# 1972 Hagstrom HIIBN



## kibby (Feb 8, 2011)

Ergo I use the screen name hagman but it's getting difficult to join new forums using that name. Kibby may not have been a good choice either. Oh well.

Most of my info came from someone in Sweden. This is number 211 of 250 made. These were made exclusively for the Canadian market. II probably stands for two pickups and the B for bass. As opposed to the HIBN. I think there were just over 200 of those made also for the Canadian market. There is a little B scratched on the body under the neck plate earmarking it as for a bass as opposed to 6 string guitar. I believe the bodies were identical except may have different routing for control cavities. The N stands for new style body. Cherry red. Mahogany. Rosewood board. The only thing that's ever been changed are the strings. Not much else to say about it. Got it for a song back in late '70's. Since I've sold my bassmaster I use a little bassmate now. It sees play time two to three times a week. I play with a choral group to entertain seniors at a personal care home so it even leaves the house once a week. I may have to get serious about bass playing as I get far more comments about the bass than I ever did with the guitar and to think I never wanted to learn bass. It's getting pricey, especially in this condition. A good one will top a grand on ebay. I may need to get something else and tuck this one away just for those special occasions. 














































This last photo was taken only a couple of days ago with my phat bass setup. Well, its unchanged except it has a string setup that is B-E-A-D. I make more use of the B than I did with the G. I like it that way. The nut groove needed a slight widening but no mods were needed.


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## gtone (Nov 1, 2009)

Nice vintage instrument that you certainly don't see everyday. Thanks for sharing that!


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## Thornton Davis (Jul 25, 2008)

kibby said:


> Most of my info came from someone in Sweden. This is number 211 of 250 made. These were made exclusively for the Canadian market. II probably stands for two pickups and the B for bass. As opposed to the HIBN. I think there were just over 200 of those made also for the Canadian market.


Don't know who told you this, but their information is incorrect. The H-II-B-N was a regular production bass, with over 3,000 of them being made between 69-76 and sold worldwide. The only bass that Hagstrom made exclusively for the Canadian marketplace was the H-1-B. Not to be confused with the Hagstrom 1-B. The H-1-B is a single pickup entry level bass which saw only 653 of them being made in 73-74.

If you want to know when your bass was made, post its serial number in this thread or PM me and i'll tell you which production run, the number of them made in that run, where in the production sequence it was made along with the year it was made. 

TD


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## kibby (Feb 8, 2011)

Hi Thornton. The internet can be a wealth of misinformation. I received this info quite a number of years ago from someone who seemed to know what they were talking about. There was something about the model designation it was given for exporting to Canada as opposed to elsewhere. The e mailer was Swedish which sometimes can account for context error. Email is long gone now. The number is 838211. Your info may be more up to date and accurate. Let me know what that number tells you.


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## Thornton Davis (Jul 25, 2008)

Your bass was in deed made in 1972. It was made in production run number 838. That run produced 250 H-II-B-N basses. Yours was the 211th one made in the run.

FWIW, I just totalled up the production run numbers and they total 3,496. That's how many were made between 1969-76.

TD


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## kibby (Feb 8, 2011)

Thanks for the info. I love the lacquer finish on mine. After nearly 40 years it still looks new. And it has seen a lot of smokey dance halls over the years.


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## Relic (Mar 19, 2011)

Very nice guitar. I have a Hagstrom acoustic that may or may not be the real thing, early 80s. Nice guitar either way. One of these days I'd like to grab a Viking, not sure if they do lefties though


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