Manufactured in Sweden
Hagström

Wood, Metal, Plastic, Pigment
1964-1965
Length: 40.25 in; Width: 14 in; Depth: 2.38 in
Strings – Lutes – Guitars

The Hagström ‘Impala’ is an electric guitar produced by Hagström in Sweden, between 1963 and 1967, along with its sister model, the Corvette, both named after famous Chevrolet models.   The ‘Impala’ is a two pickup guitar where as the Corvettes (or Condor as distributed in the US) have three pickups.  The body of this ‘Impala’ is basically fender-type with two cutaways and a long upper horn on the left side, while a rather short and narrow lower horn is pointed diagonally downwards on the right side.  Slightly enlarged is the part where the controls sit, giving the back of the guitar a distinctive “S” curve.  On the top/face of the guitar, below the strings and pickguard and towards the “swollen” right bottom is mounted an impressive number of brightly colored controls.  Among the controls are three black buttons for pickup selection: 0=standby, 1=neck pickup (on/off) and 2=bridge pickup (on/off).  Continuing are three red buttons for three tone controls: Hi, Mid, and Low.  Then two blue buttons for mode selection: Solo and Acc playing.  The solo and accompaniment modes have individual volume controls (of which the volume control for solo was unusually a slider).

This instrument is numbered 588400, a Hagström Impala from batch 588-, manufactured in Sweden in 1964-1965. It is unit 400 of 507 units in that batch (250 Impala and 257 Corvette).  It is in excellent condition.

Hagström is a musical instrument manufacturer in Älvdalen, Dalecarlia, Sweden. Originally, they sold accordions that were initially imported from Germany and then Italy before opening their own facility in 1932. During the late 1950s, the company started making electric guitars, basses and later amplifiers. The early guitars were heavily influenced by the accordion production and had a special look and feel. Hagström was the first company to mass-produce 8-string bass guitars as well as the first to build a guitar/synthesizer hybrid (Swede Patch 2000) in collaboration with Ampeg. The company ceased production in 1983.

Reference: https://www.fetishguitars.com/hagstrom/condor-corvette-impala/