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Bought from Chicago GC, neck had been cracked, poorly repaired and sadly unsaveable. Here are the results of the new custom made neck. Thank you Gene Liberty of Sheridan IL!!

So what the heck is "NCJ Day"?? Well, it stands for "New Cookie Jar Day"! 🙂 And not just any cookie jar. It's a 1999 limited edition "Fender Cookie Master" cookie jar! Fender offered only 2500 of these things. They pop up for sale every so often on the inter-web. It's so cute, I couldn't resist, even if it may never have cookies inside. Check it out... Here's where the cookies go... Here it is next to its big Heritage Liberty cousin...

The only Heritage I had re-fretted was my H157. It was a custom order with several upgrades, but the tiny frets were my least favorite. I had it re-fretted by Gary Brawer, one of the best guitar techs in the SF Bay area. He followed my request for "no nibs". The end project came out fabulous! Each fret end has a rounded (hot dog) shape and the guitar plays superb. Not sure why more guitar builders don't offer this as an option.

The guitar was ordered as a custom from Mandolin Brothers. It has two pickguards. One has the Floating #3 and the other has a Kent Armstrong. This is the fourth Heritage JS I own now. All are very different. One is rose natural 18" x 3", one is natural 18" x 3.25", and one is green 17" x 3". The bracing is the same. One has a KA rebuilt pickup, one has a 12 pole KA, two have the Floating #3.

This was posted on their website abut a dozen years ago: INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE D-VIP (DOUBLE VAR-I-PHASE CONTROLS) Please Note : The D-VIP controls work best with our new HRW pickups. Each HRW pickup, has four lead out wires, plus ground, plus complete full length wire shielding for all 5 wires. ( Right handed player ) Sitting in the playing position. Lower left = master volume control, for both pickups Lower right = master tone control , both pickups. Upper left VIP control knob. 10 = in phase, for fingerboard pickup. 0 = out of phase, for fingerboard pickup. ( mini switch down) Please note that when on "O", there is little volume, because the bass and mid-range have been phased out. Upper right VIP control knob. 10 = in phase, for bridge pickup. 0 = out of phase, for bridge pickup. ( mini switch down) Please note that when on "O", there is little volume, because the bass and mid-range have been phased out. Two Mini Switches: ( 3-way ) The one on the left = Fingerboard Pickup, The one on the right = Bridge pickup. Position: 1 ( Down) = VIP ( VAR-I-Phase) The only time the VIP works, is when the mini-switch is down, for that pickup. Position : 2 - ( Middle) = FULL, (Both Coils), ( normal ) Position : 3 - ( UP ) = COIL TAP, ( single coil) Note: Main toggle switch, works like normal. UP: Front pickup. Middle: Both pickups. Down: Bridge pickup.

You just need the right set of Faber hardware. The matrix of parts on their website is a bit overwhelming, but some careful measuring will get you the right set of hardware you need to make it work. I have a 1998 H150, which came from the Heritage factory with SD59's and a tune-o-matic stop tailpiece and nashville bridge. Heritage used the Gibson spec tail on mine, with a slightly wider spacing, such that a Gotoh aluminum tail piece wouldn't fit (82mm, a millimeter too narrow spacing between the studs) but a Faber one fit perfectly (83mm). I even screwed up the first time and bought the wrong set of studs. Easy exchange for the correct set and good to go. Weirdly enough, I have a 2001 H535 which came with the Schaller roller bridge and top-loader tail piece. The Gotoh tailpiece slipped right on that, and a Gibson Nashville bridge swaps on perfectly.

Stainless steel baby

So I had it checked out and the tubes are 2 6V6 pwr tubes 3 12 ax7 preamp tubes 6AQS reverb tube 5Y36T rectifier tube I don't think the rerb is meant for both channels as it tuens out. The second reverb knob says Balance and it changes the nature of the reverb. The tremolo is in both channels but you have to flip a switch between the channels. The EQ is interactive, similar to an AC30 where subtracting bass adds treble, etc. All and all, a cool amp for $450...I got him down $50..... It's pretty spotless!

