Southpa Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 (edited) Well its my first electric guitar and I've owned it since around 1983. I bought it in a private sale, paid $350, I think. I've sold it twice and each time it somehow ended up back in my hands, so I've actually owned it 3 times. Whats that saying? "Let it go and if it comes back its yours." I guess you just can't get rid of some guitars. I've decided to give this guitar a proper once-over as its 40th birthday has arrived. I rarely take it out to play as I prefer playing the ones I built over the past few years. But this guitar deserves some attention. Despite the fact that its fully intact and functional there are some serious issues that have to be addressed. I'm pretty sure everyone's first guitar has been a testing ground of sorts for modifications, refinishing etc. etc. and I admit that the things I have done to this instrument border on butchery. I sanded down the maple neck (including the headstock decal ) and stained it dark red mahogany. I pulled the old worn frets and installed jumbos. At one time I installed an Ibanez neck, this required moving the bridge back so I have a couple holes to fill. OK, confession over. All that happened over 12 years ago. There are some other things like numerous finish cracks emanating from almost all the hardware and pickguard mounting screws. The Hagstrom is made with an unusual I-beam shaped (or H-beam depending how you look at it) truss rod. This definitely does prevent necks from twisting over the years when compared to guitars that have round-shaped trussrods. http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_be...strom%20020.jpg In order to get this odd shaped unit inside the neck must be prebuilt in two halves, sandwiched over the rod and then glued and clamped. I have to reglue and clamp the seam along the central spine of the back of the neck as it is separating. They truly ARE the slimmest necks you will ever encounter in an electric guitar. An overall refinishing of the body to deal with dents, dings, scratches and of course, the cracks, is necessary. It will all be done with lacquer and my main goal is to maintain originality. All the hardware, sliding switches etc. need cleaning. The Hagstrom is a much overlooked guitar. In my opinion they are better constructed than most Japanese knockoffs from that era. They are NOT made of plywood, standard body wood is alder, very lightweight guitar. Swimming pool rout with grounded foil sheilding inside. Thats about it for now, will keep you posted as I progress. Heres a bunch more pics. http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_before/ Edited August 27, 2008 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 Theres something about these old unusual guitars i really love! This ones so abused i'm not sure were i would start, but i'm also guilty of destroying the occasional old & unusual guitar when i was young so we wont hold that against you. I guess really you need to decide what to do with the neck, i would be tempted to spray it black to match the body, it will never be maple again. I would try to find a way to not respray the body - seems silly when everyone pays so much for relic's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slabbefusk Posted January 12, 2007 Report Share Posted January 12, 2007 I lurv Hagstroms. I like the Swede (coincidence) alot, it plays nicely and sounds beefy. That one looks cool too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted January 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2007 Sanded down the neck and opened up the split area. I used a wall paper scraper to open the gap a tad so I could pack some glue in with my fingers. Then clamped it shut. http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_be...strom%20028.jpg The rest has been sanding, sanding, sanding with 60 grit to get back down to bare wood. End grain was real fun but I finally managed to get there. http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_be...strom%20033.jpg http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_be...strom%20036.jpg I'll smooth it down to 320 or 400 then mix an amber dye or stain. I got a line on getting a "Hagstrom III" reproduction decal for the headstock, $20 + shipping, and will slip it in between poly coats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted February 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 6, 2007 (edited) Back on track. Shot a few coats of Minwax poly on the headstock and back of the neck. Totally refurbished and refretted the fingerboard. 40+ yrs old rosewood is mighty brittle and after removing the frets, which had been previously glued in, a lot of repair work had to be done. http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_neck/Neck%20002.jpg If your fret slots are the right size there is absolutely NO reason to glue frets in. Thats why they built them with fret tangs, they act as anchors. Repair work involved gluing back the sizeable chips that popped out as well as mixing CA with the rosewood dust I sanded off the fretboard and filling in most of the smaller ones. The FB had been clearcoated, don't remember if I did it or the previous owner, anyway, its been re-rediused to 12 deg. (the only block I have) starting with 80 grit to 150 and finishing at 220. The original radius was even shallower as I noticed the sides of the fretboard wearing down first. The frets I put in are medium all around, used an aluminum block this time and a hobby hammer to "tap" them in, checking with a straightedge as I moved up the neck. Frets were bent by hand and slightly over bent so the ends don't pop out. Fret ends were abraded flush to the sides of the neck and bevelled with a 6" sharpening stone, time to get a new one. After extensive checking of my work I've realized there is no need to do any levelling or recrowning (yay ). Its the first time I used aluminum for this, its softer than steel and did not damage the surface integrity of the fret crowns, still perfect. Heres a pile of pics of the repair work and refretting. http://www3.telus.net/Alsplace/Hagstrom_neck/ I finished up with a liberal "rubbing in" of pure rosewood oil, (hey, when in Rome...) All that work took me about 1-1/2 hrs. Heres what it looks like now. I still have to cut a nut, haven't checked if I have any bone around. I'll try to take a buttload of pics when the time comes. Next comes the body. Edited February 6, 2007 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 That is a cool vintage guitar, are you going to replace the headstock decal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted February 10, 2007 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 Yes, I will definitely replace the headstock decal with a repro "Hagstrom III" . The serial number is stamped on the neck plate so at least that won't be an issue. I've yet to contact the supplier but I guess I should do it soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElysianGuitars Posted February 10, 2007 Report Share Posted February 10, 2007 i've not had a problem refretting guitars with glued in frets, and all the guitars i've built have glued in frets... an 80w soldering iron with a groove in the tip and some fret pullers do the trick... though i'd imagine the real problem was the 40 year old rosewood... