Jump to content
Heritage Owners Club

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation since 03/28/23 in all areas

  1. I forgot I made this slide show of some of the Custom Orders I made. Old School Heritage Custom Shop.
    9 points
  2. I attended the Kalamazoo Fretboard Festival on March 2. I wandered into a performance room and was surprised to see and an acoustic Heritage 12 string guitar. I couldn't get a closer picture of it during the performance. I did see the owner as he was leaving the festival and told me it was custom made in 1986.
    7 points
  3. For those who don't know, Scotty Moore was Elvis's main guitarist for a very long time. He also was a studio musician and an extraordinary player. Here is a page from his website about his friend and fellow musician Don Dean. http://scottymoore.net/dondean.html Some years ago a friend of mine, who is a great player, really wanted a Heritage Johnny Smith. Both he and I are Johnny fans but he couldn't afford a Gibson. We searched for a few weeks but found nothing. Late at night I found one in a national Craigslist search that was in Kentucky. I called, probably first thing in the morning, and learned that the guitar belonged to Don Dean. Don had died recently and his widow asked the guy on the phone, a pedal steel guitarist and friend of Don, to sell his many guitars. The HJS was stored under Don's bed with a couple of other guitars and was found a bit later than Don's main collection. I drove to Kentucky that morning and arrived in a modest country house with gorgeous scenery. The seller and his wife were very nice. I had a meal with them as they talked about the old days. The seller was a studio musician and road player with Elvis and others. Scotty and Don were friends to both him and his wife. Don died slowly with dementia. They talked about the lean and the better days. It was great. He brought the case out. It looked like someone had vomited on the top and the clean up was less than thorough. The guitar was mint. Further, it had the extra rose inlay in the pickguard, which was a $500 upcharge. I measured it and it was 18" across the lower bout! To my knowledge there were only two of these made, one finished in rose natural and this one a natural. Both were special ordered by Don, a Heritage dealer at the time. Even more surprising was the body depth was between 3 1/4 and 3 3/8", making this truly unique. I made the long drive back that night. I emailed my friend to say I got him a guitar. The next morning he let me know he found a standard HJS while I was in Kentucky at a pawn shop in Ohio and ordered it. Some time later he tired of his HJS, sold it, bought the 18" HJS from me. He had Kent Armstrong rebuild the Floating #3 pickup to increased output, something quite a few people did with that pickup. Eventually I got the guitar back. It is now my favorite, in part because of the story but also because it plays so well and is stunning. In Don Dean's photos you can see him playing this guitar. On the same page you can also see an 18" Heritage American Eagle, probably the only one made. Here is the HJS in action played by my friend 6 years ago. It is seasonally appropriate. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xH_0qJ0Pt0&list=PLZKJqrSIMuspiR9CbV8ztncKUecx6o1Qu&index=2
    7 points
  4. I guess a good time for me to come back, after a reset/reboot. 😄
    7 points
  5. I play George Benson's "Affirmation" with Heritage guitar. If you have time,please listen to it. Thank you.
    6 points
  6. Venerable and Stalwart Heritage Owners, Am straggling in with my contribution: a "C", 1986 Golden Eagle, the 38th they made. Bought it about a year ago from Dan Keller, of Kansas. It's not in mint condition, having a few minor dings and I'm thinking there's a slight twist to the neck that needs a luthier's TLC, but overall in wonderful condition given it's age. X-braced. It has a handwound Kent Armstrong floating humbucker. The neck is a bit thick for my hand, and am struggling with whether to sell, as it's the nicest guitar I'll ever own. I found where this guitar had been posted on Reverb five years ago, but have no other knowledge of it's provenance. Dan said that he owns the first Kalamazoo Award, and that the Golden Eagle was meant to be Heritage's take on that. I'm 70, and have been playing since 10. Got as far as a garage band playing an SG Special through a Marshall stack in the early 70s. But got off drugs, and sold that gear before college and raising a family. For many years just banged on a Seagull acoustic and howled at the moon to folk and the cowboy songs that Dad used to sing us to sleep by. Around 2016 decided to take guitar playing more seriously. Took jazz lessons and purchased a 575. Wanted something with better acoustical sound, and meandered a bit before lucking into this Golden. Have since bought a 1999 Eagle Custom, my fave with a neck that makes my fretting hand smile more than the Golden's. Even with my geezer's hearing, the Golden sounds better, though. You might see this Golden posted for sale here sometime this year, after my luthier works whatever magic it needs. Well, thank you for all your contributions to this site. Your collective wisdom has educated and guided me. I believe this is my first time posting to the HoC, though I joined 6-7 years ago prior to purchasing the 575. Best, Latham
    6 points
  7. My Super Eagle and a stop-tail 150 built for the late Sam Moss, who introduced me to Heritage guitars almost twenty years ago. I think Guy still has that 150...maybe?
