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Heritage Owners Club

NGD: Heritage Ghost Built Gretsches


MartyGrass

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Some are familiar that Heritage built both D'Angelico and Gretsch high end archtops in the 1990s.  Not many were made.  D'Angelico moved to Asia with a small American shop in New York I think.  There were very few Heritage built ones, and these are treasured.  The number of Gretsches seem to be a bit more, but not by that much.  Fred Gretsch III implies 10 full sized archtops were all Heritage made.  Some say a few more.

The Gretsch family sold off its collection of all things Gretsch recently to raise money for the Gretsch Foundation, which supports music education in a big way.

Gretsch had built some 18" archtops prior to shifting operations mostly to Asia.  These were called The Eldorado.  Heritage made their version, which is basically a Super Eagle body with x-bracing, a thinly carved acoustic top, thin lacquer (maybe five coats) and Gretsch adornments.  I picked up three and my friend got one.  None of them had been retailed, so they were NOS.  Two of them were from the first batch, 1992, and two were from the last, 1996.  That's what I was told and what the serial numbers seem to say.

The three I got look unplayed with the exception that the pickguard in the 1992 looks lightly strummed.

I spent a lot of time cleaning the residue off of the finish.  I'm not done yet.  One guitar is mostly cleaned and the other two are half way.  The strings are original and badly corroded.

I can post a few preliminary pics.  You can spot the Heritage in them.

 

 

 

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4 hours ago, MartyGrass said:

"You can spot the Heritage in them.

All I can see is Heritage.  Why don't you share the front of the guitar and headstock with us?

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4 hours ago, High Flying Bird said:

All I can see is Heritage.  Why don't you share the front of the guitar and headstock with us?

I only got the backs done and parts of the tops.  I'll post some dirty pics then.  You can see the build up on the finish for 25 or more years of storage.  Some strings were broken on two from corrosion.  I didn't want to restring them until they were cleaned.  There will be more pics when I can finish.

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I love it when you post dirty pictures,

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Pulled off all of the hardware.  That was the only way to clean by the tailpiece and around the tuners.

The truss rod nut looks new.  I took it off and put grease on the threads.  The bracing looks secure.  The frets are polished now.

The finish cleaned up nicely.

I'll Pete Moreno buff it out and I'll put the hardware back on.

You can start to see some depth in the maple.

This burst needed cleaning the most.  Tomorrow I'll get to a blonde.

This is definitely fun.

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3 hours ago, MartyGrass said:

"Pulled off all of the hardware..."

 

Thanks Man!  I can see Ren holding one playing it before it went out the door.  Feel free to keep posting pics as this goes along. 

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A blonde and a burst went to Pete Moreno today to buff.  One may need another layer of clear coat on the top but he thinks buffing with suffice.

I cleaned the other blonde up tonight.  I have plenty of pics.  The bracing looks good.  The wood has good figuring.  There is some bear claw and a lot of silking in the spruce.

The 20th fret on the high E area needs either a little filing or a gentle tap.

This one was ready to have the hardware put back on.  I don't think it needs buffing.

I chose some heavier strings to drive the top better since it is an acoustic.  I used D'Addario Half Rounds 13-56s.  I run the wrapped strings through fine steel wool a few times to smooth them out a little.

The guitar is loud unplugged and has a good bottom end.  It won't compete with a J200 but it doesn't want to anyway.  The pickup is the Heritage Floating #3.  That sounds just right.  All's well.

Pete Moreno turns 80 tomorrow.  He's taking the day off he said.

 

 

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7 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

That is a looker. Btw, I’ve never heard of running strings through steel wool!

GHS Brite Flats and D'Addario Half Rounds are regular round wounds that are ground to be flat.  But there are small gaps between the wire wrapping.  These gaps existed before grinding, but the edges of the windings were smooth and round.  After grinding these small gaps are a bit sharp (90 degree angles).  It feels a little rough.  After a couple hours of play  the strings feel smooth, but I believe that's because these small gaps collect tiny amounts of dead skin cells and perhaps dirt.

StewMac has a fretboard protector they recommend when shipping a guitar.  I put it under the strings and rub steel wool a few times to smooth the rough edges just on the surface where the fingers would slide down the strings.

I've put up the link to read a bit more about how they make Half Rounds.  I also attached a pic as to how the strings would look.

https://www.daddario.com/products/guitar/electric-guitar/xl-half-rounds/ehr310-half-rounds-regular-light-10-46/?gclid=CjwKCAjwjuqDBhAGEiwAdX2cj2HPZ1kb_80i_WFBM8_AXbPpQ_SOrTO4qLRfaLQdBkzI29Pcdp3VtxoChNMQAvD_BwE

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  • 1 month later...

Today I have two of the three Heritage built Gretsch Eldorado guitars done.  They cleaned up well.  The play nicely and sound good, too.  But I'll show you how these two look after Pete Moreno buffed them out.  The wood figuring is excellent, as we'd expect from the boys.

Here's the 1992:

 

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There's one more to go.  That one needs part of the 19th fret filed.

I am likely going to put a low wind P-90ish pickup on one of these.  I'll make a strong recommendation for those looking for a custom pickup that they contact Rob Doolittle at this site:  https://www.facebook.com/kalamazooguitarcompany  He is a wizard.  He made the floating pickups for Heritage from about 2016 onward.  This is a little hotter than the famous Floating #3.

I told him the general sound I wanted.  When he was done he had three different pickups for me to try, each on my Heritage Johnny Smith, all while he listened and also played.  I picked the one I liked best, and he agreed.  He installed it very well.  It's on his FB page in the link above.

His prices are very reasonable and his service is outstanding.

The only other person I've had this sort of service from is Kent Armstrong, another master.

 

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I'm not to hip on the abalone trussrod cover, it just doesn't belong to me, but dang, those guitars are beautiful, that burst is ticking all my boxes, and yjay beautiful blond is right there too. I would be intimated to play such fine axes. Congrats on the score Marty! Play them in good health!

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50 minutes ago, MartyGrass said:

The TRC is an experiment.  It may be over the top.  I have a plain white MOP to try out.

Is that one of the Thalia TRC that you've been working on with them?

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