Hagstrom Viking 1

This is a 335-style thinline with 3-way switch and two strong single coil pickups. Two volume and two tone knobs.
It's a bolt neck with fender-style headstock, Van Ghent tuners, binding front and back and on the neck.
Hagstrom Vikings are beautiful guitars made of not maple; but birch.
Yup, birch.
Mine is sunburst and is still beautiful after 37 years.
It's a 66-67.
The batch number spans both years, so it's a toss-up as to which year it was lovingly crafted in Sweden.
It features the famous Hagstrom "Kings Neck".
One of the thinest, fastest, easiest playing neck's you'll ever find.
It features an aluminum center H-Channel, with the truss rod encased inside. That's how the ultra-thin necks stay so straight.
Fully adjustable in every way.
Nickle-Silver frets which are barely worn after all these years.

The single coils are sort of P-90ish, but really they have their own flavour.
Plenty of sustain and ring even with a trapeeze style tail.
The tone controls actually give a very wide range of sounds.
The three way produces three very distinct combinations.
Tons of options here.
I love it.
It's much more versitile than a humbucker equipped gibson thinline.
Somebody said it sounds Gretsch-like.
No; it doesn't have a filter-tron sound; but maybe dynasonics or hi-lo tron.
Treble, bass, twang,everything in between; it does them all.
I play it through a fender princeton chorus DSP, or my '66 Gibson explorer 1x10 tube combo.
Sounds excellent through both.

I purchased this guitar recently and it was set up with heavy flatwound strings.
I replaced them with Gibson re-issue 10's and it plays beautifully.
The action is extremely low with zero buzzing all the way up the neck.
Bar chords at the high E are no problem at all.
I've always wanted one of these because of the slim fast neck; and this guitar has stood the test of time.
Some minor checking on the finish but remarkably good.
Beautiful book-matched back with some flame.
A lot of hand work went into these guitars.
One crack in the neck binding at the 5th fret; but it's very stable.
Some of the chrome has worn off the treble side of the pickups exposing the brass underneath; but what do you expect for 37 years of age.
The frets are in terrific condition with only minor pitting on the first 3 frets on the first 3 strings. Very minor.
The luthier at the shop, adjusted the neck and action to my satisfaction before I took the Viking home.
Thank-you Folkway Music, Guelph Ontario.
The original nut is in perfect condition; the original case is good after some time with a glue-gun on some separated tolex.
The van ghent tuners are excellent and the guitar stays in tune perfectly.

It's in amazing condition for it's age.
It won't be leaving the house very often so this isn't really an issue with me.

Hagstrom is long-gone; but there are several fan sites on the net and parts; although scarce; are not impossible to find.

This was a "must have" guitar for me.
It didn't cost a lot of money; but I would buy another in a minute, especially a cherry-red one.
It's a blast to play.
I've been playing for over 40 years.
I own a 67 Gretsch Anniversary, '72 Gibson es-325, 97 California Strat, 2000 Gibson Les Paul Special, 2001 Standard telecaster, and a cheapie acoustic.
I have to give this Hagstrom a solid 10 simply because it's such a joy to play.

I have a '67 Hagstrom Viking, tobaccoburst, appears to be a maple top, back and sides, probably a maple neck with rosewood fretboard. Ah, the days when they used real wood. 22 frets, and the top and back are solid, not laminated. It has two single-coil pickups roughly equivalent to P-90s but sounding a little more like Gretsch's single coils. They do sound very good, though. It had the Van Ghent tuners on it when I got it, and a really odd bridge that was non-original. Passive electronics. It has, I believe--and I'm not sure on this, 25" scale, just between Gibson's 24 3/4 and Fender's 25 1/2. I haven't really checked for so long that I'm not sure at this point. The neck is narrow/thin/fairly flat radius, medium to thin frets. It has a Vol/Tone Vol/Tone arrangement for controls and three-position switch. They all work fine.

This is a very clean and sweet-sounding guitar. It resonates well unplugged and has very good clarity and very crisp sound plugged in. Sure, it's gonna be noisy when you're around rheostats or fluorescent lights or computer monitors. It has single-coils. With both pickups on you get a definite Gretsch-like tone that is very pleasant at the same time. The bridge pickup has almost a Fenderlike aspect to it, and the neck pickup alone, you get a kind of sweet, bright chunk almost like a Gibson hollowbody. It's pretty aesthetically cool, too, with the semi-Gibson Trini Lopez look--the Gibson-style hollow body and the Strat-style peghead. The finish is pretty, too. I use it for mood stuff on my recordings.

Hey, it's been a helluva long time since this left the factory. I can't begin to tell you how things were then. The grain is nice, and after all these years the top and backed were cracked in, altogether, I think about 27 places. I fixed and filled those and buffed them out and they're all but invisible now and the top is completely stabiliized and solid. It was worth doing. The frets were still in good shape after all these years, the neck is dead straight and the action is extremely low without much of any buzz at all. It's a little hard to play when you're used to wider necks--the narrowness of the neck kind of makes you feel a little hemmed in there, but it's possible to live with that. I personally wish it had a set neck, it has a bolt. But this was handmade in Sweden by people who took pride in their work. It's not like now, where a bolt-neck is generally a sign that you're in the el-cheapo section of the store, regarding hollowbodies. That's not universally true, but in general it is. But the neck pocket is good and tight, the neck is affixed solidly onto the guitar. I replace the tuners, one of which was kaput, with Sperzels, which is sheer heresy in the Hagstrom owner's society, but hey, it is MY guitar. And it came to me with an odd little bridge which I found through some research looked reasonably similar to the original in some ways, but was horrible and had no means of being adjusted. So I mounted a Gibson bridge on a rosewood baseplate and that has worked just fine. Other than that it's original, and a damned fine instrument overall.

