THRobinson
New member
- Joined
- May 23, 2020
- Messages
- 6
Hey guys... just grabbed an old 1970 Hagstrom LP. In 1970 they were called an LP and for very obvious/legal reasons changed the name to Swede the following year. From the serial though, this is the 3rd one ever made, so that's kinda cool.
It's in very good shape, sadly some original bits like pickups and knobs have gone missing... main issue though is that 80% of the neck binding is gone. Like a Les Paul, although the binding is thinner it also has the nibs on the ends of the frets. The frets on this are in great shape, but literally spaghetti sized. Never seen frets so thin and short. Almost didn't see the nibs they're so tiny.
The guitar finish is debatable... it's thin and you can start to feel the texture of the wood. Not sure if for the first year this is what they did, did it wear down, or was it stripped...
Right now it's sitting waiting for my workshop to be finished before I start anything on it. Just gathering info and feedback for now.
I was trying to find info about the original fret size to see if these are correct, how worn they are etc, when I came across "fretless wonder" frets in '70s Les Pauls and wondered maybe these are the same? I mean, it was a copy afterall.
Anyone have specs on the '70s frets used by Gibson? both fretless wonder and standard?
As much as I want to keep this guitar as original as possible, with as much missing as there is, and if that finish was stripped... then I may as well look at it as a project vs historic restoration, and put some nicer frets in while I'm at it.
It's in very good shape, sadly some original bits like pickups and knobs have gone missing... main issue though is that 80% of the neck binding is gone. Like a Les Paul, although the binding is thinner it also has the nibs on the ends of the frets. The frets on this are in great shape, but literally spaghetti sized. Never seen frets so thin and short. Almost didn't see the nibs they're so tiny.
The guitar finish is debatable... it's thin and you can start to feel the texture of the wood. Not sure if for the first year this is what they did, did it wear down, or was it stripped...
Right now it's sitting waiting for my workshop to be finished before I start anything on it. Just gathering info and feedback for now.
I was trying to find info about the original fret size to see if these are correct, how worn they are etc, when I came across "fretless wonder" frets in '70s Les Pauls and wondered maybe these are the same? I mean, it was a copy afterall.
Anyone have specs on the '70s frets used by Gibson? both fretless wonder and standard?
As much as I want to keep this guitar as original as possible, with as much missing as there is, and if that finish was stripped... then I may as well look at it as a project vs historic restoration, and put some nicer frets in while I'm at it.