Very happy owner of a limited Deep Purple Hils guitar here. I'm disabled and have been looking for the past years for a guitar that I can play while in my wheelchair and is easy to handle & carry around. I've tried a lot of small (even kids) guitars, an Ibanez headless model (hated the neck) and couldn't really go for a Strandberg because my thumb is kind of weirdly attached to my hand which makes the endure neck a no go. I had to pinch myselff twice when I saw the Hils: a first time for the specs, the other for the price. I ordered one and couldn't be happier! It's just perfect for me. I'm an offset guy so I was very unsure about the tone & high output pickups...but I actually like them: they have a compressed sound that goes well with the ambient soundscapes that I make. The rubber feet are super useful and the lightweight and the backpack-like straps of the gigbag allow me to put it on the back of my wheelchair & carry it everywhere. Highly recommended!
Really cool that the factory didn't argue with Phol about pickup tolerance, but instead came up with a solution and thanked Phil for constructive aevice!!
Yeah, and it seems they have fixed several issues with other headless guitars too. The headstock, the foot pegs, the string locking mechanism, etc. Strandberg owners have complained about these for years
It is quite impressive that the company took the constructive advice. They looked at facts and made corrections. That is a company I want to support. My Hils guitar will be here on the 22nd.
I have this guitar and can say it has the characteristics of a 1000 dollar plus guitar. Stainless frets, roasted maple neck, mahogany body, great pickups and sounds great. You can practice twice as long sitting back in a chair or you can pack it and take it anywhere you travel. It is dynamite in a smaller package!
The radius looks like a 14" ??- There is not many guitars out there for 500.00-In the event this is a good axe, it may be valuable some day. I guess it depends on how many are being made. I used to own a Gibson Marauder, which was only made for about 2 years. They went for about 400-450 in the 70`s. I have seen a few being sold for about 1,200 or so. It may be a good investment someday in the event you want to sell. I doubt the Kiesel guitars will have strong re-sale. Then, I would have bought Beenie Babys if I knew they would have the potential of making a small fortune. Good luck. -God bless.
@ShawnShipstad Good point. One thing is for sure. Best buy for the money I have made and my son has several high end guitars over 2k. This one gets played more because it is so easy to carry around even unplugged.
I got mine earlier this year. I got even lucky and mine's got beautiful Birdseye all over the roasted-maple neck. What an awesome guitar this model is!
@ShawnShipstad my friend bought a Gibson Marauder back around 1972. Looked a bit SGish with that plastic looking pickup but hey, it was a Gibson and we were all envious of him. Thanks for mentioning that guitar. I haven't thought about my mate and his Gibson in a long while.
Just the fact that the manufacturer listened to your feedback and went and made changes like you suggested, makes me consider buying a guitar from this company! I’ve never considered trying one of these headless neck type of guitars. But at this price and the fact that the company listens to their customers makes me want one of these!
Looks like I found my next around the house guitar, no headstock to catch on a corner when walking into a room, rubber feet , and lightweight. Sold. 13:45 now I feel the need to listen to Blitzkrieg
I live in South Korea, and I purchased one of these under their native brand HEX avout 2 months ago. It is phenomenal. I've gigged it several times and never had an issue. Pickups are good, but I will put in new pickups later or at least modify that the coil split only effects the neck pickup. I'm thinking of grabbing a bass from them.
Hils is the American-European brand name for a Korean company, originally named HEX. I don't know why they had to change their brand name for sure, but it is the exact same company with the same products. In Korea, Hex has a huge reputation for making great bang for buck guitars at very attainable price points, and as far as I'm concerned they own a proprietary factory in Indonesia. The headless models have been very popular among Korean RUclipsrs and they are even cheaper here in Korea(at about only 300$ for this same model). I got my headless HEX soon after the hype and I've been enjoying this guitar ever since. I swapped both of my pickups to Gibsons without too much hassle, and am looking forward to changing the output jack soon. I don't know if mine's faulty or it's just the design, but the barrel-style output jack cuts out when I put pressure on the cable or the wireless sideways. Outside of that, it is a wonderful piece of equipment. Thank you Phil for introducing another Korean brand to the world.
A hex is a spell to cast for bad fortune on someone, but I'm sure you guys knew that. I think it was an inauspicious name, like calling a car the Citation.
Almost identical to my ibanez Q54, which I paid a 1000 bucks for and absolutely love. I have about 25+ guitars and I find myself only playing this one nowadays. Wish I would've known about this one.
WOW!!!!!!! THANK YOU, VERY MUCH, PHIL, FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK, AND DILIGENCE, IN REVIEWING, AND CRITIQUING THIS AMAZING, AFFORDABLE GUITAR!!! GOOD TO KNOW!!!
Love the rubber feet feature. I have a GW-2 Eart, which I like very much, but it doesn't sit comfortably on a wood floor - rubber feet would help. This might be a step up from the GW-2, and still reasonably priced.
Not sure why i got served your video, and I don't even play guitar anymore, but I gave you a sub because you did a great job reviewing. Very thorough, and checking things i didn't even know should be checked. Keep up the good work!