As I have stated in the Hamer SATF review I wrote: If you don't have a serious balance problem, you're not drunk or too stoned and you're not Pete Townshend, this isn't really much of an issue.

Having been out of business since 1981, I would imagine customer support would be minimal, but I wouldn't hold that against them. They had a great reputation while they were at it, though, from what I can tell.

I've been playing and working on guitars around 33 years.

Overall, I'd say if you can get one of these, and generally on eBay they go between $250 and $500, depending on model, condition, case, greed factor, etc., then do get one. It's probably not versatile enough--or maybe it is--to be your main axe, but it is very lovable, has an Old World styling and charm, and a sound that is very easy on the ears. On top of that it's quite playable, not to mention very lightweight.

1965 Viking made in Sweden. Standard volume/tone control configuration except that the tone pots are backward from the norm; not a problem. Regular three position pickup selector for neck pickup, bridge pickup or both. Unsure if these original pickups would be considered humbucking, but seem to be. 335 style body, thinline, original bridge but different tailpiece. Original machines and seem to be in good shape. Thin and narrow super fast neck, takes getting used to at first but a joy to work. Missing tremolo arm and spring.

I play vintage rock, blues, classic rock, country, jazz and frequent open stage sessions. Seems to suit any style but metal, and I'm not a metal player. I think that Nugent's stuff would sound great on it, though...hmmm....

I have used this guitar through an antique altec tube preamp (I don't think it was intended as a guitar preamp, but ohhh the tone!) several Peavey models, straight into various mixers, and lately through a Yamaha DG Stomp (yeah, baby!) and I can get it to cream or scream as I desire. Pickups are a bit noisy in proximity to flourescent lighting, but what isn't?

Action is still (I think) as factory and slick and fast. It may have been adjusted at one time; never by myself or my father (previous owner). Controls were a bit noisy prior to a can of control cleaner (Radio Shack, four bucks) but just a result of age. Finish was at one time gorgeous sunburst tobacco, now after the endless stage use has scrapes and age cracking.

This instrument was purchased new in late '65 or early '66 by a friend of my father, and was sold to my father (along with a Heathkit amplifier!) for all of $100 around '75. CB radio was very popular at the time as were the 'CB-er coffee breaks' at which MANY musicians would invariably gather, as would my father with the Viking and the Heathkit. It was also used every Sunday morning, evening, and Wednesday evening in church functions (yes, with the Heathkit!) and the like. I began playing this guitar on occasion and with more frequency around '85 and upon my father's death the instrument was given to me along with his '50 LC-100 Gibson acoustic. (Thanks, Dad!) The finish has stayed intact (except where Dad used a capo) quite well for over thirty years and the instrument has been very reliable for all of its years. I did repair some of the internal wiring after one of the pots came loose and a relative turned the control too far thereby breaking the wire loose, but that's the extent of its repairs. I think maybe a fret job will be in order within the next five or so years, though.

Hagstrom is no longer, but a grandson is still making leftover stock parts available inasmuch as he is able.

My father passed along the gift (illness?) of 'guitaring' when I was six (32 years ago), just a year after I started piano lessons and I have used it alongside quite an array of instruments. (Presently, Gibson Les Paul, Fender Strat, Guild S-100, Gibson ES-125, Gibson LC-100, Gibson 12-string acoustic, Hagstrom Swede/Patch 2000, even a Kramer F-6000!) If stolen, there would be hell to pay & I'd collect! If lost, I would weep bitterly as it is to me irreplacable. I would seek another, though, no matter what model of Viking. I've played some of the later models and found them just as much to my liking.

Well.. this is a sunburst, semihollow Viking 1 -70 from Alvdalen, Sweden. Fendershaped head, 2 volume and 2 tonecontrols and a 3-way switch. Original case.

I play a lot of blues and jazz and this guitar is suited for both if you are out to get a diffrent sound. The tone is really clear and crispy but it's hard to get a soft tone.

Great neck!!! Thin and fast playable. I use 0.12 strings and the the only thing I can complain about is the hight between the neck and the strings. You are going to get big muscles in your hand after a few hours with this baby. The pickups are oxidized but they sound great. The Viking's got som finish flaws on the back of the neck and some more on the backside but no rust on the hardware.

I've had this one for 4 years now and I'm going to keep it till I die,
there is something special about it. The pickups are turning green but hey... 31 years is a long time. I use it for gigs and it is works great every time. Only had one accident live and that was when the wires inside broke down ( of rust..). It stays in tune perfectly, if you don't bend it silly. So ..works just fine!

They are out of buissines so..?

I've been playing for nine years. My other gear is a Fender Thinline 69'reissue and a custom build western-acoustic guitar from Giarbo, Sweden and I'm soon going to buy a used Ibanez GB-10.
Well I like my Hagstrom very much but the overall rating cant get more then a 6. It's a funny guitar but i'ts hard to handle. It takes a man to play it but if you want a guitar with charm this is it.