Hagström

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Three generations of Hagström guitars:A Standard 80 made in 1960, a Kent II made in 1964 and a HIIN OT made in 1975.

Hagström ['hɑ:gstrøm], or Hagstrom as the name is sometimes spelled, was a musical instrument manufacturer in Älvdalen, Dalecarlia, Sweden. Their original products were accordions that they initially imported from Germany and then Italy before opening their own facility in 1932. During the sixties, the company started making electric guitars and later amplifiers. The early guitars were heavily influenced by the accordion production and had a special look and feel. Many contemporary artists, such as Elvis Presley, Tim Armstrong, Bill Nelson, Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hill, Aaron North and Pat Smear used Hagströms. Smear, who has been playing these guitars for over 20 years, is recognized for having one of the largest collections of Hagstroms in the U.S. and is an expert on the guitars' durability and road-worthiness.^[1] Most notably today, Nicholas McCarthy from the Glaswegian band Franz Ferdinand plays a sparkle red 1959 Hagström P46 Sweetone.

Models of electric guitar included the Hagstrom 1, the H series (h II, h III, h II N), the Swede (Originally called The Hagstrom LP, or Les Paul, due to the instrument's resemblance to the popular Les Paul manufactured by Gibson Guitars), the Super Swede, the Impala, the Corvette (called the Condor in the US), the Viking, the Swede Patch 2000 (one of the first synthesizer guitars) and the Jimmy (designed by Jimmy D'Aquisto, a respected New York luthier brought in by Hagstom to design the Jimmy). Basses include The Swede Bass and the H8 - the first ever eight stringed bass guitar, which found fame when used by the likes of Noel Redding, Jimi Hendrix, Mike Rutherford, and others.

Production ended for Swedish-made Hagstroms in 1983 due to the inability to keep up with the competition using labour from Asia to make guitars. Hagstrom did make some Japanese prototypes; however, they were not pleased with the worksmanship and would rather close down the company than cheapen the brand. As of 2004, Hagstrom has been reopened for the international market and is making new versions of a great number of the more famous models from Sweden, being manufactured at a dedicated Hagstrom factory in China. The official Hagstrom design team have taken certain liberties with the designs, made some improvements and other deviations from the original Swedish designs. There was a custom USA shop making master luthier versions of Hagstrom models but activity of this since 2006 is uncertain. According to head-designer of the Hagstrom design team, there might be a limited production of Hagstrom guitars from Sweden, but solid plans for native Swedish production has yet to solidify as of 2008...

Some of the users of the newly manufactured Hagstrom models are Colin James, Panic at the Disco, Hellogoodbye, Blindside, Millencolin, Micky Moody, Mustasch, Mudhoney, Sloan (band), Mando Diao, The Secret Machines, Veni Domine, just to name a few of the growing roster of internationally known Hagstrom players.

The interest in the original Hagstrom brand still has a cult following around the world and a Hagstrom Festival has taken place in Älvdalen, Sweden around the first week of June every year since 2006.