Special Invitation To New Members

[SouthPhoenixDave]

 

Hi there. I'm SouthPhoenixDave. I'm currently Santa at the local mall in Phoenix. This is my set manager, beside me. Yes, I'm very large AND she's very tiny.

 

I've been a regular on the Musictoyz forum for many years, and another member just purchased a goldtop H150. That's how I learned about this forum, through that discussion.

 

My guitar is a Black and Tan, fitted with Wagner Fillmores. Gorgeous tone. I named her "Marie". That's my best friend's middle name, as well as her mother's name.This is my friend, a long time ago. cute, huh?

Edited November 30, 2011 by SouthPhoenixDave

[SouthPhoenixDave]

I'm still figuring out how to properly add pictures.

[rooster]

Another Phoenician! How cool. Hope to run into you here in the blast furnace!

 

rooster.

[baggins]

Hello all,

I'm Chris, and I just acquired my 1st Heritage. It's a 1994 H-150P that I spied on the baywatch section of this board. I got it from a GC in Plymouth Meeting PA sight unseen. (I had wanted to purchase the H170custom that Brent had for sale, but I prefer dealing with smaller volume shops)

Anyhow, the guitar is quite nice. It's incredibly resonant unplugged, and after a bit of fiddling w/ the Schallers, it sounds nice amplified, too. I've been able to get some nice jazzy tones, early Black Crowes type chime, and good rock/metal tones out of those p'ups. I am mailny a hobbyist as far as playing goes, but I do arrange tunes/play for our church's youth group.

Here's some pics of it:

 

 

This photo is with my only other electric, a Zion Radicaster in frosted marble. It has a DiMarzio Tone Zone bridge and Fred neck, so it's quite a bit hotter than the H150, and fills its own sonic niche.

 

 

I've enjoyed the HOC thus far, and I'm sure this will not be my only guitar from Kalamazoo.

[robmc]

Greetings

Rob in north NJ here. I have a '99 H140 I picked up used. I believe the pickups are not std or perhaps not original. Anyone out there that can ID them?

 

Rob

[baggins]

As an addendum to my intro post, we had an older (than us) couple over last evening, and the husband played some older Zep, Allman Bros. and Jethro Tull stuff with my H150P through my Zinky Blue Velvet 50w combo. It absolutely amazed me how authentic everything sounded even though the guitar has a poplar body, Schaller pickups/bridge, the amp isn't a Marshall/Fender/Vox..... -I guess my point here is that even though the recipe for "the" tone(s) wasn't followed precisely, they were still spot on. I sat back and heard real rock and roll that didn't sound forced, faked or just a little askew for the particular artist. It's just a fantastic guitar! (and the amp's pretty sweet, too) So, I'll probably leave this one bone stock. When I acquire another one, we'll see. A semi-hollow's next on the list. -Just don't tell my wife, -yet.

[knopfler74]

Hi everyone,

I just registered for this site today, largely because today I purchased my first heritage guitar!

I picked up a 157 today from a gentleman who owns a music store near where I live, and I'm absolutely in love with it so far.

A little about me:

I spent the first 17 years of my adult life as a professional jazz trumpet player. I got a degree in music from the Jamey Aebersold Jazz Studies program at the University of Louisville, and in 2004 I won the jazz division of the national trumpet competition. I also released a record on the Jazz Factory label title 'Midnight in Merizo.' Four years ago I walked away from that world. I picked up a guitar, went back to school to become a history teacher, lost 85 lbs, and started really digging life.

My main hobbies are practicing, reading great books on history, writing music and recording it in my modest pro tools home studio.

I've lived all over the world due to the fact that I started my professional music career in the United States Navy Band. I've lived in Guam, Japan, Virginia, Kentucky, California, Arizona, and I was born in Maine. (son of a lobster-man - not kidding!)

I'm stoked to get to know you all and learn as much as I can about guitar, music, and well, whatever else comes up.

My main musical interests lay in singer/songwriter music, indie-rock (what we used to call alternative when that word actually meant something), the Seattle thing, alt-country or roots rock, U2, and of course the great hard rock of the 1970's.

Yeah, so that's pretty much it.

Thanks, in advance, for all the ridiculously cool stuff I'll get to learn and chat about in this forum....

Peace

[FredZepp]

Welcome to the club, new members ...

 

COOTER .... nice post about your nickname... It sounds like you've looked around the site a bit, there are some cool things to find here.

Enjoy that 150... and we do like pics if you have some..

 

robmc.. That is really a sweet looking 140.

 

baggins... that 150P looks like it would rock... the schallers have a pretty cool tone , I think. I had to look up that amp, The Zinky Blue Velvet looks to be a great amp.

[dag2000]

My name is Mike. I live in the Boston area and noodle around on the guitar for fun. Don't play as much as I used to.

