Compact is the new cool and the Hagstrom Ultra Max is at the top of the class!
Hagstrom have been responsible for some incredible innovations since they launched their first guitar in 1958. Today, Hagstrom carries on that tradition of innovation with their range of guitars high quality, affordable guitars and basses.
Drawing on the same small body concept of the Ultra Swede, features a slightly larger but better proportioned mahogany body topped with a thick custom carved flame maple top.
The single cutaway body is joined to a mahogany set neck utilizing a mortise and tenon neck joint. Hagstrom turned the guitar world on its head by challenging conventional wisdom about how this classic single cut design should pay and feel. The Ultra Max continues this with a 25.5” scale length which features the H-Expander™ truss-rod and Resinator™ fingerboard.
The 25.5″ scale length is the accepted standard on guitars such as Fender’s Stratocaster and it works beautifully here. The sleek and “ultra-comfortable fast neck” is paralleled with a pair of Custom 60 Alnico-5 pickups with their eloquent Aluminum Brushed covers, delivering the cutting voice that modern guitarists demand.
Mighty Punch and Hot Sizzle
Each of the Ultra Max’s specially wound Custom 60 humbucking pickups draw on the tonal adulation heaped upon the Custom 58 humbuckers and feature Nylon coated wire wrapped around an Alnico 5 magnet. The Custom 60 takes it up a notch however, ultimately packing a mighty punch and hot sizzle giving it a superb soloing voice.
Each pickup is controlled with its own independent Volume pot featuring Hagstrom’s standard R/C circuit on each potentiometer. This innovation helps to articulate the cleaner tones with a slight turn of the pot. The single Master Tone control also features a dual coil split, using its push/pull tone configuration offering players the added versatility to switch from “Full Humbucker Tilt” to “Spanky Single Coil Clean” in a heartbeat. They sound incredible.
Drop Tunings, Flexibilty and Playability
The Ultra Max combines all of the power, long sustain, clarity and attack that the “Ultra Swede” delivers, yet manages to offer a fresh tonal pallet with additional flexibility and comfortable playability with its compact body. With its longer 25.50” scale length the Ultra Max handles drop tunings with ease, where players looking for a slightly slimmed body with a searing tone will have found their long-term mate.
H-Expander Truss Rod
All Hagstrom electric guitars and basses feature the patented H-Expander truss rod.
This innovative and effective method of stabilising a guitar neck provides tension at both ends and running the entire length of the neck. This 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.
Sustain Block Tailpiece
Hagstrom’s unique Sustain Block Tailpiece was the result of design work starting in 1976 and made its first appearance on Swede and Super Swede guitars produced in 1978. Since then it has been a signature feature on many of Hagstrom’s solid body models. Each string terminates in a single, massive brass block coupled directly to the guitar’s body. The blocks are detached from one another to reduce interference between the strings, maximizing each strings unique contribution.
Set Neck
Hagstrom uses a variety of different neck joints throughout their range. Hagstrom’s 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 usually only 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 what has become the highly prized and distinctive “Hagstrom tone”.
Hagstrom Machine Heads
Hagstrom guitars use machine heads based on a design developed for them by New York Luthier, Jimmy D’Aquisto and have been designed to ensure smooth and accurate tuning.
Hagstrom Ultra MAX Specifications:
• SKU: HSULMAXGEB
• Brand: Hagstrom Guitars
• Type: Solid Body Electric Guitar
• Series: Hagstrom Ultra Max Series
• Finish: Golden Eagle Burst
• Body Style: Single Cutaway
• Body Material: Mahogany
• Top material: Custom Carved Flame Maple
• Binding: White Pearloid
• Neck Material: Maple
• Construction: Set Neck
• Truss Rod: H-Expander
• Fretboard Material: Resinator Wood
• Fretboard Radius: R15″
• Frets: 22 Medium Jumbo
• Fretboard position Markers: Pearloid Block Inlays
• Scale Length: 25.50″ (648 mm)
• Nut Material: GraphTech Black Tusq XL
• Nut Width: 43 mm
• Machine Heads: Diecast D’Aquisto Design
• Tuning ratio: 15:1
• Bridge: Long Travel Tune-O-Matic with Hagstrom Stop Tailpiece and Single Brass String Blocks
• Pickups: 2 x Hagstrom Custom 60 AlNiCo-5 Humbucker with Brushed Aluminum Covers
• Pickup Selector: 3-Way Toggle Switch
• Controls: 1 x Vol, 1 x Tone Control with Push-Pull Coil Split
• Strings: D’Addario (10-46)
• Case: Hagstrom Hardshell Case in Tan Tolex with Hagstrom Logo
