kbp810

You’re looking at one of the thickest parts of the guitar body, so expected that the cap would be reasonably thick in that area.

Happy NGD! The original pickups may have been schallers, which used a pickup ring with double adjustment screws on each side. That’s about all the advice I can think to give without pics or more info. I wouldn’t worry too much about using an oem part there; just whatever works and matches the color scheme. I wonder what pickups you have in there now? Specially if maybe a bridge pickup got installed in the neck position - the legs can be a little taller in bridge pups, which has me wondering. Could explain why you’ve got no more adjustment room. The pickup ring doesn’t have much bearing on that (unless it’s too tall of a ring; maybe it’s a bridge ring?)

As a tonewood, basswood is just fine; I’ve had a basswood strat before and it was a fairy lightweight and resonant body. It’s just a very uninspiring looking wood. As a reference, a lot of the hobby wood you’d see at a big box craft store, is basswood.

Quick rough demo with the H157 Triple Mini, 5 watt mode; my left hand is still a little uncooperative from my injury last year, and I suffer from "play can't fur **** syndrome" anytime I hit the record button; but it's something, lol.

Took a risk and made a trade deal for a non-functioning Jubilee 2525C (reverse)... and all it ended up being was a blown HT fuse inside the chassis. One preamp was slightly microphonic and a bit fizzy, but made equally short work of that. This little thing rocks! 20 Watts via 2 EL34's, with a built in 5 watt attenuator, that does an excellent job of retaining the tone and dynamics in low power mode. At 20 watts, my dogs left the room and my daughter went in search of ear plugs. PCB construction, but hand wired in the UK. G12M Greenback speaker.

It may need a trip back down there sometime.

I've always dreamed of a bolt on neck Centurion with a painted basswood top!

😅

...but it is it's solid body step cousin! Figured we could all use an extra pallet cleanse after seeing the bolt-on neck overseas thread.

Seeing the Centurion is always a great way to start the New Year!

For the fake question; there have been counterfeit Heritages... but far less common than the chenders and chibsons. Even then, it would mostly be the 150 that was copied. Seems rather unlikely to land a fake 535, but once you post some pictures, we can help identify any potential red flags. As far as specs, I don't think I recall ever seeing a measurements sheet with any of my Heritages. Usually the factory would do a general ball park setup, with some expectation that the player was going to do the final setup to their specific preferences. Usually it's set the action height/adjust truss as needed, fine tune the intonation using a tuner (open string vs 12th fret); then finally set desired pickup height. When in doubt, always good to consult a trust local luthier.

Some variation over the years is plausible… sometimes they’d just use whatever they happened to have on hand at the time. But, typically it would be swithcraft.

Oh man, that's one of those that's been sitting on my amp bucket list for a long time now; I wouldn't have been able to resist the opportunity to take it home either.

If you happen to live anywhere near Lansing, MI; would highly recommend Elderly.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen a mess like that come out of the factory before. Stranger things have happened though. Either way, I'd be doing a wholesale electronics change on that. Get rid of it all and start over fresh. Would be interested in seeing the refinishing progress

Well, I said before that if they ever introduced a pelham blue with P90's, my wallet would be powerless to resist... Someone at Heritage must be calling my bluff now -

The best burst color there is! Congrats!

My sockets feel much more secure and layered now.

I was a big fan of Tom Short as well; great guy and made excellent pickups. Even called upon him to make a custom set of mini's for my triple mini 157 (long ago). These days my usual go to is Wolfetone, and Wolfe is a tremendously awesome person to work with as well. The ever popular Dr V neck and Marshallhead bridge combo; or perhaps my new favorite, Grey Wolf A2 neck Timberwolf A2 bridge combo. So many stellar options to chose from these days, and so many great suggestions already posted above though too.

Seeing the rest of the pictures, I think it looks like it matches up fine; just a trick of the light, and/or the neck may have remained a little glossier from being essentially "hand" polished over time by playing. I also couldn't imagine that someone would sand the back of the headstock like that, but then taking the time to get it re-stamped with the "made in". Will be interesting to hear what Ren thinks

The story does sound a little fishy; but it is certainly plausible. They've let a few enigmas out the door there over the years. If it was indeed a prototype build (or perhaps it was an employee build), then could make sense that it would have some mismatched specs. I'd also think this would likely put it's build date in the very early years of Heritage, 85/86. Just a wild guess though. I assume no markings inside the control cavity either? Usually they'd leave a sticker on the plate, but I'm sure you would have seen that since it's sounds like you've had it opened up. Maybe post a picture of the front of the headstock and inside the control cavity? Just thinking of anything that might help provide some additional clues. Either way, welcome to the forum and thanks for sharing!

If it's a killer figured ultra top, then I sway towards no pickguard; show off as much of that woody goodness that you can. Plain top or more subtle figuring, it's a toss up. In this case, even despite all the dribble I just said; I think it looks better with it on.