unikh550 Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Promised y'all to send pics of my '98 H-550 that Pete refinished from the stock clownburst to a slightly darker than almond burst finish, which, in the sunlight appears like clown. Killed the value by ordering it w/o pickups, knobs, or fretboard inlay, but I'll be all cold before I part with it. Barney Kessel was my idol, and Barney held it in his SD home before I added the inlays, Gotoh Schaller copies, tailpiece and bridge. With my Polytone Minibrute IV, I've , pretty much, captured Barney's tone, while throwing some Herb, and others, in the mix. So, there's a Braz RW TP, Tonepros on a wooden archtop bridge, the Gold Gotoh's (replaced the chrome Imperials), CC pickup off of a ES-175CC, bought from Island Guitars in Honolulu before I ordered the 550, Gibson bowtie inlay (from Gibson), and Ibanez Sure grip knobs,- Charles Bevell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidsmoke Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Sweet, one off is right. What are the 3 screws under the pickup? Congrats..have you got a before picture? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Now there's a rare beast... Congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Very nice... love the look with the bowties, rosewood tailpiece and C Christian pickup. And no doubt it's a sweet sounding and playing Heritage... Nice pics .. I have the same thing happen where the light brings out a lot of red that isn't there in person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bsck1 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Very, very nice. It does what a "one-off" should do: reflect its owner's passion. This one does it in spades. Beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanschoyck Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Really looks like what B Kessel used to play, really nice. Just curious, why the metal bridge saddle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unikh550 Posted January 28, 2015 Author Share Posted January 28, 2015 Have to get that friend to take a couple of photos with it in '98, and transfer it to computer ether, but I think my Chicago tech had already put the CC on. Had another guy make a Tal Farlow pickguard, but now there's small holes, filled in by Pete, where it had gone. Originally came with chrome Imperials I asked Heritage to put on. Has an Eagle Classic neck, fretboard was blank, put chickenheads on for knobs, but got sick of them when everyone started doing it, and a chrome H tailpiece, which I sold to a guy in NM, when Pete put on the gold H. I sold IT to a guy in Moline, IL this past Christmas. He had replied two years before, but I forgot to reply, so I sold it to him for only $75 for waiting two years for me to reply. My Bloomington tech, who owns Roadworthy Guitars, run out of his home, now, put on the Braz RW tailpiece, which he sold to me for $50, as well as the TonePros and Platemate that you can see on the tailpiece.. The Tonepros reduces some sustain and ringing, especially when strings (flatwounds) are new, yet allows for clear fundamentals. I can adjust when I want a note to decay or ring out, this way. Getting good deals kind of makes up for paying Island $500 for two CC's from ES-175's, back in '95, one which didn't come with a magnet (They told me, beforehand, so they're cool.). These were the days when there were no repros, and I even called Seymour Duncan, himself, who told me that he had no plans back then to make a repro CC; now, he does. However, the best repro is made by CC Pickups, in England. You can google a sound comparison between theirs and a Lollar CC repro, and it is actually closer to Barney's than the Lollar, which sounds deeper, but less clear.The three holes are what support that 1-pound CC behemoth under the top, which Heritage had put even more support than they usually do on 550's. They refused to put the CC on, due to warranty issues, and refused, again, to do the refinishing, since it had to be removed, then put back on. When I went in there to inquire, after calling Ren Wall in, they quickly called Pete, and I drove right over to his garage, then picked it up four months later. It might have been Bill Paige, who said, "So, YOU'RE the guy who bought that guitar with nothing on it! We always wondered where it went". Paid $1,500 for it, in '98, but have over $3k in it over the years, including the changes and refinishing. My Polytone is a good brother to the H-550 because its reverb never worked, which I would never use, anyway. If anyone ever goes to Shorty's Den, in Bedford, IN, for their Thurs eve open mic, I'm usually there, and given 8-10 tunes to play and sing, in between the other acts, who play mostly hard rock, Allman Bros, and country. - Charles Bevell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lottopencil Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Excellente! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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