Hagstroms Viking is established as the most versatile semi-hollow guitar on the market today, delivering a wide variety of tonal color to an incredible diversity of musical styles. A natural step for us was to extend the Viking's voice to a deep, resonant baritone.

Many guitarists consider a baritone instrument to be somewhat limited and narrow in its application, but Hagstrom's Viking Baritone shatters this stereotype. Two entirely new Hagstrom pickups were developed specifically for the Viking Baritone's rich acoustics, adding shading and enhancement to deliver a broad spectrum of sonic colorings. In the bridge position we find Hagstroms new Custom 58'C, a semi-open-coiled humbucker voiced to enhance the ringing clarity native to the Viking, even in its lowest sub-registers.

Sitting in the neck position is Hagstrom's new P-Urified pickup, a specially designed full-humbucking-sized P90 pickup, adding warmth and openness while keeping lower frequencies tight and controlled. The result is a tonal continuum from clean and classic 1960's sounds, to "Spaghetti Western" twang, through the overdriven crunch of the 1970's and 1980's and on to the "ber-Driven" tones demanded by today's players. All of these sounds are built on top of the Viking Baritone's gorgeously deep, distinctive acoustic voice.

VIKING DELUXE BARITONE STANDARDS:

H-Expander
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 worlds fastest playing guitar. The H-Expander truss rod not only provides ultimate neck stability, but it also contributes to Hagstroms unique tone. Longer sustain and a round attack are some of the sonic characteristics the H-Expander adds to the tonal essence of Hagstrom.

Set Neck
Hagstrom uses a variety of different neck joints throughout our range. Our set-neck recipe is the classic and time-tested Mortise and Tenon joint, a design that most efficiently transfers string energy from neck to body, and can often only be found on more expensive custom-built guitars. A team of experienced and dedicated craftsmen hand carves every neck joint, insuring perfect execution of this traditional technique preferred by luthiers for generations.

Resinator Wood
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".

Hagstrom Machine Heads
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.