need advice on headless 8 string

[brandonwebley]

im in the market for an 8 string strandberg style headless thats of comparable quality to my 2021 NK 7 string (good fret work and neck), longer scale the better
ordering from USA or EU is extremely cost prohibitive for me so im mostly interest in chinese or Australian instruments

so far my options seem to be GOC or Ormsby, i really like Ormsby guitars but the have a pretty extreme fan on the frets that makes me nervous because i cant actually test one where i live and ive heard mixed things about GOC, anybody ordered one recently have any insight? thanks guys

 

[feilong29]

I ordered a GOC Materia 3.0 8 string a couple of years ago and it has been a truly fantastic guitar. Tuning stability is great, the only gripe is the tuners are hard to twist; but a pick or a coin can slide in and mitigate that. I replaced the stock pickups with Fishman Reyes pups, and installed a 6-way toggle switch, so I have 6 voicings plus an additional 6 with a coil-tap. They have risen in price, but still worth the money. To give more level-arguing, I used to own a USA Boden 7 string, and I prefer the GOC; minus the endurneck.

 

[bzhang9]

goc is very average, no longer worth it at 1k price
NK, legator, used low end kiesels or strandos even are better value

 

[brandonwebley]

I ordered a GOC Materia 3.0 8 string a couple of years ago and it has been a truly fantastic guitar. Tuning stability is great, the only gripe is the tuners are hard to twist; but a pick or a coin can slide in and mitigate that. I replaced the stock pickups with Fishman Reyes pups, and installed a 6-way toggle switch, so I have 6 voicings plus an additional 6 with a coil-tap. They have risen in price, but still worth the money. To give more level-arguing, I used to own a USA Boden 7 string, and I prefer the GOC; minus the endurneck.

goc is very average, no longer worth it at 1k price
NK, legator, used low end kiesels or strandos even are better value

well these are 2 very conflicting comments, i absolutely love my 7 string NK but unfortunately they dont make 8 strings, i really like the look of legator guitars but theyre expensive as hell to get shipped to where i live and i really like the strandberg/nk/goc shape with the cut out corner for playing classic position which legator and kiesel doesn't have, its looking like basically my only option is GOC, ive heard plenty of people rate them pretty highly so hopefully i get lucky with a good one when they come back in stock

 

[feilong29]

well these are 2 very conflicting comments, i absolutely love my 7 string NK but unfortunately they dont make 8 strings, i really like the look of legator guitars but theyre expensive as hell to get shipped to where i live and i really like the strandberg/nk/goc shape with the cut out corner for playing classic position which legator and kiesel doesn't have, its looking like basically my only option is GOC, ive heard plenty of people rate them pretty highly so hopefully i get lucky with a good one when they come back in stock

I paid under $1k for mine, so I can agree that I wouldn't pay more than that. Granted, the 3.0 run was one of their best. I haven't tried anything post 2018/2019

 

[vertibration]

GOC seems to be a smart choice, even at their price, they are still competitive to everyone else

 

[CanserDYI]

I heard the issue these days is actually GETTING a GOC? Like right now they have zero guitars in stock.

 

[vertibration]

You can get them from their US dealers when they do runs, which is quite often

Impulse has plenty in stock

GOC

Buy GOC here! Buy Online. ✓ Free Shipping for orders over $50 ✓ Best Offers.

www.impulsemusicco.com

 

[bostjan]

I heard the issue these days is actually GETTING a GOC? Like right now they have zero guitars in stock.

Considering the current situation in China, GOC may not be an option for the time being. Their site shows no current dealers, and their aliexpress store is empty.

EDIT:

You can get them from their US dealers when they do runs, which is quite often

Impulse has plenty in stock

GOC

Buy GOC here! Buy Online. ✓ Free Shipping for orders over $50 ✓ Best Offers.

www.impulsemusicco.com

Umm, $1600 doesn't seem like the right pricing, though

 

[CanserDYI]

That entire site says sold out on pretty much every model? The only ones that don't say Sold Out are "PreOrder" models...so not really that available?

 

[vertibration]

jeeze my bad, i was moving quick and missed the black label that says sold out. Yea you right

 

[vertibration]

Considering the current situation in China, GOC may not be an option for the time being. Their site shows no current dealers, and their aliexpress store is empty.

EDIT:



Umm, $1600 doesn't seem like the right pricing, though

They are upcharging like a MF

 

[vertibration]

TBH, shit.....I would buy a strandberg at a $1600 price. You can get a basic 8 string Strandberg new for like under 2K

 

[Tree]

TBH, shit.....I would buy a strandberg at a $1600 price. You can get a basic 8 string Strandberg new for like under 2K

Not in AUD, which is what would apply to the OP.
I don’t even want to know what the going rate for a Strandy is over there.

 

[bostjan]

@brandonwebley Do you live near a major city? If you are in the land of Ormsbys, maybe you could find a place to try one. If China is falling apart at the seams as much as the media here in the US is reporting, and nobody seems to have much, if anything, in stock, then your options might be much more limited than you were thinking, at least until the industry in China gets rolling again, but, honestly, after almost three years of spotty supply chain, I wouldn't hold my breath at this point.

 

[vertibration]

@brandonwebley Do you live near a major city? If you are in the land of Ormsbys, maybe you could find a place to try one. If China is falling apart at the seams as much as the media here in the US is reporting, and nobody seems to have much, if anything, in stock, then your options might be much more limited than you were thinking, at least until the industry in China gets rolling again, but, honestly, after almost three years of spotty supply chain, I wouldn't hold my breath at this point.

good point about China, we could see a very bleak 2023 for inventory shortages

 

[sym30l1c]

GOC seems to be doing new runs every few weeks. There seems to be a new one coming up soon (you can check their instagram). I think the last few runs took a while to sell out but they had a sale a few weeks ago and sold pretty much all they had in stock.

 

[gunshow86de]

I've previously owned a Strandberg Standard 8 and the Boden+ NX8 TT , and honestly I like my Ormsby Goliath more than both. The stock pickups in the Ormsby are much better than on the Boden Standard. The chambered body also makes a huge difference with the acoustic resonance on smaller headless bodies. The Boden Standard was heavy and kind of dead sounding. I also was concerned about the more extreme fan on the Ormsby, but I adapted to it pretty quickly. I also like the traditional back shape on the Ormsby neck. I never really liked the Endurneck on the 8 strings (it's great on 6's though). My only real complaint with the Ormsby is the jack placement.

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

I've heard great things about GOC. If I were in your shoes I'd probably grab one of the GOC 8's.

NK is nearing completion of their 8-string model, so if you aren't in a rush, you could wait for it to be released--I'm guessing sometime early-to-mid 2023. NK posted a picture of the 8-string neck recently and one of the NK distributors told me its very close to release now.

 

[Awaiting Oblivion]

I've heard great things about GOC. If I were in your shoes I'd probably grab one of the GOC 8's.

NK is nearing completion of their 8-string model, so if you aren't in a rush, you could wait for it to be released--I'm guessing sometime early-to-mid 2023. NK posted a picture of the 8-string neck recently and one of the NK distributors told me its very close to release now.

Where’s that NK photo posted? Interested in seeing it but didn’t see it posted on their Facebook page.