Hagstrom Swede

A Swedish made Mid-seventies solid body electric--pretty much like a Les Paul. It has a pretty incredible looking solid top--not laminate; I guess the finish is known as "budinga"--natural w/ lustrous grain. It has two pickups (replacement dimarzios)and was rewired to function like a Paul, and the mystery switch was deactivated.
Body and neck are 100% mahogany. the construction is pretty interesting:
the neck has a glued seam running down the center all the wat to the headstock...the back is two pieces and the top is one. the fretboard is ebony....wow!
A lot of the stuff has been changed like the aforementioned pickups....
the pickup rings
the tuners--now grovers
the pickguard
the nut and a total refret job

I'm playing a lot of noisy indie pop type stuff.....I'm using a 4X10 Deville with dano delay, an envelope filter, boss tremelo, and a Turbo RAT. It has a monster tone--more on the darker side--its very big. I get a lot of comments on the sound. the neck is pretty bassy and louder compared to the bridge---but I'm mostly playing on the middle and lead anyway.

pretty tight finish & neckwise. the refret, and refurbishment is a little sloppy looking, and the newer rings leave some of the routing exposed...but I'm not really concerned--it doesn't affect the sound.

Really durable so far. I had the pickup selector switch go out, and I had a store repair it for 6 bucks. Iwas worried about losing the original chrome switch, but the tech took the back off a new one and swiched out the defective pt. of the swich. the finish looks rad. the strap buttons are a little sketchy, but I'm all about the duct tape--cuz the mutha weighs a ton!!! I'm pretty sure I can depend on it OK

Apparently Hagsrom's grandson runs a Hagstrom Museum, and is selling off various parts like tuners and msc. hardware. He's really nice and answers questions!

I've been playing for ten years, and have owned various used guitars, and for the price nothing nearly this nice and nice sounding. I have a reissue mustang, a gibson Nighthawk, a 70's Electra LP Copy,.

If I lost it I would really be bummed. Its pretty rare.

I like it cuz its totally neat looking, and weird....and it sounds cool. I hate tha weight of the thing.

I wish it was all original.

Like I said...I get comments on it. I've had people ask me to sell it to 'em.

1970's Hagstrom Swede. Solid mahogany everwhere. Natural finish. Made in Sweden. Les Paul shape with two humbuckers and white binding. Two volume and two tone knobs with three way switch and a second three way for phasing. Neck is mahagony with an ebony board and block pearl inlays. Stop style bridge, tuners are a bit bizarre and not the most reliable. I have some pictures at www.guitarscanada.com in the collectors corner section if you want to check it out. The neck is real fast (which was a major advertising scheme) for Hagstrom, but I have to agree with it. I love to play this one.

This guitar rocks as far as sound. I would put it up against any Les Paul for the fat sound. I run this through a Marshall 4x12 with Marshall rack amp and JMP1. Also run it through the new Fender Cyber Twin with equally good results. The switches are upside down compared to a Les Paul, that takes some getting used to.

I would give this a very good rating as far as quality is concerned. They certainly did not go cheap on hardware (except for the tuners) and the fit and finish is great. After all these years it still looks great.

It will be around another 30-40 years from now, durable. If I ever find a set of tuners to put on it, it will be complete.

Not anymore

Very nice guitar. Looks great and plays great, can you ask for anything more.

1974 Swede ( serial # can be found stamped on the input jack plate)
Basically a Les Paul style but heavier! Solid carved mahogony top and i believe it was a mahogony neck with ebony fretboard. 2 vol, 2 tone 2 selector switches. ( I've yet to figure out what the hell the top selector switch is for!)2hums, tune-o-matic bridge with a stop tail piece. Very interesting bolt-on design.I traded 2 junky corts for this so it is used. When I got it, the previous owners swapped tuners and stuck a Dimarzio Super Distrotion in the bridge. The Hagstrom neck pickup was week so I moved the SD to the neck, and put a Duncan JB in the bridge. The result= SONIC FLAME THROWER! TRhis is a beautiful guitar. It's a natural high gloss finish over that dark mahogony body. It looks so 70's.. As far as the frets go, these babies are blew out! Someone played the daylight out of this axe! BUt it still plays better than ANY Les Paul, or Gibson for that matter,that I've ever played .

I play everything under the sun. With my pickup combo, it's not exactly a cowboy guitar. I play alot of metal and hard rock.I'm not into effects at all. They mask my gain too much. I'm running through a Crate gx-212 and I've run her through my brothers Blue VooDoo rig with the Tube Works ax 1000G precessor. It ripped either way. I love this pickup combo in this guitar do to the fact that the pure mahogony body gives it a darker tone than a Les Paul.I like everything about this guitar.

