Leaderboard

Late to the thread here, but I drove over to Dave's the other day and brought this one home. I ended up playing six CC H-535s and two Gibson CS Historic ES-335s, and this one was clearly the winner in terms of tone and playability. I honestly believe that the new 2025 bridge systems on both the H-535 and H-150 guitars are a huge improvement over the previous Pinnacle bridges:

This is a Heritage that I’m VERY excited about. (I don’t get too excited about much anymore. Lol) It’s a 2006 H157? I think? I say that because it does have binding on the back of the body….but…doesn’t have multi ply binding on the top. It does have an Ebony board (with abalone blocks) and it does have a bound and inlayed headstock. I haven’t seen the control cavity sticker yet. Lol This guitar was sold by the original owners brother…his brother was a gigging musician in Georgia. Unfortunately he had passed away recently. He told me that his wife custom ordered this guitar for her husband in 2006. I really don’t know much about it. Don’t know how the frets are, don’t know the neck size, don’t know what pickups are in it, don’t know how much it weighs….. Look at that top though….nice bubble quilt, definitely a custom order!!! The fella I got it from seemed very honest and trustworthy, so I decided to take a chance on it. These were the only 5 pics I had to go by… Its on the UPS truck for delivery today!! STAY TUNED!!!!

2006 Heritage H157 Custom order one off. *AAAAA Quilt top *Single ply binding on both sides of the body (it’s usually 5 ply) *Abalone blocks (usually pearl) *Ebony fretboard *One piece mahogany body *One piece mahogany neck *Bound and Inlayed peghead *Gold locking Sperzel tuners *Gold hardware *8lbs 14ozs *Really nice 59-ish neck carve Just got this today from a gentleman in Georgia. He was selling it because it belonged to his late brother, who was a gigging musician. He said his wife custom ordered it in 2006 The original pickups, SD Seth lovers, were poorly wired into a rats nest harness…the tone pots didn’t even work. So I rewired it, new pots, Russian PIO caps and different pups. I wanted something with more bit…so I went with a SD JB/Lollar Imperial combo…and it sounds great!!!!! The original nut is pretty worn. The D and the G buzz just a bit. I’ll probably take it in for a new bone nut soon. The frets are original. With minor wear. You can tell it was played. There’s a bit of buckle rash on the back. A few dings n dents. Nothing more than a Murphy lab relic. Lol. 😆 The neck on this guitar is perfect, IMO. To me it feels like a custom core neck that went on a little diet. Lol. 😂 It’s not a boat anchor ⚓️. Basically 9 lbs. for a 157….thats not terrible. It plays and sounds so dammm good. Wow!! 🤯

Today was designated as a work-around-the-house day, so I went to my T-shirt drawer and pulled one out at random. Haven't seen this one in a while. From the very first PSP! That led to an unbroken string of PSPs Marg and I attended, until Covid interrupted things. I recall that first PSP very well. Only something like 16 or 17 of us HOC members there. Plant tour by Ren. As Pressure would say, good times. But good grief, that was 18 years ago! Were you there?

Never sell. My youngest daughter has dibs on it.

I have a Heritage Standard H-137 that I purchased in 2020. It was built in 2018. The P90's in this guitar (I think) are Lollars. The guitar sounds great to my ears and I have no plans to change out the pick ups. A great axe!

Put this board together over the last few days. Pretty much my old gig board with similar pedals. I used to have two timmy's, one on all the time slightly above unity with my amp. I will give the Duke of tone a good try as a replacement for the second timmy. The Jetter Red2 is rock and swamp and each works out as a solo boost for the other. Red is Marshall and blue goes from transparent to thick and swampy. MS3 is trem, delay, etc. I used to have two DD7s 105-120ms/350-400ms. I can do this on the MS3. The only other pedal I used was a trem pedal. The MS3 as delay and mods should work out fine. I used to use it as a switcher and fx controller. What you got?

Just dropped it off with my tech to install Seth Lover pickups, fresh set of 11’s, and some minor adjustments. Will report back. Getting it ready for a jazz groove/funk/soul/rock band project that has been percolating in my head. Tunes like Lucky Southern, Cantaloupe Island, Valdez in the Country, Killer Joe, Back at the Chicken Shack, Song for my Father, Comin’ Home Baby, some classic rock jam tunes, some “acid jazz” as the kids call it today. Think Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, or El Chicano for the ballpark. Electric, rhythmic, danceable, but still with a jazz vibe. Getting older sure motivates you to get some shit done before you can’t anymore. Been wanting to do a project like this one for a long time.

Against my better judgement, I’m gonna try one of these. I will report back.

