While a very different guitar than the ones made in the early and mid 20th century by the father-son team of Charles and Elmer Stromberg this one has been handcrafted very nicely in the Czech Republic. The guitar is constructed of laminated maple, flamed maple used on top with a maple neck and ebony fingerboard with mother of pearl block inlays. The floating pickup is a gold foil humbucker type made by Amber pickups in Germany and there is a piezo pickup built into the bridge saddle. The electronics include a volume control and pickup blend pot which are built into the pickguard.
They did a great job with the fret finish work, using jumbo frets over a 14-inch radius fingerboard and the nut is cut from real bone. The guitar plays with the ease of a much, much more expensive instrument. All notes ring out clearly at all frets. The 16-inch bout width is sure to be very comfortable for most players and the medium C-shaped neck feels great in the hand. The tuners are genuine Kluson Wafflebacks for great tuning stability and the tailpiece is an actual solid brass unit that I would expect to last the lifetime of the owner.
The guitar plugged in has a great tone that excels at fast lines with great responsiveness and has great clarity for chord work as well. Based on my experience this guitar compares remarkably well with the Gibson ES-165 version with the floating BJB pickup. While not on the level of a great acoustic archtop, the unplugged sound is pleasant, and more than adequate for at home practice and play in an intimate setting.
The finish is aged nitrocellulose lacquer. The aging of the lacquer is remarkably well done, with checking that easily looks as good as anything I've seen come out of the Murphy lab at Gibson.
Fingerboard radius - 14 inches
Nut width - 1.732 inches
Scale length - 24.724 inches
Weight - 6.0 pounds
The guitar comes in the original, Stromberg branded hardshell case.
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