ANOTHER 525 ARRIVED! Options

[jazzalicious]

Well.....this is funny!
For those of you who don't know the story...

I tried bidding last month on an ebay H525. The guy wouldn't ship to Canada, or answer my replies.
Mark got involved, offered out of generosity to bid, buy, pay for, receive, and then ship the guitar to me.
The guy selling blocked Mark's bid.

PCOVERS won the bid, got the 525, loved it, and then not long after, about 2 weeks, offered to sell it, needing the funds for a Sweet 16. He posted this AS my payment was going through to a dealer in Michigan for a new one, who had one of 3 525's in stock (I called EVERY dealer in Canada and USA, so I know that there were pretty much only 3 hanging around!).

So.....that one was obviously not meant for me, but was meant for Mark, as you'll see when you read on....

So as soon as I saw the posting by PCOVERS, I notified Mark, as he was getting interested in the 525 as well by this point.

Well, he received his yesterday, and I received mine YESTERDAY.
Now....if that isn't timing I don't know what is.

So, I paid more for mine, but then again I have the warranty, and it is in the color I wanted (almond burst).

So.......laminate top vs carved....who cares!!!
This guitar is FANTASTIC!!!1

- finish - beautiful, like a dark summer sunset (I know that sounds cheesy, but....)
- playability - 11GHS roundswounds, pretty low action, no buzzes.
- body size... perfect
- depth of rims.....PERFRECT for me
- neck profile....better than my 575 Mahogany, and I love that guitar.
- upper fret access......perfect. I can play to the 20th fret without any problem. the only place that is a bit tricky is the 6th string from 17-20, but let's face it, that's never easy, and never sounds good anyway. I mean....it's very do-able on this guitar, which is still surprising.
- LOLLAR p90's....what to say? fantastic, fantastic.
I am a humbucker guy, but......
If you EQ your amp, and play with the tone knob, you can get
- Neck pickup - dark, warm, sweet, but NOT LOSE DEFINITION OF NOTES ON CHORDS like with humbuckers. Excellent for jazz.
- Bridge - biting blues telecaster sounds,....add overdrive....yeah baby!!!
- middle - kind of able to swing between the 2...tone rolled almost off, very nice for jazz, open tones up a bit (play around with the 2 tone knobs) and you get that bluesy thing, but not as bright and biting as bridge alone.
- Acoustically, not that amazing, not as much as my 575 mh, but that's to be expected as that's carved. But still very nice acoustically. Pleasing to play. Much nicer than my PRS hollowbody.

The only negative thing I can say at this point, is that the F-holes are not perfect, in terms of finish. There are little bits here and there where the paint is not covering, which sucks because it's almost flawless. Heritage should take note of this. This was an issue with my first 575 mahogany (I had to return it because of major problems, and when they built me a new one, I ordered bound f-holes to ensure this wouldn't happen). They should take care of minor details like this, because.....well, there is no reason to not do this properly.

That aside, (don't get me wrong, I love the guitar, just think they can do better here)

IN SHORT....VERY VERSATILE, AS ALL THE OTHER 525 OWNERS HAVE SAID.
GET THIS GUITAR, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!!

NOW FOR THE DEALER.....
JOE at JOE'S MUSIC in MICHIGAN.
- EXCELLENT service. lots of emails from me, demanding pics, lots of questions, lots of patience from him, setup guitar to my specs. Very quick for shipping, followed the tracking, dealt with customs issues......what else can you ask for????-
- GREAT PRICE!!!!!!!!!!
- I took a chance calling a dealer that I didn't know, and ended up with a winner. Great guy. Down to earth, got to know him on other issues besides selling a guitar to me, which is how I prefer business be done. I am a dealer myself, and I work like this.
- I would recommend him to anyone looking for gear. He has a very large inventory, many companies that he sells for, not just Heritage.


I was trying to sell my PRS hollowbody 1 with Piezo acoustic pickup and bird inlays (wanted 1 for years, and.....it's not for me) to get this. No takers yet.....bit the bullet anyway.
I am very very glad (it's only been 1 day, but.....SO FAR...SO GOOD.)

So.....the story ended up with 2 happy 525 owners, and my faith in humanity restored via Mark Goetting (karma my friend, exists as you know).

take care all,
Jazzalicious (Mike)

[FredZepp]

Excellent to hear that you got the 525 that was meant for you.... an almond sunburst.

These versatile axes are the right combination to make some heavenly sounds.

Have we seen pics of this one? ( you knew that was coming... )

It's so cool that you got your hands on one....

[Jazzpunk]

I think you'll recall that I said the original ebay drama wasn't worth staying angry over and also that a 525 was still a bargain even at the list price. Glad to see I was right on both accounts even though my original comments were not well received by either yourself or Mark lol. (IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I love how this weird soap opera played out as we now have not one but two new 525 owners with fantastic guitars! Certainly one of the more interesting NGD stories we've had here.

