HAGSTROM ULTRA MAX

A sleek, versatile Scandanavian weapon

- Stuart Williams

It’s been 15 years since Swedish guitar manufacturer Hagstrom was revived, and the brand shows no sign of slowing down. Since Hag’s second coming, we’ve grown familiar with a number of features that are unique to one of the 1970s best-loved guitar companies: the Resinator fingerboard (made of wood composite for consistency), the H-Expander truss rod (allowing for a thinner, yet stable neck), Sustain Block Tailpiece (individual brass terminators to bulk-up string resonance) and well as those signature 18:1 machine heads. These features form the basis of many Hagstrom guitars, but rather than simply reissuing the vintage models of yore, Hagstrom has also introduced a number of new guitars in the last few years.