Saw a Guitar Summit video on these guitars...I was intrigued and am really glad to see an overall positive review and that the company responded really well to feedback and actually made a change in manufacturing! I definitely am considering purchasing one of their new models that has a trem and some active pickups.
I just put a preorder in for the version they’re sending to America the hils hn5 with a trem and active pickups they claim delivery around January hope you’ll do a deep dive into it as well hopefully it has all those great hidden features like the paint shielding and trimmer potentiometer etc I don’t have the tools but love watching you test the pickups Waiting to see how the hils active pickups stand up against Emgs and fishmans Last thing I’ll mention is price I got a discount with the preorder coming to 500 usd however in Japan they’re 3-350 usd not a deal breaker but just shows the market doesn’t offer many budget options for headless guitars with trems but when they do they can raise it hundreds
I have one of these ordered, coming in two days on Wednesday. I'm glad I saw this review of it, Phillip. Answered some questions I didn't know I'd want to ask and reinforced my decision on ordering it. I have plenty of Majesties (6) a few JP's as well, and a PRS SE Holcomb and an American Strat Ultra from 2008. I'm excited to have my first "perfect" headless guitar. The past two I had (EART, and another unnamed brand) were cool, but nothing to write home about. I'm VERY excited.
When I read the title of this video, I thought it meant that this guitar was very expensive and a POS and that it gives high end guitars a bad reputation. Like "hey, this is very expensive and is not worth it. It makes all high end guitars look bad" lol Now I feel stupid. But also impressed. I travel a lot and that looks like it would fit in my suitcase. With my little Roland MicroCube I can have a very nice travel rig. At that weight I would hardly notice it. Great review as always.
why wouldnt you be able to screw down the ground wire onto the shielding tape the way you did with the paint? it just needs contact right? I dont understand the difference
You can! I do it on all my strats: groundwire from tremclaw screwed down on the copper tape shielding, holding the groundwire from the vol. pot aswell. Quickconnecters for the jack wires so i can take out the pickguard without soldering! Do what you want, it's your guitar...🎸🤘🏼🎸
I got one of these a couple of days ago, and thought I would leave a brief review. Overall I am very happy with the guitar at the $499 price. There were some very minor issues all of which were corrected with a basic setup. I was initially unable to completely intonate the third (G) string. As I got close to getting it intonated, the tuning peg got loose. I made a comment about this in a review on Hils website, and shortly afterwards I was contacted by one of the co-owners of Hils. After a brief discussion of the problem, he explained that I just need to loosen the string on both ends, pull a bit more string through the clamp at the nut end, and retighten everything back down. This worked perfectly. The only other issue I have is, as Phil mentions in the video, the pickup cavity route is too tight. But the person from Hils said this was being corrected, so probably by the time you read this it won't be an issue anymore. The fret ends on my guitar were not as nice as on Phil's. But you know for $499, it's expected that the guitar might need a little TLC in the form of a set-up and some fret dressing. The guitar is so light! I'm an older guy, and an hour standing up with my other guitars often leaves me with a sore back. That won't be an issue here. The guitar in its case is so compact that I think it might even fit in an overhead compartment on a plane. The pickups are acceptable, and pretty hot. I do find the bridge pickup a bit too nasally (mids are too strong). I checked out the wiring and it's just lovely. The wiring cavity is shielded and even the cover plate has shielding on it. The frets are more level than most low end guitars, which is great news for anyone that likes a low action. The nut was cut reasonably well. I love the thin neck (small hands) but if you like a chunky neck, you might not like this. This has immediately become one of my favorite guitars.
That tiniest bit kf headstock is such a clever addition, to be able to hang it, bit akso jist that feel of home behind the fretting hand at first position
Hey, Phillip… love the channel! This video inspired me to check out what Hils has to offer. I ended up picking up the tele style guitar, ‘the talent’, and was totally blown away by the quality of guitar I received, and for only $349!!! And of course, that nice gig bag was part of the deal, too. Have you ever thought about reviewing any other models from this brand?
Phil thank you for your service to our country and the guitar community. too good to be true. This puppy delivers for 500 bucks. I needed a travel guitar worry about it getting destroyed stolen. Quality control off the charts! It does the job have no fear it’s not a toy it’s an axe!
I got this guitar shortly before this video came out. My one and only nitpick is that the fret ends are a bit sharp, as Phillip showed in the video. Other than than, it's damn near perfect and an absolute steal at under $500 (I actually got mine for $450 with free shipping as a promotional event for breaking into the North American market).
Anyone curious to try out a headless guitar I highly recommend Hils. I have a green Next and it rules. Not just a good guitar for the price, but a generally great guitar.
Thanks for a great video! Nd thanks for the nod to AZ. I’m somewhere near you as we have shopped at the same Guitar Center. when I get my Strats together I’d love to get your opinion on them and maybe help with the set up.
I just got one of the 1K Strandbergs and its great. I guess I'll snag one of theses as well. Sub 5 lb guitars make Les Pauls super heavy after you get used to headless at 5lbs or less.
Their response to the routing issue you pointed out sold me. I absolutely love to support companies that actually care what their customers think. Instant +200000 to their rep imo.
Great job on this Philip! I love seeing this relatively low price gear that is just phenomenal to play. I mean, I have a couple of several thousand dollar guitars and a whole bunch of $500-$1200 Guitars I play them all so is it really worth it to spend all that extra money? I guess if you got it. Great job buddy.
