I am selling my Hagstrom 1 two-pickup electric guitar, made in Sweden in 1964 or 1965. This guitar was also named the Futurama in Europe and branded as a Kent for distribution in the United States. It has a straight neck, good frets with some wear, working pickups, solid body and neck with no breaks and a few chips and nicks. All original except for the modern vintage style tuners.

The body is made from spruce and is pressed together into a few layers. The back is Vinyl (it was a European thing back in the day) and the front is molded acrylic plastic with white and blue panels. (The pickguard panel is slightly whiter than in the pictures). The light blue plastic mesh is a nod to the days when Hagstom was a world wide accordion manufacturer.

There are some separations in the vinyl covering that I have lightly glued and touched up the bare wood underneath with acrylic paint. It is all stable. I’ve owned a few where the vinyl has been completely stripped and painted or stained - there is lovely wood underneath.

A number of unique to Hagstrom elements to this guitar:

• The neck, called the “King neck” (remains of the sticker can be seen on the back of the headstock) is quite thin and playable and is kept straight with an H shaped adjustable truss rod that is still in use on present-day models.
• The control layout is reminiscent of accordions and has three switches (pickup 1, pickup 2, tone and mute) and a volume control. The switches all work as designed except the mute, which is inactive. I have not been able to figure out why.
• The tailpiece vibrato is a cool and effective design and can be seen on a number of other European and American guitars from the sixties, including Guild and Goya.
• The plastic front panel is a Hagstrom thing and I have not seen it on other brands. The single coil pickups are attached to the panel. The panel itself, and the vibrato, are screwed into the wooden body.
• The wooden bridge is kind of unusual and is somewhat intonated. It is lowered and raised by two screws on the back.

I really like the sound of these Hagstrom pickups, they are bright and expressive and distinct. The neck has the nice bass/mid presence and the bridge is more twangy. Together they muddy up a bit but it is a third distinct sound. The tone button is a cut off, when engaged it takes away a bit of the brightness.

Some tech notes:

Length: 39.5 inches

Lower Bout: 12.5 inches

Nut width: 1.5 inches

Scale: 24.75 inches

Neck Pickup Reading: 7.3, tone 5.0

Bridge Pickup Reading: 8.7, tone on 5.6

Both Pickups: 4.0, tone on 3.2

Will pack professionally and ship quickly.

I’ve described this 60 year old guitar as best as I can with words and images, if you have any questions be sure to ask me before you buy.