Hagstrom II

My Hagstrom II, which I believe to be a '68, is a rad little guitar. For those who don't know Hagstroms used to be made in Sweeden. It's kind of a cross between an SG and a strat. It's got the thinness of an SG and offset cutaways of a strat. With four slide switches,(ala fender jaguar), it can produce many interesting tones from it's two stock single coils. It has a volume knob, but it doesn't seem to do too much difference until it is turned almost completely. It has a really cool sunburst finish that is flaking in certain spots, but it is a few years old. The bridge is kind of wacky, but it is a great tailpiece none the less. The neck is the thinnest neck I have ever played on. The Hagstrom company used to boast that the necks on their guitars were the fastest in the world. If you play one you will know. I found the guitar at a used instrument shop, but it did'nt come with a case. It's probably the lightest guitar that I have ever played, but while it feels like strumming an extra large feather, it some how feels very sturdy.

This guitar is great for my style of music I play very avant-garde, very melodic rock. There area wide range of tones that one can get from just the four slide switches, but the sound is not as full as most people like it to be. I love it, though. One of the switches is a mute switch. When it's on, the guitar sounds almost like a telecaster with the neck pickup on. There are a number of different tones you can get with this guitar though. With the mute switch on and the neck pickup on, the guitar gets kind of a hollow sound. Kind of like a casino or something. A lot of variety. I play this guitar through an old temolux and it sounds beautiful. It does get kind of noisey, but mostly when it's distorted. I play it with a big muff and a turbo rat and it will feedback just the way I want it to.

The action on this guitar is perfect. It is very low. *Very* low. But it plays beautifully. The only flaws it had when I got it was the paint flaking. Everything else is just how you would expect a 30-odd year old guitar to be.

The guitar is great live. Although the hardware and the guitar itself seem to be able to last,I would have a back up ready. The finish is checked, but it seems to be fine. The strap buttons are solid.

The company went out of bussiness in the early '80s.

I've been playing for about seven years. I've played many different guitars but my altime personal favorite is the Fender Telecster. It's a juggernaut. I own a really cool red one. I also have a black strat. I don't play it to much anymore. It was my first guitar so it has been retired. If my Hagstrom were stolen, I would go on with my trusty tele, but I would be looking out for a good Hagstrom II the entire time. My favorite feature fo this guitar is its low action. It is so easy to play.

My Hagstrom was bought from a friend down the street when I was first learning the guitar. It has two pick-ups (silver) One of them I replaced with a dimarzio super distortion. There are two volumes and two tone controls. At the bottom there is a white pick-up selector, and on the top of the pick guard there is a black switch that either turns the guitar on and off. The whammy is something I've never seen before, it does stay in tune though, and it has a different arm on it now. It has 22 jumbo frets (I had a fret job done to it). I'm not too sure of the wood that the body and neck are made of, but it has a really nice wood grain to it, my wife says alder(?) The finish is clear. The tuners are very good on my model. The neck is real fast, my strings are tens and they melt in your fingers when bending. The shape of the body is strat/SG type.

Our band plays everything from country, blues, rock & roll and some jazz. It does very well for our music, in fact I don't even use my strat anymore since I got it back from a theft ten years ago. The guitar goes through a boss dual overdrive and echo pedal, then into a VTM-60 head thats connected to a huges & kettner 4x12 cabinet. It does squeal a bit if I turn in the wrong direction, but that is probably be cause i run a bit hot on the amp and overdrive. The sound is full and very clear.

Action is great, nice and low. The fit is perfect, like a stratocaster. The finish is excellent see though to the wood, almost red in color.

I have played tons of gigs on this guitar before it was ripped off and when I got it back. Hardware is good, never had any problems yet. Very dependable guitar and I would use it at a gig with out a back up if I had too.

Like everyone else said, they are out of the biz.....

I've been playing for over 20 years now. It was stolen, but a friend saw it at a party and stole it back. Both my friend and I put a sticker of a ghost busters ghost on it, thats how he recognized it.

