1965-66 Hagström 1

This Hagström 1 guitar comes with a body made of laminate board covered with red vinyl, a one piece acrylic front panel with red and gold highlights, two pick ups, four slide switches, a natural finished neck and headstock. All Kent 1 guitars had the Tremar tremolo system. The 22 fret bolt-on birch neck comes with a teak fingerboard. There is a "book" of Hagström serial numbers and this guitar's number, 6391370, identifies it as a Hagström Kent I from batch 639, a model which was manufactured in Sweden from late 1965 to early 1966. It is unit 1370 of 3202 guitars in that batch. My guess due to the lower unit number that it could be from late 1965. But, this is an unusual example because the vast majority of Kent 1 guitars came with a painted black neck and this rare example is finished in clear. Which could identify it as built in 1966 towards the end of Hagström 1 production. So, there's no definitive manufacturing origin date and that's why I've got it listed as manufactured between 1965 and 1966.The guitar has a scale length 622mm (24 1/2 inches), a 22 fret neck with, according to my micrometer measurements, 1.57" at the nut, 1.97" at the 11th fret and 2.06" at the 16th fret where the neck meets the body. The neck depth measurements again from my micrometer are .75" deep at the 1st fret and .77" at the 12th with a 10" radius. The frets are vintage thin.The unusual switch setup starts with two on/off switches for the pickups that allows for individual, both together, or both off. The third switch turns on a tone stack but there is no adjustment. The last switch is a mute that lowers the output of the pickups.There's no trem arm, so unfortunately, I've got no idea how well the Tremar System works. The guitar has got a thin neck with low action. The bridge is teak and plastic but the guitar is well intonated with only the low E a little sharp. There is a significant amount of very cool weather checking on the headstock and down the neck. The neck is thin, the finish on the back is smooth with the aforementioned weather checking and some areas of play wear that I've tried to show in the photos. The frets are in good condition with no buzzing or fretting out. The truss rod works, but I've got it maxed out to get about .006" of relief. There is a tear of the vinyl on the body in the lower cutaway and a couple of stains that I wasn't able to get out, but I didn't want to really scrub it. I've identified those areas in the photos. All of the switches work. The switch panel has an area of paint that's chipped off and the labeling of the switches is intact, but can only be read through the finish at a sharp angle and I've tried to document that in the photos. Some of the screws have been replaced and don't match the rest. There are some stress cracks in the plastic due to age and use, but nothing is chipped or broken and the electronics appear to be in original working condition, but could use some contact cleaner run through them. The tuners work great, have little to no play, and have some really cool looking checking on the buttons. The overall condition is extremely playable, and would only need some detail work to make it look and play even better. It weighs in at a lightweight 6.4 lbs.This is a cool, exciting, and unusual instrument and an easy low action player. If you're interested in a charismatic and eccentric 60's guitar with a lot of character, this Hagström 1 could be for you. It will come with a fresh setup and a set of new D'Addario EXL-110 .010-.046 strings and ready to plug and play. The guitar will come safely packed in a very cool vintage Challenge Geib Chicago chipboard case that will be packed in a guitar appropriate shipping box. Please message me if there is a photo angle you'd like to see or you have any questions. Please, no trades. Make an offer! Buyer pays shipping. Check out my other ads.