For it's age, the body is in killer shape. It almost looks brand new. There was some missing neck binding that must have come loose at one point or another and some finish checking on the back of the headstock.

This axe is built like a tank, and as heavy as one! Everybody complements this axe. I've owned it all of 2 weeks and have 3 offers on it! NOT FOR SALE! I even turned down an Ibanez Jem 555! If you are into a guitar for the way it plays and are not one of these "flavor of the month" guys, pick one of these up. You won't put it back down!
I suck too bad as a player to gig.

Don't know

I've been playing for 12 years. I also buy/sell/trade guitars as a secondary business. I have alot of guitars run through my hands, and believe me, I can spot alot of differances in guitars. I also can tell when a special piece hits my hands. THis is one of them! This is the only Hagstrom I ever played and it is killer. Everybody who has owned or played one, seems to agree. I recommend you get one while they are cheap. It plays ever bit as nice as a Gibson Les Paul for the price of an Epi Les Paul. And there unique neck joint makes you believe you are playing a neckthru guitar.
If it were stolen, some poor SOB would have hell to pay if I caught him! This is truly a treat to play every time I pick it up. The action is effortless like my San Dimas Charvel or an '89Paul Reed Smith.

I bought this guitar in the mid-70's after trying it and a Les Paul out. I liked the Swede sound so I bought it. I immediately customized it by getting Grover Pegs, a Gibson Tune-o-matic bridge and a DeMarzio Super Distortion Humbucking pick-up for the neck position.

Mainly have played rock. Used an Ampeg V-4 with this guitar for many years. This set-up gave a blistering sound with great sustain. I rarely used effects and then only a phase shifter or a wah wah pedal. Also used this guitar in doing some more mello studio work.

As indicated by other commenters this is a solid, well crafted guitar. My change to the DiMarzio was simply for my preference to the metal rock sound. The change of the pegs and the bridge was to make up for a slightly lower quality of the stock set-up.

Have had this guitar for 25 years and the only thing I have had to replace are the plastic shields around the pick-ups. A highly dependable, solid guitar.

Has never required repairs.

Have been playing for over thirty years and was thinking about selling this guitar as I don't play as much anymore. Was searching the web to see what it might be worth and was shocked at the very low prices at which people were picking up used Swede's. I guess I will hold onto it for now. I agree with one of the other commenters that once people realize t he true value and superior performance of the Swede, the used price will rise considerably.

Mine is cherry red and was completely stock when I bought it. The body is mahogany and the fingerboard is ebony. I replaced the plastic nut w/ bone very early on. I agree w/ everyone else on the tuners-they suck. However, I think the Grovers I put on to replace them look better than the originals as well as working better. The bridge is a little difficult to adjust, so I try to avoid it. I think they got into a bad batch of glue when they made my neck. A seam in the neck began to seperate at the tip of the headstock, so I glued the joint and drove a 3" screw from one side of the headstock to the other to reinforce it. It has held up for 15 years without further problem. The neck binding has also needed regluing, but has held up well since.
The pickups suited me well at first, but they were a little thin and weak. I replaced them w/ a Gibson PAF at the neck and a DiMarzio PAF at the bridge. The DiMarzio has the ceramic magnet from a SuperII in it. The tone switch on the shoulder has been rewired as a coil tap(both humbucking/neck single-coil/both single-coil).

In its stock condition, the guitar sounded rather bitey. The pickup replacement was the only fix it needed. People simply do not believe the tone and sustain of this instrument. I've used it w/ a variety of amps and it always sounds great.

The craftsmanship is top-notch, with the only flaw being the aforementioned neck glue.

I used this guitar exclusively for 15 years and it is very roadworthy. The finish is beautiful save for belt buckle dents in the back. I have straplocks on it.

I needed some bridge saddles about 10 years ago and was surprised to find that I could still get them!

I've been playing for over 25 years and the Swede is my first love. I keep her close to home now. I use an old Japanese Strat copy w/ a humbucker and a Kahler tremolo as my workhorse.

I have 2, both natural finish, one came with a nicer bridge than the other, but otherwise their identical, both mid 1970's. All mahogany, ebony fretboard, one came with the original Hagstrom tags and tool kit! Very sharp looking axes!

