HAGSTROM Electric Guitar, Fantomen, Worn Denim

A collaboration between the design team at Hagstrom and the Swedish band Ghost, Fantomen (Swedish for “The Phantom”) transports Hagstrom’s legendary playability and technical excellence into a new, edgier realm. We started with an elegantly asymmetrical solid-mahogany body to which we have joined a mahogany neck using our classic mortise-and-tenon neck joint system. Of course, since it’s a Hagstrom, the Fantomen uses our H-Expander® truss rod and Resinator® fingerboard, providing the ultimate in playing surface stability and optimal tonal enhancement. Together these components create an incredibly stable, resonant and responsive sonic foundation.

With a relatively thin 1¼” (3.5 cm) body, the Fantomen is beautifully balanced and surprisingly lightweight. A 25.5” (648 mm) scale provides a slightly sharper attack and more sustain than classic 24.75” scale guitars. A neck joint design that provides total, unrestricted access to all 22 frets will meet the needs of even the most virtuosic player.

Our goal was to equip the Fantomen with electronics that would allow for a varied tonal palette ranging from classic, vintage colors to screaming metallic brilliance. We worked with Swedish pickup guru Johan Lundgren, designer of pickups used by artists such as Meshuggah’s Martin Hagström (no relation!). Lundgren recommended two different humbucker designs: No. 2 in the neck position and No. 5 in the bridge position. The result covers an immense expressive range; from smooth, warm tones to the kind of attack and intense dynamic output that would satisfy the demands of even the most extreme musical styles. Each pickup can be split to single-coil mode by means of push/pull switches incorporated into the tone controls for even more sonic flexibility. This guitar speaks with many distinct voices.