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Up until ten years ago, they were all custom shop guitars.

With good tone controls, I really don't bother with pickup changes/swaps these days. I roll the volume/tone controls back for whatever I'm playing, add them back if I need a better cut through or gritter tone. That being said, I'm perfectly happy with Seymour Duncan. Consistent and well-balanced. My H150 has SD59's, my H140 has a Seth Lover Bridge and '59 Neck. The last time I really did any pickup swaps was for My H535 had Seth Lovers (just because I wanted less feedback/squeal for higher gain). Changed to Railhammers, which ended up sounding too clean as they are designed for ultra-high gain, drop tunings, didn't work well for typical classic rock, country, and blues. Because of the low cost, I ordered a custom bridge pickup from Red Rocks; an A3 overwound wax-potted humbucker. Probably the last pickup swap I'll do now that I have become fond of the use of volume and tone controls. The in-house built 225 Humbuckers probably sound great and just a slight twist of a couple of knobs will coax whatever sound I'm chasing in my head. Just no need for it these days. Now going back to the OP, you picked another beautiful guitar Larry. I'm up for adoption, so if you need an heir for your collection, I'm your guy.

Supply and demand, the HRW's have a historical significance, but they don't have a tone-snob-quest type of background like a Gibson PAF or T-Top pickups. There is little demand for them unless you're one of the few if you know, you know camps. I myself have played them, but at the time, I really was too inexperienced to know much about the quest for tone. Long story short, maybe $250 to $400 a set if you can find the right buyer.

Hey Brent, The last HRW I bought was in July for $150. That was for 1- so I guess I'd say about $300 for a set. I'm always looking for more so let me know if you have any you're selling!😁

51.50 and a pack of smokes!

What’s the going rate for a set of HRWs these days? What’s your thoughts?

yeah, I have an '01 535 with the HRW's. I absolutely love the pickups. I'd never change them. The SD59's in my '98 H150 are not my favorite, OK though. They don't bug me enough to spend money changing them.

Agreed! I think the standard Les Paul guard looks clunky.

They are currently listing the guitars as Custom Shop Core Collection, which is the "high end" spec (lighter weight mahogany, 225 pickups, 50s C shape neck). Guitars that are "Custom Shop" exclusives like Sweetwaters, appear to be dealer spec'd guitars, much as Wildwood does with Fender and Gibson. If you want to buy enough guitars, I'm sure they'll happily make 25 or 50 with your choice of pickup, color, etc.

I started getting confused by seeing guitars listed as Custom Shop, while others were Custom Core, and while others were just regular Heritage guitars without either of those two "Custom" descriptors. I wonder if they are phasing out the Custom Core branding or perhaps maybe separating the Custom Core to mean big beefey neck carves while Custom Shop would refer to more normal medium or 60's style neck carves. I haven't figured it out yet.

It's my '59.

When I think of the H525, that’s my first thought. Lonesome George

That thought did cross my mind But my budget is very tight. I’m going to ask Dave to try to buff the matte to black on the back and rim if possible. And then just do a gloss SILVERBURST on the top.

The Silverburst is a good solution. Would you have the body and neck prepped and shot gloss black first? For me, the matte aspect of the paint is the most off putting.

Hey Brent, George Thorogood played the original Gibson (ES-125) version of your cool H525 (see below). But if you ever decide to put a set of flatwounds on it, that 525 can become a sweet little jazz box. What a versatile gitfiddle!

Wow, that is pretty cool! The only thing I don’t like about that bridge configuration is that it is kind of a pain in the butt with String changes.

I thought about having the whole body stripped and go back to an original tobacco burst finish, but that would probably cost me $1000, and I don’t wanna put that kind of money into the Guitar right now. Plus, I would love to have another Heritage that matches the Silverburst finish on my custom core 157.

Yes he does. He’s done lots of work for me over the years

I think I'd have this in his hands right away. The rattle can black really wrecks the vibe for me. A nice gloss black would be attractive, but I've always been a fan of finishes that highlight the wood. I'd be hoping the black is laying on top of the original finish so it didn't seep into the pores of the wood.

It wouldn't matter what Heritage put in the guitars, SOMEBODY would complain and change them. I've seen HRWs panned, and then see them sell for $350 a set, and 225s were listed for the same, when you can get Seth Lovers for $200 a set.

Great tune. I'll gladly join in for it at PSP next year.

I was making sly reference to the Doobies tune

I herd it's got some pretty good pickups in thar!

Lollar Imperials are great pickups, I have them in an H150 These 2 threads ramind me of a Doobie Bros tune. I didn't know it was a cover version, or that there were a bunch of versions: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Is_Just_Alright

That guy knows his **** I was talking to him at a PSP