    6 points
  8. I got together with a couple of friends again this afternoon to play some tunes. Mostly I've been taking my H140. Once I took my G&L ASAT. A couple of weeks ago, I took my G&L Legacy. I like the way they all play. They sound pretty darn good, although the guys commented that the Legacy sounded "thin". Yeah, it's a SSS, so it doesn't have the beef on the bottom. I haven't taken the 157 or Millenium, and while I took the 525 once as a backup, it never got out of the case. Today, I took my H535, the one with the new machine heads. After playing for almost 3 hours, I have to say that if I had to pick a favorite, that would be it. I don't know what it is about that guitar, but it sounds good, to me, it plays like a dream, it's got great upper fret access, and it's comfortable to hold for 3 hours (well 2 3/4 after taking a short bourbon break). It looks sexy as hell with that nice Faded Cherry finish. There's nothing that guitar can't do. I even did some finger picking on Helplessly Hoping! It's a winner!
    6 points
  9. ...but it is it's solid body step cousin! Figured we could all use an extra pallet cleanse after seeing the bolt-on neck overseas thread.
    6 points
  10. I post this every year. Ren playing a guitar I custom ordered.
    6 points
  11. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been haunted by the thought of owning a Heritage Gary Moore, never seen one over here in the UK, but the next best thing appeared over here on my doorstep a few days ago, no less than a H150 Deluxe from 1989, it needs new strings, a setup and a couple of small jobs and I’m in heaven. I would have sold my spleen and multiple organs to fund this, but luckily , after some serious horse trading, it’s now at home with me, once it’s sorted I will get some pics up .
    6 points
  12. I had a nice Gibby ES-347. Now I have something that sounds better. A 535 with flamed bat-wing and ThroBak ER Custom pickups. If I wanted a 335 I'd have one.
    6 points
  13. How fitting that this is right under Kuz’s pic..
    5 points
  14. My entry for Throwback Thursday (Friday) is my very first Heritage. It was love at first sight and still takes my breath away when I open her case. This 31 year old 1993 Golden Eagle has aged nicely and sounds better each year.
    5 points
  15. G serial number. My first Heritage, bought new in 1990.
    5 points
  16. I got this quite a while ago and sold it to a fellow HOC'r and friend years ago, and now I bought it back. This was built for Vince Lewis. Looks good, sounds good, plays good.
    5 points
  17. My experience is Market. Usually not making a lot on them. Most don't appreciate or know what goes into these.
    5 points
  18. Hi, I play "Milestones" with Heritage Sweet16. If you have time, please listen to it. Thank you.
    5 points
  19. Have yourself a Merry Heritage Christmas!! Merry Christmas to all HOC Members!!
    5 points
  20. Tim Pierce is a Pro's Pro Guitarist. Nothing is ever flashy, but everything is perfect for the application. He has said before is working on trying to play faster and he really is not a shedder at all. I believe many on this forum could play faster than Tim. BUT he can play over any chord progression and have the perfect melodic solo. He doesn't play the same old tired licks, but is imaginative and melodic. I love TP's playing and he seems like a really super guy. He is also an adamant proponent of new guitars overs vintage guitars. He says new guitars (including PRS) play better, have better intonation, and sound just as good as vintage guitars. He believes we are in the golden era of guitar making and I absolutely believe he is correct. It doesn't surprise me that he loves Heritage Guitars along with other new company's builds (Heritage, Collings, PRS, Harmony, Novo, ect.... Great video Tim!