Interesting, this could be my first headless guitar to try out, after playing for 30+ years. I wish it had a tremolo though since I'm a Floyd Rose kinda guy. Thanks for sharing Philip.
I'd pretty much already decided that I was going to get one of these, but this confirms it. It's going to have to wait, though, because a G&L is next up on my list. But after that will be a Hils.
Great goodness....thus just my Xmas list. Even the color is just bomb. Thanks for displaying this piece. Love ur work phil and as allways...know ur gear.
Yea, great video Phil........ With the specs and the price, and the quality gig bag,and the light weight it's certainly a bargain winner! All my EVH guitars are too heavy for me now as I've aged towards 70 and lost 60 lbs since visiting McKnight guitar store going back to 2008......... Yea I prefer the tone of the maple capped body's.......( not the weight) My PV Wolfgang weighs 8 pounds 2 oz, Peavy evh special 7.5 lbs, both evh Japanese specials at approximately 7 lbs........and the quilt top 1st run 2008 model evh from fender custom shop weighs 8.61 lbs!
Great comprehensive review. Sure wish more companies - or any company for that matter - would make a model with a wide nut as in 1 7/8". I have three guitars with Warmoth super wide necks but they don't offer a headless variety. I think the wide neck club is bigger than they realize, we're just not very loud. I'd purchase this in a heartbeat if it had a wide neck.
Can I get it in EU? Also the answer with the tolerances alone is something that should be rewarded. Awesome when they take feedback and improve. The guitar looks like the entry level strandberg which I want to buy at some point and this seems like a good alternative.
Great review, thank you. Been a long time since anything on the market has made me want to take a serious look at buying a new guitar. This is four pounds of really different, really cool.
Thank you Phill. This headless guitar appears to have all the modern features and none of the modern problems. Not to mention the super competitive price point. If I had to choose one today I would have to seriously consider this as an option. Thank you again!
I'm a keyboard player not a guitarist but I have always coveted the .strandberg* guitars. Of course not being a guitarist (a novice at best) there's not justification for the pricetag for me. This is a game changer. For five bills I can def see this one in my collection even if it's just gonna hang on the wall for months at a time.
Even a compound radius fretboard. Fender should offer that option on all their models. After playing with a compound radius I can never go back to a fixed radius fretboard.
It looks and sounds great, especially for the price. I'm surprised that we're already seeing Strandberg copies, but I'm glad that they're getting some affordable competition.
Thanks, Phil, for the honest review(as always). If I run into one of these i will consider a purchase. I was not familiar with this brand and style until your review.
I picked up one of these in green and love it for the most part. I'm not crazy about the pickups but am getting more used to them. The route is extremely tight and I thought I had measured that it was too small to take something like a Seymour Duncan JB. I could be wrong about that and curious if anyone has replaced the pickups with something else without having to extend the route. Great review as always from Phillip and I learned a few things about the guitar I didn't know.
You can very much screw a ground wire into shielding tape/foil as long as there isn't coating (which you can spot just to make sure) at the location where you screwed it in. Even then, the screw should penetrate and contact the shield enough to work. Very interesting modern instrument.
Doesn't your pots ground themselves to the electronic pocket through the mounting? So is it necessary to put a ground wire from the pots to the pocket?
A faraday cage made of thin tape or paint will provide some attenuation of high frequency EM radiation (MHz range) but do next to nothing for low frequency magnetic fields (which is the main cause of mains frequency hum in guitars) To shield agains magetic fields you need to use Mu-metal, this is expensive. I'd like to see some propoer controlled experiments on the effectiveness of shielding in guitar cavities - I suspect that it is mostly ineffective and only put in for marketing reasons.
The shielding keeps EM interference from being “heard” by the pickups. No pickups in the cavity. It just makes it more likely for you to have a short if the metallic shielding tape in the cavity touches a potentiometer or wire. So long as the pickup cavities are shielded, there’s no benefit from the extra shielding in the cavity.
Great review and this looks great. I am still impressed with the Ibanez Q52 I bought on a whim a couple of years ago. That is such a resonant and light guitar.
I've never been a fan of headless guitars, and accordingly I don't like the look of this one. I can however appreciate the various quality of life features present. The rubber feet and the headstock extension make me wonder how no other companies thought of it.
Looks fun. 4 lbs? That vinyl zipper bag is $100?! That neck is pretty narrow. Too narrow for me, and most. Ibanez Prestige, for example is around 43mm and that's great. Great video!
Damn, the weight alone makes this super attractive to me. I got the Eart a year ago n returned it for a few reasons, with the weight being a large part (not that it was necessarily "heavy", it was just average, when I wanted it to be lighter for my shoulder/back issues).
Very good review as usual ! BTW, I bought the ENGL Steve Morse 20 shortly after seeing your review and (of course), tried it at my local store ! greetings from Luxemburg !
Isn't the soldering of the ground wire to the tape or screwing the ground wire in slightly unnecessary because if your grounding to the back of the pots, they're making contact with the ground when fastened in? Not saying extra grounding isn't better, just overkill.
no, the screw mechanically connects the shielding paint to the grounding. it is supposed to ensure there is a faraday effect, but usually with cheap guitars the paint is just paint and the possibility of the pot not digging in and making a solid connection is possible.
