Hagstrom F20T

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 6:23 am

Came in today. These are pretty cool and pretty cheap most of the time. Nice wide U shape neck. Cool synthetic fretboard that mimics ebony. Stock pickups aren't bad. I might try something different. The Neck pickup sounds pretty good, but the bridge feels a little to middy for me. Might do different knobs also and maybe a white pickguard.

20150831_202329 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20150831_202336 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:08 pm

Put some different knobs on. (Same ones I used for my Silver Pony.) I like 'em better than the bright white speed knobs.

I have some GFS Ferrite Gold Foil pickups coming in. (The humbucker sized single coil with magnet on the side.)

20150901_160304 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20150901_160238 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

20150901_160256 by Christopher Louck, on Flickr

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Tue Sep 01, 2015 11:10 pm

Nice guitar!

Those knobs are tits, good choice. Goldfoils in that should be boss too!

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 7:01 am

Always been curious about these. Reckon a Strat neck would fit on there?

ekwatts · Post by **ekwatts** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 8:38 am

Noirie. wrote:Always been curious about these. Reckon a Strat neck would fit on there?

Route looks like it extends too far into the body, so probably not. Really don't understand why you'd even ask that question though, it already has a neck and it looks like a fine neck. Just put humbuckers on a strat?

Interestingly, it looks like it has the same sort of fulcrum trem that modern Burns guitars use. The one on my Batwing is the most stable trem I've ever used when it's set up properly.

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 9:31 am

New knobs look great on it. How does it play?

Is the Kraken/octopus on there a sticker or painted on?

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 2:56 pm

The decal is just vinyl.

The pocket looks like a tele shape more than strat. I wouldn't change out the neck. It is really nice. No sharp fret ends and the profile is a lot like Japanese Fenders which are my personal favorites. Only difference is it feels slightly wider with slightly wider string spacing because of it. It plays very well. Pots feel solid. Sturdy turn, not sloppy easy to bump. The toggle seems fine. No static or noise. The strat style trem is interesting. It is like a thin plate that the tremolo rests against. Underside is pretty much like a strat. Strings rest on threaded poles to height adjust and hex keys let you slide the pieces forward and back kind of like a bronco.

Very comfortable. I am interested to see how the new pickups change the sound. Stock pickups are fine, but kind of generic and uninteresting to me. (Aside from the neck, that is pretty good honestly.)

NickS · Post by **NickS** » Wed Sep 02, 2015 7:55 pm

Thomas wrote:Is the Kraken/octopus on there

Or is it Cthulhu?

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 1:21 am

I love Hagstrom, but these are so meh, they meh at meh, meh meh. Sorry I lost my train of meh.

timhulio · Post by **timhulio** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 1:25 am

I had one of these a time ago because it looked like a proper Hagstrom, was fuckin weak.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 3:45 am

NickS wrote:
Thomas wrote:Is the Kraken/octopus on there
Or is it Cthulhu?

Yup!

Fran · Post by **Fran** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:06 am

Like the look of some modern Hagstrom models but they seem overpriced to me. Plus I take what timhulio says as gospel on anything concerned with Hagstrom.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 11:45 am

Funny shaped epiphones aside, I would assume it's harder to make a strat copy more interesting than a simple HH config. Also Tim's had that horrible strat jack inside the pickguard where HNB's looks more correct.

HNB · Post by **HNB** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 2:19 pm

I know the tremolo is more like a strat than Hagstroms that are vintage would have, but I have a guitar with that tremolo and I kind of like this one better personally. I didn't buy it because I wanted a vintage one. I got it because I like the neck shape, color, pickup configuration, location of parts (pots, switch, and jack) and because it was under $200. There aren't a lot of under $200 that feel this quality to me. Only stuff I currently have in that range are a couple Affinity Tele's and a Jagmaster. Honestly this one feels more expensive and more solid. Smoother frets, nicer neck shape (in my taste), better bridge and electronics, solid tuners.

Basically is it vintage or top end? Nope. Do I regret getting it or feel like I wasted money on it?

Noirie. · Post by **Noirie.** » Thu Sep 03, 2015 3:11 pm

ekwatts wrote:Really don't understand why you'd even ask that question though, it already has a neck and it looks like a fine neck. Just put humbuckers on a strat?.

Looks cool as fuck.