HILS NEXT Series Headless Guitar HN3 - Metallic Green

Probably like most people looking at a HILS HN3, I had previously looked at Strandberg, but balked at spending $2000 for such an non-traditional instrument. When I saw videos about the HN3, with a (cough) very similar body but a more traditional neck, I was curious. At this price, I had to grab one and try it. I'm very glad that I did.As I get older, ergonomics become more and more important to me. The HN3 is easily the most ergonomic guitar that I've ever owned. I recently switched from typical rock player position (guitar balanced on right leg and horizontal to the ground) to classical position (holding the guitar neck around 45 degrees). With any traditional guitar (acoustic or electric) this requires you to balance the guitar either between your legs or resting on your left leg, and it pushes the neck far left of it's regular playing position. The HN3 can be rested comfortably on my right leg, leaving the neck right where I need it. My back has never been so happy about my playing position. I did wonder if their output jack placement would be a problem, but it's actually in the perfect spot for playing the guitar balanced on your right leg.The guitar itself seems very solid. I'm not crazy about the pickups, but I don't hate them either. I had all of my gear EQ'd for a PAF style pickup, and on those settings the HN3 was very, very bright. That's not a deal breaker by any stretch, but it does mean that I would not be able to instantly switch back and forth between the HN3 and my regular guitar without resetting all of the tone knobs and EQs. The coil split function is a nice bonus, but I use humbucker pickups 100% of the time.The frets are good in the playing area, but the fret ends, especially above the 12th fret, are a little sharp. It's not annoyingly sharp; I have definitely had worse. However, if you know how to use a fret file you'll probably want to give the frets a little extra love.The neck is very comfortable. It's very darkly roasted, and feels good in my hand. The neck heel is a sculpted bolt-on, and I can easily reach the higher frets. The design, with a nice volute for your hand to bump into at the end, takes away any difference in feel between this neck and a guitar with a headstock. I love that they've engineered in a little ledge so that you can attack a clip-on tuner. At least, that's what I'll be using it for.The nut was perfectly cut on my guitar. I'm always glad to see that.The tuners work fine. The D and G strings are a little annoying to tune because the adjustment knobs are packed so closely together, but it's not a problem for me. If you have really big fingers, you might find it harder.The finish baffles me. The green metallic color is fantastic, and it is applied perfectly to the guitar. I can't find a flaw in the paint anywhere. However, it doesn't feel like a guitar that's been hand-sanded. There's an extremely light texture to the paint, not a slick gloss. I used to build guitars as a hobby, and I know what a nightmare it would be to hand-sand and buff this body, so I can't imagine that this is finished by hand. Some kind of electro-static process, maybe? Regardless, it's remarkable at this price point.Also, I simply can't overstate how nice the gig bag that comes with the guitar is. I've bought instruments 4X the price that came in a cardboard box. The bag for the HN3 is wonderful, and as I intend to travel with the guitar, it's a big reason that I made this purchase.I haven't changed strings yet; that will be a real test for how I get along with this hardware. The strings it came with were fine.I saw a video from Gear Fest where they were showing new models that had vibrato systems. I plan to get one of those as well.

I will start by prefacing that I have owned or currently own different PRS, Fender, Gibson/Epiphone, Ernie Ball and Sterling Music Man, Ibanez, Schecter, Jackson, and other brands and have played across a handful of Strandbergs.Let's start top to bottom, with the neck first. The titanium headpiece is ultra-durable, it has a perfectly cut bone nut, no zero fret, and a flare at the end of the neck to hang from a wall. The fretboard edges aren't sharp at all and are semi-rolled for more comfort, and the stainless steel frets are well-leveled, and had very minimal sharp ends. The frets are between a medium and medium-jumbo size due to their leveling procedure.Adorning the beautiful (but dry, oil it up when you do your restring and setup) rosewood fretboard are abalone-like fretmarkers. On the backside, you see a lovely, smooth, and very comfortable and still fast neck made of roasted maple.To the body... the finish was darn-near flawless with my only gripe being a couple of very small dings on the rim of the neck bolt cavities - no big deal at all, since I look at the front of the guitar anyway. All else was flawless, with a beautiful satin metallic green finish all over the mahogany body.To the hardware... We get two humbuckers, bridge at ≈15K, and neck at ≈11K. Excellent output, not muddy at all, and fairly well-rounded in terms of balance, although there is more of a spike in the mids, which I don't care for although I can just EQ it out. They are wired to a large volume pot and a push-pull tone pot with an orange drop capacitor (awesome). Wiring cavity cover was coated with foil on the inside and the cavity coated in a conductive paint too to make a good electrical seal.The barrel input jack is also very secure, in a great spot, and cable insertion is very satisfying and smooth. The bridge seems very solid, made from an aluminum alloy - very low-profile and aesthetically pleasing. The bottom of the guitar (standing upright) has rubber grommets too to not only balance it when standing up, but also protect the body and finish. Awesome idea.On to the setup. This is where I wasn't expecting much, as I've always had to adjust and fine-tune guitars because I like my action LOW. It came well in-tune, string action was high (2.0mm+) but the intonation (surprisingly) was just about dead-on as well as the neck relief (very slight neck relief, which is perfect).I managed to restring it, oil up the fretboard, lower the saddles, and fine-tune the intonation. With about 1.2mm of action, it was rocking virtually no fret buzz. Plugged in, it was killer. I don't plan on doing a pickup swap any time soon, if at all even, and tuning stability is great. The bridge design is unique and a bit of a different process to learn to restring, but it's very straightforward and easy after the first string change.Let's not exclude the case and the tools they add as well as a quality control certificate as well. The case is easily among the best cases I've seen provided for any guitar up to a couple grand or so (looking at you PRS CE).My wish is that they would have clear-coated finishes offered, but seeing as how HILS is just introducing to the US market, patience will have to do.My 3 suggestions to improve the guitar follow. 1) Include (or install from the factory) smaller grub screws for the saddle height. With lower actions they will stick out of the top of the saddle, although they are not really sharp. 2) Offer clearcoated finishes. 3.) Increase the cut of the rounded corners of the pickup cavities. I noticed upon adjusting the pickup height that the the corners of the pickups were very snug against the corners of the routes.Other than that, stellar job. I had low expectations on first sight, saw some YouTube reviews, and had modetate expectations with high hopes, and I was not disappointed.If you are on the fence whether to get this guitar, just do it. You won't regret it.