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Heritage Owners Club

HRW Pickups...What Do You Guys Think About Them?


Gitfiddler

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I've heard good things about these 'HRW' pickups, but have no idea how they compare to others on the market.  There are a bunch of boutique winders out there and the 'usual suspects' like SDuncan, Gibson and others. 

 

What do you actual users think about them??  I have a few humbucker'd gits (Archtop, Semi-Hollow and Solid body) lying around NOT getting played as much due to mediocre sounding pickups.  I'd like something that is not too microphonic, but sweet like Duncan Seths and sweet harmonics would not be a bad thing either. 

 

Would HRW's be good fits for jazz, R&B and rock styles on all or some of these types of guitars??

 

Thanks in advance!  :)

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I haven't done a comparison with other brands but I can say that the HRW on my 575 sounds fantastic.  It doesn't suffer from a muddy bottom end and the treble lasts all the way up the frets instead of tapering out above the 12th.  The PU does seem powerful though as it easily overdrives the input on a couple of my amps when crancked up full.

 

There is a small sample on the samples thread.

 

Cheers

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I found them to be HiFi sounding (in a good way) when compared to other buckers - they seem to have a little more even response accross the frequency spectrum with stronger highs and lows and not as prominent a mid range as the typical PAF (my favorite) style bucker.  Like groovin I found them to be prety darn powerful as well and settings that would be crsip and clean with other buckers were getting over driven by the HRWs. 

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As I've stated in several previous posts, my H157 originally came with the S-D '59s. I always thought they had a "muddiness" to them. I had the HRWs installed, and I like them alot better! They seem to have "opened up" the sound of the guitar.

 

I've heard they are more suited to jazz, but they sound good with blues and good ol' rock 'n' roll!

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Are HRW pickups available through Heritage or their dealers?  Heritage's website does not offer them as an aftermarket item in their 'accessories' link. 

 

I've never heard of anyone purchasing HRW's.....................without a guitar attached to them.  ???

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I purchased a set...from a fellow HOC'er who removed them from his jazzbox. ;D  My understanding is you can send a Heritage back to the factory and they'll retrofit the HRWs.  I don't know if they'll just sell them outright, though.  Not sure why they wouldn't.

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I don't know if they'll just sell them outright, though.  Not sure why they wouldn't.

 

You can only have a guitar retrofitted by sending it to Heritage; they will not sell them outright. I tried!

 

I guess by doing so, they keep the "secret" of their construction, well, secret.

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You can only have a guitar retrofitted by sending it to Heritage; they will not sell them outright. I tried!

 

I guess by doing so, they keep the "secret" of their construction, well, secret.

 

That's interesting...I wouldn't think that after forty or fifty years that there are a lot of secrets left in pickup construction/winding.  Maybe I can pimp my pair out to one of the boo-teak winders for fat cash, eh? ;)

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That's interesting...I wouldn't think that after forty or fifty years that there are a lot of secrets left in pickup construction/winding.  Maybe I can pimp my pair out to one of the boo-teak winders for fat cash, eh? ;)

Dang, I should have charged you more for that set I sold you...  >:(

;D

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Even if Heritage installs them, you could simply take them out, disassemble them and figure out how they are constructed.  I think it's more likely that they upgrade the pots, caps and switches when they install them so that they optimize the sound of the pickups.

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  I have a set in my H-150CM in Antique Natural and they are a very warm sounding PAF pickup with an extra bark. They don't seem to be available unless someone removes them from their Heritage and offers them for sale. I've never seen them offered for sale by Heritage.

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I think it's more likely that they upgrade the pots, caps and switches when they install them so that they optimize the sound of the pickups.

 

I'm not so sure whether they do that or not. All I know is that they charged me $250 to have the HRWs installed. However, they sent back the original Diuncan pickups with the guitar. So, I sold the Duncans on Ebay to recoup some of the cost of the HRW installation.

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Even if Heritage installs them, you could simply take them out, disassemble them and figure out how they are constructed.  I think it's more likely that they upgrade the pots, caps and switches when they install them so that they optimize the sound of the pickups.

 

That's an excellent point, and one I hadn't considered.  I bought the pair of HRWs from GuitArtman with the intention of putting them in my 137D, but haven't had a chance.  Maybe before I do that I'll have to look at the other components in the Millennium and see how they compare to the stuff in the 137. 

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I'm not so sure whether they do that or not. All I know is that they charged me $250 to have the HRWs installed. However, they sent back the original Diuncan pickups with the guitar. So, I sold the Duncans on Ebay to recoup some of the cost of the HRW installation.

 

$250!!  I hope you are talking about 2 pickups at that price. 

 

If so, maybe $125 each isn't TOO bad for great sounding pickups.

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does HRW install include the 'variphase' wiring and .... waht is that anyway ? is it a variable phase control ? (rather than just flipping a switch to 180 deg?)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm very satisfied with my HRW pickups (H150). I asked Rendall Wall for "tonal separation" instead of ad muddy sounding "hot"pickup and he told me that the HRW's would supply any tonal separation I could ask for. And he was right! Allthough thought to be "jazzy sounding" pickups, I use them mainly for classic rock playing and I love them better than a Gibson 498T Hot Alnico I temporarily installed in my H150. They are not hot pickups but they sure bring out some ringing tones.  ;D After all I don't like pickups that are so hot they make your amp throw up compressed, muddy sounds without any definition left.

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