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just off the Fedex truck!

All this talk of H530s started me thinking that one would be quite nice, then I got a message from Cliff Brown of 633 amps. One of his customers had an H530 to sell and, knowing I was a fan of Heritage guitars, would I be interested? Er, yes... Cliff gave me his contact details, I got in touch and arranged to have a look at the guitar, which was located about 1.5 hours drive away. Suffice to say it's a 2018 model in Antique Natural, and playing it through a 633 Firefly (like the one I recently bought) was enough to convince me to buy it. It's light, 2.69kg or 5lb 15oz, and those Lollar P90s sound great! Some pics...

Thanks for the suggestion to buy from Green Oak, unfortunately they didn’t have the color I wanted but I was able to talk to Heritage and order this!

An image has been leaked to the press.

To put this politely, reasonable people have different opinions. I have no quarrel with someone whose preferences differ from mine. I would appreciate a certain humility that precludes stating an opinion as a universal fact though. I do understand that love of guitars is a certain manifestation of mental illness that I suffered with most of my life. I am confident of this much on the topic: weight relieved H-150s weigh less.

In my life I have witnessed in myself and others the same feeling of an instrument not fitting well. I have also seen looks of disbelief. A friend of mine was asigned the upright bass in high school. I had a cello. It didn't matter how we liked it. I had a Howard Roberts as a kid. It was big. My teacher said after a while I'd get used to it. He was right. But we are grown men. We don't have to put up with that anymore. One of my guitar teachers was Joe Fava. We were in his small teaching room, and he would smoke. He focused on technique and stopped me everytime my fingers didn't move correctly. It was constant criticism with occasional "good". I practiced this uncomfortable technique two hours a day. Eventually it became natural. Violin players told me the same thing. I wouldn't dare to complain. He'd say play your instrument properly or quit. Eventually it because okay. I went through the same with a bass clarinet. I have a H-575, two actually since I'm borrowing one, but like the feel of the H-530 a bit better. To get sentimental, I enjoyed the days being a kid and having a strong teacher who told me exactly what I'm supposed to do. It cut out a lot of noise from the other voices. Then Hendrix came along.

A flying V banjo would be pretty cool!

I thought I was done chasing the full-hollow-with-humbuckers will o' the wisp. Then, the esteemed Talisman Rich posted in another thread that Wolftone makes HBs in P-90 size . . . Little wheels in little head turned . . . Found a 2023 530 in ebony at Dave's Guitar for $1750 and bought Wolftone Legends for it . . . Ebony is good color so I can tell my axes apart: 535 in OSB, 530 in red, and now RichCaster in ebony . . . Looking for good bankruptcy lawyer . . .

I've never licked a guitar, so I couldn't imaging re-licking a guitar.

I thought they were closing up shop and moving everything to Guangdong China. Next year's PSP was going to be held at the Country Inn in Guangzhou with a tour of the tin shack where all the guitars are made! Man, the rumors that get started on the internet! You just don't know who to believe anymore. As for the Standard II collection, I kinda like the idea. In-house pickups is a good thing. Keep those winders going. I would have to feel the neck... I don't need a Louisville Slugger but a little bit of beef seems to give a bit more stablility. Weight relief is a good thing. Witness the recent purchase of my H-530. Much more weight relief and I would be playing air guitar!

IIRC, the last truly great Heritage announcement was the introduction of the beautiful H-717 archtop. I have no idea what's coming, but the speculation gave me another excuse to post this amazing (expensive) archtop. 🙂 https://heritageguitars.com/pages/core-collection-h-717?srsltid=AfmBOoqdWZn8YIQImFh9CiCxkXtGveUNpvw0waqpsgALxuwmldPvLK_c

and I popped for a brand new 530 in red!

Ah! so you're the guy who snagged that guitar. When I talked to Mike on that Wednesday, he said it was gone. I got the Antique Sunburst that was hanging next to it. I thought about the possibility that they might suspend the standard series and concentrate on the Custom Cores. In that case, I'm glad I grabbed my 530 when I did. I'm enjoying the lighter weight when I standing for 2+ hours, and it's very comfortable to play, just like the 535. I've play a few times through my Princeton, and it really sounded good going through my Strymon Iridium when I was jamming with some friends.

They are coming out with a full acoustic flying V and line of banjos, or the bespoke program will be back. My guess.