 

In the late 90s, in an attempt to recreate "that Grestch sound" I ordered a H-550. This being the days before TV Jones came on the scene, I had Seymour Duncan's custom shop make up a set of Filtertrons in a standard humbucker size. Later, I had it retrofitted with a Bigsby B6. And voila!

 

In the summer of 2007, I had a flood in my basement and, though I thought I had gotten everything up off the floor, the headstock end of the case had gotten thoroughly soaked. I hadn't played the guitar in about six months and when I went to open the case, I watched (to my horror) the headstock actually split down the center.

 

I was absolutely sick to my stomach every time I looked at the case (I couldn't bear to open it and look at the headstock). I was convinced that I would have to get the neck replaced. About a year later, I called up Heritage and Ren said "Oh yeah, that's easy. We just dry it out completely and glue the headstock back together." Altogether it cost me about $200 and the guitar is good as new.

 

I absolutely love this guitar. I play it through a modified Victoria amp (the chassis of a 35310 put into a Clark custom built 2x10 combo cab with Weber alnico speakers). It sounds great. The Duncans, although they cost an arm and a leg, are spot on and it's just a great rock and roll guitar.

[brentrocks]

Welcome Mike...that is a great story...glad it worked out!!!

[Genericmusic]

Howdy Mike welcome to the club.

[TalismanRich]

Welcome Mike.

 

Sorry to hear the basement flood story. I had similar experience. My 157 was sitting on a stand with water up to the bridge. After drying out for about 2 months, you could see the water marks under the finish and the cracks in the lacquer. A little trip to Kalamazoo took care of everything however.

[Endre]

Hi, I'm Endre but you can call me Eddie.

 

I'm from Norway and I've been playing guitar for 4 months now and I got a Heritage H-150 today.

I play in a Funk Rock/Hard Rock band called 'Carnival Of Crows'.

 

 

Isn't she lovely?

 

Hoping to get to know Heritage and all of you guys a little better in the future.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Endre

[Genericmusic]

Welcome Endre. My maternal grandfather was from Honafus. Dig the name of your band.

[TalismanRich]

Welcome aboard Endre. Very nice looking 150!

 

Be sure and point us to any video or audio posts of the band. We enjoy hearing what people are doing out there with their music.

[jsolman]

HI there,

 

My name is Jay new member and Heritage owner, so new the shipping box is still in the garage! My 2008 H550 Custom (ASB) with 59' Seymour Duncans just arrived the other day. Just loving the guitar. It has a unique tone somewhere between a Gibson Tal Farlow and an ES175. Workmanship is superb. I've been in the market for a jazz box for sometime but wanted a little more versatility that a "pure" archtop. I considered Eastman, Sadowsky and Gibson but was impressed with the reputation of Heritage guitars. I feel I got an amazing deal, this is a whole lotta guitar for the money. From what I gather the 550 is not considered one of the more desirable Heritage guitars, maybe you veteran members can tell me why?

[Gitfiddler]

HI there,

 

My name is Jay new member and Heritage owner, so new the shipping box is still in the garage! My 2008 H550 Custom (ASB) with 59' Seymour Duncans just arrived the other day. Just loving the guitar. It has a unique tone somewhere between a Gibson Tal Farlow and an ES175. Workmanship is superb. I've been in the market for a jazz box for sometime but wanted a little more versatility that a "pure" archtop. I considered Eastman, Sadowsky and Gibson but was impressed with the reputation of Heritage guitars. I feel I got an amazing deal, this is a whole lotta guitar for the money. From what I gather the 550 is not considered one of the more desirable Heritage guitars, maybe you veteran members can tell me why?

 

 

Hello Jay, and welcome to the HOC! Congratulations on scoring your 550. I don't know who told you that 550's were less desirable or whatever, but they were wrong. In my view those are very special guitars in the Heritage line-up. As you correctly compared it to Tal Farlow and ES175 Gibsons, all three are finely made laminate archtops. If this model had been made back in the 50's or 60's, I bet we would have heard it on many jazz recordings.

 

The 550 is great for live performances due to its ability to sound huge, fat, warm, articulate with minimal feadback issues. Yes, you'll be able to get her to howl if you aren't careful with EQ and the position of your guitar and amp, but that tone is worth it. Maybe some folks view it as inferior to other fine solid wook archtops suc as the Golden Eagle, L5, etc., but that's all relative and dependant on one's use of the guitar. Also, because the 550 is laminate bodied, the cost is far less than its solid wood bretheren. The good news is that the quality is extremely high since it comes from Heritage. To me it is one of those incredible bang for buck guitars that is often undervalued for whatever reason.

 

Contrary to H550's being any less desirable, I like to view them as the Golden Eagle that you can actually gig with.

 

Play yours in good health and feel free to show n tell us more about your 'new' H550.

