Leaderboard

And here's the guitar. I like it with the guard off.

Hard to answer. I've ordered solid blocks on floating block guitars and floating blocks on solid block guitars in the past. The good old days. Glad I was involved in the Golden Years with Custom Shop Service.

So I wasn’t really happy with the poorly modded Schaller bridge. It wouldn’t intonate very good. So I decided to put a set of locking Tonepros on it. And I took the covers off the pickups (which did help with the squealing, a little). The bridge Lollar still squeals when I step on the RAT…but with the OCD it is fine. The neck Seth is great now. The intonation is perfect now.

I got PTSD doing harness work on Heritage semis. You'd think there would be no significant difference between a Gibson and a 535. There is more swearing involved!

Here's an old video of them building a semihollow. It appears that the main block is maple. You would want a strong wood, since you need to put your neck joint in there, just like a solid body. Its definitely not mahogany, it's way too light colored. You can see the color difference of the mahogany kerfing below. From what I have read, an ES335 will have a maple block and the filler piece is spruce which is kerfed to bend more easily. If you listen closely, I think that he says they use a basswood insert for the filler section that goes between the top and the block. It's about 3:30 into the video. He also explains about doing floating blocks (top is fixed, back is not).

1987 HERITAGE H170… 1st generation H170 double cut. Honduran mahogany body and neck Bound and Carved flame maple top Bound Indian rosewood fretboard Bound and inlaid headstock This one has seen some action in its life. It suffered a headstock break/repair some years ago. It currently has a Lollar Imperial pickup in the bridge and a SD Seth Lover in the neck. Volume/Volume/Tone with a 3 way toggle. It’s a great playing and great sounding Heritage from their Golden Age!!!

That's rock and roll being made right there!

I have one of these but mine does not have the bound headstock. Other than that it is pretty much a clone of yours. Mine is a D serial number also. It was my first Heritage. I bought an H-140 of the same vintage along with the H-170 and fell in love. The music store didn't know anything about Heritage and I traded a japanese LP and maybe $400 for both. The H-170 is my favorite guitar. Period. I have a few Heritage's as well as the usual suspects (Gibsons, Fenders, etc) but the 170 just feels and sounds right to me in every way possible. The Schallers were not awful but I put a set of Dimarzio Anniversary PAFs and it just opened it up. Same with the H-140. Everyone who has played it instantly falls in love with it and wants to buy it. Enjoy it Brent!

I'm pretty sure Brent sold it to him. I almost bought it from Brent. DOH! Just started the video, it was Brent's.

I love old amps, I own some really nice vintage amps, and I have access to many great old ones. But I don't think they sound any better than a well built modern amp. I have a TopHat Club Deluxe that pretty much can hang with any amp that I've ever played. I'm in the middle of an extended recording project with my band, and we've recorded about 20 songs and not once did I turn on a vintage amp. It's mostly my TopHat, because to me, the TopHat sounds as a good as an amp can sound. The combination of my Telecaster (a partscaster that I built) and that TopHat is the sound that I've always chased, but could never get... till now that is. And my handbuilt (handwired) Marshall style amp that my buddy Ryan built beats the pants of off of any vintage Marshall I've played. It's the only other amp I've used besides my TopHat on the project. I've owned a few vintage Marshalls, but I got rid of them all. I will never sell the one I have now. Most everytime I plug into it I come up with something musical. Also my buddy owns two perfectly maintained tweed 5E3 Deluxes and another pre 5E3 Deluxe and they all sound great and a bit different, yet my Clark Beauford amp to me sounds as good as any of these tweeds, I think we are in a amp renaissance with many builders building some of the best amps ever made. I think there are amp builders out there now that have cracked the code of the originals, but you'll pay through the nose for some of the best ones:) Now I'm not saying there aren't any great vintage amps out there, because I've heard and played through a bunch of great ones. Recently I heard an early 60'd VOX AC10 that was just magic and had a sound I've never heard in a modern amp, but I don't know many of the modern Vox style builders.

