Hagstrom Select Swede

* 2008 Hagstrom Select Swede made in China.
*Mahogany set-in neck with 22 jumbo/medium height frets 24.75 scale length and 1 11/16 nut width. Graphite nut and composite wood fretboard with hagstrom block MOP/abalone fret markers. Headstock logo and binding is abalone. Neck binding is natural flame maple. Hagstrom 18:1 non-locking, sealed tuners. Hagstrom H-Expander truss rod controls twisting as well as neck relief.
* Single cutaway, select mahogany body with mahogany top and quilted maple veneer. Polyester finish and natural flame maple binding on body top.
* 2 volume 2 tone, 3-way toggle on the horn ??? no tone filter switch like on the standard Swede.
* 2 uncovered Hagstrom Custom 58 (4 wire) alnico V passive humbuckers.
* Long travel Tune-O-Matic bridge and Hagstrom stop tail piece with individual brass string blocks fixed to bottom plate for mass.
* Came with a Hagstrom hardshell case and truss rod wrench.

I play mostly rock and blues, leaning towards the heavier end of things, but I wanted something with a more classic, vintage sound rather than an active pup metal chunk machine. The Swede does a really good job of both classic rock and metal. I've played it through a couple of amps, but I live in an apartment so mostly I've been playing it through a Line6 TonePort. All the stock hardware is nice and quiet and it's got a pretty decent range. I've read others complaining about the Custom 58 pickups, and out of the box they did sound a bit muddy, flat, and bottom-heavy but adjusting the pickup height helped bring up the treble and adjusting the poles took care of most of the rest and gave the guitar a much more lively tone. This is a full sounding guitar -- very mahogany -- though between the volume and tone you can brighten things quite a bit and get a fairly biting treble out of it. The Swede can crank out scoop tones like there's no tomorrow and nail a glassy, warm lead tone or a smoky jazz tone with just the volume and tone on the guitar and the gain on the amp. It's a good Paul tone. If you want strat or tele tones, you need to look elsewhere. You're not going to get any single coil chime or spank from it, but you can coax a bluesy twang out of it with some twiddling.

Neck was fairly flat when it arrived -- no noticeable relief -- with a low action that was fine for all the strings except the low E, which buzzed a bit. Adjusting the truss rod helped that some and raising the bridge a hair would take care of the rest if it bugged me, but I can't hear it with the amp on. Pickups were not adjusted for balance out of the box. Neck and bridge were balanced for volume, but both were too far from the strings and needed to be raised. I also had to raise the treble side of both pickups to balance the tone out and adjust the pole pieces to even out the sound more. The wood is gorgeous. The top is well bookmatched. I've looked at a lot of quilt tops online and can't see any difference between the bookmatching on this and on a PRS. The polyester finish on this is a little thick but it looks flawless and glossy. The guitar arrived with the toggle switch and the plug both a hair loose. For the most part the frets look to be even and smooth and the ends are nicely beveled. There are three fret ends that overhang the fingerboard by a fraction of a millimeter, but I can only tell this when I rub a fingertip perpendicular to the fretboard edge, not when rubbing the edge parallel to the fretboard. It's barely noticeable. Also, the high E has a dead spot at the 12th fret which may be fret related, but I haven't had a chance to file and polish to see if that helps. The rest of the frets are great and the resonator fretboard is a joy to bend on. The shop I bought this from upgraded the stock toggle and either replaced the chrome dome knobs with amber bell knobs from a standard Swede to better match the top or the guitar came with both bell knobs and dome knobs. I kept the amber bell knobs for a more subtle look.

I have no doubt this guitar would withstand live playing, but it's really too pretty for most gigs. If I were planning on gigging I'd save some cash and get a standard Swede b-stock in a classic finish. The hardware on the Swede all seems durable enough, other than the selector toggle that the shop replaced before shipping it. The tuners look a little fragile, but they seem sturdy enough and they do a good job of staying in tune even after a couple hours of hard playing and bending. As I mentioned earlier, the polyester finish on the body is not going to wear off easily. The finish did have one ding in it where a loose bracket corner dug into the clearcoat during shipping, but the thickness of the polyester kept it from digging into the wood and a little superglue will fill up the ding with very little sign of a problem. The strap buttons are solid, but I'll replace them with locking buttons at some point anyway just to be on the safe side. These Hagstroms have a unique look to them what with their own tuners and tailpiece and this makes it a bit harder to find stock parts should something go wrong. Strap locks are just insurance to keep that from happening too often.

Hagstroms come with a 10 year limited warranty on material and workmanship. The warranty is the one reason I can think of why you might think twice about getting a b-stock model on ebay.

I haven't dealt with Hagstrom at all, so I have no idea what their support is like.

I've been playing (loudly and badly) off and on for years, mostly for my own entertainment and mostly on acoustics or pawn shop specials, but I've played a few nicer guitars over the years as well. This guitar is way better than its price would suggest and you should definitely give them a try if you want a nice mahogany bodied single cut with humbuckers. The quality and sound are good and the finish blows away any other LP type under $1000 and it has that cool vintage vibe that comes with being a Hag. I'd buy another in a heartbeat, though I'd probably opt for the standard Swede if I couldn't find as phenomenal a deal on a Select as the one I got. This is a gorgeous guitar and I love the looks of it and the smooth, fast neck. The one thing that would make this guitar better would be if it came with a coil tap like the Super Swede or the Ultraswede. It's got four wire pickups, so that's still a possibility, but I'd hate to screw up the finish making any permanent alterations.

