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Hagstrom Viking Bass Reissue.

M

Meddle

Jul 27, 2009
2,520
87
Scotland
#1
It appears Hagstrom have recently brought back the Viking bass. Its cool because its a hollowbody shorty for less than £500 GBP here.

I don't see Hagsrom mentioned much on this forum, so any guesses as to if this bass is good? It seems to have similar switching to the Beluga in terms of coil splits and stuff. I never fancied the styling of the Beluga but I played one and it sounded ok.
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#10
played a cherry-red one at NAMM, unplugged. very nice feel, felt significantly more solid than the Eastwood semi-hollow basses I've played. can't comment on the pickups, but I bet they sound pretty much how you'd expect.

re: the other hagstrom guitars, I know some folks that like them. like most guitars in that class they're hit or miss, so order from a store with a good return policy and you'll be covered. i've played several at Truetone in Santa Monica, and most felt really nice, especially the hollowbodies. a couple of the SG looking guitars were way too heavy for their size, but others were fine.
 
#13
I finally got my hands on one yesterday, and I was a little underwhelmed. The 6-way switch on the cutaway bout was rather flimsy and I wouldn't want to be the guy to replace this non-standard part when it farts out. The pots were also easy to push around and were obviously not that high a quality. The finish was perfunctory, but hardly amazing. Finally, I'm not keen on the ergonomics of a shortscale bass with a massive body.
 
#14
I have played two of them in local stores - the first one felt like a really cheapo asian made bass (which they are) - no way to justify the pricetag - i have tried some Hag reissues that were excellent - so this one was quite disappointing.

The second one was an all white one - looked like a million $$ - and was actually pretty nice - yes the electronics are flimsy, but it felt like a solid instrument compared to the first one i played. So i guess if you want one youd better play it to make sure you get a good one.

I want one in red or white - but ill hold out a bit for the streetprice to drop.
 
#16
heavyfunkmachin said:
take a look at this:


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This was the real bass, WHY ON EARTH DID THEY DECIDE TO UPDATE IT???

They should reissue the REAL bass.

:scowl:
Click to expand...


FFS, I had just posted in a thread about the absence of GAS, and then I have to see that Concord. Well, I know what I'll be thinking about at work today.

...Wow, I'm glad my girlfriend isn't reading this. "You thought about a bass all day and not me?!?!?!"

And yes, I agree. They should definitely reissue the Concord. My bank account seems to disagree, but when has that ever mattered?
 
#17
Here's a pic of my parts Concorde; it's a '67 Viking body, '63 Futurama neck, DeArmond/Harmony pickup, re-worked Guild pickup, and other stuff. I call it Hagenstein.
Hagenstein.gif
 
#18
Bought one with a blem on Ebay for $530 including shipping. It feels and sounds good to me. I agree, there are parts that feel flimsy. The rotary knob especially. It's a shortscale, but doesn't really feel like one. Shortscale strings will not work on it because of the tailpiece. There is no case currently being made by Hagstrom for this model. I ordered a Epiphone Jack Casidy case that should fit. All told, I am happy with it. Recorded some punk rock stuff the other day. Tone was even all the up and down the board. No dead spots. Used it on a acoustic-y gig a couple of nights ago. Big, fat comforting tones. I bought a black one. Wanted one in white, but Hagstrom has not shipped any of those for quite some time. Their customer support is friendly but they seem to know little about the product they're selling. Fantastic value though. I'm giving this an "A".
 
#20
I found a review on a german site. The reviewer tries out all pickup combinations. Informative, though not very inspired playing... and questionable tuning/intonation... but decent sound quality.

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the reviewer likes it, btw.

best regards
Christoph
 

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