The stock pickups are dead, not much output for overdrive sounds, perhaps that's why some pople use them for jazz fusion, like Daryl Stuermer( who used to live up the street from me and gave guitar lessons in St. Francis, Wisconsin), so I kept one stock, and modded the heck out of the other. But it's sweet sounding cause of the mahogany top. I think the 3 pick up black beauty Les Paul also had a mahogany top and similar sound.

The neck is great for a bolt on, the floating fingerboard is a bit strange. The nut was a joke, cheap plastic, I made a nice bone one. The finish is great, action can be set very low with no buzzing, I use 9's on one and 10's on the other. The stock tuners look great, but suck, so I got a set of Grover Imperials and fit the original tips onto them. One warning, the peg head holes are not standard, you'll need a tapered reamer if you want to put in new machineheads.

25 years and still great, what more can you say? I installed straplocs.

N/A

Been playing since I was 18, I'm 42 now, and I still suck! But I enjoy it, it's a hobby for me. I have a 1936 Gibson L50, 1983 Gibson Explorer, had a 1975 Gibson 175 & a 1992 SG custom(stupid wammy bar threaded body inserts stripped out, got it repaired under warranty and sold it,) a couple of beaters not worth mentioning, and I'm looking at a Guild X700 right now.

The Swede I modded has EMG triple blade Mother-Buckers in it, fully selectable for 1, 2, and/or any of the 3 coils, with phase, parallel & series switching, so it'll sound like a Tele, Strat, Les Paul, or grunge guitar with the flip of a switch! I play a bit of blues, jazz, heavy rock, all on the modded one. It's my daily player, I prefer my Gibson Explorer for its overall neck feel, action, and ease of playing, but not by much, and its not as versatile.

ATTENTION, the secret tone switch has 2 disc capacitors to modify tone, it does nothing for phasing.

I can't think of any other Les Paul type copy out there that is made as nice as this is. They seem to be going up in value on the used market now too.
That about covers it.
Greg Horn

1974 Hagstrom Swede with a solid Mahogony top, two Demazio pickups, Passive tone switch, Volume and tone controls for each pickup. UNBELIEVABLE neck with Ebony fingerboard.

I'm a blues player and this guitar is unreal. I can get everything from a really chunky Les Paul to a Mellow ES-335 all the way to a funky thin Strat sound from this puppy. Everyone that hears this guitar is amazed at what sounds I can get out of it. With the Tone Switch (it seems it works as a hi-pass, by-pass, low-pass) and the individual volume and tone controls on each pickup you have a wide range of tonal colors you can create.

What can you say. It's a Hagstrom! This company made probably the best neck in the guitar industry. The action is low and smooth, the thin mahogony neck with ebony fingerboard feels great. The finish is flawless. I own a Fender Thinline Tele, Gibson Nighthawk, A Vintage Gibson SG, Les Paul and I have to say that the Hagstrom Swede is my Favorite guitar to play!

This guitar is over 26 years old and it still looks like it just rolled off the assembly line. The finish is top notch! This is one solid chunk of wood! I have have no problem using this as my only guitar without any reservations.

I wish Hagstrom was still in business, with the quality of the instruments they made they would have been quite a contender. But they are long gone, but they still maintain a website and there is some limited parts and support available. Which considering how long they have been out of business is pretty amazing.

If this was stolen .. I would have not choice but to hunt down the SOB and castrate him! I would hold this guitar up to any Les Paul custom and it would definately hold it's own. I plan on buying a few more of them such as the Super Swede and the Swede Deluxe. If you find one for sale BUY IT!! If you don't buy it .. let me know and I will buy it! This guitar is probably one of the best secrets around and they can be had for almost a song. But don't expect that to last for long. Sooner or later people are going to catch on to this gem and the price is going to shoot up there.

Beats me when this guitar was made -- it doesn't have a serial number. Most Swedes were made in the 70's, I'm told. It is a funky Les Paul-and-then-some guitar. Weighs a ton. The true funk-factor comes from the coil-splitters and out-of-phasey sounds made possible by the deeply mysterious wiring system.

Well, the Swede doesn't sound like much of anything else. The pickups are very touch -- weak for much of the range of the pot and then, by gum, they are ON! I typically play it through my Fender Super Reverb ('68ish). It is a scorcher through my pignose, though. It is capable of a very wide variety of sounds, but (strangely) excells at Jazz, Fusion, and pretty serious rock. I'm mainly a blues guy, and I don't use it much for playing blues. I've been told that a Swede refitted with PAF humbuckers is a guitar to be reckoned with, but I thing the guitar's strenght is in its incredibly distinct sounds.