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted February 11, 2007 Report Share Posted February 11, 2007 Cool project Southpa. That guitar reminds me of something Hound Dog Taylor would use for slide. He used cheap Japanese guitars most of his career. (not saying the Hagstrom is a cheapie - that's just what Hound Dog bought). I like it and am looking forward to seeing more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted May 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2007 Can't leave a thread hanging. Now that the weather is better I'm shooting black lacquer on the body. Gloss black can be pretty tough to do, everything shows up so the prep has to be flawless. I'm using rattlecan "plasti-coat" Super Lacquer from the local JB Autobody store. I've used it before and found its pretty good stuff. A little tip to make things spray smoother, let the can sit for 3 to 5 minutes in a warm water bath. Warm lacquer sprays easier because of slightly higher pressure and spreads out better after spraying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted May 6, 2007 Report Share Posted May 6, 2007 Gonna be sweet! I have a big red Swede bass that I should refurbish sometime. Greg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 (edited) Just finished tonight, still have to order a headstock decal but otherwise, the guitar is assembled, setup, intonated, adjusted and playing beautifully. I sanded down to 2000 grit, wish I had finer, and polished with Meguiar's. Look hard enough and you can see very fine swirls, couldn't get it all out. Gloss black is one of the hardest to get perfect. I put a lot of time and effort into this finish but there is always a certain line where you say, "ah, good enough for me", but you have to look REAL close to see what I'm talking about. I also carved a brand new nut out of some of the bone stock that I prepared a few months back, (thats in another thread). I didn't really do anything to the electronics, pickups etc. except cleaning but for some reason this guitar sounds MUCH better than it did before. Here is some EXCELLENT info on "refurbishing" Hagstroms, (or any guitar). The author puts out some very detailed, step by steps on how he tackles some of the nastiest looking guitars. A good source and worth bookmarking for future reference. http://www.hagstromusa.com/John/index.php3...sub_section=153 Edited July 3, 2007 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 3, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 Pic of the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WezV Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 I still think spraying the neck black would have been they way i would have taken it but that certainly does look damn nice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregP Posted July 3, 2007 Report Share Posted July 3, 2007 So nice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted July 4, 2007 Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 (edited) Oh wow, that is an excellent fix up. That thing looks amazing! From the original pics, I wouldn't have imagined it could turn out that nice, really excellent work. I thought the whole fretboard work was simply amazing work, that thing looked completely beat and toast and now it looks great. I think some people will now think twice about tossing a board after making a small mistake or two. I got a kick out of that neck design, I thought it was a cool setup. Would that type of setup be possible now without having to glue two pieces together, in other words could you take a specific shaped bit and cut that shape out of a single piece or would that be impossible? Just curious, I thought it was pretty cool concept. Anyhow, thanks for sharing that was a super cool thread I thought. J Edited July 4, 2007 by jmrentis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 4, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2007 Heres the rundown on how that type of neck originated. http://www.hagstromusa.com/John/index.php3...sub_section=131 It is literally space age technology at work. But as far as DIY at home I don't see it happening. The truss rods are extruded aluminum then threaded and I guess there is a special router bit to make the matching wood profiles in each neck half. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gibsonsg26 Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 didnt reallize how great you made it look until i checked out the before pics. You really breathed new life into that guitar. Great job. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmrentis Posted July 6, 2007 Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 Oh yeah, I forgot to reply about that truss rod and neck. All I got to say is damn! Honestly, I thought you were being sarcastic at first about space age technology and all that because it sounds so crazy compared to the normal threaded hunk of metal with a nut on the end truss rods we see. I gotta say that it sounds like such a cool thing and I hope that these types of technologies can be eventually brought to the DIYers. To me, having a rod that does everything that thing does would be my first choise on a set neck or neck through. As you and the site said you can go thinner than most others, on top of that you won't run into twist. Well, cool stuff, thanks for the link, that stuff was super interesting for sure. And your clean up and repair was top notch. Good stuff! J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 6, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2007 (edited) Thanks for the feedback, I just look at it as something that needed doing. I had lots of time on my hands during those winter months, and I just plodded along one step at a time. You can't rush some things so no need to worry about them. It gives you lots of time to think it over and figure out how to approach those issues. The Haskin's Hagstroms website was a great help at providing very specific info on this guitar. Its not very often where you come across a place that caters specifically to repairing YOUR guitar. Edited August 27, 2008 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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