Leaderboard

Congrats on the new guitar. Here's my H170 (I believe it's a 1990

New (used) guitar day for me. Picked up a nice clean, 2001 H535 in natural, figured maple with HRW pickups. Very little wear on it front or back, frets in very good condition. I had an aluminum stop bar and Nashville tune-o-matic bridge, so I swapped off the Schaller bridge and tailpiece. The Schaller hardware is ok, but the rollers on that style tailpiece tend to work themselves loose over the years, and I had the parts in my parts drawer. At 7lbs, 12-ounces, it is a really nice light weight. The label doesn't say "HRW", but the black-dot on the switch and the dates match, no sign that it has ever been worked on before, so it looks all legit as shipped back then. I know HRW's are not everyone's cup of tea, but I'll give them a fair shot. So far, it sounds really good with them. Sadly, the Heritage case didn't come with it. It looks like they're out of stock at Heritage, maybe I'll call Monday and see about it. It did come with a cheap, poorly fitting generic case. It does fit pretty well in a Gibson ES335 case. But there's some disagreement as to the ES335 vs. H535 dimensions, and I don't know if the Heritage case is specifically-fitted or not. It does appear the 535 might be a little thinner than the 335. The 2002 H535 joins my 1998 H150 that I've had for over 20 years as my second Heritage. The H150 came factory with SD59's, Nashville bridge and heavy stop bar. It's been a great guitar all this time too. Photo of the H535 after cleanup, swapping the hardware and restringing. Temporarily occupying a Gibson case.

Here are some shots of my band and me playing a gig last night. A friend of mine is a professional photographer who has photographed many jazz legends up close in performance at the Monterey Jazz Festival and (and many other venues) for decades . https://michaeloletta.com/. He’s a real pro and can make even an amateur like me look like a real musician. I had no idea he was photographing. Consummate professional. The guitar is way more photogenic than me…

I detest the absolute absurdity of YouTube videos like this. There are a couple of YT formulas to get a lot of hits on guitar vids, the first being, "...I can make this cheap used squier just as good as the custom shop all those rich guys paid too much for!" The other is "you can't hear it/yes I can hear it!" First of all, Gibson has churned out a LOT of things with the "Les Paul" model name on it. Thing is, they ALL SOUND DIFFERENT even though they all say, "Gibson Les Paul". It depends, what wood, what construction method, what hardware, what pickups and even what strings are on it, what it is plugged into and most of all, who's playing it. My 1998 H150 came with SD 59's, and Nashville Tune-o-Matic and a zing stop bar. It weighs a bit over 9lbs. It also came with 70's era Les Paul potentiometer in it, namely, 300K/100k volumes and tones. So, it sounded pretty dark most of the time I've owned it. I had occasion to replace a pot, was surprised to find the values and put in the more commonly used "vintage" era 500k pots. Incredible difference in tone, much brighter, fuller and a touch more output. I have a 60th Anniversary Gibson Les Paul 1960-Reissue, V2. It's 1 piece mahogany, no weight relief, 8lbs, 1oz in weight. It has the correct "'burst" era ABR-1 screwed into the wood and the light aluminum stop bar. It has the Custombucker III pickups, unpotted, alnico-III very PAF type in it, and the 50's era wiring. It does that, "beefy telecaster" Les Paul thing, in spades. Plus, at 8lbs, it is a joy on my aging back. These two sound incredibly different from each other, despite being so extremely similar in so many ways. But my Gibson Les Paul sounds incredibly different than a Norlin era Les Paul with the pancake body and a maple neck, and different than an 11lb example from the 1980's with Tim Shaw's, or T-tops, or any of the overwound, ceramic magnet pickups they offered at the time. So, really, no one can hear the "brand", but you can discern between instruments that were built differently, of different materials and methods, even if the brand and model are the same. My just acquired 2001 H535 is super light and it gets that classic 335 tone. I had a 1997 ES335 "dot reissue" that sounded like poo, no matter what you did with it.

