Hagstrom Viking II

2006 or 2007? This is the re-issue, made in China. I have no idea how long it sat on a shelf. 22 frets, 2 volume 2 tone 3-way selector at lower horn 335 config, H/H passive pickups brand unknown, maple neck rosewood fingerboard, glossy cherryburst finish, 335 style body, TOM bridge, 6 in line peghead, vintage key knob high ratio Hagstrom tuners, thin profile neck, no accessories included. How do you rate this category? It is what it is, it is what I expected, so I give it a 10 for features.

Hmmm...pickups a little weak, but that's not a bad thing, because highly wound, high-output pickups can get on yer nerves too. A rich sound, but not overly bright. No extraneous noise. I've only played it through practice amps, so I'm not sure what it will do, but I expect it to be reasonably good, and pickups can always be swapped out. I buy and keep guitars for playability first, all other things can easily be changed. I haven't even experimented with pickup height to find the sweet spots yet, so that should help. Typical semi-hollow body sound. Nothing to write home about, not bad either.

If you don't have to tweak your brand new guitar at least a little, that is a miracle. With this one, I did the following: lowered the saddle (it was way up, higher on the treble side, weird), loosened strings, neck screws, and re-set the neck in the pocket so the strings were dead center (every bolt neck guitar I have ever owned, regardless of price paid, required this). That's it. Strings dead center on fingerboard, perfect amount of relief in the neck, strings at about .006-.007 on the high e, about .008-.009 on the low E (that's pretty damn low in my book), plays GREAT, low action, NO BUZZ all the way up the fingerboard, intonation seems spot on as-is, though I haven't tested or adjusted for it, chords ring very true. Stayed in tune overnight. Unbelievable! Nut seems cut just fine, fret edges poke out just a tad, but almost every Asian guitar does that to me (the wood shrinks as it cures and moves to a new climate zone, typical), I don't even notice it while playing so I will play for a while then maybe let my tech file them. Everything else seems just fine, fit, finish, no obvious flaws, even though it is a supposed B-stock. Could have fooled me. Gorgeous vintage cherry burst finish.

Sturdy as any other semi-hollow guitar I've ever played. Hardware as solid as any other I've seen on this type of guitar. Thick Asian glossy lacquer finish, should last a long time. One quirk with the strap buttons, the one on the back of the body doubles as one of the neck plate screws. I don't like that, so I would take measures to move the button to its own seperate location if I gig with this guitar, which I intend to do.

Have never needed to call Hagstrom or whatever entity now manufactures guitars under that name.

Been playing 30 years, own about 60 guitars, many trophy case specimens that my children will be able to cash in someday, lots of low price point guitars that are very nice, highly functional, and fashionable statements (my favorites), such as this Hagstrom Viking II. I would defintely replace if stolen. I originally had my sights set on a Gibson Trini Lopez, like Dave Grohl's. Nice of him to partner with Gibson on the re-issue. Too bad he only authorized his two favorite puke colors. This Hag will do just fine, probably saved me a couple grand in the process. I'm thinking about getting another one and switching out the neck for a nice Strat neck. Rated this category a 9 because of fret edges and average humbuckers. Still, it's a real player, and I'll be polishing this one up and putting some slightly hotter pu's in it for sure. I'll also spring for a nice Hagstrom hardshell, something I only do for the good ones.

Three pegs per side on the head. Two humbuckers. Two volume, two tone. Three-way pick-up switch. Three-way tone (bass removed, flat, treble removed).

All mellow sounds including treble. Good for jazz and some pop. The switch to "treble removed" is too dull. "Bass removed" is good. I would not recommend this guitar for rock.

Good action. Small flat frets (not for bending notes). Nice art deco touches. Plywood seems as clunky as a Gibson but still sounds good.

Bought it to give it a good home. This guitar was treated very poorly. Chips in finish. Tailpiece bashed in somewhat from dropping. Pick guard missing. STILL WORKS VERY WELL!! Vol/Tone pots seem cheesy and difficult to replace. Pickup rings always broken on these. Switches are excellent. Tuners work well. Neck did not need adjusting.

Too bad Hagstrom is out of businees. They made some nice guitars.

