The Norwegian Hagstrøm guitar

This page is about the “forgotten” Hagstrøm history, about the acoustic guitars made at a barn at Ammerud, outside of Oslo, Norway. During the years 1947 till about 1962 more then 50.000 guitars were made.
(Collection and documentation -  Asgaut Steinnes (C) 2008)

In 1928 the first Hagstrøm subsidiary outside of Alvdalen, Sweden, was established in Oslo. The company was registered as A/S. A. Hagstrøm. The store in Oslo was alone to import and sell Hagstrøm products on the Norwegian market. During the 1950s several Hagstrøm Musikk stores were established in Norwegian cities such as Stavanger, Bergen, and Tromsø. Following World War II many goods were banned from import to Norway, among other it was very difficult to get hold of musical instruments. This was one of the most important reasons why Hagstrøm started to produce acoustic guitars in Norway. This started in 1947 at a barn at Ammerud in Groruddalen outside of Oslo.  

 

The factory (1947)

Other Norwegian Guitars (page in Norwegian)

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See brochoure from Hagstrøm Musikk A-S from 1960
(thanks to Mikael Jansson)

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The Twins These are the first two Hagstrøm guitars to my collection.  To the right is a Model 15, serial no: 27602. This was bought from a man at The Isle of Wight (UK). And while the guitar was on its way to me in Norway I came across the guitar to the left at Fretex, a thrift store at Sandnes, Norway. It is a Model 15 serial no: 3419.

The guitar production in Norway is barely mentioned in the official Hagstrøm history. At "The Hagstrom Offical Web Site" the Hagstrøm Company’s origin, the accordion production is described. At the beginning of the 50s the demand for accordions was declining and they started to produce their own guitars at the factory in Alvdal, Sweden. Hagstrøm, Sweden produced the first guitar in 1958, an electric guitar – almost a copy of a Gibson Les Paul 1957.  In 1983 all production of Hagstrøm guitars in Sweden ceased, after having produced 128.538 electric guitars and electric basses. Swedish Hagstrøm acoustic guitars are also sold, however these were produced at a factory called Bjarton. The production in Oslo is not mentioned in the official Swedish Hagstørm history.(Read more Norwegian Hagstrøm history here)

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The Hagstrøm guitars produced in Oslo were equipped with various soundhole labels. There is nothing to suggest that a soundhole label was used with a particular model. It might say something about when the guitar was produced. From the look of the labels it seems that the two labels to the right in the collection above are the youngest. Elements from these labels can be found in later Hagstrøm acoustic guitars produced in Sweden (Bjarton).

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The Hagstrøm quartet (my first four)

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 In the ad (atop of the page) taken from the Norwegian weekly magazine “Norsk Ukeblad” in January 1948 we see that the Model 15 is a so-called Spanish model, while Model 16 is called a "standard model".  Hagstrøm Musik had its own financing company offering the buyer to pay the guitar in instalments of NOK 5, - or 10, - a month. This was advertised in the magazines and the guitars were bought through mail order. The Hagstrøm factory in Oslo probably produced mostly Model no. 15 and 16. The Model "Rosita" resembles these, but has a different headstock. A smaller amount of "finer" archtop-guitars such as orchestra guitars with ‘f’ hole, jazz guitars, and acoustic basses and contrabasses were also produced as well as a small number og mandolins.     

Model no. 16

This is called the standard model, according to the ad it was the cheapest model, costing NOK 150,- in 1948. Measurement of the body is 34 cm x 46 cm x 8 cm. It is slightly smaller than a Model 15.  Model 16/B and Model 16/K was build with back, body sides and soundboard  in good Finnish birch plywood.  16/B had at total length of 93 cm and 16/K a total length of 95 cm. 16/G was a finer model with back and body sides out of Finnish birch, and a curved soundboard made of exquisite resonance-spruce.    Here are 3 examples from my collection:

 

         
                                                               mod. 16-77 snr. 8622       mod. 16-42 snr. 4936    mod. 16  srn. 17753                                                                      

Model no. 15

This model is called a "spanish" model by the producer. The size is 38 cm x 48 cm x 9 cm. In 1948 this was sold for NOK 170,-. In the 1948 advertisement it was said that the guitar is made from "Exquisite materials." Model 15 has back and body sides made of good Finnish birch, the top made of exquisite resonance-spruce, and the neck made of birch.