[mars_hall]

My name is Mike. I live in the Boston area and noodle around on the guitar for fun. Don't play as much as I used to.

 

In the late 90s, in an attempt to recreate "that Grestch sound" I ordered a H-550. This being the days before TV Jones came on the scene, I had Seymour Duncan's custom shop make up a set of Filtertrons in a standard humbucker size. Later, I had it retrofitted with a Bigsby B6. And voila!

 

In the summer of 2007, I had a flood in my basement and, though I thought I had gotten everything up off the floor, the headstock end of the case had gotten thoroughly soaked. I hadn't played the guitar in about six months and when I went to open the case, I watched (to my horror) the headstock actually split down the center.

 

I was absolutely sick to my stomach every time I looked at the case (I couldn't bear to open it and look at the headstock). I was convinced that I would have to get the neck replaced. About a year later, I called up Heritage and Ren said "Oh yeah, that's easy. We just dry it out completely and glue the headstock back together." Altogether it cost me about $200 and the guitar is good as new.

 

I absolutely love this guitar. I play it through a modified Victoria amp (the chassis of a 35310 put into a Clark custom built 2x10 combo cab with Weber alnico speakers). It sounds great. The Duncans, although they cost an arm and a leg, are spot on and it's just a great rock and roll guitar.

What year is the guitar? You should be able to tell from the first letter of its serial number.

[Sancho]

Hi there.

 

My name is Joost and I'm from Belgium.

I've been playing since1986. Hard rock, heavy metal... but everything old school.

My favourite guitars are Les Paul styles, so it's only natural I'd end up with Heritage.

Don't own one yet, but am about to pull the trigger. Still a few choices to make.

 

I look forward to chatting with you guys and especially looking at pictures of your guitars

[baimo]

Hi, my name is Steve but I go by "Baimo". I am 57 and am learning how to play. I played when I was 13-14 years old for a couple years and dropped guitars when I discovered girls. I have grown passionate about guitars and have 3 exotic acoustics and 2 and 1/2 exotic electrics. I just decided over the past few weeks that I would like to try an archtop. I thad traded an acoustic I was not fond of to a local dealer and had a credit there. I ended up pulling the trigger on a 19996 Heritage sweet 16 and will pick it up tomorrow. Very excited, I have much to learn. When the dealer asked me if I wanted flat or round strings I started scratching my head. I tried both types of string on a couple different Archtops and will pick the newly strung and setup sweet 16 tomorrow. My teacher plays an archtop and I always love the sounds his makes. He will be surprised to see me show up with the 16. Looking forward to the journey

[TalismanRich]

Welcome to the HOC, Sancho and Baimo.

 

You should enjoy that Sweet 16, Baimo. They're very nice instruments. The archtop is one guitar that is missing from my "stable". I make do with my semihollow 535. I'm sure I'll find one eventually, though.

[flattop]

Hey, My name is Ray but go by flattop here. I've been playing on and off for the last thirty some years. Awhile back I was contemplating the purchase of an ES175 when I discovered Heritage. I saw an amber 575 hanging in my local music shop and it was love at first sight. I really love the guitar but to be honest I'm still getting used to it. It didn't take me long to see that I am in some pretty tall company on this sight. I'm 51 years old and I'm going to be doing my first gig since high school (not counting a stint playing in church). Its great to see this many people dedicated to the brand as well as music in general. I,m new to the electric arch top and was wondering what strings would be the best. I currently have the guitar strung with blue steel 10s and they seem a little light. I realize its a personal preference but they seem somewhat twangy or sloppy. Also I'm not sure of what type humbuckers it has but they tend to sound more nasally than some I've heard even when set to the neck pickup. Incidentally Jazz is the style of music I will be "attempting" to play. Thanks for the warm welcome. Any advice would be welcomed and appreciated.

[Bruhan]

HI, My name is Dan, Bruhan is my user name. I am more of a bass player these days and that's what I play with others, but have been playing guitar since high school. I've owned lot's of solid bodies and acoustics over the years but i have long wanted a semi-hollowbody. Causally searching around has led me to Heritage. The 535 and Prospect have caught my eye. We will see what comes my way. Glad to be on board, Dan

[GASguy]

Hello Bruhan, welcome to the HOC.

 

Heritage semihollows and hollow bodies are among my most favored guitars.

 

You can't go wrong with a 535 or 555 semihollow.

 

I have not had a chance to try a prospect yet.

[Stanfr]

Hello, my name is Daniel and I live in France. I am a former session player who had to stop due to arthrosis(s ?), but still collect guitars and strugle to learn playing Jazz ! I currently own 2 Johnny Smith, 2 Super Eagle (1 with 1 P.U.) and a Golden Eagle. I am a huge fan of Heritage guitars which I compared to their G counterparts seems to be better made with more attention to the details.