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And here's the guitar. I like it with the guard off.

This bad boy joined the herd over the weekend . . . I'm not normally one for factory aging but the one in this thread

I found this on Reefeeverb. The Heritage H525 is a full hollow thin line guitar with a Florentine cutaway. Maple Laminate top and back with a solid maple rim. Mahogany neck with a rosewood fretboard. 2 Lollar dog ear P90s. The H525 is loosely based off of the vintage Gibson ES125. These H525s RARELY come up for sale. But this one was dramatically different. The body was finished in a matte black. Originally is was a VSB (vintage sunburst) kind of a light tangerine burst. The H525s had a cult following among Heritage enthusiasts. But not many were ever made. When I first saw it, I wasn’t a fan of the refin. But after stalking the ad for a couple of days, I decided to pull the trigger. I figured, worst case scenario, I could always get the top refinished at some point if I don’t like it. But it’s actually pretty cool. The seller also upgraded the bridge to a Faber ABR1. I believe everything else is stock. He currently has it setup for 11s. I will be putting 9s on it, so there will be some extensive setup work to be done. I had one of these 525s many years ago and they are such a joy to play. Lightweight and full of warm creamy goodness!!! This is a pic from the seller. I will have pics and a full report after setup.

Thankfully I don't have any volume problems with my neighbors, but when I do play out, I usually play one of these two 100-watters. For the type of bands that I play with (mostly blues, funk, fusion), it's easy enough to keep the volume in check with the rest of the guys. That isn't to say that I don't love smaller amps, though, for I do own a few.

Nice work with an Eagle. Lots more like this on his channel.

I got three of them. One of those I gave to my grandson. Gretsch and Randy had a charity auction years ago. A friend of mine tipped me off to the event. He got one. I put bids on 3 and got them all. They are essentially acoustic Super Eagles with floating pups. Together we got the first 4 Synchromatics. I kept two blondes and had a single coil pickup put into a Heritage floating casing made by one of the Heritage guys.

Apologies if this has previously been posted previously. Nice guitar. Nice playing. Topical and Seasonal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CH8gwla9THg

Congrats. I still have the one you sold me. Love it!

CVS, This is mine. I picked this up one night at Brents house. LK155 had it at PSP one year and I really liked the guitar. When it became available, I jumped.

referencing this thread: https://www.heritageownersclub.com/forums/topic/38369-used-530-incoming-inspired-by-trich/ finally got the wolftone dr. vintage humbuckers disguised as P-90s installed in the subject guitar . . . i chose the cream color pickup surrounds and glad that i did . . . tone is a little less "focused" than a 535 but certainly soft and round . . . scratched the itch! thanks for looking!

AE definitely means that it's a 2014 not a 2006. In 06 they were stamping the serial number and they started with W ( have a 2006. On mine, the W is above the number. I think they had to get a new stamp as the old one was wearing out). They didn't start hand writing numbers until later. It's hard to say what the '06 designates, and don't know they'll have any special info regarding it's specs. Sometimes Ren or Jim would remember special orders, but if you built a few thousand guitars over 25 years, you wouldn't remember every one. I don't know that they kept a computer database, although by 2015 they may have well converted. If I remember the first two numbers are the days working backwards from Dec 31, and the last two is the number of the guitar issued that day. That would make it the second guitar of Monday Oct 27th 2014. The Seth Lovers could easily been owner changed, or factory installed. It's also possible that the paper label either wasn't installed or came loose. Still, they are of a close date to the guitar serial. I don't think it would be worth the time to pull the pots just to look at date codes.

All the original P90 Heritages that I'm aware of have Jason Lollar pickups. Unless it was a custom order, or the pickups were changed, those would likely be the stock ones. The control cover may even say the pickups. Check there.

How many of the folks in the video have we met? Ren, Pete, Curly, Marv, Arnie, Bill. There are several that I've seen through the years but didn't get names. The rack from the prototype room should have been donated to the Kalamazoo Valley Museum. Here's an article I ran across a while back. I never saw the "passing of the torch" headstock before. https://the-guitar.com/a-heritage-of-guitar-making/

I think I'd have this in his hands right away. The rattle can black really wrecks the vibe for me. A nice gloss black would be attractive, but I've always been a fan of finishes that highlight the wood. I'd be hoping the black is laying on top of the original finish so it didn't seep into the pores of the wood.

There's nothing inside except air!

According to Pete: 99% of centerblocks are maple, but there are mahogany & even some spruce centerblocks out there

Yeah, no. I resisted. The only black Friday shopping I did was the weed dispensary. Serious deals going on there, too. 🤣

I like it better with the guard on too, but I personally prefer the shape on the Heritage H150 guards. They just go with the flow of the body shape. And I think whatever guard is on it would need to be aged to match the body. It's not a '59, it's a Heritage.