First off, just to clarify... This is the Select Swede. It's not the Super Swede, Select Super Swede, or Ultra Swede. This is the model with a solid, flamed maple cap, the selector switch on the lower horn, flame maple binding, and a 24.75 inch neck scale. As you can see, it's adapted from a Les Paul.

The features, at least electronically, are very similar to a LP. Standard 2 volume, 2 tone layout. This model does not have a coil tap (some Hags do). This may sound weird, but the knobs on this guitar are the most comfortable and smooth that I've ever run across. The pots are full-sized, which is nice, but they will eventually be replaced. Very cheap upgrade... As mentioned earlier, the 3-way selector switch is located on the lower horn, as opposed to up top like an LP. This is a problem for me for a couple reasons. First, it's not where you expect it to be if you're used to a classic LP setup. This can be a problem if you play out, but it's something that you can eventually get used to. Second, if you play sitting down, or if you're just pickin' at home, your leg will inadvertently change your pickup settings. Of course, when standing up, this isn't an issue. But, when standing up, the first problem is amplified, as you have to reach across the body of the guitar to switch pickups. Seems like form over function to me, which I've never understood.

As for the hardware (I'll address the pickups in the next category), the tailpiece is one of my favorite things about the Hags. Instead of crafting a single unit, it's made up of 6 staggered blocks, all anchored to the body. This creates a very solid connection for the strings, albeit a bit ugly. Though, it's covered up by a retro-style bridge cover (also anchored), so it still looks pretty cool. The bridge is a fake-o-matic, but you can adjust the action with screws from the top (so that you don't tear up the tips of your fingers). That's a plus.

The tuning keys are dripping with art deco flare, but they're not very solid. Frankly, I had to look pretty hard to make sure they were even metal. I don't see these lasting long. A set of Grovers is on the horizon... The graphite nut is a very nice option, and it's well-seated.

The fretboard is essentially synthetic, and it is designed to simulate ebony. Frankly, it does a damn good job (looks and feel). The neck itself is what the Hags are really famous for. Nice and thin, the way I like it. Really fast. The finish on the back of the neck is your standard polyurethane finish. I prefer either this, or raw wood, as I like for the back of the neck to have some traction.

Body and neck both look like one-piece mahogany (neck for sure). It's quite a bit lighter than a LP at 8.2 pounds (most likely an inferior wood grade), but that's really a plus for me, as I hate heavy guitars. Still very resonant with quite a bit of sustain.

The sound is pretty good. Frankly, I'm not a huge fan of the stock pickups. Chances are, if you're a professional, or just someone that's been playing for a long time, you'll want to switch them out. This won't be a surprise, as it's an inexpensive Chinese guitar... But, for newbies, or for those that will need to wait a while to switch 'em out, they're perfectly adequate. Relatively responsive, but lacking any real character, in my opinion. Whenever I have the time, I'm going to swap them out for a Duncan 59/JB set, and that should be just about perfect.

Because it has a maple cap (solid, not veneer), you can coax quite a bit more treble and twang out of the Select Swede than all the other Swede models. The standard Swedes are all mahogany, so they're pretty monotone (dark). The Ultras have basswood bodies, so they're going to lose the sustain. If you're looking for a Swede, this one is going to have the most complex tonal range.

The factory setup was so good that I haven't changed it. For me, that's weird, as that's usually the first thing I do. Aside from a little buzz (see below), the action is very nice.

By contrast, the fretwork looks and feels like the fretwork of a cheap guitar. That was a real disappointment. One fret is not well-seated (actually off the fretboard a hair at the binding), they are all pretty uneven, and almost all of them have sharp, non-uniform edges. I'm sure that a pro can clean this up and get it set up pretty well, but after spending too much $ for a Chinese guitar in the first place, I'm not running to the shop to drop another hundred bucks anytime soon. So, you're probably going to have a little buzz, but not something that will come through when plugged in.

As for the appearance, it's really an impressive instrument. The flame maple cap is very flamey, and the Golden Eagle finish is beautiful, deep, and very classic. However, it's much darker (at least on mine) than the little example you'll see on the website. This is a bummer, as I'd like to see a lot more of this top. From even a small distance, you can't really see much flame at all. Again, this is really a travesty, as the figured top is nicer than many Gibsons I've played. Also, the top is bookmatched quite well, which is rare for an inexpensive guitar.

The flame maple binding really looks nice. Upon closer inspection, you can see that some of the dye from the fingerboard has seeped onto the maple in spots. But, all in all, nice touch.

The abalone position markers are completely cheesy (I prefer dots or trapezoids), but that's really a matter of personal taste.

This is a new guitar, so I can't really speak to this category. As mentioned, the tuners are crap. I'm not expecting any major problems though. I think that, once I've got the frets cleaned up, and the pickups, tuners, and pots replaced, this will be a very solid, gig-worthy instrument.

Hoping I don't find out...

I think this is a nice guitar. I've been tough in this review, but that's because I'm trying to help you know exactly what you're thinking of buying. If you live in a place without access to a Hag dealer, you're kind of flying blind.

Anyway, if you can find one for less than retail, as I did, I highly recommend it. It has the looks and features of a much more expensive guitar. This is becoming more and more common as the quality of Asian guitars improves (and the quality of US guitars, especially Gibson, declines).

This Hag has a good, modern look with a classic finish and features. It's a new version of an old design, and it works for me.