1) I like the feel and generally the look of the "aging" on CCs. But the headstock aging is a little too much for sure. 2) The tuners do suck. I replaced them with drop in Gotohs and it is a HUGE improvement. 3) The pickups sound OK, but I like A2s so I dropped in a used set of Throbak SLE-101s. I called Heritage to see if they would sell me a set of unpotted Parson Street pickups, but they said no because they were all currently potted.

Awe, but they do.... I ordered some 510s off ebay with a new "Antique Nickel" finish. I will report back when they come in, installed, and post pictures.

Schaller did all kinds of stuff right. Lots and lots and lots of very well made Schaller guitar parts out there. The "Nashville Tune-o-Matic" bridge - Schaller. Look how many say, "made in Germany". Schaller right there. They made a lot of very good tuning machines used on a variety of brands. The Schaller GTM bridge, aka "roller bridge" works fine, just looks weird. The top-loader tailpiece is weird looking, but very functional, especially with fine-tuners, if you want fine tuners. Schaller humbuckers were well regarded in their day and widely used by the entire guitar industry. I've taken electrical measurements of them as well as taken them apart and honestly, they're well made and nothing bad about them. Guitar pickups are about 98.9% mythology and 1.1% actual engineering. There's only so many ways to wind two bobbins full of wire and stick a bar magnet between them. You might like something else, because it is different, but that doesn't mean the other is "bad". I also can't fault Schaller on the spare parts support and ease of ordering. I've certainly replaced many worn or butchered saddles and other miscellaneous stuff over the years and you can still order them right from Schaller in Germany. You can even ask them questions about stuff they stopped making 30 years ago and if they have the data, they'll actually try to answer your technical questions.

I got on the phone with Heritage and bought a b-stock, or "shop-worn" case at a nice discount. LOL, yeah, the guitar world makes no sense at all. So much is voodoo and superstition and the often silly, "conventional wisdom" from the interwebs. I'm an electrical engineer by training. I have the equipment to measure pickups magnetically and electronically. I can measure the coil inductance, capacitance, resonant frequency and I can take response plots using a signal generator, exciter coil and an integrator with an oscilloscope and make accurate frequency response Bode plots. If it weren't such a PITA to get to the wiring in a 335/535, I'd have measured these already. There's a little "white corrosion" I want to clean off the bodies of the pots, and I'm curious enough, that I'll get around to measuring these. The extra long solder joint on the covers of the HRW are a sign someone didn't want us in there easily. I've never seen images of one opened up. I have a pile of Schaller humbuckers in my work bench draw and I've measured them. It will be interesting to have an objective measure of these. Honestly, the difference in tone by setting the pickup-string distance was rather marked with the HRW, more than I think most humbuckers I've played with. I started at 1/16" from the string to the covers and worked them down, little by little. At a certain point, with just a little more distance, the zingy-ness dropped away and they got right into the zone. They have relatively strong magnetic fields, likely alnico-V magnets, as most similar Schallers and SD59's also have. The Custombucker III's in my Gibson have about half the magnetic strength at the poles, as they are alnico-III and they're happy to be very close to the strings.

My Heritages all have Grovers. I don't think I ever got any with Schaller tuners. I tried putting Ivory keystones on my Grovers once, they lasted a few weeks and were off. I think they look really classy, but they strip out too easily.