Having just been through the factory 2 weeks ago, things are a bit more modern, but it's still a relatively small operation compared to a Fender, Gibson, Cort or World Music. There aren't any conveyor belts carrying a hundred guitars around the building. What you see is people at benches with a guitar, maybe 2 people in the spray booth with a rack of 15 or 20 guitars hand spraying the guitars as they did for decades before. On one side, there's a guy hand wrapping binding with a half dozen guitars hanging next to him as the binding. My oldest Heritage is an 87 H140, and my newest is a 2025 H-530 that I got yesterday. I play all my old ones, I'm sure I'll play this one just the same. I love 'em.

Some relics look like real playwear. The finish cracking on every square inch and a few dings don't. This one is decent. Still I won't pay to have it done.

I met a girl like that in Ipanema...aaahh. I think there was a saxophone playing in the background but I might be mistaken after all it was the 70s.

Really? $150 for a Squire Strat, $2.59 for a can of Zippo lighter fluid, $.99 for a box of matches. PRESTO! It's like printing money! 🔥🔥

Oh fuck!!! That sucks. He was a great guy.

Says the guy who owns the most Fab of Millies.

This is so odd. As mentioned, there was an uproar when Gibson did this. There was this argument that heavy guitars sound better and have more sustain. I have owned two weight relieved H-150s, one I got by accident since I ordered it. The Heritage dealer didn't even know it was weight relieved. He would have charged more. I very much approve of this design. If it adversely affects sustain or tone, I don't notice.

"I'm underwhelmed" he said in true curmudgeonly fashion . . .

I think that the change over started with the design of the custom core series. It seems that now they are spreading it though the whole line. There were still guitars with the narrow headstock. I don't know if it qualifies as a big announcement. There have always been wider headstocks on 575s, Eagles, 525s, etc. The narrow ones were on the 140, 150, 535, 137 lines.

-->At one of the PSP's, a large stash of old Banjo parts was spotted, and it's been a long-running joke that Heritage would build Banjos again They did build a few at one point Myself, I was hoping for some Accordions too

I guess we'll find out on the 25th. Otherwise its just wild speculation & banter

Isn't this just like guitar people. If you have humbuckers you're putting in P-90s. If you have P-90s, you gotta replace them with humbuckers!

OK, here's the deal. Next PSP, you bring your 530, I'll bring mine. You pick a song and let me know and we'll jam on it! When mine showed up, it had been sitting in the Fed Ex truck and temps were in the mid 90s. It took a few days for things to settle in. The low E string was buzzing, but a truss rod tweak and bridge adjustment to get it back to 5/64" pretty much cleared that up. It rings nicely now. Interestingly, it sounds quite different from my H-525, even though both are maple laminate tops with Lollar P90s. I don't know that the pickups are the same version, as the guitars were built many years apart. I took the 530 to jam with some friends, and it pretty much sat on the neck pickup the whole day, just some knob twisting and hitting a couple of pedals over 3 hours.

Yeah, that's part of the new "sustainable sourcing" initiative.

Maybe they are going back to using wood pickguards?

Wait a week. I NEED a Heritage bespoke banjo! Do Dah…

I've owned a few over the years. They are big guitars. It's obvious looking at the specs. It'd more obvious playing one. They are striking with beauty because of the great woods used, their finishes, and their size. Most people can get comfortable with them if they put the hours in. I'll state this anecdote once again. I was at Heritage talking to Marv Lamb with Ren Wall and Bill Paige. I asked what it cost to order a SKB in a certain finish. Marv asked me why I would want to pay all that extra for a SKB when I could order a Super Eagle with a Florentine cutaway and get the same thing for hundreds less. The point he was making is that the artist models cost more because money goes to the artist for each guitar built. In the end I got a SKB used for less than either model new. I have found that used ones came up occasionally and were generally minty. It seemed back then that those who bought them either kept them in excellent shape while playing them or just didn't play them. Now they are collectible. I have a few big ass guitars, Super Eagle size. I found that you will eventually get comfortable with the size. Beware the feedback. You'll learn to sort that out too.

I'm a sucker for stingers. If I ever had a custom guitar built it would have a stinger. And that flame on that multipiece neck, it's fine! The guitars that I have that stay in tune the best and are some of the best sounding, are the ones with multipiece necks! My dragon Zemaitis guitar is multipiece and that neck rings like a tuning fork!

We did a deal in which he got one of the Heritage built Gretsch Synchromatics, which are Super Eagle bodies with Gretsch appointments. The two 555s should land at my home shortly. He is a jazz player and has already setup the Gretsch. He has had Super Eagles before but in a way forgot that they are big ass guitars. He's happy with the playability, the sound, and the wow factor!