100% right on the pickups. I noticed that oddity also. Here is a close up of the neck pickup. Interesting observation on the ' vs 1. Never thought of that. Being hand written, that makes perfect sense. I heard back from Ren at Heritage. Unfortunately, they don't have the original build order so we'll never know for sure, but I think you are right about owner mods. Probably left the factory with 59s as they are more common and then swapped to the Seth Lovers later. One of these days when I feel adventurous I may pop one or two of the control pots out to see if the solder joints look original or not. For me, the history of this one is more of a curiosity thing than anything else. This would still be one of my favorite guitars of all time because it is just that good. You know every once in a while you notice something special the second you put your hands on it? Thats this one. I was very fortunate to stumble across it .

"Hey honey, I was thinking to get junior this guitar for Christmas." (shows picture of Ascent)

That is unreal! He has some great stuff on his channel. Here is more with that Heritage Kenny Burrell gtr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s37ks9pecJc

Living In The Past.

they are indeed! I took the liberty of posting the images here in the thread

Yes, that is somewhat curious. They're obviously playing on the look and feel of the old workspace, but we know that the real factory floor looks nothing like that now. And I suspect the photos of the new models with a background of the old plant required some photoshop work. Ah, marketing...

And of course Katie in finish sanding.

My Heritages from the pre-Meng era are all custom shop.

51.50 and a pack of smokes!

It's my '59.

The Silverburst is a good solution. Would you have the body and neck prepped and shot gloss black first? For me, the matte aspect of the paint is the most off putting.

Hey Brent, George Thorogood played the original Gibson (ES-125) version of your cool H525 (see below). But if you ever decide to put a set of flatwounds on it, that 525 can become a sweet little jazz box. What a versatile gitfiddle!

It wouldn't matter what Heritage put in the guitars, SOMEBODY would complain and change them. I've seen HRWs panned, and then see them sell for $350 a set, and 225s were listed for the same, when you can get Seth Lovers for $200 a set.

That guy knows his **** I was talking to him at a PSP

Thanks Scott!! My go to guy is Dave Teski. One of the finish guys at Heritage

I'm pretty sure he says "patch wood" there, explaining the filler section, not "bass wood" He says it again a bit later too

I remember talking to Bill Paige about them, it must have been when they first came out: I was telling him about my Gibson ES-135 & saying they should make a thinner H-575 style, as it is more manageable to play & doesn't feed back so easily Bill said " have you heard about our H-525? " and pointed to one on a rack Well there ya go!! Congrats Brent, that looks really nice!

Congrats on your guitar! I purchased an std H535 about a month ago. Same finish as yours. Just love the guitar. Have used it clean, dirty, with chorus etc on a varirty of different types of music. Very easy to play for me given it has a 12" fretboard radius, which would not be my 1st choice. I have also given up chasing tones a few years back. I just dail in something that insires me to play & I am off and running. I hope you find what you are looking for. PS - I like the rug.

Awesome score, Brent! H525's are my all time favorite Heritage model.

Yes, the 525 IS a nice guitar! It surprises me that it wasn't more popular. I actually preferred it to the 575, which for some, is probably sacrilege.

Very nice, enjoy.

a black gtr on black friday. Do it, it was meant to be!! 😆

So it’s a 2002? I had a 2005 looked so close in finish. I sold it to #DavesNotHere

I was the same was as you until I learned how to really drive a fuzz pedal, and then find one that would work with my style. And JHS or line 6 digital recreations aren't really examples I associate with good fuzz pedals. I would look no further than Analogman if I was buying my first fuzz. That guy just knows how to build good fuzzes consistently (it's an art form). He knows how to match transistors and that's very important in a good fuzz. And if it was just for home use, I would go with a germanium fuzz which sound awesome, but they change their tone with heat so they are not reliable on stage. Both me and the guy that really taught me about fuzzes both use the Analogman silcone BC103 fuzz on stage. Another thing is the have top be in the perfect place in your signal chain to work effectively, usually the first pedal your guitar sees! One of the great things about a good fuzz is they way they interact with the volume knob on your guitar. When rolled back the clean tone with a good fuzz is something to behold Think Hendrix's clean tone. I always used to drive them like an overdrive and that kept me from ever liking one, they are a completely different animal. You kind of have to a do a deep dive into the people that use them and find out their approach.

Beautiful H-150 VSB from the good old days! Enjoy that fantastic axe!

That is a sweet H150! nice top

Thanks so much. The pick guard pictured is new, not sure why. The original is in the case. Again, not sure why. I didn't compare the guards. All the wear on it is from 23 years of real play by my friend in the picture. It plays like a dream. I did replace the pots and harness. I'm not sure which parts were original if any of it. While I was at it I purchased the little pointers to make it look more like a '58/'59.

I like it with the guard on. If it had a different horn, from the photos it could be an original 58 or 59. Stunning

It’s somewhere…..