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H157 P90/Humbucker?


DetroitBlues

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My son and I were talking about what kind of guitar would he order.

He said a Pelham Blue 157 with P90 Soapbar Neck and Humbucker bridge pickup.  Gold hardware with a Bigsby.

I’ve never seen a Pelham Blue 157.

Never seen a Heritage with a P90 Neck and regular Humbucker.

Anyone seen models like that?

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  • DetroitBlues changed the title to H157 P90/Humbucker?

Not a fan of opaque painted guitars, but I've been really close to making an exception for Pelham blue, it is a great color. Not sure if that would be my top choice for a 157 though; it just calls for a flamey or quilted top which needs to be seen. Love the idea of a soapbar humbucker combo, don't think I've every seen one before. I guess worst case, could always just toss a HB sized P90 in the route. 

 

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On 11/7/2022 at 1:40 AM, bolero said:

I've always wanted an H157 with P90's. Staple in the neck. I wanted to order one a few years back, but life took a siderail. Maybe sometime in the future.

I played one of those LE 157's w/ the staple P90.  Such a cool guitar.  It could double as a boat anchor, but man was it beautiful!

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1 hour ago, DetroitBlues said:

I played one of those LE 157's w/ the staple P90.  Such a cool guitar.  It could double as a boat anchor, but man was it beautiful!

My proto is very light with the 147 smaller and thinner korina body and neck.

❚❚ '13 H147 - Korina Black Beauty.html

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On 11/9/2022 at 4:26 PM, DetroitBlues said:

I played one of those LE 157's w/ the staple P90.  Such a cool guitar.  It could double as a boat anchor, but man was it beautiful!

Those LE 157's came about after a conversation I had with Marv. I had this all mahogany H157 cutom built in 2010/2011, was on the fence about getting P90's or humbuckers. In the end I went with HB's, with the intent of getting a staple + P90 sister H157 built later.

But while we were talking about the build, I suggested they make a tribute H157 based on the originals, that were all mahogany with P90's.

Then the LE H157's came out a while later.

 

I asked them to use the lightest slab of mahogany they could find for the body. It's quite comfortable to hold, not heavy.

 

 It's always irked me that reissues of the LPC weigh a ton. They only spec the heaviest wood for them. The 50's LPC guitars were probably not all heavy like that.

The original LPC had a larger headstock, based on the Super 400 I think? So I asked them to use a Super Eagle headstock. I think it turned out very nice. Pic:

 

Bolero_H157_2.thumb.jpg.7968f94e8e7537788ca7f018a33f0843.jpg

 

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On 11/11/2022 at 9:04 PM, bolero said:

Those LE 157's came about after a conversation I had with Marv. I had this all mahogany H157 cutom built in 2010/2011, was on the fence about getting P90's or humbuckers. In the end I went with HB's, with the intent of getting a staple + P90 sister H157 built later.

But while we were talking about the build, I suggested they make a tribute H157 based on the originals, that were all mahogany with P90's.

Then the LE H157's came out a while later.

 

I asked them to use the lightest slab of mahogany they could find for the body. It's quite comfortable to hold, not heavy.

 

 It's always irked me that reissues of the LPC weigh a ton. They only spec the heaviest wood for them. The 50's LPC guitars were probably not all heavy like that.

The original LPC had a larger headstock, based on the Super 400 I think? So I asked them to use a Super Eagle headstock. I think it turned out very nice. Pic:

 

Bolero_H157_2.thumb.jpg.7968f94e8e7537788ca7f018a33f0843.jpg

one of the coolest Heritages I've seen!

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Thanks Rockabilly!

 At that time the original owners ran the show ( along with Vince? The lawyer who was part owner for a while? ). It was more than a suggestion, I was quite emphatic: " if you guys build these, people will buy them. "

 And the headstock was different, which might appeal to a broader audience. Inspired by the Millenium Eagle too, I like the proportions on that.

 

 

 

 

 

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2 hours ago, bolero said:

I should say: I'm sure Spectrum's korina H147 with staple + P90 contributed to the reality of those H157LE's going into production as well.

I pulled this from a post when I was interested in my last Heritage build

 


At 01:57 PM 3/3/2011 Thursday, you wrote:
 

Gregg,

  Thanks for the nice words...  The Telecaster also has a forearm cut so it's comfortable as all heck! And under a grand custom made three weeks after the order, not bad!

You were right about Dennis @ xxx never calling Heritage... I don't think Wolfe did either. Called Vince today to see how the CC and Mahogany would work.
First Vince said that the person who knows how to mount a Charlie Christian retired. I think Vince was thinking about the old two pound 3 screw mounting system.
after explaining Lollar makes a two screw as well as a humbucker size Vince said they would need to have the pickup before they can tell if they can install it.

He also felt the CC would be too woofy with mahogany and suggested maple but agreed it would have more bottom and sound better unplugged. So decide which is more important acoustic or electric. Well electric... but IF they install 500K pots and Heritage never built one with Charlie Christians how can one tell it would be woofy? If they use the humbucker size CC then I could switch it back. Lollar said they can make one with a pearl top and match the split blocks.What do you think? Does Vince know more about that stuff than Marv or Ren?

Thanks,
Dan 

 

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53 minutes ago, bolero said:

That's interesting, you were originally going to get a charlie christian neck? Why did you change your mind?

I don't understand why you pasted all that in there though. I assume you are agreeing with me?

Yes in my telecaster and was considering in my 575. Being unable to assure they could mount the pup I nixed that idea. Went through similar issues in 2009 with my P90 Prospect. They used the same pickup routing as humbuckers and used shims to cover up the gap but it raised the P90's.  I could not lower the bridge so had to remove the shims. I was searching for the emails to Ren from 2012-3 where I sent attachments off the Seymour Duncan site showing they made Staple pickups. They were unaware similar to the CC issues as above the old guard might not be surfing for the latest offerings from the winders when they had spare time.

Just a reminder what things were like ten years ago having a custom Heritage built. They could do it, it was at a reasonable price, but some details could or could not be ironed out. Great fun all the same.

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 Yeah, amazing in hindsight.

 After years of scrounging & only being able to afford used guitars, it felt good to buy a brand new instrument & support them more directly.

 I guess I did get my P90 Heritage in 2013...but I got sidetracked & it ended up being an H357 instead of the H157. It's dangerous to drink beer in the company of guitar builders ;) 

 

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