The zinc stop bar weighs 78 grams, the Faber weighs 28, so between the stop bar and the tuners, reduced the net weight of the guitar by 130 grams. The Nashville to Faber ABR change, was worth about 5 grams of reduction. So reduced by 135 grams total. So that's about 4.76 ounces, or just a bit more than a quarter pound reduction over all. So from the low 9lbs and into the upper 8lbs range. (barely). But it definitely is enough to feel in the hand and on the strap. It looks nice and plays and sounds nice. Pretty much a win over all.

This amp is outstanding. I’ve had it for a couple of weeks now and gigged with it once. As usual with MB amps, well built and sounds great right out of the box. Easy to dial in, and unlike many MB’s with 1,000 knobs- this one is old school simple. A couple of ‘nice to have’ features- presence control and variable wattage - but other than that it is a pretty straightforward equation. Set the gain between 9-12 and you get a wonderful clean, warm but sweet 6v6 sound, really nice. Bottom end is tight enough and stays in tact (not flabby or distorted) even with the master volume cranked. Can be nice and twang-snappy with the right settings. Raise the gain and it turns creamy. Not harsh or brittle around the edges, just good old 6v6 soul. Pick attack can also generate very controllable breakup. Very player friendly.Definitely different from my MB Fillmore 50. Stays cleaner longer, sweeter tone. The Fillmore is darker and a more complex sound like a 50’s Deluxe. Truly a lot to love about the Fillmore 50 too. The California Tweed is sweeter and more ‘sing’ and sustain than the Fillmore. Very musical. Kind of like a 60’s Deluxe Reverb with more headroom. I have the 40 watt version, so that makes sense, but I did demo the 20 watt version which is similar just not as loud. The 20 watt version was amazing for its size. So portable and full sounding for that little combo in a box. Way better than a PRRI at the same size (maybe smaller). I was kind of shocked at how good that little guy sounded. I opted for the 40 watt model for more headroom, but the 20 is plenty good and loud, especially for its compact size and weight. Fillmore is Amazing at low-moderate volume, and gorgeous breakup louder, but I play 95% clean, so the California Tweed is getting more play these days. Suits my live gigs better. Cali-Tweed is 6lbs heavier but still only 30lbs (head only) and very portable. The Fillmore transformer is pretty light and minimal so I’m guessing that the iron required to keep the Cali-Tweed 4x 6v6 output clean accounts for the extra weight. The vari-watt function is terrific. Sounds full even at 2 watts. I don’t know how they pulled that off. Way better than other vari-watt functions I’ve played in the past. I’ll try to do some A/B sound clips Cali-tweed vs. Fillmore over the holiday weekend. Happy 4th of July to all. Regardless of your politics, we have a lot to be thankful for in this country.

You might find this interesting. I change the strings on the Heritage Johnny Smith I got been almost a month. This was Jay Wolfe's person Heritage. It had flatwounds but they actually sounded good I just decided to give it a set of Daddario 1/2 rounds. I like the lower finger noise and they get close to a roundwound. This guitar really sounds nice and warm has a wonderful depth of sound. So, I then got out the Gibson Legrand ( 2001 )and the Gibson L5 ( 2003 carved to be totally acoustic by custom shop) to have on the carpet to look at and then make some sound comparisons. In addition to sound comparisons, I want to just get a feel and look at the aesthetics. Frankly it is a tossup I will give the L5 a bit of a winner here for output sound and I think some of it has to do with the bigger body. Between the Legrand and the HJS I think they both sound great in a blindfold test I bet it would be spread all over which one sounder better. Here is the real way I look at this. The Legrand is worth I suppose twice as much as the HJS but purely from the looks of each I cannot say which one stands above the other. They both look great, and sound wise I say it is a tossup. What this tells me is that a good Heritage Guitar is right now a sleeper in terms of value. Probably won't make that much difference in our lifetime but 30 years from today I think they will stand out quite nicely. I remember when you could not give away a D'angelico non-cut guitar back in the 1980's and even into 90's. Now they are basically seen as getting out of reach for a nice one and no one is worried that it is a non cut only that it is a D'angelico. That is Heritage stuff today. I hope Heritage realizes this in the company and keeps at it. I have other guitars to compare to also but right now I will take these Heritage Johnny Smiths are the cream of the crop with anything. Way better than the 2 previous Gibson Johnny Smiths I had years ago.

