when he played Uppsala International Guitar Festival, and I had a chance to meet him again in my hometown. He has just come from a gig in Oslo, where he had been exposed to True Temperament by a journalist who interviewed him there. Luckily, I still had #26, which I brought along with #35, my Varberg Tremolo demo guitar. He enjoyed the sound, weight and feel of both guitars very much, but the stumbling block was the clearance between the E-strings and the edge of the fretboard, which was too small on both guitars. He also commented that he liked the tremolo construction. Many conventional tremolos have a tendency to not return exactly to the neutral position when released. The Steinberger construction with a single pressure spring does suffer from this, whereas my needle-bearing hinged construction with conventional pull springs is less susceptible to it.

So we agreed that I would build him a guitar that featured my patent pending EndurNeck(tm) with his preferred neck width, the True Temperament fretting system, and a Seymour Duncan 59B pickup. That was the entire design brief. I promised delivery by NAMM 2013 time, i.e. less than three months away. Inventory of materials was short, and there was no time to buy new wood to rest in my workshop and still meet the deadline, so I had to take what was available. A formula for success in my designs is a dense/hard top and light stiff body. I had some nice lightweight beautifully flamed Maple for the neck and a Bubinga top laying around, and Swamp Ash, which is what I use a lot. But I had my mind set on Alder to get a middier sound, so I went to look locally if I could find some in my “climate zone”. There was no Alder to be found, but there was Aspen, which I have been dying to try. It is far from common as a tonewood – in fact, it is primarily used for matches in Sweden. The tap tone of the blank I cut was amazing, so I decided to risk it. It was a very odd wood to work with. Suddenly, when milling, pockets of air would be uncovered, but I carried on since there was no time to find a replacement. The fretboard was completed first and sent off to True Temperament for routing. In parallel, I completed the neck and body, and after gluing the fretboard on, the guitar was completed without frets and returned to True Temperament for the fretwork. It came back with the perfect setup and insanely low action.

The results can be seen below. As all .strandberg* guitars, the result is lightweight (about 4 lbs) and very resonant. It responds immediately to any touch and the tone disappears immediately when you mute it. Sustain is up there with the best, and all together, it is the perfect instrument for legato playing. Aspen proved a perfect choice for a good bite in terms of tone, with lots of mids that are further carried by the Duncan 59 pickup. I couldn’t help showing it for the first couple of days at NAMM 2013 in my booth, so some of you will actually have played it.

On Monday after NAMM, it was finally time to deliver it. I went to Allan’s house in San Juan Capistrano and we shared a beer before unveiling the guitar. He was very pleased with literally everything about it: the look, feel, weight, resonance and tone (actually, he would probably move the strap button, so not pleased with everything). Likening trying a new guitar with trying on new underwear – a very private matter – I left him a while later to have dinner and return back to Anaheim and pack my suitcase to go home to Uppsala. We agreed that I would give him a few days and then call to hear how it sounded plugged in and how he liked it. But only a half hour or so later, he called in the middle of my dinner and let me know how awesome it sounded. My ultimate reward will be hearing it recorded or seeing it on stage – I hope one or both of these events will happen.

The happy owner after taking delivery:

Here is what Brandon said:

The guitar is absolutely tremendous! I Love it! For a minute there I thought it may even be better than #7, however, in a direct A/B I found that they were equally wonderful, but in different ways.

A short play-through demo by Richard Lainegard:

Just like a musical chord, a perfume chord contains four essences, or notes, carefully selected for their harmonic affinity. Each perfume contains three chords: the head, the heart and the base, necessitating 12 notes in all. The head chord contains the first impression, lasting a few minutes before giving way to the heart chord, the theme of the perfume, lasting several hours. Finally, the base chord, the trail of the perfume lasting several days.

The Varberg is designed in much the same way: the top, which may consist of two layers and generally contributes to the snappiness or attack; the core shapes the bulk of the tonal characteristics; and the bottom layer, which provides the backdrop.

Al says:

I was amazed at how clear and articulate the bottom end is. Clarity in this frequency has always been a problem in the past, especially on the faster riffs, but the Varberg keeps notes super clear and even throughout. The combinations of woods and pups really let the low-end breath without over compressing or ‘choking’. The attack is sharp and crisp, almost like the guitar was half the size, but retains the ‘size’. I guess that’s the ebony/ash and mahogany serving as planned! Even acoustically the notes resonate so well which is further proof of the concepts validity.

See http://strandbergguitars.com/al-mumin-feature-1209/ for the full evaluation.

For the full details, see http://www.guitarworld.com/exclusive-video-varberg-story-featuring-haarp-machines-al-mumin

Here are his own words:

The first thing I noticed is how comfortable it sits playing seated in the classical position. The curve on the base layer is perfectly placed! As you know this was an issue for me on #16 and along with the usual balance and weight, makes for a totally playable guitar as a tool and not an obstacle.
Moving onto the sound, I was amazed at how clear and articulate the bottom end is. Clarity in this frequency has always been a problem in the past, especially on the faster riffs, but the Varberg keeps notes super clear and even throughout. The combinations of woods and pups really let the low-end breath without over compressing or ‘choking’. The attack is sharp and crisp, almost like the guitar was half the size, but retains the ‘size’. I guess that’s the ebony/ash and mahogany serving as planned! Even acoustically the notes resonate so well which is further proof of the concepts validity.
The spacing of the strings and scale are perfect for this string gauge and tuning. It’s eradicated the need to have insanely thick lower strings to maintain a tight bottom end and allows comfortable bending. The action is also fantastic – the low end being ridiculously low whilst retaining some height on the higher frets allowing clarity and ‘bell like’ cleans.
The fanned frets are aligned so intuitively it’s as if you knew my finger placement!
And the Endurneck… I honestly feel this is by far the most comfortable neck I’ve ever played. The flat surface as well as the groove finish allow for a much more stable grip making long/awkward stretches feel so much more comfortable almost completely reducing any strains. I’ve also noticed that by pushing my thumb against a flat surface (which is angled amazingly!) I’m fretting the notes harder and consequently performing cleaner runs.
I really can’t say enough about this guitar. Every time I pick it up I notice something new about it. The attention to detail and precision are remarkable but it never feels ‘cold’… The small imperfections really make this feel like a timeless instrument. I showed it to my little brothers music tutor who compared it to his 100+yr old violin…
I feel this is a perfect balance of extreme playability and elegance. It really does look as good as it plays! If people built a guitar today with little to no romantic ideas of what a guitar ‘should be’, this would be the result.
Thank you so much for building my dream guitar! I foresee this being my main guitar for some time