Their blufton acoustic looks pretty nice for the price. All solid with an arm contour? Thats amazing If didnt just buy a carbon wood hybrid guitar and review it, id probably be looking at that....still i could sell a used martin x series in canada and buy 1.5 HILS acoustics And the Hils are all solid....thats wild.
Agreed! I haven't bought a new acoustic in over two decades, but I IMMEDIATELY pulled the trigger on the Bluffton a little bit ago. I watched this review and promptly went to see if they had any other electric body styles. Then I saw their acoustics and, man, I absolutely cannot believe the price for what the Bluffton is comprised of. The hexagonal inlays are a super-cool little touch, too. It all seems a bit too good to be true. I'll report back after it arrives and I play it awhile!
Yes, please do. I'm so curious about the Bluffton. It has so many great features but a crazy low price I just have a hard time believing it.@@StephenChapman
Thanks for sharing this phil. I've had one for a while but looking forward to the N500 which has a tremolo and active pickups. Best wishes from the UK 👍👍🎶🎶🎶🎶😎😎
I literally just got that one same color a few days ago. Around $500 on Amazon. It's incredibly light, just like you said. Plays great, sounds great. The rubber feet were a nice surprise.
Woah... I love my Boden 7 but there's so many things here Strandberg NEEDS to learn from this manufacturer. Especially the features around the headstock.
Have you ever done a build with Guitar Fetish parts? I was wondering what you thought of the quality level of their parts and components. If not, it might make for a cool video series showing the quality and ease of process. Or, display some mistakes that beginner/novice guitar builders may make
I bought a kit that is very much like this guitar for $150 and had a great time building it. I got it set up really well and it plays about as good as any guitar I have owned including my super fancy USA built Custom shop Ibanez Saber which I have played more than any other guitar. The supplied pickups sounded OK but were very microphonic. I replaced those with a humbucker sized P90 in the neck and a hot humbucker in the bridge. I'm into the guitar about $250 and it plays fantastic and has a wide variety of great sounds from vintage P90 to screaming lead and chug. Fun stuff.
What I don't like here is the angle of the lower body leg cutaway. It looks like it would have the neck at 20-30 degrees when you rest the guitar on your leg, using that cutaway. On Strandbergs the angle is steeper so that you can have the guitar at 45 degrees. Makes me wonder how the geometry of that cutaway was decided.
They obviously just copied the lower body leg cutaway and altered it to look different without understanding it is supposed to be a leg rest. At least they didn't put the output jack there like a lot of builders do.
Congratulations Zettel Down!! Thank you all who entered
Very happy owner of a limited Deep Purple Hils guitar here. I'm disabled and have been looking for the past years for a guitar that I can play while in my wheelchair and is easy to handle & carry around. I've tried a lot of small (even kids) guitars, an Ibanez headless model (hated the neck) and couldn't really go for a Strandberg because my thumb is kind of weirdly attached to my hand which makes the endure neck a no go. I had to pinch myselff twice when I saw the Hils: a first time for the specs, the other for the price. I ordered one and couldn't be happier! It's just perfect for me. I'm an offset guy so I was very unsure about the tone & high output pickups...but I actually like them: they have a compressed sound that goes well with the ambient soundscapes that I make. The rubber feet are super useful and the lightweight and the backpack-like straps of the gigbag allow me to put it on the back of my wheelchair & carry it everywhere. Highly recommended!
Great that you've found such good fit! 😃
Really cool that the factory didn't argue with Phol about pickup tolerance, but instead came up with a solution and thanked Phil for constructive aevice!!
this is exactly how you should operate if your goal is to make the best gear, very cool
Speaks volumes. I ordered one lol.
Yeah, and it seems they have fixed several issues with other headless guitars too.
The headstock, the foot pegs, the string locking mechanism, etc. Strandberg owners have complained about these for years
It is quite impressive that the company took the constructive advice. They looked at facts and made corrections. That is a company I want to support. My Hils guitar will be here on the 22nd.
Did someone switch the letters on your keyboard?
I have this guitar and can say it has the characteristics of a 1000 dollar plus guitar. Stainless frets, roasted maple neck, mahogany body, great pickups and sounds great. You can practice twice as long sitting back in a chair or you can pack it and take it anywhere you travel. It is dynamite in a smaller package!
The radius looks like a 14" ??- There is not many guitars out there for 500.00-In the event this is a good axe, it may be valuable some day. I guess it depends on how many are being made. I used to own a Gibson Marauder, which was only made for about 2 years. They went for about 400-450 in the 70`s. I have seen a few being sold for about 1,200 or so. It may be a good investment someday in the event you want to sell. I doubt the Kiesel guitars will have strong re-sale. Then, I would have bought Beenie Babys if I knew they would have the potential of making a small fortune. Good luck. -God bless.
@ShawnShipstad Good point. One thing is for sure. Best buy for the money I have made and my son has several high end guitars over 2k. This one gets played more because it is so easy to carry around even unplugged.
These headless guitars are great for random practice. I have an ibanez Q series. I love the headless platform.
