Sweetwater has revealed the top guitar offer of Black Friday to date—save $300 on the highly-rated Strandberg Boden Essential!]

For the guitarist who isn’t interested in traditional instruments, I’ve got a super Black Friday guitar deal for you. In the Sweetwater Black Friday sale you can get your hands on a Strandberg Boden Essential with a gigantic $300 reduction. It’s a mega discount on a guitar that’s all about comfort and playability, eschewing traditional design in the pursuit of technological advancement.

I’ll admit I was skeptical before I first got my hands on one, so when it came into the office for review I wasn’t really expecting much. Flash forward five minutes and I found I couldn’t put it down. I’ve honestly never played anything like it, and while I get that headless guitars aren’t for everyone, you’ll be doing yourself a disservice not trying one.

I’ve been playing guitar for over twenty years now, so it’s pretty rare that a piece of gear completely takes me by surprise. That was exactly the case with the Boden Essential though. At first I found the EndurNeck profile quite alien in my hands, thanks to the wide flat strip that runs down the centre of the roasted maple neck.

It’s like playing a really extreme ‘V’ profile, but cleverly, it gives your thumb a platform to always be placed flat, which encourages better playing technique. This design reduces strain on your wrist by forcing you to keep your thumb as the anchor for your fretting hand. Once I got over the initially strange feel, I was soon flying across the fretboard with three-note-per-string legato licks aplenty.

The body is different from anything else I’ve tried too. Again, the shape looks very strange, but it’s actually cleverly designed so you can place the guitar on either leg, or in the classical position for proper shredability. It’s lightweight too, so you can easily chuck it in a gig bag and take it to shows with you, or bring on a train or plane.

When wearing it on a guitar strap you can hardly feel it’s there, and the lack of a headstock means there’s far less chance of stabbing your singer or bassist, even when playing on a tiny stage. For me the size and weight add to the overall performance of the guitar, tying in beautifully with the playability to make one of the most all-round ergonomic experiences I’ve ever had playing an electric guitar.