Leaderboard

Very cool. Thanks for posting.

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

Y'know, the amp has a little bit to do with the tone of a guitar, too!