Hagstrom F20T

Hagstrom F20T, a cross between a Strat and a Gibson. Basswood body, bolt on maple neck which is painted same as body. Ebony fretboard, Hagstrom full contact tremolo with three springs in the back. Two chrome covered humbuckers with spring loaded adjusters. Three way switch a-la Les paul, one volume, one tone. Tuners are unknown, but with a "stepped" type of handle grip and nylon washers, (hard to describe, but really nice). Nut looks like graphite impregneted plastic. Should have the patented Hagstrom truss rod in this model. Classic Hagstron headstock painted black with the fancy abalone inlaid Hagstron name, border, and the usual medallion. Nice. Transparent red stain on body, full pigmented matching paint on back of neck. Full pickguard.
24.5" scale. Mine came with unknown nines, immediately put on Dean Blue Steel 10's and tightened up the spring unit on the back, all is great.
Recessed plug a-la strat, with a chrome insert. Nice.
Strap buttons are chrome, with felt washers underneath, but one is located funny (more on that later).

On this deal, it came down to a used Washburn, a low end Ibanez, and this when I bought at a local dealer one town over. I was playing them on a old Fender tube practice amp of some sort. Overall, after actually having about a dozen guitars in my hands, this one proved to be the most versatile, even in the final three. The pickups are really great for what I would call an entry level guitar price wise, but way beyond the price feature wise. Great pickups, just great. Compared to say, a Samick AV-3 this wins hands down. It is no Ibanez RG350, nor is it a true Les Paul, but it is better than the MIM strat I had in my hands. And compared to my Ephiphone Les Paul Standard Plus, it is lighter in weight, has the same style pickups, and is brighter, hotter, and cleaner. (But the Les Paul is blusier, if you know what I mean, so that sound is reserved for my Les Paul)
I play mostly old rock and blues, and this fits in just fine with the rock side. Additionally, I can make it very bright so metal people also should take a look if you can find one.
No noise on any pickup. Zero - Nada. Great pickups!
The three way switch came defective - since I live almost 40 miles from this dealer, we made a deal where he gave me a new switch. When I pulled it apart, it turned out to be just two wires touching, switch was brand new and fine. So I got an extra switch for the future.
I have so far used it on my Line 6 modeling amp, and it shines. Boy does it shine. Tonight I plan to put it through my GNX3000 and the clean Line 6 spyder amp I have, see what this puppy can do, but so far, it is really a versatile, hot, great sounding guitar. I really like the sound. It sounds old, but plays new. You know what I mean? the dealer said that is why he likes Hagstrom, and owns a couple himself. Now I understand.

As with a lot of "new" guitars that hang on walls of small shops, people can try them out. This was no exception. The pickguard had a lot of scratches on it, but further investigation showed that the pickguard was tough, it was actually pick material that was easily removed with cleaner when I got it home.
Setup was probably one of the best I have had in all my guitars. Really, except for changing the strings and looking into the switch, it was set up fine. Love the ebony fretboard. Much tighter and cleaner than rosewood. Pickups were adjusted fine, may raise them a little just to see what happens, but they are clean, bright and full, so probably not too big a deal. Finish is transparent red on a plain basswood body, so no fancy grain. But the color is nice, a full, bright red.
The bridge is actually a floating tremelo with the typical three spring setup on the bottom, so expect some tuning problems. Tremelo is down only, the front bolts hold you tight, the rear is what comes up releasing the springs. It works fine, but I think too much will pull it out of tune. I immediately tightened up the springs when I put on the 10's, and that helped. It's not the tuners, it's the floating tremelo that makes for tuning problems. I don't know what they mean by "Full Contact", it looks pretty much like a standard floating tremelo to me, with four screws on the front, down to the three springs underneath.
Action adjustment is different - you rotate a post with a V groove in it that is located in the front part of the saddle of each string. I don't know how you do this with the string tight, really no way unless you really hit the tremelo hard to maybe make the string loose. Luckily for me it is about just right in action. And then there are little set screws to tighten the posts when you get where you want the action. Almost too much stuff. It's kind of a silly system that makes it hard to adjust action. Two off for that. I didn't bother tightening the sets, the strings hold the V-groove post in place. Engineers can be strange people.
Intonation is good, and adjustment is pretty straight forward, loosen up one allen set screw, adjust the saddle, tighten the set. Again, done well at the factory.
Total finish was great save for the pickguard scratches, which came off. No defects at all that I can find in the paint or stain.
Would have been a nine save for the silly action posts.