Thanks everyone! I've been around at least one or more Heritage Forums over the last 20 years. I got my H150 back in 2002, when it was a used guitar (very used at that point!) from Buffalo Brothers at the Marin Guitar Show. The H535 is my latest acquisition. I was out looking for a fretless bass of all things, spotted this hanging in a corner and gave it a tryout. Kind of like "just looking" at puppies at the pound. When I first looked it over, was amazed at the condition, despite the used-guitar-shop, "grunge" all over it. They had misdated it as a 2020, but the R-serial number clearly dated it, along with the Schaller bridge and two-screw pickups. The black dot switch tip I also spotted as the HRW, and sure enough, there they are. Handwritten date corresponds with the serial number. I'll keep the Schaller bridge and tail aside, as there's nothing wrong with them and cosmetically, they're also in good shape. As I recall from the era, HRW were a factory upcharge and I think the wood was likely a factory upgrade as well. The top, back and sides are very "flamey". Virtually no fretwear, binding nibs all intact. Clean inside and out, very little dust inside. After a little setup work, I managed to find a sweet spot for the pickup height adjustments, where it really gets that semi-hollow sound happening. The HRW's are pretty hot but remarkably clear sounding. Tone control is also very effective, and a little tone rolloff sweetens them up without darkening them. The Nashville bridge and aluminum stop bar made it a little brighter than the Schaller hardware, both acoustically and in the amp. Bummer about the case. This one clearly lived most of its life in the case, but who knows where it went. Would have loved to have it. Looks like TKL cases are still Heritage's manufacturer. It fits very well in a modern, "brown vintage Gibson" case for a 335. Though it just seems weird to put a Heritage in a Gibson case, and I need to sell the guitar (an ES-135) that lives in that case now. If I get a chance, I'll measure the inductance, capacitance, resonant frequency and make a Bode plot of the pickups. I've been studying Schaller pickups from the 80's-2000's for another project. It will be interesting to see how they compare electronically.

I had an H170, once upon a time. Had a ToneSucker(tm) and everything. Never should have moved it on. Enjoy your new guitar!

Yes! Yes! Although some of the coolest Heritages I've played have been old ones, a good percentage of the worst quality, I've seen were also from the early years, with many guitars having to be sent back to the factory! One of my close friends was a Heritage dealer in the so called good old days, and he relayed to me some stories of such guitars, and some newer dealers I've talked too have repeated these stories, so average at best is a fallacy. Also the factory in my opinion was very run down and in need of some good clean up, but these days it's looking great. And some of the new ones are in my opinion the best Heritages I've ever seen, heard, or played! Hands down, with the new guard, the nuts, frets, and binding on the on the standard models look great, and both of my older H150s needed work in all of those departments. The only thing I don't like with the new guard is the relic-ing, especially on the tuners and around the headstock. Another thing, on the custom cores, I think they should offer unpotted humbuckers, for what they are charging for CCs, I think they should cut a deal with Throbak! They should also use better bridges (Faber or ABM would be nice), and better tuners, like Japanese made Klusons (or upscale Gotohs). But all all in all, I think Heritage has upped their game. Things I love that went by the wayside... Schaller bridges, tailpieces, and pickups!, I never liked any of them.

I use plain Zippo lighter fluid, non-diluted, and it works great! My guitar not only smelled of smoke, but of of dank basement. And now it smells fine (like old nitro)! This is the guitar I'm referring to...

This...period.

Here are my votes. Tuners: ok Tailpiece: too heavy Bridge: roller bridge good for Bigsbys Pickups: good for jazz hollowbody archtops The engineering is very good. Designs are not optimal for many uses. Growers are excellent tuners. SD 59s are a solid default. Whatever they are using for bridges and tailpieces are a step up.

All of the above comments in this thread discussing how the many varieties of H150's, LP's, etc. sound different are very interesting and enlightening. For some odd reason however, I sound pretty much the same on all of my solid body guitars.

I remember my first LP was a 79’ Custom. I swapped out the T-Tops, because they were too microphonic. I put a set of Duncan 59s’ which in 90’ were still considered great pickups. This was way before the whole “Boo-teek” thing started. That guitar sounded great, but had to weigh 12lbs. Back in 90’ I was a kid, so the weight wasn’t an issue. Over the years I’ve found that heavier LP style guitars sounded better (to me). Not sure if there’s any science behind that, or just by chance.

I had a look at Michael Oletta's website and I like his comment, "The Jazz images I treasure are not just a "documentation" of the Jazz Artist. The image should reflect the music, mood and the moment." Exactly this. Nearly thirty years ago the tutor on a photography course I was attending said that you take good images of subjects you're passionate about. I also see that he plays bass - I know a few jazz photographers who are also musicians...

I had a '99 H-150 that must have been between 11 to 12 pounds. It sustained for days. I liken it to a piano. Great tone! I sold it because it was so heavy -even in my late twenties. I have only heard one guitar like that and it was a friend's father's '59. Yeah, nice suite... I found several suits in the dumpster out side of my apartment. I brought the jackets in to give to a young kid living near me. A buddy said to put on the jacket and glasses and do a Stephen Stills thing and he took a photo. The kid loved the jackets. I didn't tell him they probably belonged to a dead man.

