Agreed. Hagstrom and Godin fall into the 'grossly under-rated' category. Great to see Hagstrom again. I had one WAY back in the day day...3 pickups and modded. Dream guitar.
I have a lot of different from esp to fender and ibanez and i have to say, i bought a Hagström from 2004 and its easily the best guitar i have played 😲 It's s Hagström f300, so Good Tone and feeling. Hagström is something special
That fuzz sounded almost like digital delay. When it comes to a fuzz test I envision stuff along the lines of Electric Wizard, Sleep, etc and for that sort of thing I'm betting the Ultra Swede wins in spades
I have a Hagstrom model Il from like 69. I've had it since then when I bought it. I love this guitar and I have many friends who say they love playing it better than their own guitars.
Again, great video! I also chose the Ultra Max over the Ultra Swede for the exact same reasons. It is really versatile! It also lends itself great for drop tuning.
Damn , i really hope they have that red burst for lefties too. I'm in the market for new electric and this looks very promising. Thank you for a great review !
This is a great and useful video. It's chock full of information and excellent tone demonstrations. Thank you very much for making this video. I am intrigued by hagstrom guitars and I have been considering an ultra Max though the only extra I have ever even held was the Fantomen
Try the Hagstrom Alvar and the Viking, I have both and love them both but they are different in subtle ways. The Alvar is great and becoming my number one go to guitar. Great comparison.
They also build bass guitars ....IF that is really what you're asking...lol.....if not ..excuse my comment ...and yes they do make 12 stringers as well!!!!
I love hagstroms design ideas and I am looking at these two models as I suffer from thumb strain in the pad of my thumb from continuous use of the same barre chords in rapid change 4 chord punk songs on my epi LP standards neck. being so thin do these necks help situations like this?
I've heard that the opposite is true. Chunkier necks are usually easier for chording supposedly because there's more neck to hold onto when pressing down the strings. However I could be wrong and a thinner neck might feel way more comfortable TO YOU. I say you should try different necks out. Go into a guitar shop and try chording on an Ibanez or ESP or any guitar with a thin neck and compare how it feels with your Epi.
I absolutely loved the comparison. I'm trying to get more information about them but am struggling to find it. Do you know which coils are active when they are split? Also, how do you find the split-coil sound compared to a single-coil guitar such as a strat?
Hey Cory, I'll ask the Hagstrom guys about the active coils for you. As far as the single coil tones go, I think across the board brand wise it's generally a lot easier to achieve the less characteristic single coil tones if that makes sense, not to say they're any less useful, just not as specific sounding. I find it a lot easier to emulate neck middle and bridge tones rather than position 2&4 on a strat say. I also find that a lot of bridge humbuckers can split to give a good tele bridge type tone if you use some compression.
@@jamesfranklandguitar Hagstrom finally got back to me and said it's the outer coils. I'm not a huge fan of the tele sound so I don't know if I would really benefit from the split-coil.
@@jamesfranklandguitar not really. There's a local seller with an Ultra Swede that I'm considering and I was just trying to find out more about them. I don't know if I should go with it or wait for something else. If it had the custom 60 or 58 pickups I think I would be more tempted.
To me the Ultra Swede sounded more aggressive, although if it's low tuned metal the longer scale length of the ultra max would help with tuning stability in drop tunings. Both have Humbuckers so would be suited to high gain tones.
How would you compare either of these to higher end Epiphone les Paul’s? Is the ultra Swede’s neck more stable than the ultra max since it’s maple and the ultra max has mahogany?
I can't comment as to how they compare to the epiphones as I haven't had chance to play any but both necks felt stable in the time I had them. It's a while back but I can't say I noticed a difference between the two stability wise, I seem to remember the ultra swede neck being a little slimmer
Musicians Friend has them, Try the Alvar, I have Twelve Hagstroms and the Alvar is turning into my favorite. My oldest Hagstrom is a swede from 1971 and my newest Hag is the Alvar from 2019. Low action. stable necks and the smoothest fretboard you will ever play unless you get the up and coming Richlite fretboards. The feel is very similar between the two types of wood alternatives.
Did you mention that all Hagstroms are made in China? Guitars are discretionary purchases and I am sure there are many people who would not enjoy playing an instrument made by a communist dictatorship especially after their handling of Covid-19 that has brought so much misery to so many people. It would be like you recommend buying Hugo Boss clothing made before 1945, you would not do that now, would you?
Almost everything is made in China nowadays, what are you gonna do about it... lol. Hagstrom actually just started producing the Super Swede in Sweden again. Expensive, but even better quality! For being Chinese made, the hagstroms are absolutely incredible. Swedish design at its finest.
If you guys would see under what circumstances these guitars are being built you would not touch them anymore. Our actions matter and dealing as a human being with empathy for others I think is a pretty relaxed attitude…