I mentioned in my NGD post that I had ordered a wireless adapter. The post office sort of lost track of it for 8 days. It suddenly appeared on the tracker on Sunday. The Joyo JW-06 showed up today and I had time to test it out. It worked without issue, as I expected. The question I had was how did it sound. I made 3 comparisons. First I compared it to my Steiner cable direct into the Princeton. There might have been a difference, there might not have been. It was so close that I couldn't decide if I heard any difference at all. Next I plugged into my Tascam interface instrument input. In the past I've had issue with everything sounding really midrangy with no top end. I think the loading really plays havoc with guitar pickups. I even noticed it with my bass. I would use my PodXT on the Bassman setting to record. The Joyo seems to be perfect. It sounded crisp on the top and full on the bottom. Finally used my pedal board which has the Strymon Iridium for direct in use. Vox Wah > TurboTuner > TS9 > H20 Chorus > NotaKlon > Iridium. It sounded very clear, good top end and full. No issue with noise or signal loss when walking around the room. It's supposed to have 20M range We'll see how long the battery lasts. Tomorrow we should jam for about 3 hours. They are supposed to last 6-8 hours. That would just about cover an entire PSP jam. I'll have my cable in the box just in case, but it will be nice not to have to worry about stepping on my cable. $70 on Ebay or Amazon.

I apologize if this has already been overdiscussed. I find that the relicking process is weird. To begin with, I've seen many lacquered old instruments and that don't look that relicked. Secondly, why would someone want that process done to a guitar? Do they think someone is fooled? I had a 70 year old well worn Gibson L-5 played by a studio musician and gig based professional player. There was some checking, but nothing like a new relicked guitar. I have to wonder if they take a guitar that got a little checking or a ding or two and decided to relick it and charge more than the way, which was to call it a second. I'm sure I've offended someone. So I best leave in my relicked car.

speaking of Carlos Jobim & that song... This is a good article: ( ps the website is about skin care & health! ) https://brazilianskin.com/blogs/news/the-girl-from-ipanema-brazilian-beauty I have a 575 with P90s, maybe I'll call it "Helo"

If they make a 717 Ascent I’m going for it!!

Sorry to hear this. RIP LedZef.

I had the same experience but in reverse. Everyone is different…My first Heritage 25 years ago was an amazing 535. Gorgeous!!!! But just too big for me and didn’t sit right on my lap or against my body due to where the contours were. Got a 575MH and was in love. Now a 575 custom, 550 custom and an Skb. All feel ‘just right’.

Millie's are Fab.

It really doesn't matter what reality is... you can find opinions going both ways. More weight = more sustain. Light resonant wood = more sustain. As to what qualifies as "tone", that's entirely whatever the person wants it to mean. I remember playing a Guild Bluesbird that was chambered. It rang very nicely. Millenniums do as well. I can't say my Mille is missing anything in the tone department.

We would appreciate a tone and playability report!

60's slim taper neck profile on the new 'Standard II Collection" models?? Maybe they're targeting youngsters looking for their first guitar. I begged for a guitar when I was 12, so I get it. As long as Heritage continues to offer thicker necks as an option across the product line, I see this as no big deal.

All joking aside, that is a masterpiece!

Will (skin slammer) would jump on a Heritage accordion! Perhaps ABC will show old Lawrence Welk reruns in their 11:30 slot. At the 2012 PSP when I ordered my 147 black beauty Marv took me in a back room to choose a board of Korina for the body, I spied several "V" bodies left over from the Gibson days. Some time ago I posted a photo of them.

Like in my statement that you quoted, they are coming tomorrow. I do not have a week. And what does "Do Dah…" mean? Edited Thursday at 04:45 PM by MelodiusThunk` Was Gregg (Steiner) not I that started the "Do Dah" - so all I could relate to was cartoons from the 1950's - sorry just having fun with the flow. Spectrum13, you hit the nail on the head; it’s good to have folk one can count on. When it was mentioned the banjos might be coming back, all I could imagine was that big, old rooster whanging away… Why would you say that? Do you know something that your not telling us? I bet you know. You’re too well read; I bet you’ve unearthed the answer and you’re not willing to let it out. Spill the beans bolero… You own banjos and are not familiar with Do Dah?! Shame… As far as PSP, you will find out once you’ve been placed in double secret probation. Take your time…

That's the wider headstock. This is the older headstock.

All true statements

Nice I have a Class of 00 Millie H150. Q serial #!