Features

good amplified sound

Posted by vocalfons on 13th Feb 2011

Recent production Hagstrom, made in (China) 22 frets, 24 3/4 scale, 1 5/8" width at the nut. 16 1/2 " bout. Max body depth is 3 1/2". One volume and one tone button, on the pickguard. Single humbucking neck-mounted (floating) pickup.  Laminated construction, inexpensive gold art-deco style non-locking keys. Factory installed gold strap buttons. The fingerboard is a resin-composite, looks like ebony. Features the famous Hagstrom shaped-beam neck reinforcement. This neck is a big plus to this instrument. It feels a lot like an epiphone dot I own, so it's rather thin, but not flat in any way. Exactly the right proportion. Quite fast playable.

Acoustically this guitar sucks. It sounds thin and soft, exactly as loud as my dot, which is a thinline, but......amplified this guitar starts to sing. The braced top and back seem responsable for the thin acoustic sound. But on the other hand, they also seem responsable for the nice sustainy tone. A tone I have been looking for. For a while.

I did own a Höfner New President, but i recently sold it as it was the opposite to this guitar: loud acoustic sound, no sustain and a bulky long scale neck. Looking for a nice sound, not too boomy, I tried a Peerless Monarch. Nice. But the neck was too thick. The Hagström has a sound just a tiny bit thinner than the Monarch (which has the same bracing by the way), but with a much easier neck. Every single note played has a nice “popping” attack. Sweet. Funny thing is, when amplified, the Hagström sounds much more acoustic than the Höfner or the Monarch. I really like the pickup of this guitar.

Setup:
The nut is quite square and sharp and the frets are not leveled nor polished. It's so bad, that the 13th fret makes a dead tone. Ouch. So in a few weeks, when the guitar is used to the more humid conditions of the Netherlands ( bought it in New York) it will be completely reviewed and setup by Patrick Koopman (guitar builder and guitar tech of Steve Vai)

I sold the Höfner, got this Hagström cheap on Ebay, and kept 1200 euros in my pocket. I received this guitar on Tuesday, now it's Saturday and I haven't put it away since. Not bad for an all-laminated, China made Hagström re-issue. Bottom line: no matter how expensive, no matter how well made, no matter what exquisite materials used, a guitar has to breath and inspire you, invite you to play. Even if it were made out of a cardboard box.