Just as Curly Howard says at the end of an episode. "come on in boys"

I no longer have any vintage guitars but I do have 4 vintage amps (Brown Face Deluxe, Brown Face Vibrolux, Black Face Vibrolux Reverb, and a Black Face Deluxe Reverb). I can't acknowledge that a vintage guitar sounds better through a vintage amp. But I can confirm, that ANY guitar I own sounds better through my vintage amps verse new amps. There is a more 3D quality to the vintage amps. They sound like the sound is coming from 180 degree and don't sound boxy like a lot of newer amps I have played/owned over the years.

If you are shopping for deals on Heritage guitars for black Friday, check out Sweetwater. Huge discounts going on. I wasn't in the market for an ebony H-150 Standard, but for $1600, I may be now.

Well, PSP got a little spendy for me . . . bought the pictured 535 standard (with same OSB finish as TRich's new 530). Point 1: I'm trying to recreate the tone as heard on a couple of Doobie Brothers songs, South City Midnight Lady and Another Park, Another Sunday. My best guess is that the guitar played on those songs is a G 335. Can anyone confirm this? Point 2: If the guitar is a 335, how can I get my new 535 to sound like this? SD 59s are in the new axe and I haven't been able to get the tone I seek. I see mixed reviews of the 59s here on HOC and I wonder if Seth Lovers would get me closer? Or, just change the magnets in the 59s to alnico 2 or 3? Or . . . ? Comments and insights most appreciated! Thanks, eljay

Good point! In my defense I was only 8 years old and there was no internet at the time.

I'm also a fan of Wolfetones. I've got Legends in one Zemaitis, Legend and a Fenris in another, Dr V and a Marshallhead in a PRS Custom 22, and a Mean and Meaner P90 set in my SG Special!

I was the same was as you until I learned how to really drive a fuzz pedal, and then find one that would work with my style. And JHS or line 6 digital recreations aren't really examples I associate with good fuzz pedals. I would look no further than Analogman if I was buying my first fuzz. That guy just knows how to build good fuzzes consistently (it's an art form). He knows how to match transistors and that's very important in a good fuzz. And if it was just for home use, I would go with a germanium fuzz which sound awesome, but they change their tone with heat so they are not reliable on stage. Both me and the guy that really taught me about fuzzes both use the Analogman silcone BC103 fuzz on stage. Another thing is the have top be in the perfect place in your signal chain to work effectively, usually the first pedal your guitar sees! One of the great things about a good fuzz is they way they interact with the volume knob on your guitar. When rolled back the clean tone with a good fuzz is something to behold Think Hendrix's clean tone. I always used to drive them like an overdrive and that kept me from ever liking one, they are a completely different animal. You kind of have to a do a deep dive into the people that use them and find out their approach.

I like the sound of smaller amps that are jacked up a little. One of the very best club shows I ever saw was Magic Slim and the Teardrops in Kalamazoo in ‘94. Both guitar players were using Deluxe Reverbs (22 watts) and the stage volume was plenty loud. The tone was glorious.

Honestly, I have never been a fig fuzz fan for my playing. I'm much more distortion and overdrive most of the time. I just find them more musical, though with Fuzz there is also a HUGE variety of different designs / sounds / textures. JHS pedals "Legends of Fuzz" series had SEVEN different pedals, and I know many who bought every single one, because in many ways it was far cheaper than tracking down the originals. Still, I dunno, I just can't bring myself to love fuzz. I love some songs made using fuzz, but part of my brain always goes "this would sound better with overdrive". Maybe I'm just not using the fuzz pedals right.

Amazing put me in the guard off camp

Nice!

If you have please let me know This was the very first heritage guitar I ever bought, back around 1997?? Id like to get it back

You have mastered object permanence!

Yeah, a English old fashion rump roast

I’ve got a 2001 535 with the HRW’s in it. Like it very much. I put a Faber bridge and tailpiece on it, mostly for feel since I’m used to a tune-o-matic under my muting hand. I later put in the Faber bushings and was amazed at how much the tailpiece bushing inserts changed the tone. Made really good even better. They go much deeper and firmer into the maple center block, seem to acoustically couple to the wood much better than the much shorter and looser Schaller hardware. The HRW pickups are very amenable to tone shaping with the amp or pedals and EQ. Can dial in a variety of tones from them very easily. Some say they are “hi fi” but I’d say smooth frequency response curve. Which is ideal for dialing the amp/effects to get a sound. I’d say exhaust all the external tone shaping options before you change parts. A 7 or 10-band EQ can be very helpful to figure out what to do to get where you want to go.

