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I've always been strictly into Fenders. I dig the look of most gibsons, and obviously plenty of great guitarists manage to sound great with em. But the shorter scale, uncomfy neck/body shape and weight, the flat fretboard, lacquered neck, the beefy and dark yet unforgiving sound of humbuckers in a mahogany guitar...They always made me go back to teles and jazzmasters.

But the more serious I'm getting about the idea for my sludge/doom project, the more I'm thinking a darker heavier guitar with humbuckers would make a lot of sense. It's a simple fact that humbuckies tend to squeeze more gain/grit/balls/whatever out of an amp or pedal, which is one of the few things I sometimes miss in my fenders.

I'm still on the fence about the looks of this, I'm usually not into guitars that copy a famous design and add/change a couple of akward looking details:

http://www.hagstromguitars.eu/index.php ... &Itemid=22

I think the fretboard radius is still as large as on gibsons, if not larger, but when I read about the 25.5 scale and the coil tap I kinda went

My buddy just got the regular Swede model, and it sounded GREAT acousticly, which says a lot about an electric guitar imo. Flawless in terms of overal fit and finish, could find the smalles trace of inferior build quality, which is more than I can say about the last Gibsons I had my hands

I haven't compared the specs, but it also seemed a bit less bulky thick and heavy than the Les Pauls I used to have/try.

If I can over the aesthetics and focus on the feel and sound, I might as well even consider the F-hole'd version.

A brand new one wouldn't be super cheap considering it's still made in china (the horror!). Plus, I think other LP alternatives like epiphones, cost a bit less and they probably hold their value a bit better. Which is always a concern for an indicisive GAS patient with the attention span of a 4 year old

Right now this Super Swede, and a Tokai ES-60 (the only gibson model I really really dig for some reason), is all I've got in mind. I'm all out of ideas...

I don't suppose anyone knows of any other affordable Les Paul styles electrics that have the 25.5" scale length?

I feel like something PRS might be right up your alley if you dig the styling.

I'm considering the Hagstrom *dispite* its styling actually, and imo PRS guitars are even further from the classic LP style...

I guess It's kinda a shame that I automatically associate PRS with douchy hard rock and nu-metal though, for all I know there's a lovely instrument beneeth that obnoxious exteriour...

You aren't the only one that feels that way.

i dig my hagstrom guitar. its an xl-5, which isn't on their site anymore, so not sure if they still make it. but the slim neck is really nice to play, and it has a coil tap switch that gives u hum buckers or single coils.

Some of these are 25.5 scale, and I feel like they fall in an interesting place between Fender style and Gibson style, without really being too much of either. Fretboard radius seems a lot smaller, and I know that's a big deal to most people. A bit rounder than the Hagstroms it seems like.

I'm kind of lustful for the HB-8.

8 string, shortscale, bass.
Internet consensus seems to be that vintage ones are awesome but the reissues are crap.

I've got a Deuce F - swapped in some Dimarzio 36th annis and Grover tuners. Love it.

ive been buggin john bout hagstrom for a bit
the pat smear model is my dream boat
tried a bunch of old'uns at main drag
right up my alley
right between weirdo japaneses
and american rock machine
do i
and then tell us yay or nay

I'd give my kidney for a super swede bass

I'm a fan

These are the only Hags I have at the moment, but I've also owned the F200, Super Swede, D2F, and a second Select Ultra Swede like the one in the pic on the left. The Super Swede was amazing...best fit and finish of any of the Hags I've owned (although they're all very good) and incredibly versatile sounding. I think the Deuce is also 25.5" scale. I ultimately sold the SS because it was so freaking heavy, and I have two other 25.5" scale guitars I'm more attached to.

I upgrade the pickups, tuners and bridge if I'm going to use them for anything more than a beater around the house. They're a great value for the money, especially if you find them used. Like any guitar, play it first if you can...

ryan summit wrote:ive been buggin john bout hagstrom for a bit
the pat smear model is my dream boat
tried a bunch of old'uns at main drag
right up my alley
right between weirdo japaneses
and american rock machine
do i
and then tell us yay or nay

Dude, that Pat Smear is pretty nice.
For some reason though, my brain wants to reverse the headstock.

But way classy, man!

i have an old (1975 i think?) swede. it had a bombproof finish until i stripped it... it's a cool guitar, but nothing too fancy to depart it from "les paul-alike" ... except the tone switch, which was borderline useless.

The new ones are solid imports, and have some of the fastest necks you'll play. Fretboards are smooth as glass, and the attack is just a hair less bright to my ears than a good ebony board. The electronics in them on the other hand are cheap, and need to be upgraded.

I'm getting ready to yank the wiring and pups on my Viking Tremar and replace with a Gibby style 50's set up with some good pio caps and such, and slap in a set of BG Pure 90's or maybe some Lollar Gold Foils, raise the action a touch, and convert it into my slide/open tuning/surf guitar. The neck pup started getting dodgy within the first year of me owning it (cutting out and sounding weak).

Stock humbuckers are serviceable, but nothing to write home about.

Just blew my Hagström budget on a couple of fuzz peds

They're easy enough to flip when I eventually come across a used Super Swede though