I got mine earlier this year. I got even lucky and mine's got beautiful Birdseye all over the roasted-maple neck. What an awesome guitar this model is!
@ShawnShipstad my friend bought a Gibson Marauder back around 1972. Looked a bit SGish with that plastic looking pickup but hey, it was a Gibson and we were all envious of him. Thanks for mentioning that guitar. I haven't thought about my mate and his Gibson in a long while.
Them immediately fixing that pickup pocket issue is amazing
Just the fact that the manufacturer listened to your feedback and went and made changes like you suggested, makes me consider buying a guitar from this company! I’ve never considered trying one of these headless neck type of guitars. But at this price and the fact that the company listens to their customers makes me want one of these!
Looks like I found my next around the house guitar, no headstock to catch on a corner when walking into a room, rubber feet , and lightweight. Sold. 13:45 now I feel the need to listen to Blitzkrieg
I got mine today. Pretty good. A little setup and it works great.
I live in South Korea, and I purchased one of these under their native brand HEX avout 2 months ago. It is phenomenal. I've gigged it several times and never had an issue. Pickups are good, but I will put in new pickups later or at least modify that the coil split only effects the neck pickup. I'm thinking of grabbing a bass from them.
Hils is the American-European brand name for a Korean company, originally named HEX. I don't know why they had to change their brand name for sure, but it is the exact same company with the same products. In Korea, Hex has a huge reputation for making great bang for buck guitars at very attainable price points, and as far as I'm concerned they own a proprietary factory in Indonesia. The headless models have been very popular among Korean RUclipsrs and they are even cheaper here in Korea(at about only 300$ for this same model). I got my headless HEX soon after the hype and I've been enjoying this guitar ever since. I swapped both of my pickups to Gibsons without too much hassle, and am looking forward to changing the output jack soon. I don't know if mine's faulty or it's just the design, but the barrel-style output jack cuts out when I put pressure on the cable or the wireless sideways. Outside of that, it is a wonderful piece of equipment. Thank you Phil for introducing another Korean brand to the world.
I got my eyes on a parlor guitar made by Hex
Hex is someone else's trademark in the west so they had to use a different name
(I think I heard that on the Andertons vid a few weeks back)
@@HILSAmericaGuitars wise choice. The instrument looks very well manufactured and professionally finished. Your factory is doing a great job.
@@HILSAmericaGuitarslove how yall are replying! This is how you start a customer loyalty brand
A hex is a spell to cast for bad fortune on someone, but I'm sure you guys knew that. I think it was an inauspicious name, like calling a car the Citation.
Almost identical to my ibanez Q54, which I paid a 1000 bucks for and absolutely love. I have about 25+ guitars and I find myself only playing this one nowadays. Wish I would've known about this one.
I can take your unplayed ones, if they are US made ofc
Now you can sell the Ibanez and get two of these
WOW!!!!!!! THANK YOU, VERY MUCH, PHIL, FOR ALL OF YOUR HARD WORK, AND DILIGENCE, IN REVIEWING, AND CRITIQUING THIS AMAZING, AFFORDABLE GUITAR!!! GOOD TO KNOW!!!
Love the rubber feet feature. I have a GW-2 Eart, which I like very much, but it doesn't sit comfortably on a wood floor - rubber feet would help. This might be a step up from the GW-2, and still reasonably priced.
I have the GW2 also (lefty tho') and trying to get it to sit properly on a guitar rack is a PITA!. Great guitar though, love mine.
Very nice. Now all they need is 7 and 8 string versions.
Not sure why i got served your video, and I don't even play guitar anymore, but I gave you a sub because you did a great job reviewing. Very thorough, and checking things i didn't even know should be checked. Keep up the good work!
Thank you
Now there is a travel guitar! Don't care for the orange personally, but their metallic green is cool!
Saw a Guitar Summit video on these guitars...I was intrigued and am really glad to see an overall positive review and that the company responded really well to feedback and actually made a change in manufacturing! I definitely am considering purchasing one of their new models that has a trem and some active pickups.
Your consistent attention to detail is amazing! Keep up the good work!!
Your deep dives are so good... they often make me want to do a 'deep Dive" in my purse for a credit card.... thanks Phil?
Excellent review as always! Might need one of these for the collection.
I just put a preorder in for the version they’re sending to America the hils hn5 with a trem and active pickups they claim delivery around January hope you’ll do a deep dive into it as well hopefully it has all those great hidden features like the paint shielding and trimmer potentiometer etc
I don’t have the tools but love watching you test the pickups
Waiting to see how the hils active pickups stand up against Emgs and fishmans
Last thing I’ll mention is price I got a discount with the preorder coming to 500 usd however in Japan they’re 3-350 usd not a deal breaker but just shows the market doesn’t offer many budget options for headless guitars with trems but when they do they can raise it hundreds
I have one of these ordered, coming in two days on Wednesday. I'm glad I saw this review of it, Phillip. Answered some questions I didn't know I'd want to ask and reinforced my decision on ordering it. I have plenty of Majesties (6) a few JP's as well, and a PRS SE Holcomb and an American Strat Ultra from 2008. I'm excited to have my first "perfect" headless guitar. The past two I had (EART, and another unnamed brand) were cool, but nothing to write home about.