Does this mean Guy has it or has found it? Congrats!

Saw him play in ‘78. Until that point I had no idea there were only 3 dudes making all that sound! Good times…

Yeah, I'm a big fan. I have a USA Geddy Lee signature model. I really love it too! And a Rick 4003. Black, of course. (couldn't live with the old Rick bridge - neither did Geddy, as he put a BaddAss bridge on it.

I apologize if this has already been addressed 10 times. HOC is now old enough that it has a lot to search through, even when using the search feature. So here's the first point. The Roy Clark model is supposed to have a floating center block. Mine doesn't. It has a full one. I'm happy with it. I was a bit surprised though. Two questions: 1. What does Heritage use for center blocks and is that variable? 2. Does Gibson use the same wood for their 335-355? Thanks, fellow nerds.

I have no idea about the answer to your two questions, but I always love the questions you ask and the insights you provide. And that’s a beautiful Guitar by the way.

and you and I are well set on the H-535 front! I bought a pair of the Legends' cousin, the Dr. Vintage, thinking I'd install them in a Gibson LP Studio. However, the LP sounds too goo to mess with so methinks the 59s in the new 535 will get 86'd and replaced with the Dr. Vs. I guess I've become a Wolfetone fanboi . . .

A very young bass player once bought a Rickenbacker bass, in the footsteps of his hero, Chris Squire. He was most disappointed to find that he didn't sound at all like Chris Squire. The young bass player eventually became quite famous on his own and associated closely with the Rickenbacker bass. Thing is changing parts will make little tweaks in the sound, but you might be chasing a ghost. We don't really know what instrument might have been played in a studio, even when a musician is strongly associated with a particular instrument. Sometimes, maybe there was just something random in the place and he picked it up and played it. Then there's the amp, and the micing and the room, and the engineer's technique to take the track, that particular session or maybe many sessions and so on and so forth. Find the guitar that works for you and your hands, and play the song(s) you want as well as possible. Then, record it. Compare overlayed on the track you want to sound like. See what you can do with various studio/DAW plugins, especially ones that represent the things that might have been in use at the time it was originally recorded. Then do some deducing what is and isn't close to your ghost. In many cases you can get "there" with some EQ, compression and creative dialing in of those.

you got the blues for greeny

Quest is ovah, found the sound! Wolfetone Legends in 535 I bought used from Dave's. Neck pickup with tone rolled all the way down. A-B'd with the 535 (Duncan 59s) I purchased at PSP. Noticeable difference . . .

It’s green! 🤯

Smoking hot!

quite famously I think: Ampeg even used this photo in an ad?

Both the Stones and the Faces in their prime played through Ampeg SVTs on their arena tours. And in the studio Ampeg VT22 and VT40 amps. Ron Wood used to slave a little Fender Princeton in to an Ampeg SVT. What a tone!!!

Growing up in Jersey all we had were Ampeg and Silvertons only our cars had fenders.Can't beat the OG bass amp.

Heritage's answer to the SG History Nice one Sir B

ah, I see all's well that ends well. I like the small block inlays too.

That was the best sounding Heritage guitar that Josh owned up to that time (and he went through quite a few). It had a headstock repair and he had it refinished. He jammed through it at a PSP and it sounded HUGE and AMAZING. But back then, Josh was on a BUY and THEN PURGE phase. I thought for sure he would keep that one because it exceptional. I am not bashing him, we have all done this. I am just here to witness what a great guitar it is. It has (or least had at the time) higher output pickups but they sounded huge and open. My questions are; Why did Heritage have it for so many years? Did you own it while Heritage had it? How did you get it back and why didn't Heritage fix/set it up for you? Does it still have those great sounding higher output pickups in it? But mostly I was here to say congrats on getting her back!

Sweet! Mine is a somewhat later 140, with a lighter shade of natural maple top. Absolutely wonderful guitar!

Feels like an old friend!

There's a cool little blue pedal that you can plug into and get a really nice "woman tone". Pete Farmer loaned me his pedal for PSP.

I think he was using Heritage Custom Shop 225s......