TalismanRich
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Posts posted by TalismanRich
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If I remember correctly, when they were relocating to the other part of the building, didn't they toss a lot of the old patterns out? Someone had a bunch of Heritage stuff like that on Reverb or Ebay or something. That was a few years back so maybe I'm not remembering it correctly. Does anyone else recall that episode?
If that happened, then making new Stats or Parsons Street guitars would truly be a custom build, from sketching it out on the wood plank and putting it on the band saw to shaping the curves of the headstock.
It would probably be easier to get and independent builder to make a copy. Granted it wouldn't be a "Heritage" but if you were really hooked on getting a particular style guitar, that would be one way to do it.
Probably wouldn't be cheap tho!
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Welcome LL. The resident "expert" on lefty guitars would be Lefty Alicia. She has been at most of our PSPs with various guitars. Here's her Millennium.
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I don't know about going back to the old business model.
It may have something to do with actually making a profit (silly concept, I know). I'm not privy to the financial status of the old company, but I had heard several times that things were indeed often on a "shoestring budget". There were times that I wondered if the owners even paid themselves. It seemed to be more a labor of love. This isn't Jim and Marv building a few guitars. I'm sure that they make a lot more guitars today than they did 15 years ago. Sweetwater alone has 65 guitars listed. CME has 22 listed. Jay Wolfe has 25. That's just 3 dealers. You didn't really see those numbers years ago.
Have you visited the factory? The "big money" helped pay for a new dust collection system that makes the place safer, a humidity and temperature control system, a new spray booth where you don't really have to worry about dust contaminating your fresh lacquer, the Plek machine and more. The old factory, while quaint, was really pretty scary from a EHS standpoint. Lots of dust and wood laying around. The spray booth upstairs was open air, so dirt and dust was floating around. It was also quite dangerous, with nitrocellulose coating the entire booth. That stuff is a lot more flammable than some people realize.
The business will need to pay for that upgraded equipment. It wasn't free!
To their credit, Heritage is still making archtops (the 575 and Eagle Classic). Try to get a new archtop from Gibson. The last one listed was the Chuck Berry ES 350, but it's discontinued. There are a few dozen people making teles and strats. Fender, G&L, Suhr, LSR, PRS, and ton of low cost import versions.
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I've never heard of the song, so I looked up the original on Youtube. I can see how it could get stuck in your head. Its one of those slightly silly tunes that are perfect for being an viral internet hit.
Adding the cat video is perfect for the song, and as usual, your playing is impeccable.
Nicely done.
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I agree with bringing back the 157 and also the 555. It doesn't require any significant tooling differences, compared to doing something like the Stat or 127. Binding, inlays and gold hardware are the major differences. Sometimes I regret not going for an H-150LW, although my Millie does fill the bill pretty well.
Harmony has the Silhouette and Jupiter guitars which more similar to a Fender style than a 150 or 535. I was surprised they did away with the 137, as I think it was a good "entry level" Heritage, although the price wasn't exactly cheap. I don't know the reasoning for discontinuing it, unless it didn't have the profit margin that a 150 has. I would think it had a lot less labor involved with not having all the binding and carving.
The 357 will be a stretch. Watching Marv show all the parts that went into making the body, with the neck through center section and the wings means that there is significant effort involved. There may also be some restrictions with the Gibson agreements.
I guess the question is "if they build it, will it sell?"
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I wonder what they have done that is different from the standard line, other than the headstock size, inlays, pickups and pick guard.
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The binding on my H140 is about 1/16 of an inch. My 535 is slightly thicker than the 140.
I think I remember Heritage buying 90 thousandths binding, but then after painting, all binding is hand scraped, so it will be somewhat thinner than that. You might lose 1/4 of that original .090. Of course the hand scraping won't be absolutely consistent, the thickness will vary depending on how much has to be removed to get a clean surface.
I don't see anything unusual at all about that one.
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You're right, Rob. That looks a lot more like my Chestnut Burst Millie LE but with even more red in the middle..
