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Hagstrom Viking Bass Reissue.

#21
ptdarkone ---

How are you enjoying the Hag Viking bass? Are you hanging on to it or ready to part with it and move on to the next GAS?

Thanks!


ptdarkone said:
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".
Click to expand...
 
#22
Your Viking Basses Tone Controls?

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Hi!

Just got my Viking(wild cherry transparent) from Thomann on monday. Like it very much, but there is one a little bit weird thing on this bass.
Those two tone controls are working at the same time for both of the pickups! For example neck pickup soloed(humbucking) rolling off treble from "so called" neck pickup tone and then rolling off "so called" bridge pickup tone and it is affecting neck pickup sound too. And same thing for bridge pickup both tone controls affects the sound.
And tried white one on local music store here in Helsinki Finland, same thing. So had to ask from you guys how is your Vikings tone controls are working? same thing maybe? So it is not fault it is quality.
Just thought it should work like on those guitar versions if i choose neck pickup, ONLY the neck pickup tone control is affecting on neck pickup etc.

Thanks

Jussi
 
#23
Can anyone tell me how much the bass weights?
Cause I have the FXB-520 from hagstrom, which is a very nice bass, but it is a heavy weight! I was thinking about buying me a new bass and the viking seems to be a nice choice.
 
#28
I just put on Daddario ECB 81 Chromes (Long Scale) yesterday and that works very well. The sound is awesome now.

On this occasion I recognized some deficiencies of the bass.

  • The construction of the trapeze tail piece holding the ball ends of the strings seems to be a predetermined breaking point. The metal pieces are only glued together (not very clean since the glue ran all over the metal, you don't see it unless you look under the trapeze).The string holding part only has contact to the tail piece at the two outer positions and I don't think they will withstand many string changes.
  • The ball end holding metal piece has already deformed at the G-String position. I don't dare to bend it back into position with a tong since I think the whole construction will break then.
  • One machine head was loose and wobbling after removing the string and had to be fastened. Not a big deal but I never had this on any instrument before.

I think with flatwounds I don't have to change the strings often. There is another thread around here where this construction already broke up. The quality control seems to be a victim of the low price policy.
 
#29
In the meantime I have some more information about the build quality of the trapeze. The connection between the trapeze and the string holding metal piece fortunately only looks glued but is in fact welded at three points of the construction. The one I received seemed to have contact only at two positions so I assume one already broke up. This problem already is knwon at Hagstrom and I was told that there are replacement trapezes with a continuous welding which can be ordered if a trapeze gets broken.
I already know of three models of the black series with the problem of the "tooth" of the string holding metal piece bending towards the neck.
Soon I'll get another replacement bass which was inspected by sight by a member of the music shop before delivery. I will report on that one.
 
#32
bassmatiker said:
In the meantime I have some more information about the build quality of the trapeze. The connection between the trapeze and the string holding metal piece fortunately only looks glued but is in fact welded at three points of the construction. The one I received seemed to have contact only at two positions so I assume one already broke up. This problem already is knwon at Hagstrom and I was told that there are replacement trapezes with a continuous welding which can be ordered if a trapeze gets broken.
I already know of three models of the black series with the problem of the "tooth" of the string holding metal piece bending towards the neck.
Click to expand...

The only issue I have with mine is indeed the trapeze tailpiece string anchors. One is bent, and may not hold up for long. I just want a replacement piece. I love the bass otherwise.
 
#33
I bought one of these on a whim a few months back. I haven't owned a hollow body bass since my first bass which was a Japanese Ideal copy of a Hofner back in 1967. I smashed it up doing an impression of the Who the next year when I got a Precision Bass! I wanted the Viking in sunburst but none were available. I got the cherry red which reminds me of a Gibson. Very nice looking bass. As I've been playing Fenders for more than forty years, I was a bit disappointed by the E string response. It's not floppy, but it makes a real clacking sound when plucked enthusiastically. Which I still do most of the time. I put on the long scale, light gauge D'addario Chromes (they fit just right even though the bass is medium scale). The bass sounds better to me with flat wounds as the overtones from the round-wounds weren't all that present in any of the pick up configurations. The E string response is better with these strings but still lacking, in order to stop the clacking you would have to raise the action so high, it wouldn't be very inspiring to play. The bridge does not have individual height adjustment saddles so you have to raise the whole unit from either side. Not my favorite setup. By the way, I agree that the pick up selector is the weakest link on this bass. It's a very cheap part and the one on mine was falling off when I got it. I've retightened it, but if you turn it a little past it's last click in either direction, get out the wrench! On the plus side, it is fun to play a shorter scale bass, it has some nice tones and it records well.
 
#34
The ball end holding metal piece has already deformed at the G-String position. I don't dare to bend it back into position with a tong since I think the whole construction will break then.
Click to expand...

I've had this exact same problem too. Changed the strings about a week before I was due to gig with it for the first time (I have only owned it about 6 weeks), and the day before the gig noticed the metal around the G string was bent and the string looked ready to pop out. Bloody good job I noticed otherwise there could have been a bit of a disaster on stage if that popped out. :eek:

Really nice bass, but the quality for what you pay for it is not up to scratch. You don't expect this to happen the first time you change strings. If the tension was to cause anything to break it should be the string, not the metal! :rollno:

The shop said that Hagstrom know about this fault and they are sending out replacement tailpieces.
 
#36
I have a cherry red Hagstrom Viking bass - nowhere does it say "Concorde"?? It's an extremely versatile bass for a hollowbody. It outsmarts my old Ibanez Artstar completely. I had to get this, and I could not really afford it - but I tried it 4-5 times, and in the end I gave in to its character and charm as an instrument. It's a very personal bass i think. The switch between coils and humbucking is ingenious! I love this bass!
 
#40
Well - I hope that we all have a sense of humor. Some guy actually fixed the problem!!!!!!!!!!! In the process he probably spent more than the bass cost him from the start.

This is long - but you got to watch it all. I love it when the cutting machines start to bite into metal "Screeeee"

But - he was spot on for the fix!!!!

 

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