Here are model 15 guitars from my collection with serial numbers:  
3419 - 17250 - 20461 - 27602 - 50894

Modell Rosita  

Model Rosita is the same size as the Model 15, which is 38 cm x 48 cm x 9 cm. However it has a slimmer neck and a different shape of the headstock. Also notice that the inlays on the fretboard are lines rather then dots.

                   

                           

Model Rosita

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Other models
The Hagstrøm factory in Oslo also produced an amount of archtop guitars. Below you see examples of this with my "Primo" and a "Perfekt" (photo by Jan Snedsbøl).

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     "Primo", serial no 25598. ---    " Perfekt" 

Here are two beautiful guitars – one with the model name "Orkestra" (serial no 15785 - photo by Marvid Nilsen) It looks like it was built like the Primo, possibly in other materials and lacquered differently.
To the left a Modell  K-1 (serial no 54737). Bjørn Haugseth tells me that his father-in-law bought this guitar by mail order from Hagstrøm Musikk in Oslo in 1961.

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Ole Petter Engebretsen tells me that a model ”Arne” also was produced and he also remembers the Model ”Calypso” – this was, according to Engebretsen, the first acoustic guitar to be fully lacquered in colour. This was a Model 16/K which came in 5 colours – green, yellow, red, white and blue – with a kind of metalic-like finish.

CALYPSO (photo by Bill Marriott) - brochoure from Hagstrøm Musikk A-S from 1960 - (photo: Anniken Seter)

Ole Petter is son of Gunnar Engebretsen who ran Hagstrøm Musik in Skippegata in Oslo and the guitar fabric at Ammerud at the end of the 1950s. As a child, Ole Petter often visited the barn where the guitars were produced. In 1958 he was given a Hagstrøm guitar for Christmas from the fabric workers and the workers had all added their signature to the body of the guitar. Ole Petter tells me that he still has this guitar as a fond memory of th times at Hagstrøm.

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Above is a picture of Ole Petter Engebretsen with the guitar he was given by the workers at the Hagstrøm fabric, Christmas of 1958. He is clearly posing as his rock idol. He later played in pop bands such as Firebeats and Wipers.
Ole Petter has worked for Hagstrøm Musik in Oslo for 16 years and today he owns OP-Musikk (2006)

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An examples of other instruments that were produced at the Hagstrøm factory is this mandolin (photo by Martin Nilsen)

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Variants: To the left is an example of a particular variant for finish of the fretboard towards the sound hole. I have seen quite a few pictures of this kind of guitar being advertised for sale. Several of the sellers claim that their guitar was made before the war, in the 1930s. The guitars look old however it is not clear if they can possibly be that old. In his paper in Musical Science at the Gothenburg University, Magnus Nilsson writes that the production of guitars in Oslo started in 1946. (AB Albin Hagstrøm. Magnus Nilsson. Paper for 60 credit points in Musikkvetenskap. Spring 2000)

“Norwegian” Hagstrøm “Made in Sweden”

(photo by Rune Erlandsen and Rune Ulsnes)

Here are two examples on a special electric hollow body archtop guitar.  It has the Hagstrøm Oslo logo in the soundhole, but  also a sticker with “Made in Sweden ” on.  An exactly identical guitar (but with different electronic devices) is shown in the  Hagstrom UK- pages. This guitar is called Bjarton Jazz acoustic,  and said to be a kind of prototype from the Bjarton factory made in 1962. This tells me that the Hagstrøm Oslo logo was also used on guitars not produced at the Norwegian factory, but sold by the Hagstrøm Oslo music-shop.

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