This is a complete shot in the dark, but worth a try nonetheless. I am trying to track down a 2007 Goldtop H150 Classic I special ordered in that year. It had an ebony fretboard which sets it apart some. I do have record of the serial number, but won’t post that publicly. It had a unique spot on the back of the body that was lighter than the rest. I sold it to HOC member 602a in 2010. I believe he then sold it to someone living in Seattle. I had to sell it at the time. I would love the chance to buy it back or at least know what became of it. Maybe someone will see this and know. If so, please message me.

You could line up 7 R7s and they would sound similar, but not exactly the same. A while back I had several L.P. style guitars in the house so a friend and I decided to have a tone party. The lineup consisted of an R7 goldtop from mid 2000s, a 70s L.P custom, a L.P. classic, and finally a core 150 with stock 225 pickups. We played all through a Suhr SL68 100w plexi style head into a 70s Marshall 412 bottom cab loaded with original blackbacks. I really do love a good R7 with the fatty neck and burstbuckers, but I've gotta say, we both clearly choose the Core 150 as the champion that day. When I first heard those 225 pickups I was underwhelmed. I just didn't spend enough time to get what makes them good. The lower output makes for great clarity, but when run into an amp that is cranked up it was a thing of sonic beauty. Seriously, it sounded way better than the guitars that were there that day. The L.P. custom had some hand wound units...can't remember the winder. Also, the R7, whole lit was a nice guitar, I've had other ones that were better sounding. Saying that a core 150 sounded "Les Pauly" is an odd statement.

Great setlist!!

Set One Corcovado Days of Wine and Roses Lawns Someday My Prince Will Come Song for My Father God Bless the Child Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers Girl From Ipanema Set Two Georgia on My Mind All Blues Black Orpheus This Masquerade Lucky Southern How Insensitive Footprints St. Thomas

Home Depot sells small bags of activated charcoal. Leave a few of the bags in the case. The bags won't harm the guitar. Baking soda also absorbs odors. Sprinkle baking soda in the case and let it sit for a few days. Vacuum and repeat. As for the guitar, let it sit out in the open on a stand or hang on the wall. The smell will clear up in a few weeks. I one bought a Millennium with a bad smoke problem. These are the tactics I used.

I had a Gibson R7 LPC black beauty reissue & while it sounded good, it must have weighed 12 lbs or more, and the tuners were crap. They sort all their heaviest mahogany body blanks into the LPC builds for some stupid reason. I bet the original 50s LPC's didn't weigh 12 lbs. I custom ordered a Heritage H157, asked them to use all mahogany for the body just like the original 50's LPC's, and unlike the H157's which had a maple cap. I transferred the Throbaks I had in the R7 BB into the H157 and that guitar just kills! Then I suggested to Marv they should make that a standard Heritage model, just like the original 50s Les Paul Customs. With P90s too. I said all the vintage aficionados out there might be quite fond of that idea. Heritage did make that limited edition P90 mahogany H157 run about a year later. Anyway in that case, this Heritage H157 is definitely a better guitar. I think a lot depends on the wood, and the weight. Which is unique to each instrument. Once you start using different pickups & hardware there's other variables at play, hard to generalize. Good wood & crap parts? Crap wood & good parts?

I've had the same exact experience with Schallers! I've said this before that I did many pickup swaps for people as a side hustle, and replaced more than one set because, they were just dull sounding, just like any other overly potted pickup. I also can't stand Nashville bridges of any make, or any bridge that uses an insert into the body instead of the post going right in.

20 years ore more ago people would buy digital cameras and test them and the lenses by taking pics of newspapers tape to their walls and go on about the good and bad. They never used their cameras to get decent photos. They would buy and sell and buy and sell -never satisfied. Was it the gear or was it the photographer? These discussions always take me back to that.