    5 points
  21. I just picked up my first Heritage last week from Sweetwater - an H-150 in Vintage Wineburst. This "sweetwater exclusive" has SD Alnico Pro IIs instead of the usual SD '59s. So far, I love it! Plays wonderfully, sounds great, is resonant as hell/sustain for weeks! I don't ever buy new guitars, but this was a special treat for myself! There are a couple of issues I found though - nothing world ending to me, anyways. There was a ding under the pickguard where the bracket screw hit the top of the guitar (sucky but not a huge deal for me) and the neck pickup ring is cracked. Neither of which are a huge deal, but kind of bummers. You'd think they'd put some felt under the pickguard screw or something...Sweetwater offered to exchange for a different guitar, but the only other one in this color is heavier and uglier They said they'd try to get me a replacement p/up ring. The only other thing with fit & finish that has me going "wait, what?" is the wiring job: That is some SLOPPY solder work - the only thing I can think of is that it originally had the SD 59's then there was a "oh s**t this one is supposed to have the Alnico IIs" and it was a Friday before a long weekend (You can also see the stepped carve from the CNC; I don't know that I've seen a cavity like that before.) Anyways, other than those teeny issues, I absolutely love this guitar and it absolutely blows away several other LPs I've played lately.
    5 points
  22. Hi all, ‘I just got my Heritage H150 Custom core aged (dirty lemon burst). Tried it in the shop and the guitar speaks to me ? Cheers!
    5 points
  23. I have a Gibson LP that has P90's. I replaced the Gibson pickups with Wolfetones. I have to keep reminding myself of that when I see these. I don't need another guitar. But we all know that song.
    5 points
  24. Upgrading the harness will do certain things depending on the parts used. You can get pots with different tapers, which means that how quickly or smoothly the sound changes will be different with a 15% audio taper vs a 30% taper or a linear taper. What these numbers mean is that for a 500K pot, a 15% will measure 75K ohms when turned 50%. A 30% taper will measure 150K ohms at the mid point. Linear taper means it will be 250K when turned half way. Since volume is a logarithmic function (because we hear that way), the use of a log measurement is supposed to make it more like what you hear. Turn it up from 50% to 100% and it sounds twice as loud. The capacitor value will make a huge difference in the brightness. In the typical humbucker setup, a .022uF cap is used. The higher the value, the darker the sound as you roll off the control. You might even want to have different values, like .015 for a neck pickup vs .022 for the bridge. I really don't hear a difference between the Vishay metal film caps that Heritage uses and an oil filled cap. The Vishay caps are good units. If you can solder, then it's not hard to make up a harness. I made a template out of a piece of cardboard, and soldered everything except the pickup and switch on the cardboard. Then I mounted the pots, connected the caps and ground wire and installed it. This is the result. Finally there's vintage wiring scheme vs modern wiring scheme. You can read how these differ lots of places. Seymour Duncan has wiring diagrams for each type. https://www.seymourduncan.com/resources/pickup/wiring-diagrams For Heritage guitars, you want short shafted pots. That's all for now. It's a fairly easy job assuming you can solder.
    5 points
  25. I checked with Grant Green about keeping the pickguard. Here's his reaction...
    5 points
  26. That would please me. When I bought the H535 with P90s that Kuz sold me, he already took care of the bridge mount with the Faber screw in ABR inserts! He and I are both so OCD, I just knew when the guitar got here, that it would set up as good as it could be, and I was right, it was I waited a long time till I got a semi-hollow Heritage, and I'm glad I did. I seriously doubt a custom core would be any better than this one...
