MartyGrass

Nice image!

Long ago I was advised to make a video record of the guitars that demonstrates you have them in your home. Make sure you include the serial number and the case. Save the receipt.

I am not aware of any instability in either the long neck ES-330 or the H-530. One of the original Heritage owners said that Gibson was confident about the long neck stability when they changed the pocket design. That's my understanding. The H-530 does not neck dive on me, which I appreciate.

As I understand it, there was concern about the neck pocket stability. Gibson electric hollowbodies joined at the 16th fret in the 1950s. At least the ES-150, 295 and 350 as I recall. So that was the hollowbody norm. The ES-335 premiered in 1958. The ES-330 came out a year later. Here is the center block of the 335. There's more wood to anchor a neck into. I don't recall what they did to assure themselves the 19" neck was stable.

That's very common. With temperature and humidity changes, metal responds differently than wood. The fret marker area must have cracked due to weakening on the binding there and wood moisture changes. Some guitar companies don't bind over the frets. It's more work. I don't even notice the binding cracks on the neck because they seem inevitable. https://www.mylespaul.com/threads/cracks-in-binding.467486/ https://forum.gibson.com/topic/77373-slight-cracks-in-fretboard-binding/ https://www.everythingsg.com/threads/is-cracked-binding-normal.19180/

Here's a couple of choices in pickguards.

For those who don't know, Scotty Moore was Elvis's main guitarist for a very long time. He also was a studio musician and an extraordinary player. Here is a page from his website about his friend and fellow musician Don Dean. http://scottymoore.net/dondean.html Some years ago a friend of mine, who is a great player, really wanted a Heritage Johnny Smith. Both he and I are Johnny fans but he couldn't afford a Gibson. We searched for a few weeks but found nothing. Late at night I found one in a national Craigslist search that was in Kentucky. I called, probably first thing in the morning, and learned that the guitar belonged to Don Dean. Don had died recently and his widow asked the guy on the phone, a pedal steel guitarist and friend of Don, to sell his many guitars. The HJS was stored under Don's bed with a couple of other guitars and was found a bit later than Don's main collection. I drove to Kentucky that morning and arrived in a modest country house with gorgeous scenery. The seller and his wife were very nice. I had a meal with them as they talked about the old days. The seller was a studio musician and road player with Elvis and others. Scotty and Don were friends to both him and his wife. Don died slowly with dementia. They talked about the lean and the better days. It was great. He brought the case out. It looked like someone had vomited on the top and the clean up was less than thorough. The guitar was mint. Further, it had the extra rose inlay in the pickguard, which was a $500 upcharge. I measured it and it was 18" across the lower bout! To my knowledge there were only two of these made, one finished in rose natural and this one a natural. Both were special ordered by Don, a Heritage dealer at the time. Even more surprising was the body depth was between 3 1/4 and 3 3/8", making this truly unique. I made the long drive back that night. I emailed my friend to say I got him a guitar. The next morning he let me know he found a standard HJS while I was in Kentucky at a pawn shop in Ohio and ordered it. Some time later he tired of his HJS, sold it, bought the 18" HJS from me. He had Kent Armstrong rebuild the Floating #3 pickup to increased output, something quite a few people did with that pickup. Eventually I got the guitar back. It is now my favorite, in part because of the story but also because it plays so well and is stunning. In Don Dean's photos you can see him playing this guitar. On the same page you can also see an 18" Heritage American Eagle, probably the only one made. Here is the HJS in action played by my friend 6 years ago. It is seasonally appropriate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xH_0qJ0Pt0&list=PLZKJqrSIMuspiR9CbV8ztncKUecx6o1Qu&index=2

I have had some instruments damaged and destroyed during shipping over the last few decades. I put down the value before shipping and pay the insurance. I also take a ton of pics. The shipper (FedEx and UPS) has always paid the proper amount. Once I needed to get a retrospective appraisal from Heritage and a couple of times from a professional luthier. For homeowner insurance, I am told to document the guitar in pics, have a receipt, and discuss it with your agent. If they are stolen from your home, I'm told they are covered.

It's not that fat. It feels somewhat rounded but not as full as some other Heritages I've had. It's definitely not thin.

Not too fat.

This is a H-530 with humbuckers and some special ornamentation.