Retro-Rama
1964 Hagstrom Futurama Bass
With a name and a look like this—not to mention a plethora of killer tones—how could I resist? This blue beauty recently came my way via an eagle-eyed friend in the U.K., who found it in Italy and passed it on to me at a more-than-fair price. I played a similar model a few months ago in New York and was intrigued by its unique tones and fast neck, both longtime hallmarks of Hagstrom’s excellent instruments. This one was a cooler color and in immaculate shape, at half the price—even including shipping. Sometimes better deals come to those who wait!
The Futurama brand got its start in 1958, when the Czech company Resonet began making basses and guitars for instrument importer Selmer, which had a chain of music stores in Britain. In 1963, Selmer—which was already importing Hofners to the U.K. from Germany—contracted the Swedish company Hagstrom to redesign and manufacture instruments under the Futurama name.
Hagstrom began as an accordion manufacturer in the 1920s, transitioned into serious bass and guitar making in the late ’50s, and flourished for two decades before going out of business in 1981. Hagstrom also operated music stores all over Scandinavia and manufactured instruments under various names, including Kent and Goya, for importers to sell elsewhere. Hagstrom instruments were highly regarded for their build quality and innovations like their unique H-shaped “expander” trussrod system, the first commercially made 8-string bass (Hendrix used one), and especially their wide-frequency-response pickups. Hagstrom also made pickups for other companies, such as Guild, and they are still being emulated today.
By the late ’60s, Hagstrom’s instruments began to take on more conventional lines, but back in 1964 the company’s accordion-building roots were still evident in this goofy-yet-cool design (with a definite Jetsons vibe to go along with the Futurama name). The pickguard, pickups, volume knob, toggle switches, and even the output jack are all part of one big, molded plastic piece. The top part of the body is made of translucent plastic, with industrial-size screws attaching it to the bottom, which is wrapped in blue vinyl. It’s hard to say what the bottom of the body is made of, but I suspect it may be some sort of plywood or perhaps masonite. To top it off, there’s even a mysterious silver plastic grille between the pickups! It’s been called the “cheese grater,” but I prefer the description “the swimming pool.”
The Futurama is light, with good neck/body balance, and is just plain fun to play. The short-scale neck is a little chunky, but in a good way—it feels solid and comfortable and not as fragile as some other ’60s basses. The bridge is extremely primitive: just a block of wood with notches for saddles, which are held in place by the string tension. Despite this limitation, I was able to get the intonation fairly close by pushing the block as far back as the bridgeplate screws would allow, and using light-gauge flatwound strings, which were probably what was on it originally. The flats brought out a funky range of tones, with smooth highs and a surprisingly big and solid low end. The mini Fender-style tuners work okay; they’re covered with gargantuan spoon-shaped covers that dwarf the actual keys. One other quirk is that the strings are wound backwards onto the tuning pegs, which seems to be true of all Hagstroms of this period.
Now on to the sounds, where the real fun begins. This bass has a wide range of tones even by today’s standards, and when you realize it’s over 40 years old, it’s amazing. The four toggle switches consist of an on/off switch for each pickup, and separate tone and mute switches. Some Hagstroms have identifying decals for the toggle switches; either this bass never had them or they were removed very carefully, as there is no trace left behind. The on/off switches are self-explanatory, but the various combinations of the neck and bridge pickups with the two-position tone and mute switches result in a wide array of sonic options. The tone switch gives you an extreme midrange emphasis in the up (off) position and a flatter response in the down (on) position. Conversely, the mute switch is “normal” in the up position; in the down position, it sounds like there’s an Old School felt bridge mute deadening the strings.
I kid you not, this bass can go from a chocolate-covered rubberband dub tone (neck pickup on, tone down, mute down) to a gnarly treble growl (back pickup on, tone up, mute down). At times it sounds a bit Hofner-esque, but it can also yield a gritty, resonant tone reminiscent of Jack Casady. Putting all four switches in the on (down) position yields a weird, distorted, out-of-phase envelope-type sound—hardly mainstream, but it makes for a great Bootsy imitation. Bass design and concepts have come a long way since Hagstrom built the Futurama, but it’s still a fine example of essential qualities that have remained true and timeless: cool looks, great sounds, plus it plays easily, doesn’t weigh a ton, and will never really go out of style. Hagstrom may be just a blast from the past now, but it was obviously looking ahead—in more ways than one—with the Futurama. Trek on!
