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Hagstrom - Cult Guitars - A UK based Appreciation!
Questions and Answers (hopefully) about the great Hagstrom Guitar brand. KEEP IT RELEVANT, CLEAN AND FRIENDLY, ALSO PLEASE DON'T SIMPLY USE THE SITE TO ADVERTISE APART FROM SELLING SPECIFIC RELATED GEAR. (SADLY, OFFENDERS MAY HAVE TO BE BLOCKED) - apart from all that - Have fun! |
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| Viewing Page 1 of 1 (Total Posts: 5) |
| Author | Comment |
Tom_E
Feb 6, 08 - 5:51 PM |
12s on a Viking?
Hello, Does anyone here string their vintage Vikings with 12s? I've been stringing my 1N like that for about a year and my Viking I that way for about 6 months, and I'm starting to wonder if it's causing a hump in the body. I know the body is an archtop design, but I've noticed lately that on both guitars the rear pickup seems to be higher on the neck side than the bridge side and the front pickup neck side is lower than the bridge side. It seems that the top of the arch is between the two pickups. Is this normal, or should the pickups be straight across their tops? Neither guitar has any finish checking or structural cracking/buckling, so maybe I'm just fretting over nothing? Any information would be appreciated. Thanks, Tom |
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Tom_E
Feb 7th, 2008 - 1:53 PM |
Re: 12s on a Viking?
Ok, after further review, the mounting rings on my Viking I just needed to be reversed. It appears that Hagstrom took into account the arched top of their guitars (imagine that) and beveled the bottoms of the mounting rings. So, by simply reversing the rings everything is fine. On the 1N Viking, the pickups were simply sticking in their rings, which left them at a bit of a funny angle. Yeah, I feel a bit silly… T |
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David Cox (Hagstrom.org.uk)
Feb 7th, 2008 - 4:53 PM |
Re: 12s on a Viking?
Don't feel silly - ya knows what ya knows... and there will be some that didn't, but do now! 
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Tim Webster
Feb 8th, 2008 - 12:41 PM |
Re: 12s on a Viking?
Perfectly intelligent question, don't feel silly Tom!  Viking 1Ns have a solid center block, just like Gibson 345s etc. So theoretically you can put whatever heavy gauge jazz strings on it you fancy. I'd be carefull about putting any heavier than 12s on it though... Viking 1s (single coil pickups, six-in-line tuners) do not have a center block, so be very careful about putting heavy strings on em! As for Viking 12-strings, forgeddaboutit! |
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Tom_E
Feb 8th, 2008 - 4:00 PM |
Re: 12s on a Viking?
Thanks for the kind words, folks. I do feel marginally less silly now...  Actually, on my 1N, it looks like the guitar has a 2 inch by ½ inch piece of wood running the length of the inside of the back of the body. I'd consider it more of a bracing than a solid center block as it doesn’t contact the top of the body. The Viking 1 doesn't have this strip of wood, just the block under the bridge. I was actually impressed by the reinforcement in the neck pocket area on the Viking 1. It's pretty much solid from in front of the front pickup to the pocket. I'm not sure if they all are like this, or if it was an evolution due to the buckling experienced on the 12-string models. The Viking 1 does certainly flex more under the strain of 12s than the 1N does. This is evident by the number of re-tunings required before the guitar finally settles in. The 1N pretty much tunes right up. I'll probably keep the 12s on the 1N and start running 11s with a wound 3rd (for proper intonation) on the Viking 1. No use straining the old gal more than necessary. Cheers! Tom_E |
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