    5 points
  27. 4 points
  28. Just finished setting this Esquire up and recorded this song with this pickup, the Cavalier Nocaster HolyGrail. The Esquire has a 3 way switch and it's set for the cocked wah position. Man this pickup sings. Check it out...
    4 points
  29. The guitar arrived yesterday. Shipping went from California to Michigan, but timing was right to avoid great temperature changes. The packing was excellent. It came in a large Reverb box. I owned this guitar once upon a time. I forgot how 3D the figuring is and how it really pops out. I also like how the maple back and neck are the same color. The mahogany color shift on a natural maple body is fine on other guitars. But the white (now yellowing) continuity from top to bottom is appealing. The action is ridiculously low without buzzing. Let's shift to shipping. This was $190 UPS ground. The UPS man told me how costs are going up. I'm sure part of it, probably a large part, is due to personnel. Another component is the cost of diesel. One barrel of crude oil only produces about 11-12 gallons of diesel, compared to 19-20 gallons of gasoline. Insurance costs may also be higher. I have a similar vintage H-555 that shows what Floyd Newton could do to create a tri-burst. The transitions in coloring and the symmetry are an artist's work. My observations over the years are that the old Heritage was very flexible in custom makes. Sometimes the quality was uneven, but usually they were great. Today there is more consistency in good quality but less flexibility in design. Yes, you can get custom builds but not so whimsically anymore. And guitars are expensive.
    4 points
  30. The one I wish I never sold.
    4 points
  31. Well as many of you guys know, I work on guitars quite a bit, and in the last year, have built and rebuilt 5 different Tele style partscasters. In all of the different building I got try quite a few Tele pickups, and recently I stumbled on the Duncan BG1400. The reason I did was that I was trying to find a bridge pickup that would be strong enough to get a good middle position tone with a Tyson Precious And Grace neck humbucker. I also wanted a lead sound that would be less ice picky than standard Tele, something with more mids and a rounded top. I also loved the idea that it would be hum cancelling as some of the stages I play on are less than stellar noise wise, and when recording I love quiet pickups! Well I really like this pickup as it gives up what I wanted hear. It barely fit through my bridge plate, but other than that, there was no craziness installing it. And I've got a DPDT switch on the CTS volume pot to split it, which just makes it sound a bit louder and brighter. Stacked humbuckers don't generally split well but this one does. And this one really does make for a good middle position with the neck humbucker. Here's the guitar that I put the pickup in... This is what it sounds like.... This
    4 points
  32. That's like comparing a early 90's Vette to a '23 Vette. The competition between builders has gotten ten fold and I would still take the 90's one! Built in a dirty basement of a historic building by master builders, I say HELL YEAH! Money spent in Michigan staying in Michigan supporting American families. That flamed maple PG is tasty, laminated Headstock is classy, Multiply binding is choice, Belly cut is a plus, The Duncans they used were the pedigree at that time! I do have more that a few deluxe's.
    4 points
  33. For those not familiar, Heritage made an artist model designed by David Paul. This is a H-550 that is 2" deep and has a Bigsby and full center block. Some were cherry but most were blue. I got one a few months ago. Yesterday I pulled one of the pickups to make sure they were HRWs. I tried using a scope instead, but the center block wouldn't allow it. The photo I include shows an HRW. It also shows creator Ren Wall's "floating 4 point mounts". These are small brass spacers that reduce the pickup bezel contact and, in theory, allow more frequencies to come forth through the pickup. I asked him long ago if they work. He smiled and said some people say they can hear the difference. On this guitar it is hard to imagine, but they made me smile. My guitar is the final prototype. It doesn't have David Paul's signature on the headstock or pickguard. Below is my favorite David Paul tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-XeMwpCNzY Here is his more typical style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAwGG2MY-kg David quit playing years ago as far as I can tell. If anyone knows what happened to him, I'd like to know.
