Hagstrom HJ-500

Resinator fretboard and neck-made with a composite-feels kind of funny, not like mahogony, but smooth playing.Will take a little getting used to. Tiners are 18:1 nice, tight.Seems to stay in tune. Nice finish-polyester.

Nice sustain, resonates well. Has a dark jazz sound. Great for Jazz, swing, classic rock. Use it wit a Palomino V-32-mello as can be nice creamy sound.

ok, heres where the problems are-in my opinion, poor quality control. Mine came with a ( literally) piece of plywood for a pick guard-no nice gloss black finish as shown in the ads, no hagstrom logo(which I found out is nothing more than a stick-on label. The rest of the guitar looks VERY pretty, but the pick guard detracts from the rest of the insturment. Frets are alittle rough, but not too bad. Neck is VERY fast-easy to move around-will definetly take some getting used to.

Still very unsure about this insturment. I wouldn't take a chance taking it to a gig without a backup at this point. finish is pretty(except the pickguard as mentioned previously. I'm going to say a 5 for now

Ok, NOW for the problem. Been trying to get a (CORRECT) pickguard from Hagstrom, and so far doesn't look good.
Multiple production/delivery delays-waited 2 months to get the guitar. Had called, and written multiple times to the US distributor with vague answers to my questions.
Conclusion: My advice for what its worth, if you really want a hagstrom, wait till they work out all their problems. you can check any of the online stores, and you wll see delay after delay, and when somthing as obvious as a poorly made pick guard can get past quality control, there is a definate problem.

Ok I've been playing over 30 years off & on. Been an active musician, semi pro, instructor, just about anything you can think of.
I don't think these guitars are anywhere near the Hagstroms of old.
And if you are expecting somthing like the ones from the 60's & 70's, think again. I own one now, and am disappointed.

I'm too lazy to write all of this out so I'll copy and paste from their site. But, I will mention that Hagstrom though a Swedish company I believe the instruments are now made in China - I may be wrong. Regardless, they are VERY well made. Arguably better crafted than the incredibly over priced American company (I wont mention any names) that their flagship guitars are designed after.

Body : Contoured North American Maple Body
Neck : North American Hard Maple Set Neck
Fingerboard : Resinator Fretboard with Hagstrom Pearl Block Position Marks
Truss Rod : H-Expander Truss Rod
Tuning Keys : Hagstrom 18:1 Die Cast Tuners
Scale Length : 24.75??? Scale
Pickups : 2x Hagstrom HJ-50 Humbuckers
Selector : 3-Way Toggle
Bridge : Ebony Jimmy bridge with Hagstrom Trapeze Tail Piece
Controls : 2x Volume / 2x Tone

I play a wide variety of music. Typically though it's an eclectic hybrid of heavy rock, funk, blues and jazz. I play through a heavily modified Fender Hot Rod Deville 2x12 and far too many pedals.


This is my second jazz box. And to be honest I know very little about jazz boxes other than that they should sound..... "jazzy". My first is an Ibanez AK97 which I really like. Within minutes of opening and plugging in the Hagstrom realized that I LOVE this guitar. Very even, well balanced sound. Clean or distorted (I used a ProCo Rat) this guitar sounds amazing - far better than I was expecting.

Perfection - right out of the box.

This guitar seems very solid. The controls, strap buttons are very firm.
I'm accustom to Strats so all hollow body guitars always seem fragile to me.
I imagine that with common sense the guitar will stand the test of time with no problems.

Haven't had a reason to contact them.

I've been playing guitar for twenty years. I toured heavily for six years.
If this guitar was stolen, I'd be heart broken and quickly buy another one (or two).
I'm seriously considering buying another one "just because".

I own twenty guitars, (Fender, ESP, Ibanez, Babicz, Takamine, Washburn, Martin..) three of which are Hagstroms. Each one is a well made, great sounding and reasonably priced affordable instrument.