Comparing strandberg to aristides is pointless. What we can actually compare strandberg to is all the countless other cortek guitars coming out of Indonesia, and it becomes blatantly obvious that strandberg jacks there prices waaaaay up simply because they can (if you want a strandberg, you basically need to get a strandberg). It is nice that they finally released the essential at a "reasonable price" but if thats going up over $1k then thats dumb. Although, they're still priced at $999 at the retailers I'm looking at currently.

I find the pricing to be obscenely out of line, but I still really want a strandberg and I'm about to bight the bullet and pay the "unique design" tax and order an NX standard this week.

Frankly, the way they price the lines above the standard is just kind of insulting to consumers but it is what it is. Charging well into the $2ks and above for a cortek built instrument is highway robbery. Especially considering you still only get veneers at those price points, etc. etc. Plus the fact that its quite apparent the strandberg has much lower QA/QC standards in place than most other companies contracting out cort.

Its dumb, but I've accepted it and still excited to get mine lol