This guitar is beautifully made. A guitar of this quality would cost a mint if offered nowdays. I bought it used, and can't vouch for factory set-up, but I suspect it was well done. The guitar is just plain beutiful wood-wise, though the neck-to-body joint could be more artistic.

The main weakness hardware-wise is the tuners. They just plain suck. If they weren't such an import part of the Swede's visual appeal, I would rip them off in a moment.

Industructo! This guitar would stop bullets... big ones. Years of playing and it has never let me down.

There ain't none.

I've got a couple of strats and a 335 knock-off, and I tend to play them more than the swede -- but it is always a joy to play and it ALWAYS attracts attention at a gig. I wouldn't sell it, and if anybody stole it they would be in REALLY BIG TROUBLE if I caught them.

this guitar was designed by master guitar maker jimmy d'aquisto,,the craftmanship is impeccable,,,the guitar palys and sounds like a dream,,no wonder larry coryell played them for so long,,sounds better than most les pauls i've played,,it was good enough for alan holdsworth and dayrl stuermer to use on the now fusion classic "enigmatic ocean" by jean-juc ponty,,,what a meaty tone holdsworth has on that album,,,certainly no strat,,but yet listen to how thin it can get when used by struemer,,,i rate this guitar very high

rich and full,,,real meaty,,,great jazz guitar,,yet can get quite lite and thin on top,,,when using it right the guitar just sings thru the amp,,,what tone,,simply great

you can tell it was a d'aquisto,,just by the headstock,,the craftmanship is high on this guitar,,red stain mahogany body(almost 13 lbs.)very heavy,,binding work and enlay are excellent the tuners are special design and the neck is ebony not rosewood

altough i'd play another guitar on the road as i wouldn't take it out really except for special ocassions i believe it would handle thge rad quite nice,,being such a thick piece of wood

altough gone now,,,certainly not forgotten i am a beleiever in hagstrom products as i now have 6 hagstroms,,but no waranty on a 28 yr old guitar but thge craftsmanship of it still holds to this day,,any way there is quite a data base out there to wich you can find parts and info on these guitars

been playing 30 years,,this guitar is what i've been looking for for years,,if it were stolen,,i would want another,,,i say check them out,,especially one that is in working order

Probably made around 1977 or so, in Alvdalen, Sweden. 22 frets, and a wonderful, fast mahogany neck. The body is mahogany as well, natural finished. Two volume and two tone controls, two three-way switches that select pickup and coil tap. The switch on the horn is getting worn out ans I should try to replace it someday soon. This specific Swede also sports the Patch 2000 guitar synth system that Hagstrom had with Ampeg, so there's a two-way switch on the pickguard and a DIN-jack on the side of the guitar, together with the ordinary jack. Two humbuckers, sweet sounding things! I got this guitar used in Texas, and the store I got it from had bought it with one tuner lost, so they ripped 'em all off and put on some cheap nasty tuners! But originally, this guitar had Schaller tuners, designed for Hagstrom by James D'Aquisto. I'll put a new set on as soon as I get 'em. The only other thing broken are naturally the frames around the pickups. They always brake on the Swedes.

This guitar just speaks to me! I play instrumental jazz/latin jazz/fusion, and it sounds and look perfect for this 70's style of music. The sustain is great and the humbuckers in combination with the mahogany gives me a nice jazzy sound.

I use it with a Fender Blues DeVille 410 and a few effects, namely an Electro-Harmonix Electric Mistress, Vox wah-wah and a Morley volume pedal. The humbuckers are real quiet and make no noise at all. I've not had the opportunity to try out the Patch 2000 since it needs a pedal board as well, so I don't even know if it's working or not.

All in all, I bought this guitar for the sound and playability. REAL nice!

This was a used guitar, of course, and it's got a few wears and tears. One of the frets buzz a little, and there's a few dings in the finish, but nothing compared to other guitars I've seen from this era. And the fret can be fixed without any problems.

The action is real low, and the Hagstroms are famous for their extremely fast necks. Wonderful!

Seems to be a very sturdy guitar, heavy as well. As soon as I get a few things replaced (with original parts, of course) I won't be afraid of gigging with it, but I prefer to always have a backup.

Considering the age of the guitar, it's been holding up VERY good, impressive Swedish quality. I believe the Swedes and the Super Swedes were the best quality guitars Hagstrom made. It's way better than a lot of the Gibsons out there.