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I think Tbone is saying to low the JB because the output can be higher than the '59. Output will increase the closer the string is to the pickup.
You might also look at the SD '59 custom hybrid. It's a medium output and according to SD, it has much more midrange than the more mid scooped '59.
https://www.seymourduncan.com/single-product/59-custom-hybrid
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3 hours ago, hopkinwfg said:
Thanks @Millennium Maestro... i probably think the duncan antiquities are cool too.... if they are not overly bright and with more mids tighter lows it be amazing !!
I think the Antiquity is more vintage output with a lower wind and A2 magnets. I wouldn't think it was close to the JB.
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I think it's more Antique SunBurst. That's primarily a brown to yellow sunburst. Like Mars Hall said, ALmond SunBurst has red to it. My H157 was ALSB. OldStyle Sunburst goes black to brown to yellow. Vintage sunburst is a more pale sunburst. Of course, since they were all hand painted, there is quite a bit of variance, but these were the "targets".
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I've got an Alesis SR18. I like the drum sounds, but I never had the patience to do any programming of it. It does have some usable patterns. I used it with my Yamaha AW1600 years ago to do a version of Inner City Blues with only factory patterns.
You can also feed it midi tracks from a computer and feed that to your 8 track.
I've since moved to MT Power Drumkit in my DAW, although you could send the audio output from your computer to your recorder.
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It's not Friday, but I'll put this up anyway....
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5 hours ago, DrWario said:
That's a really great point I didn't even think about. Working in f-holes is "fun", I have to imagine this would be even moreso...
There won't be a panel for the input jack. The jack is on the top by the knobs.
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It depends on how you define "oldest".
This is my first (2003), the longest by possession.
This is my "oldest" (1987) by manufacturing date.
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6 hours ago, Gitfiddler said:
Yours are beautiful custom gits.
My Y2k Millie doesn't have a rear access panel either, but does have F-holes for limited access to electronics.
My 2000 LE has the access panel and F Holes.
I remember something about the ones with flat backs having panels, but some have carved backs and no panel, more like a 535. I don't remember the specifics, tho. Maybe someone had more info on that.
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interestingly, the Millennium H155s don't all have access panels. I've seen several. The interesting thing about this Millie is that the jack is on the top, not the rim. I guess all wiring needs to be fished through the pickup route. I think I've seen this guitar previously. I would request a view of the serial number. Still, I think 5K is a bit pricey.
I think Pressure's Millie DC is access panel free.
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1 hour ago, zguitar71 said:
There must be a way to keep the plastic from building static. Remove yours and see if it still happens if it doesn’t then the search for the remedy can begin. I would imagine copper tape with a lead to the ground wire might work. Idk.
Heritage had a great way of stopping the static buildup.... wooden pickguards. My 157 never had any issue.
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I've never had an issue with GHS or D'addarios. It's been a while since I restrung the Millie, but I had a second pack of Slinkys in the case so I just put those on.
Recently I tried some GHS Bright Flats (ground wound). They have a nice smooth feel, and most of the zing of regular wound strings. Just Strings has them for $10/set.
Do you feel the round core feel different from the hex core strings? Harder or lighter feel? I've never tried the Curt Mangans. The shops around here mostly have D'Addario, GHS, Fender, Ernie Ball and Elixers. There are very few with the "exotic" brands.
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6 hours ago, pressure said:
Strymon makes good stuff. Anytime you spend an hour playing a Millie is a Fab day.
I had to quit playing the Millie because the crappy Ernie Ball Slinky started to slip. I thought it was the tuning peg, but everything was fine on that end. The high E string started to unwind at the ball end.
So this morning, I fired up the F1 on TV and started changing the strings. I might actually have to take it in for some fret work soon. I've developed some nice grooves in the first 5 or 6 frets! You gotta give 'em a little TLC every once in a while.
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12 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:
who's the guy in Salt Lake City?
Robert Guilliland. His Bandcamp channel is Bats Brew.