Thanjs for the video. In watching it it turns they are pretty rare in the west. The guy I am getting it from is from the east coast. I think I will go ahead and get it. The guy who is selling it is a harp layer and it was a little much for him. It is pretty spotless and a third of what they seem to be going for. It has that thing where you pull the reverb out of the back and the speaker will not rattle it. Well thought out for sure. I have a spare Weber 12 or two so I will try some experimentation on that. Again, the video was great and articles are cool but it would be nice to hear from someone who has actually played one.

Every Heritage that comes into my aresnal gets the full Faber treatment: Bridge and studs, tailpiece and studs. I do not use the locking parts. The non-locking parts sounds better to ME. .

Maybe these? Pickup frames (triple holes) | 1702 (schaller.info)

Thanks for all the input, I am looking into making a sticker, I got a line on someone who may be able to cut it out of vinyl maybe. The neck was built from scratch, I mean blocks of wood by Gene Liberty (www.guitarfix.com) Here is what it looked like when I got it.

I also think it's cool that he found the right amp! I love the Fillmore but I can see why he likes the tweed. Got to give it up to Mesa for introducing better amps for us guys that like vintage style tones. Their other amps are pretty cool too but just a little too high gain for my style.

Archive.ORG has the old websites. https://web.archive.org/web/20130507174337/http://www.heritageguitar.com/dvip.html

I've been on a quest to reduce the weight of my 1998 Heritage H150 electric (Les Paul style) by reducing the hardware weight. The stock, heavy zinc stop bar and Nashville tune-o-matic have been replaced by locking Faber aluminum stop bar and ABR-1 style bridge. That's a considerable weight reduction already. That left the tuners. Grover Rotomatics are quite heavy, surprisingly so. Gotoh makes a machine head that is a 1-to-1 footprint match with Grover Rotomatics. Exact hole and screw position. The basic model number is SG301. They are very high quality, sealed, smooth turning and have 18:1 gear ratio. The tuners are available in wide variety of options, colors, button types, post heights, locking and non-locking versions. Of interest is Gotoh SG301-AB20-C-L3/R3. "-AB20" is an *aluminum*, chrome plated, Rotomatic large style button. The Goto tuners weigh 29.6 grams each. That's versus Rotomatics at 43 grams each. Each SG301 with the aluminum button is 13.4 grams lighter than the Grover Rotomatic. This shaves 80 grams, 2.84 ounces, off the headstock of the guitar. The look of the guitar is maintained, no holes drilled or altered at all. The tuner change and the Faber hardware got me under the 9-pound mark. I weighed in at 8lbs, 15-ounces, ready to play. It also has good balance on the strap. For comparison, I weighed a plastic, "keystone vintage style" tuner at 26.6 grams. That would have shaved another 18 grams off the guitar, but the mounting screw pattern is not identical, would have required some drilling and left evidence of a tuner change. Not worth the extra half ounce. I ordered the tuners from JAParts from Canada. Had them in stock and took about a week to arrive in the US.

My newish Mesa Boogie California Tweed came with Mesa tubes of course. I’ve always found Mesa tubes to be consistent and good quality for tone and reliability/durability. Playing them for about a month now i decided to try some different 6v6 to see if I could really hear any difference and find the perfect match between amp/tubes and the tone i want to hear. The stock Mesa 6v6 is terrific sounding, so it is just my curiosity and no suggestion that i am not happy with how they sound. Great amp that sounds very very good right off the shelf. Tone seekers are gonna tweak, right? I’ll post impressions here as i try each different tube set. All are matched quads. First up is Mesa 6v6 vs JJ 6v6. Both very musical. Mesa is more of a classic 6v6 sound. Sweet, a little soft around the edges, soulful. JJ’s are (true to reputation) robust sounding, more focused, brighter and later breakup. Mesa’s are mildly warmer, not dark, but warmer/darker than JJs. Breakup on Mesas is far creamier. To me JJ’s are more “distortion” sounding than light overdrive sounding. To my ear, Mesa 6v6 is a very classic, musical breakup. Sustain for miles with the JJs. Mesas are good in this department, but JJs hold on longer. Both are excellent. I’ll be playing around with JJs for a bit and will post updates, as well as new posts when try the next brand set of tubes , either Gold Lion or Tung-Sol sitting on my shelf waiting for their turn in the box. Remember that all this evaluation is highly subjective and your mileage will differ. Also based on a single amp. Contrary opinions are welcome. More to come.

