This is an interesting animal, built in Sweden in 71 or 72 by Hagstrom. I've owned it since new after being unable to find a good Les Paul, which at the time were hard to come by. Les Pauls had just gone back into production after almost a decade out of Gibson's lineup. I liked the Swede much better than any of the Pauls I could find, although I've taken flack over the years for playing a Les Paul copy. Sort of like Harleys and Hondas I guess. In any case it proved to be quite a bit different than a Paul and it has been played mercilessly over the years. The pickups have been changed a couple of times (it's now wearing some mid 80s Ibanez active pickups) and it's been refretted a couple of times. The neck was broken during a fit of goofing off on stage and then repaired. This guitar has more actual playing time on it than any other guitar I've ever owned. Interestingly enough Bob Seger is playing one just like it on the Live Bullet album! For those of you interested in trivial details, these guitars were offered in the natural color you see here, as well as black and a transparent red. Again for those of you interested in such things I just got another original early seventies Natural Swede that is totally original including pickups and pickguard - and that's the one we'll be touring with this summer. Hagstom's got some new models out that are pretty nice, but I like these original ones. I'll get pictures up when I get a few moments to shoot some.