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For those who were at PSP this year, there was the oddest (perhaps ugliest ever) Heritage H-137 hanging on the wall. After seeing this rather unusual guitar on the wall, I asked about it. According to the folklore, Manny's Music was famous for not allowing people who weren't buying a guitar to play any guitar hanging on the wall. This was a problem for someone wanting to try an amp or pedal, so the solution was to use this aftermarket painted yellow Danelectro guitar that someone traded in for use on demoing gear. Didn't matter if you were someone off the street or a member of the Rolling Stones, you played this Danelectro if you wanted to try something out. For years, everyone wanted that ugly guitar because it played so well. According to an article, George Harrison offed $200 back in the early 70's to buy that guitar and was denied. So what does this have to do with this odd H137? We all know Heritage is partially owned by a corporation that bought the rights to Sam Ash and Manny's music. The RnR HOF owns that yellow Danelectro now and has it on display because of its history. The leadership team at Heritage decided to put their Custom Shop skills to the test and re-create that broken Danelectro with a Custom Core H137 painted up to resemble that beat up Dano. Here's the article: https://www.culturesonar.com/rockeology-old-yellow/

If you ever want to come visit the MuZeum we can arrange that - always open for guests!

@brentrocks...I really like the new look. Very cool silverburst H157!!

He still keeps the HRW secret!

What I'd specifically say about the Roy Clark model is that there are several. There are single and double cutaways. Even with these two categories there are variants. The one I have is a single cutaway with block inlays in chestnut sunburst. What I particularly like about this design is how deep the cutaway is. I don't have a Marvbird but my first guitar was a Firebird. The Marvbird looks like a fine instrument.

Great catch!!

There are a few collector's items. 1. The Little One 2. Marvbird 3. Roy Clark first edition 4. Johnny Smith 5. David Paul 6. Millennium Eagle 2000 What's difficult about Heritage is that they did a ton of one offs. No one can own the who group of collectibles. And I wish I could get my Millenium Eagle 2000 back.

Beautifull guitar,my wife gave me a Gibson copy !!!

That's a beauty.

Thanks Scott!! That is REALLY LIGHT!! Hopefully it’s in the cards for me to keep it

Made a couple small changes…

Thanks! And yeah that was great to know Ren invented the 101 and 105 paint! Incredible!

Of course, this is amazing too!

This explains that odd finish on some Heritage guitars... "I got a hold of 3M in Minnesota and we worked out the formula for 18% gray. We sprayed it on a card. We ended up spraying a lot of them here at Heritage for several years and sold them to all the photography stores. That 18% gray was also what we used for the finish on the 101 and the 105 Heritage guitar and bass. You didn't even have to sand it. You just made the body, sprayed it with an 18% gray and that was it. " So now we know (for those of us like me who didn't know) what that paint was on the 101's. The paint was actually a Ren Wall invention!

Maybe a collectors item to Roy Clarke fans, otherwise, not really a collector's guitar. Very few if any Heritages are collectors instruments unless they were celebrity owned (and documented of said ownership).

Thanks so much! And oh wow, awesome! Really appreciate it - thank you!

Great article. I read every word. BTW, I enjoy your YouTube channel too!!!

Crank the AC15! That’s their beauty, you get that luscious, cranked beauty of a stressed circuit without blowing out the windows. Hence the recommendation: Play Loud!

There is a Roy Clark Special edition, H-535 natural , number 11 of 25, currently for sale at Musicians Friend. The price seems extremely low. Is this guitar a collectable item? Thanks, Rick (New to Heritage Guitars.)

This IS music to my ears! Big week coming up; guitars And amps! Thank You Jaguarguy.

^^ Thanks everyone! ^^

Very cool. Thanks for posting.

To Rich's point, I'm using my Princeton Reverb clone as my reference standard and it rocks! Trying to sell the AC15 I bought a month or so ago, just not a Vox amp guy, I guess.

Yup, the most important part of any quest for tone. While the amp is the most important part the speaker is the most important ingredient in the amp. I love amps more than guitars at this point. Once I started to understand how they work I started to see guitars as limited and amps as limitless, though that is probably an overstatement.

Here is what I know about the famous HRWs. I have discussed them and other inventions attributed to Ren with Ren. Some things he's very open about. The HRWs he's not. He had a hand in the tailpiece with fine tuners on it. I'm not sure if he just liked it or he influenced it. He did explain that using it is a more precise way to tune. Another project of his is the balanced string sets. He took several commercials sets and noticed the pull for the string to be in tune required varying poundage for each spring. He showed me how he tested this by hanging weights on each string until it achieved pitch. He worried that the unbalanced strings would cause neck twists. The string maker in Battle Creek, GHS, created "balanced sets" for Heritage and may have begun this for Gibson since Ren was innovative at Gibson also. Yet another project is the 4 mount pickup bezel. This lifted the mount off the wood by small washers under the corner screws. That purportedly freed the top to vibrate more freely. The HRW remains shrouded in secrecy. It does sound different than the parent Schaller pickup. The best explanation is that a Schaller coil and magnet is emptied from the casing and placed in liquid nitrogen. It then is put back in its case and soldered. If true, the HRW is not the first cryo treated pickup. The toggle switch is drilled with the same bit used for neck side holes, and the same dot is put in place. The dot is sanded down and buffed. That I have watched being made. AFAIK, there is not patenting to cryo treatment. https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/is_it_cool_or_not_cryogenically_frozen_gear_explained-108422 https://www.guitar-list.com/guitar-science/cryogenic-pickups