I have two close friends that are both, amp builders, and first rate repairman, and both of them recommend Tung Sol 6V6 tubes. I have used them in my Victoria Regal II, and my TopHat Club Deluxe, and I like them. My favorite 6V6 tubes are NOS Sylvania (I also love green label Sylvania 12AX7s) as it seems they last forever and sound great, but I could easily use TungSols and not feel like I'm losing any tone.

I use JJ 6V6S tubes in my Victoria Ivy League (5F10 Circuit). They do sound a little stronger than 6V6GT, but in a good way (to my ear).

Betcha that has some real tasty tone!

Very fun!

Those are really cool! A friend of mine owned a guitar store and was a Fender dealer. He had one of those on the front counter and had it full of candy bars for the kids that would come in with their parent. Enjoy!

If he put JJ 6V6S tubes in there, I can tell you from experience they do not sound like 6V6 tubes. They are way more 6L6 like. Whether you like them or not is comes down to the individual, and what they are looking for,and perhaps even the amp they are used in can make in difference. In my TopHat amp I did not like them one bit, and couldn't yank them fast enough. But that is the only amp that I gave them a try in, so maybe, it was just the way that amp reacted to them.

Roy Clark Signatures have many variations over the years. There was a limited run of essentially H-535s with his name on them and with exception wood figuring. But the original design is a single cutaway that's deeper than the H-535s for higher fret access. The thinking of the single vs. double cutaway is that there is more bling facing the audience, a larger resonance chamber, and a little more body weight to avoid neck dive. You'll find them with double and single cutaways, maple and mahogany necks, dots, blocks and split block inlays, and some with Bigsbys. Some will have traditional black headstock veneers and some will have matching maple figured woods. Here's a ten year old thread that shows my old natural Roy Clark. I found one a few days ago that I managed to close a deal on. It's among the last ones made AFAIK. I'm a fan of the chestnut burst and the block inlays like on the H-157. I believe it has Seth Lovers, but I'll know eventually. This is basically a hybrid of a H-530 and a H-555. Here's him funking around showing off his skills. Anyway, here's the incoming porn.

Is it possible that some of these subtle, audible differences are due in part to other components or tubes (e.g. rectifier) interacting with these different 6V6 tubes?

Thanks for the reminder on Wolfe, that's a good idea. As stated, I did contact Heritage directly and, no dice. Thanks for the suggestion!

Another thing a lot has to do with biasing which you can't adjust with the Mesa, that's why Mesa insists on using their tubes, as they fall within acceptable bias ranges for their amps. I know that some tube sellers can find non mesa tubes in the right range for Mesa though. The less musical tone and harder distortion tone of the JJs could just be cold bias.

My H140 is unbound, so no nibs on the fret ends. My 157, 535 and Millennium all have nibs although the 535's binding appears to be thinner than the 157 and Millennium, so the nibs aren't as apparent. The Millennium is a 2000, my 157 is 2003 and the 535 is a 2005. I think pretty much all Heritages with bound fretboards have the nibs on the fret ends. They have a device that cuts the binding down after it has been put on the sides. Here's a video of them doing fretboards and binding nibs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjz0tX9q5t8 The binding should not be inside the actual fretboard. The frets should be right to the edge of the wood, then the binding is applied later.

Great amp. I've had mine for a couple of years and have not found a bad sound yet. The multi-watt switch makes it resemble a Champ<Princeton<Deluxe<Pro<Bandmaster at 2<10<20<30<40 watts respectively. You can also plug the speaker into one of the 4ohm jacks at 2, 10, or 20 watts to change the characteristics. My tubes are all a bit micro phonic but only slightly noticeable. I did have to take it in for service. One of the caps associated with one 12AX7 (V6) was going out. Everything is all better now. This amp has a 5 year warranty and luckily I live near Petaluma CA.

Replacing the Grover Rotomatic tuners with Gotoh SG301 tuners with aluminum buttons shaved off the most weight, bringing the guitar down to a comfortable 8lbs, 15oz. These tuners are a perfect fit for the Grover mounting holes and maintain the original look of the instrument.

