Hagstrom H-45E circa 1965

No previous reviews for this beast, so here goes...very similar in appearance to 1960s Gibson J-45, dread with round shoulders, dark sunburst face, dark mahogany-coloured rims and back. X-braced. Face is spruce, rims and back mahogany, bound front and back. Set neck is mahogany, three-piece with central stripe, this being cross-grained. Rosewood board, bound, with large MOTS block markers. Neck is somewhat wider than a contemporary Gibson, and slightly flatter at the back, very comfortable. Twenty medium nickel-silver frets, fifteen clear of body. Trussrod adjuster under cover at head end, uses a smallish allen key. Head has scripted Hagstrom name and diamond shape inset in pearloid. Finish all over is top notch, well buffed and shiny. Tuners are highly-decorative Kolbs with translucent plastic buttons and leaf engravings on their nickel-plated covers, same as used on some higher-end Guild archtops during the early sixties (Hagstrom supplied quite a lot of hardware to the early Guild concern, including pickups, tailpieces and tuners.) Simple but attractive inlaid rosette and small single-ply tortoise pickguard. Wide rosewood bridge with non-adjustable, slightly compensated plastic saddle, pin string fixings. (Note later versions had bolt-on neck, cf. Fender acoustics of same period, strange tailpiece like an archtop and tuneamatic-style bridge.) String spacing is a little wider than contemporary Gibson (as compared with my 1966 Epi Frontier, for example) and very amenable to my style of Travis picking. Standard H-45 is purely acoustic but my H-45E is the electric version, kinda like a Gibson J-160E, with one of Hagstrom's slim single-coil pickups (same as used on their notorious electrics, eg. the "Franz Ferdinand" model) at the neck end. Tone and volume controls on lower treble bout with small black chrome-topped knobs. Standard jack on lower treble rim. No serial number data is available for Hags of this period but mine appears to date from 1965 or thereabouts, according to Paul Day.

I don't know Martins but I've a feeling this would sound very similar, quite a dry woody vintage sort of sound with plenty of clarity and volume, not as mellifluous as a Gibson or Guild. With Martin bronze 12's fitted it covers the whole frequency range adequately without ever sounding mushy, picked as I do with thumbpick and flesh of fingertips or frailed hard with back of fingernails. After several minor adjustments to trussrod, virtually buzz-free even when hit hard. Electric sound is a throaty, middly single-coil rumble, very bluesy, similar to P90 but nowhere near as loud.

When I acquired this axe in the mid 1970s from a Bath second-hand store for the princely sum of ten pounds sterling, it was covered with dust and with splashes of blue emulsion paint, and had four rusty strings on it. Somehow the quality shone through, and although I'd never at that time heard of Hagstrom I could see there was a nice guitar inside trying to get out. It took me a whole day to clean it up, adjust it and get it playable. It was obvious that when new it had been very well finished in all respects.

For a forty-three year old instrument it's in almost investment condition, following the TLC I applied to it. I've used it live on various occasions over the last 30 years, always treating it with the respect that an elderly and basically fragile acoustic instrument warrants, and the finish has lasted without further deterioration. It really is reliable and stays in tune well. I always carry two instruments, but one is usually tuned for slide or DADGAD - no reflection on the Hag.

Dunno! Hagstrom disappeared in 1983 and reappeared in 2004. Probably nothing to do with the original concern. I doubt they'd be interested in queries concerning their previous incarnation's products.

I've been playing almost forty years and have about 25 stringed instruments - too many to list but current faves include the 1971 Tele which got me through most of my semi-professional career, a 1963 Epi Casino (identical to McCartney's, right down to the Bigsby) which I've also owned and used for over 30 years, a recently-acquired 1960s Harmony H2 lapsteel in C6, and the aforementioned Epi FT110 Frontier (as allegedly used by Noel Gallagher for his songwriting). What do I love most about the Hag? The fact that I paid ten quid for a really nice acoustic guitar which occasionally appears on eBay and sells for three to four hundred. Also it was my first decent acoustic, so it's a family relationship. If it got nicked or trashed I wouldn't hesitate - I'd claim the insurance and grab the first nice Guild D25 or D35 that came along. Seriously, though, if you see one of these on eBay for less than three hundred of your earth pounds, I strongly recommend going for it. Oh, and check out www.hagstrom.org.uk, which just has to be the funkiest guitar-nerd website anywhere on the web. Brilliant.