I completely agree that G’s LPs have changed over the years. Just taking a standard model, the Norland difference is huge, many had 3 piece maple necks. If they put on a blindfold and played a mid 70s LP with a pancake body and maple neck would they say it doesn’t sound like a LP or would they gush over how great and perfectly LP it sounds. It really is ludicrous to think the branding on a headstock could make a difference in tone on otherwise identically built guitars.

Ask a car detailer about ozone treatment. They usually offer it as a service to get smells out of cars. Wipe the guitar down with pure naphtha first several times with clean cloth and clean naphtha each time. Then ozone it. Ammonia based cleaners like Glass Plus really cut through tobacco goo, but aren’t safe for many guitar finishes. But ok on plastics and plated metals. A semi-hollow will be hard to clean the inside, hence ozone treatment is the best option. The case will be more difficult to deodorize. All the soft materials absorb odors. Fairly easy to replace though.

Z, it's obvious you don't have cork sniffing golden ears. They did the same thing with a bunch of Klon clones. Of course they were turning knobs and adjusting the sound so that moves the results. Is A=B or A=E? Is A=A? In my opinion, the biggest factor in the "tone" of an electric guitar (maybe 3/4) will be in the pickups. THEN you can start adding in all the other stuff, wood, hardware, setup, pick (yeah, your choice of pick has a HUGE influence). But you're absolutely right, there's no absolute target LP tone to my ear. You can compare the LP to the 150cc and say they are different in some maybe minor respect, but if you pick up 10 150s and 10 LPs, you'll probably find the same variation within those 10. I did that some years back when playing a bunch of ES335s at Wilcutt. Even unplugged they were all different. WIthin a range (and assuming you are talking multiples with the same model pickup) they'll have a certain characteristic compared to a Strat, or a Tele, or a Rick or a Gretsch. Yank out the 225 pickups or the Burstbuckers and put in some Duncan Invaders, or EMGs and you've got a completely different animal. I find that guitars feel different, and that would clue me into what I'm playing pretty drastically.

Great photos! Nice 575, and that looks like a nice chill gig. What tunes did you play?

I have NI Groove Agent, XLN Addictive Drums 2, a handful of other "drum machine" VSTs (because they're like Pokemon, you have to catch them all, right?), the built-in stuff that comes in Ableton Live and Cubase Pro, and a Roland TR-8. For "quality" sounds, Groove Agent of Addictive Drums win. For "just lay down a foundation to jam along with", the TR-8 wins hands down. Several years ago, though, Roland superseded the TR-8 with the TR-8s, which has some different functionality. Never bothered to "upgrade" because what I have works for what I want to do with it. If I'm building a track, the work flow, generally, is to just get that four on the floor going with the TR-8 and then eventually replace it with better sounding/more complex MIDI patterns from Groove Agent. Just depends on how much effort I feel like making at the time and whether I'm truly "building a track" or simply "futzing around", aka "noodling."

Looks great! I can almost hear it.

Thanks Git! I am excited!! It will be the oldest Heritage in my large collection. 36 years old!! I will post pics soon as it arrives!!! 😋

Hard to argue with any of the above EXCEPT.... EVERY pair of Schaller tuners that I had with ivoroid buttons (which was default on 150s for a while) eventually striped. I know many others that had the same problem. My G tuner striped in a gig and was unrepairable.

@tsp17...Great looking photos, Tad. 👍 H575's are such sweet sounding and comfortable archtops.

Tuner's: Every set I've ever used were GREAT! I prefer them over most tuners except for the really high end Gotohs! Tailpiece: good for holding doors open, or holding stacks of paper down. Bridge: never found a use for ANY roller bridge, if a Bigsby isn't working, I say go TruArc bar bridge and if needed Serpentune! Pickups: decent at best, if they worked in a guitar I probably wouldn't yank them, just kidding, they'd be out in a second If I wanted PAF tone: I would go with Wolfetone Legends, Throbak MXV, Tyson Precious and Grace etc.