I use heavier strings for dabbling in jazz. I might sell this to buy the Gibson 333 or 137. Maybe not.

67 sunburst viking 2, built in sweden. 22 frets
all original

i run it through ibanez ts808- sans amp classic- ehx tube zipper- ehx polychorus- boss bf3- marshall tsl 122. the viking 2 has a very full sound, very unique. perfect for blues, rockabilly, rock, country and even punk. it does everything perfect except metalheads wont be happy with it. i love this guitar, it's my wife. sounds incredible!!

great action, great neck, great pickups! i got this baby in best condition with ALL original parts.

37 years old. nothing more to say about durability.....
but for live gigs i would fear a little bit becuz i play HARD and i dont want to hurt my baby.....

out of business

one of the best (vintage) guitars i played in my life! i looking forward to buy more from hagstrom. i bought it blind without testing it from sweden and i will never forget the first seconds playing this sweet piece of wood - everlasting love

Hi there,
I had no idea how much I missed this guitar until I started routing around on the net and caught the Hagstrom pages. I had a loan of a Viking I in good condition for about 1 month, way back in the early nineties. AS soon as I picked it up I loved it. The neck was so tiny yeat everythin was in the right place- not like modern slimline necks which seem bland and unloving. I'm saure anyone looking at this review doesn't need to bother with the basics, but it had all you need to do what you want, without the clutter. I think the rating system for this section is a bit bogus. I had a T-60 or two for ages and they had "tons of features" but I still got rid of them.

The sound to me, was like a 335 without the heaviness. It is a far more articulate guitar in some ways than many Gibsons. And it was nice to be able to shred bluesy without resorting to a Fender. Just lovely. Distinctive. I got a lot of feedback from "mine" but it was controllable, and I did tend to play very loudly then. But I found this meant that I had more of a relationship with the instrument, turning my body this way and that to get different harmonic feedback tones, indulging in "the note" in a very natural way.

Its an old guitar, no matter which Hagstrom you get, so you have to accept that. Everything is of good quality tho. The action was perfect and the smallness of the body very endearing. You could actually hug it while you played and really throttle the neck when you wanted to.

The one I?@played must've been 30 years old. Nuff said

n/a

I think you get the point.

Mine is a 1967 Sunburst-design Viking II. The original electronics were replaced in the early 1990's by the previous owner, and the interior of this hollow-body guitar was fomed to prevent overheating. some hagstrom's overheat inside, damnaging the body, and the previous owner knew what he had and didn't want to risk it.

The new electronics (well, circa 1990) combined with the original pickups make for a good sound. A tougher guitar to play than most modern guitars, but a good play

This guitar is more than 30 years old and the neck is still absolutely straight. The pickguard was damaged, however, and has been removed. The only signs of wear are a small chip in the neck above the 3rd fret and the missing pickguard and top to the rhythm/treble switch. I'd put this guitar at about 75 percent condition.

These guitars are great, but they are old- gotta be careful

Hagstrom is out of business.

You've got to appreciate the Viking II's history in order to want to pay that kind of money for it. It's harder to play than most modern electrics, but you can ask Elvis Presley- these things sound great

I have a red Viking II, which looks like the sunburst Viking shown but has 3 tuners on each side. Elvis played a Viking 1. The II is a 335-like guitar with cool art deco hardware. Hagstroms are Swedish guitars made in the 60s and 70s. Short scale neck and relatively small body, good tone from both double-coil. I bought mine in an Austin pawn shop in the mid-80s for $400.00, and it's in excellent condition. That's why I don't gig with it much cause I know I'll scratch it up!

sound is similar to Gibson 330-smooth jazzy tone but will bite if you need it. Not a noisy guitar.

This would be safe to take without a backup. It's performed flawlessly for the 15 years I've had it, and the finish is till holding up.

Hagstrom went out of business in (I think) the late 70s or early 80s, so there's no customer support.

I've beem playing for 35 years off and on. I love the small neck, like all Hagstroms-but then I have 6 of them-a Mahogany Swede bass, a blue Hagstrom II bass, a red Hagstrom I bass, a sunburst Hagstrom 12-string, a sunburst Hagstrom II and the red Viking II.