Eagle

Two-word headstock name, big-bird-landing-on-a-branch inlay, I'd say sure nuff.

I don't have much to say about this. A friend of mine bought another Heritage Johnny Smith, one that was Jay Wolfe's personal one I got years ago but traded to BigMike. As many may know, BigMike sold his 70 guitars to a music store in Chicago. Two Heritage JSs were part of the collection. My friend drove there and bought one but told me the other one sounded and played equally well but didn't have a rose on the pickguard. I called the store in Chicago and asked about the remaining HJS. I was able to make a purchase. Most of BigMike's instruments are not yet posted on Reverb. If you can buy an instrument now, you can save all the Reverb fees and negotiate a price. The trick is to know what they have that they haven't listed. I don't know what they are except a bunch of Gibsons. Here's the HJS hanging on the wall. It has a Heritage pickguard with Schatten volume and tone controls and a Kent Armstrong pickup. As best I can tell, that's how Heritage made it. We'll see.

Nice. The Gotoh SG301 are available with those knobs as well, and really, all kinds of options to figure out, locking, locking with a knob, height adjustable posts, adjustable posts with string lock. Here's the Gotoh product page. https://g-gotoh.com/product/sg301/?lang=en The Gotoh locking tuners are pretty much the same weight as the regular Gotoh tuners, but a good bit lighter than the Rotomatics.

I've only heard good things about Faber

Pics .... cant wait to polish up the guitar install the 498T, strung up and hear the glorious tone... !

I keep thinking about getting a Fillmore, but with how full my stable is, can't really justify it. I do have a Lonestar Special, and yeah, in some days it's harder to dial in. It's very "subtle", while the Fillmore gives you three great modes with a lot of flexibility, and you don't have to flip a bunch of switches to get them. The ability to have TWO channels exactly the same is really great, as I always find that my favorite modes somehow end up on the same channel. They kinda did that on some earlier amps like the 2 channel Solo Head and Tremoverb, but it wasn't quite the same. It was more like you could only use the EQ curve, while the channels stayed otherwise the same. So you could make the orange channel sound "red", but you couldn't have the clean channel on the red channel.

LOL. It was very fun. Here’s a video comparing the Cali Tweed to a Lone Star.

Congratulations on a magnificent JS. Play it in good health.

The neck ring of my 157 cracked which left a section that finally broke off. I bought a standard 1 hole ring, and drilled the two extra holes. It worked perfectly. It really doesn't need to be reinforced, there's no pressure since the spring and screw are pressing against each other.

Four wire pickups allow the toggle switch to take you from the standard output, single coil, and out of phase. This vintage sunburst example does this with two SD P- Rails. The advantage of these pickups is that when you split the coils, the open coil can be the hotter one, like a P-90. Standard humbuckers split weakly. Also, you can select the weaker coil, which gives more of a Fender single coil sound.

Thanks guys. It is good to land on a sound that we dig, right? The Fillmore is a great amp too. Nice to have two great options that can suit a variety of situations and moods.

Sounds like you've found the perfect rig for your musical style. It's tough to find an amp that sounds great at home as well as in a live venue. Enjoy that sweet MB California Tweed!

I was one of those people. One morning Marv called me and asked if I would like to try the neck on the first Millie they were building for me (at the time I thought it would be the only Millie they would build for me, ha). I live 200 miles from the Heritage factory and I'm not sure Marv knew that. Sooo I finished breakfast and off I went. What a thrill to talk with Marv about the carve of the neck!

Arrived in good shape. All is well. A 1991 at 5# 8 oz. The Kent Armstrong pickup seems hotter and fuller than the more acoustic sounding Floating #3. Nothing to not like.

Yep- the Fillmore is kind of its own thing. Very different from a classic MB. having played the Cali Tweed for a few days now - it is also outside the MB norm. Different from the Fillmore too. Sweeter. Easier to dial in. Great sounding. Kind of like a Fender Deluxe Reverb but warmer and richer to my ears. The multi-watt function is a real plus. Amazing how good the 2 watt setting sounds and the volume it can produce at that setting. Kind of weird how that works. It will be hard to decide which one to keep and which one to sell. Hmmm… gigging with the Cali Tweed tonight.

I supplied the finger board on that and a few others.