Hagstrom doesn't really exist anymore, but Karl E. Hagstrom is a very nice guy, and stock a large number of spares for the instruments, and they're VERY affordable! Considering that they don't make any guitars or new parts anymore, the service is very good, and it wouldn't seem to be too hard to get a hold of most of the parts one might need.
Official website at http://www.albinhagstrom.se

I'd cry if I lost this guitar, and I'd really work hard to get another one, cause these guitars are wonderful! The best thing is it's fast neck and jazzy sound. Plus it looks cool.

I didn't need to compare it with other guitars, it just spoke to me as soon as I plugged it in. For $185, it was a steal. I couldn't resist it.

My best friend bought a Swede back in about 1978 and then got bored with trying to learn guitar, so he let me use it for a couple of years. I wouldn't call it a Les Paul copy, although there are certainly similarities. The Swede doesn't have the maple top that a LP has, so it tends to be a little deeper sound, a little darker. I believe that these are solid mahogany. It has a pair of switches, one of which is the pickup selector, but the other (if memory serves) does coil splitting and out of phase switching, very common today but very advanced for the late 70's. 2 humbucking pickups, neck position a standard and bridge position a DiMarzio Super Distortion. 2 volume & 2 tone controls, typical LP-style layout. Really an excellent axe, although extremely heavy. I felt good when I saw a picture in a magazine of Bob Seger playing one.

Very full sound for what we now call "classic rock," which at the time was just the stuff that was brand new. :) I played it through a 1963 Fender Bandmaster with a 2 x 12" cabinet.

Just beautiful. Very high quality. It was purchased used but had no flaws that I could see.

The Swede is a very solid guitar. I think it would last forever. Bands playing nostalgia shows playing 70's rock in, say, 2050, would be using these.

No experience.

I've been playing for about 25 years. I now own a Hohner tele copy and a Jasmine acoustic. I'd love to have another Swede.

Purchased new in 1975. Made in Sweden, Les Paul copy. I believe the body was mahogany, maple neck. Two humbucking pickups/2 volume, 2 tone contols, two three-ways switches, passive electronics, stop tail-piece, medium neck. Got a nice case with it.

I play classic thru mid-70's rock, country rock, country. I've used it with many different amps, some tube, some transistor. Very quiet, probably due to the humbucking pickups. Rich, full sound but can get twangy if you want it to by manipulating the switches. Chunkier sound than a Les Paul and perhaps a bit more versatile. Great sustain when needed, not as bright as a guitar with single coils. I love the looks of this guitar but I hate the weight. I dropped it twice because of the position of the strap buttons, but a pair of strap locks and a good wide leather strap solved all those problems. A beautiful cherry finish and nice wood underneath. This was the best guitar Hagstrom made. It's too bad they're out of business, as Hagstrom's seem to be getting popular right now, maybe it's just the retro-craze.

I had to set up the guitar after I bought it, but I changed to a lighter set a strings so that's to be expected. Adjustment was very easy. Pickups need height adjustment, but that's to be expected also, everyone thinks a guitar should sound a different way. No flaws of any kind.

I gigged this guitar hard for eight years. Shortly after I bought it I plugged in one night and nothing! Had to run to a friends house and borrow his Fender for the gig. Yuck! My tech discovered a problem with the input jack. Fixed it in two minutes. Never had another problem in eight years. Went through two fret jobs. Finally didn't have much left for frets when I noticed a minute crack in the fretboard. Hagstroms had a lifetime guarantee on the neck, so I took it back to the dealer and he said he's let me know when he got the new neck in. It took a couple of months. When the neck finally got there he said that it wouldn't have taken so long but Selmer (the importer) didn't have a cherry finish neck in stock so they sent to Sweden for one! That's service! I can't say enough good things about the reliability of this guitar. Except for the one problem this thing was bulletproof. I always gigged without a back-up and never worried aobut it.

Wouldn't even try, they're out of business and that's a shame because they had a great product.

I've been playing for 35 years. I haven't gigged for about 15 but I'm hoping to start again part-time when I retire next year from the military. My oldest son has the Hag now and it's still going strong. I'd love to have it back, but I doubt if I'll ever see it again. It was a very versatile guitar for my purposes. I recently purchased a Rickenbacker 620 and a Peavey Studio Pro 112 amp to get started again. Although I like the Rick, I still miss the Hag (perhaps it's more sentimental than anything else). I'm the only person I've ever known who played one of these steadily (besides Bob Seger but he doesn't count)! If you can find one, buy it. If you can't afford it, call me!