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Thanks for the kind words, Rich. The 530 has risen rapidly in the hierarchy of go-to guitars. I was apprehensive about the P-90s because they're single coil (I think) and I detest single-coil buzz. There's no buzz and I love some of the righteous tones I can dial in. The light weight of the 530 is a nice bonus! My first H was a 530 built to order for me in 2009 or 2010 and I knew not squat about pickup voicings back then.

Millie's are Fab.

Classic!

In my life I have witnessed in myself and others the same feeling of an instrument not fitting well. I have also seen looks of disbelief. A friend of mine was asigned the upright bass in high school. I had a cello. It didn't matter how we liked it. I had a Howard Roberts as a kid. It was big. My teacher said after a while I'd get used to it. He was right. But we are grown men. We don't have to put up with that anymore. One of my guitar teachers was Joe Fava. We were in his small teaching room, and he would smoke. He focused on technique and stopped me everytime my fingers didn't move correctly. It was constant criticism with occasional "good". I practiced this uncomfortable technique two hours a day. Eventually it became natural. Violin players told me the same thing. I wouldn't dare to complain. He'd say play your instrument properly or quit. Eventually it because okay. I went through the same with a bass clarinet. I have a H-575, two actually since I'm borrowing one, but like the feel of the H-530 a bit better. To get sentimental, I enjoyed the days being a kid and having a strong teacher who told me exactly what I'm supposed to do. It cut out a lot of noise from the other voices. Then Hendrix came along.

Don't feel bad about the 575 not fitting. I don't feel comfortable when I was playing them either. The 525 is slightly thinner and felt better. I bet you could play Girl from Ipanema on that 530. This morning I've already played Lying Eyes and Fire on mine. That's kind of a wide spread.

It really doesn't matter what reality is... you can find opinions going both ways. More weight = more sustain. Light resonant wood = more sustain. As to what qualifies as "tone", that's entirely whatever the person wants it to mean. I remember playing a Guild Bluesbird that was chambered. It rang very nicely. Millenniums do as well. I can't say my Mille is missing anything in the tone department.

This is so odd. As mentioned, there was an uproar when Gibson did this. There was this argument that heavy guitars sound better and have more sustain. I have owned two weight relieved H-150s, one I got by accident since I ordered it. The Heritage dealer didn't even know it was weight relieved. He would have charged more. I very much approve of this design. If it adversely affects sustain or tone, I don't notice.

Just outside that 9lb territory. Nice…

Well, that happens!

I would think of all the players I know who might cotton to a 575, you would head the list. That’s a darn shame.

ergonomically it doesn't work so back to Ft. Wayne it must go . . . silly me thought it might fit me like my new 530 but, alas, not so. And I was planning on getting the music for Girl from Ipanema. Oh, the humanity!

Yea, I'm curious about the weight. I got to pick out the woods and neck for my custom 150 with Marv and Jim. It's in the 8lb range, right around 8lbs 16oz😎

I’m amazed at how easy it is to play considering it has 11s and I’m used to 10s. It plays really nice! Has a nice hollow body tone I’m not good at describing it, quite mellow when using the neck pickup. Bridge has a good amount of twang. Very long sustain aside from two dead notes. I’m going to get those things that clip on the neck to fix. I am definitely loving the guitar!

Congrats! I love mine CC model. The cherry is my 2nd color choice.

This is more H-530s than I've seen in a long time. I must say, I'm really enjoying this guitar. It sounds really good plugged in, but it also does great unamplified. I play a lot just sitting in the den, and for a while, it has been my ASAT that sat on the stand next to the recliner. The ASAT is now in it's gig bag, and the 530 is next to me to pick up and play on a moments notice.

So cool to see these new purchases of great models. Enjoy!

What a beauty! Enjoy.

We would appreciate a tone and playability report!

wow!!!

Thanks for the suggestion to buy from Green Oak, unfortunately they didn’t have the color I wanted but I was able to talk to Heritage and order this!

You're right. I went back and it was the almond burst finish that had me thinking they were the new ones. Still have the old specifications.

I might also add that when I spoke with Mike the other day, I asked him if the routing on the Build 1215 might look like the black line pattern on the photo posted below, and while he said he wasn't at liberty to say for certain, he did say that it was close. Upon examining my guitar a bit further, I have a pretty good hunch that the edited red line is probably a little more realistic. Again, my hunch is that the Standard II guitars likely have some routing done as shown in the image while still using their heavier mahogany. But, it's really just a guess at best:

Yeah, I've been very curious about this as well. These new Standard II models seem to be falling into the same weight ranges as the Custom Core models, but I do know that the CC models are solid while using lighter-weight mahogany. I just purchased an H-150 "Build 1215" directly from Heritage, and it weighs in at around 7.75 pounds. There's another one currently for sale on the Pasadena Craiglist website that's claiming a 7.3-pound weight. I do know that these "1215" builds use the lighter mahogany while also routing out a chamber in the lower-left bout of the guitar to reach this kind of weight. With that being said, I was talking with Mike earlier this week about how they did the weight-relief routing on the 1215, and he hinted toward the idea that I should look at the announcement scheduled for yesterday because he thought that Heritage might post some images of how they're routed. That obviously didn't happen, but to me it's sounding as though the Standard II models may be using the heavier mahogany that's typically used for their Standard line but then routed to relieve some of the weight. I clearly don't know if this is correct or not, but it would be easy to tell if one were to tap a fingernail over the routed area to hear the hollowed chamber........that is, if someone can get their hands on one.

I wonder what the weight relief scheme is for these guitars. I don't think they will be full chambered bodies. I remember when Heritage came out with the LW guitars. I don't remember ever seeing what their chambering scheme was. The Guild Bluesbird was designed as a chambered guitar. Of course the Millennium is chambered and it sounds great. Heritage obviously has the history to know that the mahogany part of the body needs to weigh to achieve a target weight.

I like this plan. 🙂 While I can't guarantee that I'll be able to make it next year, I do hope to be back for more in the future. Almost didn't make it this year, since it didn't look like I was going to get the time off from work. If it were to somehow work out that we could get that jam in at a non-PSP event in the future, I'd be game for that as well. Glad to hear that your 530 is settled in and getting plenty of attention!