I was eying the Essentials since they were announced pretty much, as someone who really enjoys the aesthetics and ergonomics of headless guitars (mostly the weight benefit and the tuning stability). I own the Harley Benton Dullahan and am mostly happy with it, but it has some issues with fret sprout & the strings getting caught on the space between the fretboard and frets. I was also nervous something similar would happen with the Strandberg, as there are reports of it online, but fortunately, my guitar came perfect!
I'm incredibly happy with it - there are no dead spots on the frets, no fret sprout at the edges, no sharp edges on the frets, the fingerboard is rounded and the frets are blended into the rounding of the fingerboard, tuners work great, the whole deal. It's my first pricier guitar & it really feels premium compared to the Dullahan and my starter Jackson.
The Endurneck is something I instantly resonated with, within a few minutes I was used to it and now it already feels like second nature (I think the Dullahan neck kinda prepared me for thicker necks, since I started on a very thin-neck Jackson). The only small issue I have is, the output jack is a bit wobbly, not too bad but could be a bit tighter, but that's a really easy thing to fix.
The nut came filed perfectly for 10-46 strings, it played awesome out of the box, but I already swapped the strings for my preferred gauge (10-52, skinny top heavy bottom, with 10 / 11/ 16 for E B G), and just had to file the nut slots very slightly with the thicker strings as I was restringing it.
Minor restringing note, I wasn't sure if the small retention plate at the bottom of the screw needed to be above the string or below it (since on the Dullahan it needs to clamp the string from above), so I put it above the string where I could (since I couldn't get some of them out). Then I saw in the manual it's fine to keep it below the string, so if someone reads this, there's a quick PSA.
If you were eying these guitars, check out Andre Fludd for some really good content around it. I'd recommend them to anyone who likes the styles & ergonomics of headless guitars. Personally, I'd still advise that you make sure you are in the option to return, in case you have an issue, since it is a non zero possibility with all guitars.
