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NBD - Hagstrom Super Swede that met with disaster

GypsyBilly

GypsyBilly

Supporting Member
Jan 9, 2020
269
686
Cleveland, OH
#1
I have been looking to try the reissue of the Hagstrom Super Swede, but there don't seem to be many around these parts, nor on Reverb / eBay, etc. I wasn't willing to buy one new for $1400 without ever seeing one in real life, so when a used one under $500 popped up on GC, I immediately ordered it. After several days of the order status not changing, I called the store in Texas where it was located only to find out it "fell off the bass wall" so they weren't sure if I still would want it. I asked them to take pictures and have it inspected for non-cosmetic damage, then sent the report to me and I would decide the next steps. After waiting a few days for the photos, and two more calls to TX, I got the photos and the assurance that nothing major was busted. The photos showed a bass that looked like someone threw it down the stairs, so I offered $100. They countered $200. Figuring the hard case alone was worth $100, I said OK.

A week later I got the bass in hand, took it home, reseated/ replaced screws in the tuners and bridges that had pulled loose, cleaned it up, did a quick setup. I used a furniture marker to touch up the gouges and bumps to make it at least presentable.

It's not a bad bass, not remarkable, but definitely worth more than $200. The neck is very straight, the truss rod works (strangely, but it turns), so I'm going
to play with it awhile and see if grows on me. I took off the chromes it came with and installed a set of D'A medium light nickels I had laying around. It weighs in at a svelt 7# 7 ounces, a feather next to my Warwicks LOL.
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#2
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#5
WayneP said:
Shoot, those cool tuners are worth the price of admission!

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

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Exactly what I was going to say!

I'd take that bass for $200 any day, especially with the free relic job! Nice score right there.
 
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#8
Gopherbassist said:
It looks like something more happened to that thing than that it fell. Does the damage seem to be only cosmetic so far?
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The tiny screws holding a couple of the tuners were pulled loose, so I plugged the holes and re-installed the screws on all 4 tuners, and I replaced the screws holding the monorail bridges down. On two of them, the heads were too small and weren't holding the bridge down tightly to the body. Otherwise (other than cosmetic), everything seems perfect. Tuners work smoothly, not even bent. I think if a person was looking for Jazz Bass-type instrument, it would fit the bill and then some. The neck is super straight, but relaxing the truss rod seems not to change the relief as much as raise the action. Since the bridge saddle on the G is bottomed out, I have to keep the truss rod where it's at. String height on the G is just over 2mm at the 12th fret, relief is almost zero, so I probably can't tighten the truss too much more without getting back bow. BTW, the magnets in the pickups are very strong - pulls my Allen key out of my hand LOL.
 
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#9
Those super Swedes are just awesome looking bass guitars. And you're right they're getting to be as rare as hen's teeth. I have the Viking hollow body it's a cool bass guitar and with the dual humbuckers and multifunction switch it gets a lot of different sounds. I agree with you about the H expander truss rod that Hagstrom uses. it's weird, it feels like it's not doing anything but it is. I've never been able to find out a lot of information on exactly how it works but I know they have used that same design for a very long time . Not a lot of hagstroms but maybe three or four over the course of my playing years and all of them seemed like they performed better when the neck was almost dead flat with very little or no relief.

That's that seems like a pretty good score hope it works out.
 

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