Has anyone played a Hagstrom Super Swede?

[HeadlessBassist]

I’ve been half hanging my nose over these for a while. A Nottingham dealer has one in stock and I keep meaning to go and try it. Especially interested in the “Resinator” fingerboard. (Maybe it’s just a gimmick!) Also, they seem to come as standard with very heavy gauge strings. 

 

Any experience, people?

 

[Beedster]

I bought one a few years back and sent it back, I think in part because it was a naive buy (I hadn't really done my homework) but also because while it looked beautiful, it felt cheap. Tone wise I didn't really get too much playing time in but there was nothing there that would have made me think twice about keeping it 👍

[BassBiscuit]

I think they look great... I think 'HotRox' have them....

[HeadlessBassist]

Agreed. Yes, they have one new one in stock. I need to go back there and try it when I get a moment. It’s one of those highly things that you mean to do, but never seem to get round to… 

[Mediocre Polymath]

The Canadian luthier Ted Woodford (him off YouTube) recently did a video on an attempt to rescue one of their new-era guitars. I'll see if I can find it. It's very long and technical though.

 

The gist was that these instruments are all built with an oddly shaped steel extrusion instead of a truss rod. It has these sorts of ribs that extend into the wood of the neck. It's glued into the neck as the laminates are being put together and is completely impossible to remove or service.

 

That on its own wouldn't be a huge problem (it's not like replacing a truss rod is a common maintenance job) but there seemed to be something fishy about it. 

 

Ted is very polite (Canadian) and understandably wary about getting sued, so he didn't come out and say anything directly, but I got the distinct impression he believed the design was fundamentally flawed, or just a steel reinforcement bar with an adjuster on the end that didn't really do anything.

[HeadlessBassist]

3 minutes ago, Mediocre Polymath said:

Ted is very polite (Canadian) and understandably wary about getting sued, so he didn't come out and say anything directly, but I got the distinct impression he believed the design was fundamentally flawed, or just a steel reinforcement bar with an adjuster on the end that didn't really do anything.

 

Interesting - I doubt Hagstrom could afford to sue anyone - they seem to sell so very few instruments these days.

 

 

[Beedster]

4 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

Interesting - I doubt Hagstrom could afford to sue anyone 

 

 

 

They're no doubt owned by a business who could 

[Beedster]

9 minutes ago, Mediocre Polymath said:

The Canadian luthier Ted Woodford (him off YouTube) recently did a video on an attempt to rescue one of their new-era guitars. I'll see if I can find it. It's very long and technical though.

 

The gist was that these instruments are all built with an oddly shaped steel extrusion instead of a truss rod. It has these sorts of ribs that extend into the wood of the neck. It's glued into the neck as the laminates are being put together and is completely impossible to remove or service.

 

That on its own wouldn't be a huge problem (it's not like replacing a truss rod is a common maintenance job) but there seemed to be something fishy about it. 

 

Ted is very polite (Canadian) and understandably wary about getting sued, so he didn't come out and say anything directly, but I got the distinct impression he believed the design was fundamentally flawed, or just a steel reinforcement bar with an adjuster on the end that didn't really do anything.

 

Interesting, the bass just felt wrong to me, it balanced badly, it didn't resonate in the way I'd expect a bass to, it almost felt like it was built of something other than wood, wonder if the neck design/engineering was a factor? 

[Mediocre Polymath]

 

Here's the video I mentioned. It's a very rare case of Ted Woodford throwing in the towel and declaring and instrument to be unsalvageable.

[neepheid]

 

They've been using the H-expander truss rod since their original Swedish days... http://hagstrom.org.uk/expander_stretcher.htm

Edited 4 hours ago by neepheid