Hagstrom Guitars
Ha gström Gitar |
Thanks for the last 20yrs or so! |
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From Feb 04 you can read
Hagstrom's history based on Michael Wright's (In the process some mysteries may be resolved, and amendments made to this page) Hagstrom / Bjarton / España / Goya / Westbury / Rosetti / Matsumoko Univox / Crucianelli et al... Home Page Hagstrom
History Page Main Acoustic Page
Other Brands I shall probably start a few tongues wagging with this little episode, but I can take it, at the least we should try and get some thoughts and ideas together on the different views about the title above! Beyond the known mysteries surrounding the acoustic Hagstrom models discussed in other pages here, there have been quite a few enquiries passed my way which involve the Hagstrom connection with España. Let’s consider España - part of the Buegeleisen & Jacobson of New York City story. B&J, founded around 1901, brought the España brand into the United States and Canada. They imported a variety of instruments from overseas made to B&J specifications, marketed through various wholesalers and distributors in North America. As a pure trader with a long established name focused on a few proprietary brand-names, they didn't need to worry about manufacturing or warranties - a trading basis still popular with many brands and industries today. It is possible a guitar might have had a variety of names to choose from, as many had a name attached only on arrival in the country of sale, depending on the ultimate distribution company! Much the same happened with Hagstrom in Scandinavia, as Hagstrom acoustic Guitars were not made by Hagstrom, and many of us have seen very early models marked Hagstrom Made in Oslo!
< Left - A Finland made (Landola) España dreadnought acoustic.
And here's the proof of it being Landola. Thanks to Derrick Frilund for the original photos, go see a larger version by clicking on this picture left.
So, B&J’s European guitars were often branded
España, first appearing in 1961-1967 for Swedish-made classical guitars
supplied by Hagström, and made by
The name España itself was B&J’s reply to Hershman’s acoustic guitars made in Sweden by Carlsson (Levin) and sold in the States under the Spanish sounding name Goya. B&J used the reputation Levin had established for Swedish guitars, and chose this equally Spanish sounding name! B&J couldn’t get enough of these guitars, so instruments from Finland were sourced to develop the España brand for B&J. Hagstrom established this link as they distributed the guitars in their own retail stores throughout Scandinavia, putting a Hagstrom label inside. There is no secret in contracting out some production, everyone does it, its just interesting for owners so many years down the line... It's hardly a matter of 'trade secrets' or anything this far down the line? It is thought that Bjarton's involvement was only a year or so, but an awful lot of "Made in Sweden" sticker-labels come my way in the pursuit of answers to questions by owners! Also not just classical models - (See above) To back up this theory, here is an España classical guitar which is for sale at "More Music" Maple Street, Santa Cruz...
Now take a look at this Hagstrom Guitar from Belgium. Andre Dejonghe, the owner since 1965, contacted me for information, and I am very pleased he did...
So, unless someone went to the trouble of swapping an España neck onto a
Bjarton body at some stage, I can only assume this neck was made or at least
assembled at Bjarton! The bridge too, is identical in this Hagstrom branded
model as the España brand above, and again this is different to the normal
Bjarton acoustic bridge... and yet the Hagstrom labels:
One is very small and just says "Made
in Sweden". The other one is much bigger and says: "bjarton
musikinstrumentfabrik bjarnum" "Hagstrom"
"albin hagstrom inc. alvdalen" "made
in sweden" and, in blue ink handwriting, "3499H". Another FENDER Connection
In the States Hagstrom sold thousands to Fender, who marketed them under the name Tarrega from 1962 until June -1966, stock was available in USA until around 1969. These models - a flat top (FT108), 2 Concert models (FT110 FT111), and 5 Grand Concert models (FT112-116) were named after the famous Spanish classical composer Fransisco Tarrega who died in 1909. (Had to be Spanish didn't it...) The other main export was to - yes - the B&J company who used – yes – the
name España. Similarly, Crucianelli
semi-acoustic guitars sold in the States and Canada with the España logo, and
maybe back in Scandinavia with Hagstrom – or even no-name at all on them! Crucianelli??
The Finnish ones had a glued-in neck and a crown logo. Other than that both ranges were virtually the same. Which ones arrived in the United States isn't certain. The Finnish España electrics are more commonly shown in B&J catalogues and old adverts, but Crucianelli ones are more likely to be found on the vintage market from what I gather. It also appears that the semi acoustics made to the same specifications can have be branded Elite, Crucianelli or Tonemaster! Now back to Hagstrom… Crucianelli double cutaway guitars are quite common in Sweden. As I said earlier, Hagstrom, the big local guitar manufacturer, was also a leading distributor, running Sweden's largest chain of music shops, with subsidiaries in Norway and Denmark.
Acoustic guitars made by the Bjärton company, and semi-acoustic guitars from Italy made by Crucianelli. Bjarton did make some early semi-acoustics – some even with Hagstrom’s 1958 patented “hi-fi chassis” module, but things had moved on since that idea, and they were not to be involved again until the Viking emerged.
España semi-acoustic pic courtesy of Ellen Kelly
...and here are some Italian example pictures (courtesy of Kurt Arseneault, Nova Scotia Canada):
Then there was James D'Aquisto... but that story is covered in many other places so I shall just leave you to digest, or spit out the bits you disagree with... and I look forward to your continued e-mails - preferably with pictures so we may sort a bit more of the puzzle if we can! (To be continued)...
Westbury and Hagstrom, Univox and Matsumoko Here’s a brief history… There was a link between Westbury and Hagstrom – but only through another importer to USA and Canada at one time - Merson. Because of the amalgamations and takeovers in the 70’s/80’s that’s as close as I can get… As for Univox guitars, from 1978 they were built by the Matsumoko factory in Japan. Matsumoko were suppliers to Aria, Westbury, Westone, Epiphone, Fender Japan to name a few. Matsumoko closed in 1988 following a massive fire. Korea's Samick Musical Instruments then stepped in to absorb most of the former production models. Try the website: http://www.univox.org/ to learn the whole story.
Now, who was it who made those Japanese prototype Hagstroms before they decided to close up? (Kwinn: time to tell the story please) Oh yes... now who made the early Univox keyboards? Answer: Crucianelli of Italy!
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| There's nothing like a REAL original Swedish made Hagstrom (and there are loads around), but if it 'floats your boat', or you can't find an original then who are we to say? | |
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Plenty has been said already and |
(Feb
04) I have learned that Hagstrom did commission guitars from Norway in
the '50s in quite large quantities. These were not necessarily to the high
standard of construction that later came from Bjarton or that which would later
be supplied as España from Landola. These
were simply to fill the need in those early days of Hagstrom retail.
Enter
Hagstrom with
Buegeleisen & Jacobson. B&J and Hagstrom
had been in relationship as early as 1932, as Hagstrom was already looking for
opportunities to export it's production of accordions to the USA. Much later B&J
electric guitars, were Japanese-made instruments sorted between the
Winston entry level, and
Kent medium to pretty good quality,
regardless of the actual manufacturers Guyatone,
Teisco, Kawai... then later, Hagstrom
made Kent models for a while… 
Bjarton
and then longstanding Finnish manufacturer
Responsible
for all Bjarton's exports, Hagstrom was the hub of a large transatlantic trade
network. Acoustic guitars made by Bjarton were sold worldwide with the Hagstrom
logo. 
