Hagstrom Super Swede Bass
The Super Swede Bass has not only refined the platinum hits of Abba with its sonorous sound. It also feels right at home in other styles.
One of Hagstrom’s last projects before their Swedish production stopped was a collaboration between their chief guitar designer Per-Åke Olsson and Rutger Gunnarsson, bassist for the Swedish super-group ABBA. This resulted in the Super Swede Bass, which was used by Rutger throughout ABBA’s final North American tour in September/October 1979. Only 364 of these basses were produced before Hagstrom ceased guitar production in Sweden, and over the years they’ve become a sought-after collector’s item.
Hagstrom’s original Super Swede bass had a neck-through design, a feature found typically on more expensive hand-crafted bass guitars. Neck-through basses offer unrestricted access to the highest frets since there is no heel needed to support the neck/body joint, and also tend to have more sustain than traditional set-neck or bolt-on instruments.
Our new Super Swede Bass is an authentic re-creation of this historic model from 1980. A Resinator® fingerboard enhances the sustain of the neck-through design and contributes to the guitars articulate attack. Strings are anchored in place with individual saddles coupled directly to the single massive neck structure providing a foundation for long, piano-like sustain.
Hagstrom’s brand-new J-Quad quad-stacked humbuckers are introduced with the Super Swede Bass. We thought it appropriate to commemorate this historic design with our latest pickup innovation. The J-Quads combine low-noise performance with a broad support of the full tonal spectrum, and just a little extra emphasis on mids and lows for when that extra “growl” is needed.
All Hagstrom electric guitars and basses include our patented H-Expander™ truss rod. Providing tension at both ends and running the entire length of the neck, the rigid yet light-weight alloy truss rod allows for a very low action and thin neck, two factors that were instrumental in earning Hagstrom its reputation as the world’s fastest playing guitar. The H-Expander™ truss rod not only provides ultimate neck stability, but it also contributes to Hagstrom’s unique tone. Longer sustain and a round attack are some of the sonic characteristics the H-Expander™ adds to the tonal essence of Hagstrom.
Hagstrom models use 18:1 or 15:1 gear ratio machine heads based on our own designs to insure accurate tuning. Viking® and HB series basses feature machine heads with a 17:1 gear ratio.
Resinator™ wood is a wood composite material that is both more uniform in density and more stable than any standard wood product. These characteristics eliminate dead spots or “wolf tones” sometimes associated with conventional wood fingerboards. Resinator™ wood has an articulate sound similar to high quality ebony, but without any of the problems associated with ebony. It provides a stable and clear tone, and also adds higher overtones and harmonics which uniquely detail each note. Like our H-Expander™ truss rod, Resinator™ wood is a major contributor to the distinctive “Hagstrom tone”.
| Body | Mahogany |
|---|---|
| Style | Double Cutaway - Original 1980 Super Swede Bass Design |
| Neck | Mahogany |
| Trussrod | H-Expander™ |
| Fingerboard | Resinator™ |
| Scale Length | 34“ (964 mm) |
| Radius | 15" |
| Inlays | Hagstrom Perloid Block Inlays |
| Frets | 20 Medium Jumbo |
| Nut | Graph Tech™ Black Tusq XL |
| Nut Width | 40 mm |
| Pickups | 2 x Hagstrom Design J-Quad - quad-stacked Humbucker |
| Controls | 2 x Volume, 1 x Tone |
| Hardware | Chrome Knobs |
| Bridge | Hagstrom Individual Adjustable Direct-Mount Saddles |
| Tuning Keys | Hagstrom Design 21:1 Tuning Pegs |
| Strings | D'Addario (55-105) |
| Optional Case | B-70 |
| Optional Gigbag | B-40 |
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