Uh, I would not depend on the tremelo unit for a gig. You will come out of tune. Everything else, OK.
Strap buttons are standard metal chrome screwed in, but the one on top is not on the point of the body. It is down the inside top curve, heading toward the neck. Causes any excess strap to head right toward the neck. Why they didn't put it on the point I just don't know, unless they thought there was not enough wood. It holds, but strange place, IMHO.
As with any tremelo unit that is spring loaded, you are at the mercy of the strength of the springs. So gigging live is buyer beware. This unit features 3 springs on a standard screw mounted plate on the cutout on the backside, all standard on so many of these types. They come out of tune if you persist in using the tremelo. Nature of the beast.
Besides that, having taken off the pickguard to look over the switch problem, I saw a pretty standard unit that should go on for years. Standard spring mounted pickups, plenty of room, bridge is not cast as best as I can tell, and the neck should hold true if indeed the patented truss rod is in there like they say it is. Overall, a solid unit.

Dealer gives me a full warranty - he will fix anything that goes wrong. No contact with the company is needed. One benefit of going local vs. online. His willingness to work with me has been great.

I have been playing seriously for about 8 months now, this is the fourth time in my life I have taken up guitar.
I own too much stuff to list here.
I traded off a Samick D5 Acoustic electric that I couldn't get right and a S101 strat knockoff for this unit, they gave me more than fair value on those units.
I was able to look over everything they had on the wall. I initially wanted a kind of Les Paul knockoff, and this is a combo of a strat-les paul, so good enough.
Since I got to play it as long as I wanted, and tried out many more, I cannot complain. Their asking price of $279 was more than fair in my mind. I think many people have paid much more.
I love the sound and the fullness of this unit. It plays really nice.
If I had to state something that I do not like, it would be the painted backside of the neck. I am finding out that my hand drags on shiny surfaces like paint and lacquer, and I am becoming a plain maple neck guy. That being said, it is nothing a little Johnson's Paste Wax won't cure.
I also actually wish it didn't have the tremelo, but I can screw down the front four screws and finish that off, if I so desire. For now, I think I will try it out. Sometimes, you just need that sound.
I love the color, the pickups, the slightly shorter neck that is really cool. The ebony is great. And it's a Hagstrom, one of those guitars that you just don't see everyday, although everybody has heard about them.
I'm glad to add it to my arsenal.

Purchased this guitar as I wanted a versatile sounding guitar on a budget and also a suitably easy guitar to play as I have arthritis. It has a basswood body, bolt on maple neck, 2 hagstrom custom 60 pickups, 3 way selector, hagstrom full contact tremolo and 1 volume one tone control. It vaguely resembles a cherry gibson sg. The tuners are hagstrom 18-1 which I intend to replace as staying in tune is a slight problem.

I play in a pub/club covers band and this guitar suits me brilliantly. It has all the tones i require from clean to high gain for rock/blues numbers. The trem is down only and seems to work ok but I dont use it much so it doesn't apply to me. I use it through a laney combo plus a pox xt live for effects only which suits the guitar well from clean/crunch and hi gain.

It has one of the most beautiful actions I have ever played and the finger board is a dream. The guitar came beautifully set up with no problems at all.

I have used this guitar extensively and apart from slight tuning instability it seems to be a very capable workhorse. I have a back up yamaha only in case of a string break.

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If I could afford it I would obviously buy a Gibson SG or les paul but on my budget I am more than satisfied with it and wouldn't hesitate buying another.