I like Seths they are consistently gread sounding pickup. When I was doing installs for people I installed alot of them and they always sounded great. That's really a beautiful guitar, some serious flame maple there!!! Millies like yours remind me of GIbson L5s guitars which are my favorite Gibsons. And yes, getting older does motivate you to get things done! Go out and rock that new guitar!

Brian Auger is cool and most people. even keyboardists never heard of him. I am a fan of his first album with Jules Driscoll as well as all of the Oblivion Express stuff. especially Replacements. That's a cool song list you have going for sure.

Took it outside yesterday…beautiful day in SW Michigan

Well I finally had time to dive into this guitar today. I have mixed feelings about it. The construction/fit and finish are quite good. Fretwork is pretty good too. The electronics are very decent. I’m not exactly in love with the bridge pickup. I love the neck pickup. The push/pull coil taps are useless to me. I’ll never use them. But the pots have good taper (mini pots). The toggle switch is very tight. I’m able to get a pretty low action. There were 2 main problems. One, the tremolo springs rubbed the bottom of the cavity when you did a divebomb….thats not good!! So I had to take a wood file and file away some wood inside the trem cavity. Two, the Floyd would not stay in tune. Cheap springs!!!! I set it up for 9s. Came from the factory with 10a. !!! I bought a set of Floyd Rose noiseless springs….problem solved. The neck carve is a medium C. It’s close to a 60s neck. The satin finish is smooth as a baby’s bottom. Fast n smooth. The sculpted heel joint is great for upper register access. It’s light and quite resonant. Playability is quite good. Neck has almost no relief and sets up quite nicely. If I wasn’t a DIY person, I probably would’ve instantly boxed it back up for a refund. The springs rubbing on the back cavity, in my opinion, is a huge drop of the ball by QC! That is inexcusable, especially for a Guitar of that design and style! And is obviously a playability and Tone problem because when the springs rub against the wood like that, it obviously makes a really bad noise that disrupt the vibration of the strings! As far as the Tremolo not staying in tune, I think it was a combination of junk strings and bad springs. I put a nice little dab of BIG BENDS nut sauce on each pivot point of the Tremelo before I installed the new strings on it and between that and the new springs, I am not having any tuning issues at all. And I do some pretty heavy dive bombs with it. After a lot of TLC, this is actually a really nice guitar. Out of the box, it was not. And I blame Heritage for not checking for quality control issues, this Guitar was in Kalamazoo before it shipped off to me so they had every opportunity to double check the quality control of the Chinese factory, and obviously they chose not to! If you’re going to charge $1200 for a Chinese made guitar with the Heritage name on it, the QC needs to be A LOT BETTER!!!!

I also missed the inaugural meeting. Unfortunately, there were some issues at work that necessitated me being there. Didn’t get out to my first one until 2013. I also made it to the following, and final “Barn” year. Man those were sweet!

Rich, We went to different schools. My math is a little different. Every guitar made in the USA that a musician can't afford is a guitar not sold and not manufactured. In the 60's a teenager started out on a Kent and graduated to a Fender, Gibson or Guild. If a Fender, it was a Mustang the Gibson was single pickup Junior the guild a Starfire 3. What is the current price point for a Collins, Gibson, Taylor or Heritage made in the USA?

And they weighed a ton! My friend's 2x12 combo buckled my knees when I lifted it, I imagine the 4x10 combos weighed a bit too

I have purchased a couple of the Ascent+ models. Fit and finish are good. Played well out of the box. I think I paid $699 on sale. I have a 535 also. Well worth it.

Jags and Jazzmasters were designed for flatwounds . . . their whammy bar mechanisms like flats

He was THE BEST.

Nothing really sounds like a P90, like a Charlie Christian or any of those other pickups. Just the shape of the bobbin, the type of pole pieces, etc, make them sound like nothing else. I love them for the buzz saw overdrive they get like Leslie West, but they also have a fantastic clean sound that is very good for semi hollow bodied guitars. I keep thinking about getting a semi-hollow with P90s, but I barely play the semi-hollows I already have.

You might also try a set of half rounds. You get much of the ringing of a round wound but the smoothness of a flatwound. I have a set on my 535. I got them after I tried half rounds on my bass. No more finger squeaks, but it sounded more like an old broken in set of roundwounds than the typical dullness of flatwounds. D'Addario makes them. $10 a set, so it's not like there's a major investment. 9-42s thru 12-52s so you have options. I tried them instead of using Elixers to quiet the finger noise. GHS calls them "Bright Flats". Same style as D'Addario.

You know Syd, I really like P90's. I mean, I know that's not profound or anything: heck, we all do! But for me, it goes far beyond that.