I'm VERY excited.
GREAT VID PHIL!! Thank you so much! You are the best!
When I read the title of this video, I thought it meant that this guitar was very expensive and a POS and that it gives high end guitars a bad reputation. Like "hey, this is very expensive and is not worth it. It makes all high end guitars look bad" lol Now I feel stupid. But also impressed. I travel a lot and that looks like it would fit in my suitcase. With my little Roland MicroCube I can have a very nice travel rig. At that weight I would hardly notice it. Great review as always.
why wouldnt you be able to screw down the ground wire onto the shielding tape the way you did with the paint? it just needs contact right? I dont understand the difference
You can! I do it on all my strats: groundwire from tremclaw screwed down on the copper tape shielding, holding the groundwire from the vol. pot aswell. Quickconnecters for the jack wires so i can take out the pickguard without soldering! Do what you want, it's your guitar...🎸🤘🏼🎸
I’ve been looking to get a headless the past 4 months. So far the Hils one is my favorite 🙂
Bruv you are still the best at product reviews. Thank you for taking the time to make great content that’s informative and helpful!
I got one of these a couple of days ago, and thought I would leave a brief review. Overall I am very happy with the guitar at the $499 price. There were some very minor issues all of which were corrected with a basic setup. I was initially unable to completely intonate the third (G) string. As I got close to getting it intonated, the tuning peg got loose. I made a comment about this in a review on Hils website, and shortly afterwards I was contacted by one of the co-owners of Hils. After a brief discussion of the problem, he explained that I just need to loosen the string on both ends, pull a bit more string through the clamp at the nut end, and retighten everything back down. This worked perfectly. The only other issue I have is, as Phil mentions in the video, the pickup cavity route is too tight. But the person from Hils said this was being corrected, so probably by the time you read this it won't be an issue anymore. The fret ends on my guitar were not as nice as on Phil's. But you know for $499, it's expected that the guitar might need a little TLC in the form of a set-up and some fret dressing. The guitar is so light! I'm an older guy, and an hour standing up with my other guitars often leaves me with a sore back. That won't be an issue here. The guitar in its case is so compact that I think it might even fit in an overhead compartment on a plane. The pickups are acceptable, and pretty hot. I do find the bridge pickup a bit too nasally (mids are too strong). I checked out the wiring and it's just lovely. The wiring cavity is shielded and even the cover plate has shielding on it. The frets are more level than most low end guitars, which is great news for anyone that likes a low action. The nut was cut reasonably well. I love the thin neck (small hands) but if you like a chunky neck, you might not like this. This has immediately become one of my favorite guitars.
That tiniest bit kf headstock is such a clever addition, to be able to hang it, bit akso jist that feel of home behind the fretting hand at first position
Not available in Europe at the time of my typing. Andertons UK has 'em but that's .. the UK. I hope we'll be able to get them on mainland Europe.
This guitar looks excellent! I love the response from the manufacturer to your feedback - props to them. Look like a serious contender!
I’m impressed! I don’t care for the headless neck and body shape, but their YOLO model looks intriguing.
Hey, Phillip… love the channel! This video inspired me to check out what Hils has to offer. I ended up picking up the tele style guitar, ‘the talent’, and was totally blown away by the quality of guitar I received, and for only $349!!! And of course, that nice gig bag was part of the deal, too. Have you ever thought about reviewing any other models from this brand?
Lovely chop starting around 13:09 Top 😊
I completely ignore these guitars when Andertons showed them but now you’re really showcasing and tempting me on the first headless
Phil thank you for your service to our country and the guitar community. too good to be true. This puppy delivers for 500 bucks. I needed a travel guitar worry about it getting destroyed stolen. Quality control off the charts! It does the job have no fear it’s not a toy it’s an axe!
I got this guitar shortly before this video came out. My one and only nitpick is that the fret ends are a bit sharp, as Phillip showed in the video. Other than than, it's damn near perfect and an absolute steal at under $500 (I actually got mine for $450 with free shipping as a promotional event for breaking into the North American market).
Anyone curious to try out a headless guitar I highly recommend Hils. I have a green Next and it rules. Not just a good guitar for the price, but a generally great guitar.
It's cool that they took your findings into consideration and used them to improve the product. Wish more companies did that...
Thanks for a great video! Nd thanks for the nod to AZ. I’m somewhere near you as we have shopped at the same Guitar Center. when I get my Strats together I’d love to get your opinion on them and maybe help with the set up.
Super cool that HILs put this video under the "Electric Guitars" section of their website.
I just got one of the 1K Strandbergs and its great. I guess I'll snag one of theses as well. Sub 5 lb guitars make Les Pauls super heavy after you get used to headless at 5lbs or less.
Their response to the routing issue you pointed out sold me. I absolutely love to support companies that actually care what their customers think. Instant +200000 to their rep imo.
Great job on this Philip! I love seeing this relatively low price gear that is just phenomenal to play. I mean, I have a couple of several thousand dollar guitars and a whole bunch of $500-$1200 Guitars I play them all so is it really worth it to spend all that extra money? I guess if you got it. Great job buddy.