The Hagstrom II has one volume knob and a couple of switches. One tone and one mute, and two switchs which change between pickups or let you use both. I'm too sure exactly what the mute switch does, but it seems to raise or cut treble. when its up, there's this twangy sound it makes, and when its down, there's kind of a muff sound. but there are also two pickups. my pickups are square-edged pickups. some earlier hagstrom II's have round-edged pickups. the tuners must have been made by Hagstrom because i've never seen them any place else. and the tuners differ. like on hagstrom solidbodies theyre the same but on some semi-hollow bodies they look different. i think out of everything i like the neck the best. its real skinny and is easy to play on. i have a strat too, and fender necks are skinny but a hagstrom's is skinnier. and there's 22 frets. there's a floating bridge and the tremelo bar goes on the nailpiece. i dont have a tremelo bar though. most hagstrom II's and III's look like crosses between strats and SGs. hagstrom I's though look more like regular strats. if youre wondering what the models mean (I's, II's, III's), it means the number of pickups they have. II's and I's have two pickups and III's have three pickups. I know Hagstrom I should mean one pickup, but i've never seen a single pickup hagstrom.

If you like distorted, punk rock sound you'll like this guitar. its great for distorted tones. but the clean sound gets kind of bad. but that might be my pickups. they seem to be a little bit screwed up. i need to get them fixed. but it still gets good distortion sounds. its just the clean i'm not too crazy about. its not so hot when comes to feedback too. i mean if you like to use lots of feedback, it'll work, but not as well as a strat or something. but then again it could be my pickups. but overall, it does get a good sound when you load it with distortion. its really good for punk, grunge, maybe even metal.

it seems pretty durable. one of the strap looks came off and i just glued it back on. but that expected out of a cheap guitar from the seventies. but it's held together alright. i wouldnt use a backup if i were at a gig or somewhere. it seems like its pretty strudy. the finish is coming off of it. but again thats going to happen to an old cheapy.

cant really say anything about customer support. consider ing hagstrom went out of buisness a long time ago. but pat smear (germs, nirvana, foo fighters) is planning on reopenning the company so maybe then there will be some kind of customer support.

i really like this guitar. it doesnt get a ten because of the way the clean sound isnt that great, but thats probably the pickups. i love everything else about this guitar. it plays so easy and is really light. and the neck is great. i'm planning on buying another one too. there two kind of models of the hagstrom II. one that has single coils and has a headstcok like a fender(this is the kind i own) and one that has humbuckers with a headstock like a gibson's(3/3 head). i'm trying to get the one with humbuckers. theyre very hard to find the other is a bit easier. again, i love this guitar, i'll probably end up buying several more hagstrom because theyre so cool. these guitars are great!
before i finish, i thought i would throw in some info i might have forgotten, a background on hagstroms. hagstroms were made in sweden throughout the 60s and 70s. they were cheapo guitars really. they made guitars and basses. noel redding (jimi hendrix's bassist) used a hagstrom bass. amd frank zappa used hagstrom 12-strings. pat smear uses hagstroms and the guys from mudhoney and rancid do too. if you want some hagstrom pics and more info go here: http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/6345/tutorial3.html its a friend of mine's site that has equipment info on mudhoney and lot of pics of hagstroms.

These are pretty old and made in Sweden I belive. It has a super-fast neck that's even better than Fender or most Gibson's. I just love the neck. The body is almost an SG shape, but not quite. It only has one potentiometer for volume, but has several switches for tone, which is unique. Locking tuners I believe, but may be wrong. SIngle coil pickups. Tremelo on bridge.

It is good for almost any style. I use iut for experimental/noise/rock type stuff, but it sounds good playing jazz,blues,surf,or even metal! It has a thing about getting staticy sometimes, but most OLD guitars do that. I haven't had a problem with it doing that lately though. Good sustain. No regrets on the sound of this puppy at all.

Great action. Pickups are great too. Could have been a little sturdier though. Great for the buck! Much better than Squiers or Epiphones.

Could probably smash easily, but I keep care of it. The hardware has and WILL last. Finish is good. I would probably have a backup on a gig.

The company doesnt exist any more!!!

I LOVE these guitars and want more. Other than my Fender Jaguar, these are my favorite guitars.