Those double white DiMarzios look much better than the zebras that were in there. But I would really like to see that guitar with some covers on the pickups. That’s just too upscale of a top. Also, some better reflector knobs the ones that really reflect. That top is worth it. It’s a great looking, Guitar. Glad to hear that. It sounds great too..

Can't remember where I heard that before.

Well, Brent, we know you'll keep it for while. Beautiful piece of maple for that top!

Say what you will…. I think this might be a keeper

I installed my 70s DiMarzios in it today!!! Wow!!! I love these pickups!!!

Wow! If this was a clear winner over several CC 535s as well as Gibsons, I can only imagine it plays and sounds as good as it looks. And it looks fantastic!!!

Beauty, Brent. Can't make out what the label has below 'Custom Made'. Any idea what it says?

This guitar is a monster player. Playing it with three different amps, with and without a drive pedal. Sounds huge and beautiful no matter what it is paired with. I had to stop because my ears were ringing.

Were the springs just too big for the cavity? It's strange that they would rub. I probably wouldn't get that model with the Floyd, so I wouldn't have that problem. I only have two guitars with trems, and one is decked. There other is my G&L Legacy but I don't really use the bar.

After a few weeks with this pedal, pairing it with different tube and solid state amps: I’m finding it most useful in front of a tube amp. Very warm overdrive. Thickens tone and gives it more weight, with just a bit of softness around the edges. Really nice. Not “transparent”, definitely colors your tone in the way intended. I’m sure I have not explored or mastered all it can do, and I haven’t used it as a “pedal in a box” straight to interface or PA, but I like it a lot used simply. Maybe because I’m an effects simpleton.

We saw Albert Lee a few years ago at the Acorn in Three Oaks. He was playing his signature guitars through an old Silverface Twin. It’s a small venue so the amp wasn’t jacked up much. It still sounded stellar, both clean and with pedals.

Every Chinese guitar sold is one less American guitar sold.

I saw Johnny Winter in a medium size club and he was playing through 2 Fender Twins with JBLs stacked on top of each other. That's 170 watts of power through 4 JBL 12s. It was loud. Good times.

Ohhhh. The good ol days

I have a Strymon Time. I’d love to brag but I only use 1 of the 12,382 settings. i see you saved room on your board for a Klon. Nice…

You know what, I never considered flats on a Fender style guitar, but more and more I heard how great they sound with Jaguars. I just happened to have a set of flatwound .010 light Thomastik JAZZ strings, so I put them on one of my two Jags. That way I could compare the flats directly with a set of roundwounds. I was pleasantly surprised at how good they sounded. I thought they would be too dull sounding for a solidbody, but instead they had a great round sounding high end. It was like I just slightly rolled off the high end to where I liked it. And they felt great too! Here's a demo from the day I put them on. Both guitar parts are the Jag with the flatwounds...

the Millie i bought from Brent showed up last night. Haven’t had a lot of time with it yet, but man oh man this is a great guitar! Brent comes through again! Minty fresh, like it has been played very little. Tuners still feel new. Sounds more like a semi-hollow because of the chambered body, which is exactly what i was looking for. No feedback issues but still a big and round enough sound for jazz, soulful blues, R/B, and fusion. My band has been getting loud and my archtops often feedback. I guess I’ll be one of those players that switches guitars depending on the song. Yes, overkill for the kinds of gigs we get, but it will give me more flexibility to get funky or louder jamming and use some drive/breakup when the moment calls for it. Just plain FUN. I’ve been playing straight ahead for so long I’m ready to get down and dirty before i get too old. I’ll post some pictures over the weekend, but they probably wont be as good as Brent’s. It really is as gorgeous in person as it is in the photos in his for sale post. Thank you @brentrocks for the great transaction and fast shipping, well packed as always. I also got it a friend: a UA Enigmatic ‘82 pedal. They make a great pair.

Seths should sound great in your new Millie. I also like 11's on my gits. They thicken the tone just enough, while allowing for string bends and vibrato.

That beauty would be hard to let go.

Even better your choice was made with hands and ears! To paraphrase the words of the great Groucho Marx "who do you believe the guitar or your own eyes"!

That's one beautiful 535.

That's a gorgeous top! I always liked the headstock on the 157 vs the 150. The binding and the diamond inlay just look RIGHT! I'm also partial to the block inlays. It needs the bound wooden pickguard, tho. The tan plastic just looks so.... generic! A 157 is about class. 😜

@brentrocks...Wow, beautiful H157 Custom! Congratulations on yet another amazing score. 👍

s'nice

the 225's sound great from the clips I've heard, more like the Duncan Antiquity than the Lollar ( I have both )