Interesting, this could be my first headless guitar to try out, after playing for 30+ years. I wish it had a tremolo though since I'm a Floyd Rose kinda guy. Thanks for sharing Philip.
The overdrive sound at min 13:35 is cool. Any ideas what pedals he used?
As soon as a trem version is offered I’m getting one! If only there was a budget star shaped headless!!
I'd pretty much already decided that I was going to get one of these, but this confirms it. It's going to have to wait, though, because a G&L is next up on my list. But after that will be a Hils.
Great goodness....thus just my Xmas list. Even the color is just bomb. Thanks for displaying this piece. Love ur work phil and as allways...know ur gear.
I'm in AZ, too. Nice guitars, you're a great player.
Yea, great video Phil........ With the specs and the price, and the quality gig bag,and the light weight it's certainly a bargain winner! All my EVH guitars are too heavy for me now as I've aged towards 70 and lost 60 lbs since visiting McKnight guitar store going back to 2008.........
Yea I prefer the tone of the maple capped body's.......( not the weight)
My PV Wolfgang weighs 8 pounds 2 oz, Peavy evh special 7.5 lbs, both evh Japanese specials at approximately 7 lbs........and the quilt top 1st run 2008 model evh from fender custom shop weighs 8.61 lbs!
Great comprehensive review. Sure wish more companies - or any company for that matter - would make a model with a wide nut as in 1 7/8". I have three guitars with Warmoth super wide necks but they don't offer a headless variety. I think the wide neck club is bigger than they realize, we're just not very loud. I'd purchase this in a heartbeat if it had a wide neck.
14:55 - The sunburst guitar in the upper-right portion of the screen (right above the shoulder). What make/model guitar is that?!!😍
Can I get it in EU? Also the answer with the tolerances alone is something that should be rewarded. Awesome when they take feedback and improve. The guitar looks like the entry level strandberg which I want to buy at some point and this seems like a good alternative.
Great review, thank you. Been a long time since anything on the market has made me want to take a serious look at buying a new guitar. This is four pounds of really different, really cool.
Great video, though it teased me somewhat, as I was really keen to hear the bridge clean, and to hear if it could split the bridge coils too.
Nice powerful sounding pickups. Coil split and they sound great, also. Very articulate as well. Good job on your review, as always.
Thank you Phill. This headless guitar appears to have all the modern features and none of the modern problems. Not to mention the super competitive price point. If I had to choose one today I would have to seriously consider this as an option. Thank you again!
I'm a keyboard player not a guitarist but I have always coveted the .strandberg* guitars. Of course not being a guitarist (a novice at best) there's not justification for the pricetag for me. This is a game changer. For five bills I can def see this one in my collection even if it's just gonna hang on the wall for months at a time.
Even a compound radius fretboard. Fender should offer that option on all their models. After playing with a compound radius I can never go back to a fixed radius fretboard.
Which model is this, though? The HN3? I am *this* close to buying one...
It looks and sounds great, especially for the price. I'm surprised that we're already seeing Strandberg copies, but I'm glad that they're getting some affordable competition.
Thanks, Phil, for the honest review(as always). If I run into one of these i will consider a purchase. I was not familiar with this brand and style until your review.
@Phil - Hills' acoustic offerings look great as well, $500 solid top and bodies with beveled arm rest? Can you do a review?
Here I am trying to figure out what to get myself for Christmas lol thanks!
Phil... would it be relatively straight forward to replace the pickups with "standard" format humbucker pickups?
I picked up one of these in green and love it for the most part. I'm not crazy about the pickups but am getting more used to them. The route is extremely tight and I thought I had measured that it was too small to take something like a Seymour Duncan JB. I could be wrong about that and curious if anyone has replaced the pickups with something else without having to extend the route.
Great review as always from Phillip and I learned a few things about the guitar I didn't know.
You can very much screw a ground wire into shielding tape/foil as long as there isn't coating (which you can spot just to make sure) at the location where you screwed it in. Even then, the screw should penetrate and contact the shield enough to work. Very interesting modern instrument.
DUDE people getting into guitar are so lucky now-a-days. this is like beginner pricing for a pretty sick guitar.
Sounds great with OD!
Doesn't your pots ground themselves to the electronic pocket through the mounting? So is it necessary to put a ground wire from the pots to the pocket?
I don't use grounds at all in my faraday cages. Everything is already grounded once installed. Never had an issue.
A faraday cage made of thin tape or paint will provide some attenuation of high frequency EM radiation (MHz range) but do next to nothing for low frequency magnetic fields (which is the main cause of mains frequency hum in guitars) To shield agains magetic fields you need to use Mu-metal, this is expensive. I'd like to see some propoer controlled experiments on the effectiveness of shielding in guitar cavities - I suspect that it is mostly ineffective and only put in for marketing reasons.
The shielding keeps EM interference from being “heard” by the pickups. No pickups in the cavity. It just makes it more likely for you to have a short if the metallic shielding tape in the cavity touches a potentiometer or wire. So long as the pickup cavities are shielded, there’s no benefit from the extra shielding in the cavity.
@@Ten2More I'd like to see formal controlled test evidence that shielding the control cavity makes any difference whatsoever.