Congrats on a beautiful new guitar. Enjoy! (IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif)

This post has been edited by Jazzpunk: Jul 30 2010, 04:13 PM

[tulk1]

Don't want to seem like the HOC hard-ass here, but .... we'll forgive the violation of the 3 paragraph rule, since you are obviously extremely excited about your new guitar ............................ (IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) But ... pics? Or there ain't no such guitar. (IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/dontknow.gif)

Seriously .... Mike, we're all (well, probably all) very excited that this finally!! worked out for you. (IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/thumbsup.gif) Looking forward to pics of your new 525. I'm hoping to get my hands on one myself at the picnic to see what the excitement is really all about.

[ronalr]

Congratulations Mike..great end to the story!!....can't wait to see the pics of this beauty

[brentrocks]

All this 525 talk as of lately make me want to run down and place an order.

congrats on the snag dude!!!

[mgoetting]

The only negative thing I can say at this point, is that the F-holes are not perfect, in terms of finish. There are little bits here and there where the paint is not covering, which sucks because it's almost flawless. Heritage should take note of this. This was an issue with my first 575 mahogany (I had to return it because of major problems, and when they built me a new one, I ordered bound f-holes to ensure this wouldn't happen). They should take care of minor details like this, because.....well, there is no reason to not do this properly.

Jazzalicious (Mike)

I never thought I would be discussing f holes.

I too have had issues with the finish on their f holes. Long ago I called Heritage on that very issue. I ended up feeling very petty.

It was my first encounter with Heritage and now I know it was Ren on the phone. He asked me how I liked the guitar in general. I had lots of praise but there were spots of unfinished wood in the f hole laminate. He asked me, "Does that bother you?" I told him that I guess it shouldn't. Really, it's a subtle flaw.

I looked at my new 525 yesterday. There were two small unfinished spots. I mean 1x2 mm spots.

It's frustrating in a way because it reflects some carelessness with the sprayer I guess. But the burst portion is done so very, very well. I can't reconcile these.

I could take a brown felt pen and dot out the pale spots if I wanted. I won't. My mind would replay Ren's rhetorical question. Then Freud would point out that Heritage's imperfections don't really bother me. My compulsive personality is what bothers me.

Well, Freud can just shut his stinkin' f hole.

[skydog52]

NOW FOR THE DEALER.....
JOE at JOE'S MUSIC in MICHIGAN.
- EXCELLENT service. lots of emails from me, demanding pics, lots of questions, lots of patience from him, setup guitar to my specs. Very quick for shipping, followed the tracking, dealt with customs issues......what else can you ask for????-
- GREAT PRICE!!!!!!!!!!
- I took a chance calling a dealer that I didn't know, and ended up with a winner. Great guy. Down to earth, got to know him on other issues besides selling a guitar to me, which is how I prefer business be done. I am a dealer myself, and I work like this.
- I would recommend him to anyone looking for gear. He has a very large inventory, many companies that he sells for, not just Heritage.

Congratulations on your new guitar. Sounds great, can't wait for pics and tone reports.
Joe's is a excellent dealer. I've ordered a few G guitars from them and they always kept
me in the loop on the order and progress.

Play the hell out of it.

[mgoetting]

D'Addario rounds 12-52 work well for me.
Still can bend a whole tone, just hurts a little!

Sounds louder and fuller with nice action.

[Thundersteel]

Fantastic story! But....

(IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/worthless.gif)

[mgoetting]

Fantastic story! But....

(IMG:http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/worthless.gif)

Well, okay, Mr. Thundersteel. As you wish. I guess you have your reasons.

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[jazzalicious]

here are the pics from the dealer (hope I do this right).

http://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/i...?showtopic=9493

These are from the post when I found it, and ordered.

take care
Jazzalicious

[BMG]

NOW FOR THE DEALER.....
JOE at JOE'S MUSIC in MICHIGAN.
- EXCELLENT service. lots of emails from me, demanding pics, lots of questions, lots of patience from him, setup guitar to my specs. Very quick for shipping, followed the tracking, dealt with customs issues......what else can you ask for????-
- GREAT PRICE!!!!!!!!!!
- I took a chance calling a dealer that I didn't know, and ended up with a winner. Great guy. Down to earth, got to know him on other issues besides selling a guitar to me, which is how I prefer business be done. I am a dealer myself, and I work like this.
- I would recommend him to anyone looking for gear. He has a very large inventory, many companies that he sells for, not just Heritage.

I too second the praise for Joe's Music in Eastpointe MI. Joe is a great guy and really good drummer. I've had the chance to play with him on occasion and purchased my 535 from him. It is nice because his shop is only a few miles from my house. I believe he is one of the longest running Heritage dealers too. He takes really good care of his customers and is just a good guy all around. Nice store too, very clean and organized with a professional staff. Make a point to stop buy if you are in the Detroit area. The only thing I think he needs is a current web site. Last time I checked it was still under construction.