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Wud have I got? Scarce Heritage-127 Custom


donner

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All y'all,

 

recently bought from a German ex-music dealer's private stock. Legend goes, it's been bought around 1992 directly from German Heritage distributor and been stashed away.

Not more than 5 copies shall exist.

Still smells a li'l sulky like a cellar rat, the OHSC has rusted hinge joints and latches. But the guitar is all fine after some TLC.

Serial Nr. indicates it was built on Dec. 18th (352nd day of) 1991. It is the Custom version with carved Maple top and single coils like a Tele.

Guitar sounds like a 60s Tele, rounder and more mellow than a classic Tele.

Construction is like an LP: Hog body and neck, angled headstock, Maple cap. Six-in-line peghead, firebird-style. Stop tailpiece, roller bridge. Couldn't remove bridge PU because of jammed screws. Bridge PU is covered, but nameless at the bottom.

Old 92 and 93 catalogs are showing two H-127 models (Custom with SCs, and a HB-model, featured here on HOC-Site) for around 1100 USD.

Not shure, how long and how many were built (do we know that about ANY Heritage model? ;-)

Has anyone owned played this 127 with single coils, too?

Any info would be appreciated.

\m/

Jochen

H_127-dia.jpg.5a212401c4e4b4a53f15b888aa63dde3.jpg1899901086_H_127bodyl.jpg.d42342d04e03f3265bcbeb40fae77206.jpg445603333_H_127Headf.jpg.d54b055c9e40bc16835a94026e6e7073.jpg286936564_H_127Headb.jpg.ddccce0a0a0381d430bef141cb0b4d26.jpg807179236_H_127serial.jpg.1d0b73ef6ac3d9cec3a84cb5103cf941.jpg1195270204_H_127body.jpg.3f95568daade0aac6a49af3097de5fc7.jpg66254928_H-127f.jpg.638d1a3149300f3bf196792799b0574d.jpg1679726747_H_127badge.jpg.5ed686b90a44184e5c2c5da43a2451b7.jpg

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Nice score, Donner.

That's an absolutely immaculate piece for its age.   Very nice!

With the 25.5 inch scale, I would expect it to have some tele snap.  The set neck and mahogany/maple body would really mix things up though. 

The pickups are most likely Schaller, as Heritage used a lot of those parts back then.   Unfortunately,  the Schaller website, which had tons of information on their parts seems to be gone.   The only thing is the online store which doesn't include much in the pickup range.   (I wonder of that was another part of Heritage changing to Duncan as the OEM pickups)

 

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1 hour ago, rockabilly69 said:

That is one of the nicest looking Heritage guitars that I've ever seen. I really think that headstock looks great with the Tele body shape. Is it short scale or long scale like a Fender???

 

Indeed, it's a 25.5 scale length.

With its headstock and tiny, but set neck (42.5 mm at the nut) it's a kind of Tele-Bird.

 

23 minutes ago, TalismanRich said:

Nice score, Donner.

That's an absolutely immaculate piece for its age.   Very nice!

With the 25.5 inch scale, I would expect it to have some tele snap.  The set neck and mahogany/maple body would really mix things up though. 

The pickups are most likely Schaller, as Heritage used a lot of those parts back then.   Unfortunately,  the Schaller website, which had tons of information on their parts seems to be gone.   The only thing is the online store which doesn't include much in the pickup range.   (I wonder of that was another part of Heritage changing to Duncan as the OEM pickups)

 

It sounds a lot like a beefier Tele. Schaller could be possible, but ther's no typical sticker underneath the neck PU.

The hardware is Schaller, too.

Here's  a link to historical Schaller catalogs in German and in English (as pdf in the right side column!)

http://guitar-pickups.de/Historische-SCHALLER-Kataloge/

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10 minutes ago, DetroitBlues said:

H-127's are a bit rare and that one is a custom order, so its a unique build for sure.

Seems to be a regular 127-variant called „Custom“, as the catalogs 1992 and 1993 are showing: 

Heritage Price List Jan '92 pp. 7-8.jpg

Heritage brochure (1993), p. 7.jpg

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That's cool, play it! I wouldn't worry about it's rarity but others may disagree. I know the marv birds and maybe another thing or two fetch a premium but the fellas made a ton of oddball low production guitars over the years from what I've seen. Congrats!

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As I recall, the guy that was making these bodies was at the last PSP that was held at Brent's folks.  Can't remember the name, but seems like they were doing a run of them about then.  He was one of the pickers in the jam.

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Wow! Love it! I have a thing for tele's. If you are ever up for a trade on another Heritage drop me a line. 

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Everything I've read suggest around 20 127s were made. As I own one I've been keeping a record of those I can identify on the internet. So  far I have details of 7.  Yours is the only Custom and the only single coil I've found.  5 have C serials, 1 F and your H. No two of this seven seem to have the same spec.

 

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Everything that was already said! Can't beat scouring up a rarity like that, I think it will be a keeper Donner! Congratulations! 

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