Gitfiddler

The set of Schallers that came with my H-575 sounded nice. I asked Jay Wolfe about swapping them out for HRW's at the time since I trusted the ear of my jazz guitar hero, Kenny Burrell. Kenny loved HRW's. Somehow Jay remembered how the Schallers sounded in that 575! He recommended I give them a chance before pulling them. Long story short, I pulled them and installed a set of HRW's. They sounded great...but just as Jay said, so did the Schallers. I'm convinced that most any decent pickup would sound great in THAT specific archtop. It even sounds amazing and woody acoustically! Conversely I once owned a Sweet 16 that did NOT sound great acoustically, and no matter how many pickups, tone pots, etc. I installed in that guitar, it NEVER sounded good to me. After a few years I sold it and never looked back. Other Sweet 16 owners swear by the wonderful tone of their instruments. Maybe I got a dud...maybe not. Pickups made NO difference in that guitar. Bottom line...Pickups should simply amplify the way a guitar sounds. Even if the guitar is a solid body, I listen to how it sounds acoustically before making any changes. I learned something from those archtop experiments. Now I don't get as excited about pickups as I used to. Also, I do spend time listening to how a guitar sounds without an amp before considering swapping out its electronics. YMMV.

It comes down to which of these two fine guitars you like best. I bought the very first H-530 built by the factory. However, after scoring a H-525, it simply suited me better. Sold the 530 and ended up buying two 525's over the years. YMMV.

Excellent! They've really stepped up their customer service in the last couple of years. Glad it worked out for you.

I bet if you notified the factory of this oversight they'd make good on a label for you.

Well said. Edwin Wilson brought his brand of 'secret sauce' to Heritage.

Simply amazing group of fine guitars, Mark. I think I see my fingerprints on that antique natural quilt top 157.

WOW! That is a gorgeous Eagle Classic! Congratulations and welcome to the HOC. Be Bop deserves her own song... "

It's great to see H-555's being custom ordered. I can't wait to get my 2007 back to work again doing what its made for.

Awesome!!!!!

That headstock looks like it was subject to some serious abuse. Never seen anything quite like that before. Not sure where this thread is headed, but quite a few incredible instruments made it out of Parsons Street way before the eventual buy-out. Remember, back in the day, the builders took custom orders and would build just about anything one of the dealers or customers would request. And the out the door prices were hundreds or thousands less than any competitor. Yes, overall build quality and consistency has improved in recent years, but lets keep things in perspective. For example... I'd put this '93 Golden Eagle up against anything produced by Gibson or any of the great luthiers of our day. And not all H150's were boat anchors. This 2004 came from the factory weighing in at 8.1 lbs., and is a tone monster!

At $3,999 I bet they'd do one of these in any color you'd want. Sweet looking gitfiddle.

Chico~Congrats on your new H-155. That's a hot rod looking axe! Excellent photos.

Wow, that's a beautiful Jazzmaster. Glad it worked out. As they say in Russia..."doveryay, no proveryay..." (Trust but verify)

Agree! Congrats, Hanger.

A stripped down, lower priced Heritage 'Studio'? What a great idea!!! The former H-140 was a slimmed down H-150, but still had body binding. A no frills, but high quality version of either would sell in my opinion.