Great review and this looks great. I am still impressed with the Ibanez Q52 I bought on a whim a couple of years ago. That is such a resonant and light guitar.
Great travel guitar with that short an overall length.
I've never been a fan of headless guitars, and accordingly I don't like the look of this one. I can however appreciate the various quality of life features present. The rubber feet and the headstock extension make me wonder how no other companies thought of it.
Looks fun. 4 lbs? That vinyl zipper bag is $100?! That neck is pretty narrow. Too narrow for me, and most. Ibanez Prestige, for example is around 43mm and that's great. Great video!
Damn, the weight alone makes this super attractive to me. I got the Eart a year ago n returned it for a few reasons, with the weight being a large part (not that it was necessarily "heavy", it was just average, when I wanted it to be lighter for my shoulder/back issues).
How does it compare to the Strandberg Boden Essential 6? This seems very close to that model even is made in Indonesia
Very nice. I wish that would have been available as my first electric guitar. Thank
Very good review as usual ! BTW, I bought the ENGL Steve Morse 20 shortly after seeing your review and (of course), tried it at my local store ! greetings from Luxemburg !
As usual great info, thanks for all you do for us guitar hobbies !
Are you gonna do a video on the black hollow Danelectro 12 string you have there in the bottom right corner? That would be cool.
What if you have shielding tape and just solder the electronics to the claw?
Isn't the soldering of the ground wire to the tape or screwing the ground wire in slightly unnecessary because if your grounding to the back of the pots, they're making contact with the ground when fastened in? Not saying extra grounding isn't better, just overkill.
no, the screw mechanically connects the shielding paint to the grounding. it is supposed to ensure there is a faraday effect, but usually with cheap guitars the paint is just paint and the possibility of the pot not digging in and making a solid connection is possible.
Their blufton acoustic looks pretty nice for the price. All solid with an arm contour? Thats amazing
If didnt just buy a carbon wood hybrid guitar and review it, id probably be looking at that....still i could sell a used martin x series in canada and buy 1.5 HILS acoustics
And the Hils are all solid....thats wild.
Agreed! I haven't bought a new acoustic in over two decades, but I IMMEDIATELY pulled the trigger on the Bluffton a little bit ago. I watched this review and promptly went to see if they had any other electric body styles. Then I saw their acoustics and, man, I absolutely cannot believe the price for what the Bluffton is comprised of. The hexagonal inlays are a super-cool little touch, too. It all seems a bit too good to be true. I'll report back after it arrives and I play it awhile!
Yes, please do. I'm so curious about the Bluffton. It has so many great features but a crazy low price I just have a hard time believing it.@@StephenChapman
Nice guitar, I have been looking for a headless guitar, just need to decide the color!!😊
Imagine if they added a small rubberised strip to the back of the 'headstock', then it would lean totally on its own without ANY damage to the guitar!
Thank-you great info as always
Great gtr and your playing here was awesome!
Thanks for sharing this phil. I've had one for a while but looking forward to the N500 which has a tremolo and active pickups. Best wishes from the UK 👍👍🎶🎶🎶🎶😎😎
I literally just got that one same color a few days ago. Around $500 on Amazon. It's incredibly light, just like you said. Plays great, sounds great. The rubber feet were a nice surprise.
Hey Phil, love your videos. Any chance you can make one of these videos on a GOC guitar?
Woah... I love my Boden 7 but there's so many things here Strandberg NEEDS to learn from this manufacturer. Especially the features around the headstock.
Have you ever done a build with Guitar Fetish parts? I was wondering what you thought of the quality level of their parts and components. If not, it might make for a cool video series showing the quality and ease of process. Or, display some mistakes that beginner/novice guitar builders may make
Looks like the Thomann Donahan ... I have got to get one !
Thanks for the video. I just bought one!!
Very cool! Thanks for sharing.
I bought a kit that is very much like this guitar for $150 and had a great time building it. I got it set up really well and it plays about as good as any guitar I have owned including my super fancy USA built Custom shop Ibanez Saber which I have played more than any other guitar. The supplied pickups sounded OK but were very microphonic. I replaced those with a humbucker sized P90 in the neck and a hot humbucker in the bridge. I'm into the guitar about $250 and it plays fantastic and has a wide variety of great sounds from vintage P90 to screaming lead and chug. Fun stuff.
What I don't like here is the angle of the lower body leg cutaway. It looks like it would have the neck at 20-30 degrees when you rest the guitar on your leg, using that cutaway. On Strandbergs the angle is steeper so that you can have the guitar at 45 degrees. Makes me wonder how the geometry of that cutaway was decided.
@@shubniggurath6464 I use at 45 degrees. That second cut in the tail of the body sits perfectly on your right leg.
They obviously just copied the lower body leg cutaway and altered it to look different without understanding it is supposed to be a leg rest. At least they didn't put the output jack there like a lot of builders do.
@@richardj6593 Interesting. Do you mean with the guitar sitting on both your legs and left leg elevated, or only on your right leg?
The lower curve is too tight for phil’s leg, the lower horn is digging into his thigh.
@@davidtomkins4242 Phil's a big guy, and you're nitpicking.
man its the golden age for new guitarists so many good gear for cheap. gen z is so lucky on that regard