This is his latest.
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I've had a Line 6 PODxt for years, and have used it for recording bass, but I never really liked it for recording guitar. I've also got an RP355 but I found it way too complex to set up, and didn't like the sounds.
For the past several months, I've been getting together with two guys from our band back in '75. The drummer has a nice setup with his drum miked but direct in for guitar, bass and vocals. He records things on his Zoom H6. The Line6 was "ok" but a pain to make changes on the fly, and was noisy as all hell when I plugged my pedalboard into it. So it's been just plain guitar through a Fender Deluxe model on the Line6.
There's a guy out in Salt Lake City that has been using his Iridium for several album releases on Soundcloud. He's done some amazing work with his. That started me looking at options, like the Dream 65, the ToneX and the Iridium. Last weekend, a local fellow on Facebook Marketplace had listed an Iridium for a good price, so we met up the other morning at the golf course and did the deal.
I'm impressed. The only thing it really doesn't have is a true reverb, but adding the "room" sound seems to add just enough ambience to make it not sound flat. I spent about an hour with the Millennium and the 525 today. I think I'll be revamping my pedal board to include the Strymon. Then if I need to play through an amp, I can just bypass the pedal.
Now, I just need to figure out settings that work best for me, but I'm liking it so far.
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Dave, I heard that was very true in the early days. They used 2, 3, 4 and 5, but by 58, I think they had pretty much settled on #2 or #5, but as you said, whichever was available. That's how the white vs black bobbin deal came into being. But that is what I (and apparently others) find so strange of how they are being touted. "Using a combination of 3D scanning, scientific analysis, reverse engineering of original examples from the late 1950s, and specifications from the Gibson archives, the Gibson Pickup Shop has developed the most accurate recreations of these acclaimed pickups ever made, right down to the tool marks on the baseplates. " How much analysis and reverse engineering does it take to wind some wire on a bobbin (which, by the way, didn't have a counter on it) until it's almost full, and to stamp out some nickel silver baseplates and screw the things together.
They certainly weren't "boutique" builds, hand wound and assembled by magical elves in the dark recesses of Parsons Street.
It would be different if they were made like some of the slot car motors we had years ago. They might be hand wound with 38 turns of #27 gauge wire, precisely laid side by side on each pole for one class, then carefully polished and balanced. But nobody is going to precisely win 5000 turns of #42 wire on a bobbin by hand.
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18 hours ago, Gitfiddler said:
Gibson is a master of perceived product exclusivity. They take very basic guitars and guitar-related products, add aertificate of authenticity and special packaging, then charge a premium for them. Great marketing scheme!
They aren't alone however. Throbak is similar, offering high prices due to their p'ups being wound on the old Leesona, Slug 101, KZLP and Meteor 101 pickup winding machines. Great pickups...but very pricey.
Also, PRS is notorious for producing high cost, exclusives on their products. Remember the 57/08 pickups? Great pickups, but they were offered at a premium price along with special packaging back in the day. At least they are still available at reasonable prices!
My only beef with Gibson is that they only offered a limited amount of these new "59 Humbucker Collector Edition" pickups.
Am I wrong in that the magnets used in PAFs by 59 were usually Alnico 2 or some #5s? I wonder why they used Alnico 4 for these authentic 59 recreations?
15 hours ago, rwinking said:So I am guessing that they cost bout $20 to make. But you do get a nice boxe to store your old pickups in.
I think you're probably right on the money. I know a shop nearby who can wind a set of pickups and sell them for $65 to $100, which includes a profit margin that is got to be at least half that (retail is often 100% markup). This is a small shop, so you know they don't get the same terms and pricing that Gibson will get. "Send me 15,000 of our standard Alnico 5 magnets, and while you're at it, throw in 2000 rough cast Alnico 4s, 2.5" long. .. yeah, a buck twenty sounds good."
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Is it time....
in Heritage Guitars
Posted
That thing really cries out for a Floyd Rose! 😁