This is probable very accurate. Edwin Wilson was the head of Gibson's custom shop before moving over to be in charge of Heritage's Custom shop. The Custom Core is more historically accurate, but I don't if anyone could notice on a "blind-fold playing test". For me, the main reason I bought a Custom Core 150 was because of the HUGE improvement in lighter woods used (without "weight relieving" the body) my CC came in at 8'4oz and I also wanted the "feel" of an old guitar so I got the "aged version". I have owned 4 other 150s through out the years and they all sounded very good. I think there is a "dry and punchy" sound from my Custom Core (that I think is due to the lighter wood and aged nitro finish) that the other 150s didn't have. But even if only for a lighter CC guitar weight, the extra cost was worth it for me. My other 150s ranged from 9'2oz to almost 9'12oz which are just to heavy for me.

I'd think most recording software would handle this with ease. Just record your drums on one track, then play/record your guitar tracks while listening to the drums track. That's basically how all my recordings are made. Reaper is excellent software for this purpose, and is free (well, in theory you're supposed to pay $60 for it after a trial period, but it can still be used whether or not you pay for it).

If only. At least then I'd know who to beg to get it back.

Hey all, When I bought my 2011 H-535 it did not have a key for case. It's one of the older style cases that say "The Heritage" in big print on it. Would anyone out there have an extra key for this case? Thanks.

Wow! You use the key? In the past 60 years, I don't know that I have ever locked a guitar case. What's the point? If someone wanted to steal my guitar, they would just pick up the case and walk away. 😉 I don't even remember getting a key with any of my guitars. The after market case I bought from GC had two in the box. They're still there.

Purely my own experience and anecdotes from others. I own a 98 H150 and a late 80s- early 90s 535. Both are incredible guitars and every person who has tried them comments on them, both will be on tour with me for a up coming project. Ive heard a lot of people say about this era being sought after as the best was incredible and the worst just average. However I have also heard of the inconsistency’s of this era but I’d argue that’s down to the hand made nature. Conversely, I’ve played several transition years heritages from across the range and they were all average at best and mediocre at worst. The shop I work for was a UK dealer at the time and could not shift them for this reason. Poor finishing such as bad fret work, poor woods, defects such as incorrect neck angle, electrical issues and just general poor QC when compared to the obvious comparatives. I have heard since the new take over quality has vastly improved again and they are once again the sort after guitars they were.

FWIW- I have a 1999 H150-CM that I absolutely love. (I did replace the pickups with Bare Knuckle Rebel Yells and put Sperzel Locking Tuners on it)...

I think the fret wire is standard Jesco stuff. It's pretty much used industry wide, unless you go with stainless. I don't remember the number, though. The caps in most Heritages are Vishay MKT metalized film. They are yellow axial capacitors and are good caps. The pots can vary over the years, depending on availability. They use standard audio taper pots. I have tried changing pots and to be honest, sonically there was no change. I had one that was scratchy, so I replaced all 4 with CTS pots. The only difference was in the feel, as I used low torque CTS with a 15% taper which changes the rate of volume change as you turn the knob. They also made it easier to turn, which might be good or bad, depending on your style. Wire is wire... You can get nice cloth covered vintage style wire, but it won't change the sound. It's pretty and if you want it to look like 1959, then go for it. Jacks and switches are pretty much generic. If they are clean and work, they're good. If they get dirty and noisy, or cut out, then change them out. I've used Switchcraft and cheapos from China and as long as they are quiet and solid, they're fine. Depending on how you like to roll off volume, I added a treble bleed to my 157 for a while. I liked it's effect more than 50s wiring or standard wiring. Here's my 157 control cavity with treble bleeds and the stock pots and caps. As I had changed a noisy switch, I changed the cable running up to the switch with a shielded cable. (the grey stuff).

When I got my H150 it came with Duncan 59s, love them in that and I generally prefer lollar imperials. They are not as vintage correct as imperials but god do they match well with the 150. I’m privileged enough to work in a higher end guitar shop so have tried many Lollar, throback and other such pickups as well as original PAF’s. All the modern boutique repros have their own character and capture one or a couple of aspects of the original. But I’ve found it is highly dependent on the guitar. I’ve heard the same set of throbacks sound great in one guitar and awful in another. Guess you just need to find the right pairing.

or frustration LOL