Hagstrom fretting

[wade63]

Acquired this interesting solid top and I like the feel and tone. Needs some work though. Very light fan bracing with no bridge plate. But whats up with this fret board? It obviously dives down and I've never seen that on a guitar. I kind of assume it's a botched reset but not totally sure. It could use a reset so that's where I'm going (could be playable without) because I think its a worth while guitar so I'll find out but is it possible this was a design? check out the huge neck block. If interested I'll post pics of the top bracing.[IMG][/IMG] [url=https://imgur.com/XKQEmgw]

[Glen H]

There is a Roger Häggström, Sweden that posts over on Frets.net. Maybe he could tell you about that fretboard.

[packocrayons]

My experience having played a few hagstroms is that they all tend to have that dive. Makes it kind of look like there's an over-tight truss rod sometimes. Causes some issues playing way up the neck, but I am certain the ones I played were not cared for enough to have been sent for a reset.

Whether that's acceptable is up to you/customer, but from my experience, that was the way they were built.

[wade63]

Originally Posted by packocrayons

My experience having played a few hagstroms is that they all tend to have that dive. Makes it kind of look like there's an over-tight truss rod sometimes. Causes some issues playing way up the neck, but I am certain the ones I played were not cared for enough to have been sent for a reset.

Whether that's acceptable is up to you/customer, but from my experience, that was the way they were built.

Thanks, there's not much of a belly amazingly with the light bracing. It's about .040 high on the 12th. I realize it's not high end guitar, maybe it's not worth the trouble. I could squeak it out of the saddle and bridge, lifting just a tad, I've got plenty of resets to practice/fix. I'm into repair. Seems strange that it was built that way. It's not "run off" but an obvious dive. If that's the way it was built then I'd have a tendency to leave it alone.

[wade63]

This looks really hard to reset(see pic 2) anyone do anything like that?

[NotALuth]

Pic 2 shows a good view of the patented Hagström “H” Expander-Stretcher (designed by Saab).

Interestingly, given the OPs question, Hagström aficionados claim “the patented system has never been improved, and its success is demonstrated everyday with the poorest examples of old Hagstrom guitars, maybe worn and bashed in every respect, but still enjoying a thin straight neck!”

[wade63]

Neck is straight...and dives straight into the middle of the bridge