    4 points
  34. No more pearls of wisdom to see here.... but here's a bit of guitar porn for your enjoyment.
    4 points
  35. I'll jump in. I haven't seen a bad one yet.
    4 points
  36. This one is still in my gallery, but it fits. Happy Holidays everyone!
    4 points
  37. Well, I said before that if they ever introduced a pelham blue with P90's, my wallet would be powerless to resist... Someone at Heritage must be calling my bluff now -
    4 points
  38. Here she is with the full Faber tail piece kiit in antiqued nickel and Seymour Duncan Antiquity Humbucker Set. Electronics are on the way and will be installed over the weekend. Quite a different animal now than with those dark Schallers
    4 points
  39. I've never used the solderless setup, I have been soldering since I raced slot cars in the 60s, so I have no fear of firing up the old iron. Besides, I love the smell of smoking flux in the morning!? I do like the way they have done their solder work. My only concern would be if the holes and pots will line up exactly the same as your H-150. GIbson uses as CNC to drill out the cavity, so they should all be exactly the same, within thousandths of an inch. Heritage can use a template, but it may not measure exactly the same as Gibson. My 157 has the Mojotone Vitamin T caps. They are oil filled polypropylene/metal film caps. The difference is that it's two actual layers, not a metal that has been vapor deposited on one side of a plastic film. In that respect, they are close to a paper/metal film capacitor. The pots are stamped 500KBD which tells me they are 20% audio taper 500K CTS 450G series which are excellent pots. Not sure if they are std or low torque, I have low torque pots in mine. If you worry about hitting the knob and changing the volume, you probably want standard torque. If you want to do swells, then low torque is easier to turn. I've used both Mojotone's Pots and some from The Art Of Tone. The H-157 has Mojo 500 pots. I bought 8 along with a pair of the Vitamin T and Mojo Dijon capacitors years ago from Mojotone when I was at a guitar show in South Carolina. I checked the pots and picked the closest 4 for resisitance. I still have three in a bag downstairs. The Dijon caps went in my H-535 when I rewired it with new Sheptone pickups. It has TAOT pots. My 157 has a black plastic jack plate. The H-140 and Millennium LE both have barrel jacks. I replaced the barrel jack in my H-140 after 30 years. I was on Ebay, and bought 3 of them, so far after about 6 or 7 years, I've only used the first one. I wouldn't switch it out for a standard style jack as it requires drilling and not having the proper tools, I'm sure to screw it up and wreck the job. That's the same reason that the Seth Lovers that i got to put in my 157 are still on the shelf. The route isn't deep enough for the long legged Seths. I'm not taking a drill to the pickup cavity as I don't want the ultimate in "buckle rash" on the back. As for hearing the differences between a PIO, Oil filled Metal film and Poly/metal film, that's something you can decide for yourself. There are some electrical differences in different types of construction, things like ESR, inductance and voltage handling in addition to the capacitance. I confess that I really can't tell the difference in good capacitors. About the only way I could do that would to build a switching rig, start playing and have someone switch different caps in while I play. In the tests that I've heard, I hear more difference in the "performance" than the capacitor as long as the values are well matched. Soldering in a capacitor, then playing, stopping and soldering another cap, playing again, etc is not a reproducible process to me. I would feel better if I could do 10 takes and have them all the same with one cap, then do 10 with another, mix them up and be able to pick them out. Plus, I can touch the tone control on the amp and make 50 times more difference. (hey, I'm a skeptic, or totally deaf... not sure which). But why would people selling capacitors admit that the $5 metal film cap sounds the same as $30 cap with vintage looking stripes? (you can get 2 orange drops for $10 vs 30 for a Luxe bumblebee). I can change from a medium to a thin pick and make a HUGE difference. One good thing with caps like the orange drops is that they are VERY stable, and not microphonic at all. Ceramic cap values can vary with temp, be microphonic and usually have a pretty wide tolerance (like +/-20%!) You really don't need a 600V capacitor for a guitar circuit where you are working with 1 V or less. However, voltage handling is somewhat a function of the dialectric film (polyester vs polypropylene vs styrene vs paper). Have i confused/frustrated/scared you off enough? ? Seriously, it's not a massively huge deal or hard job to do. It wont make you suddenly sound like Jimmy Page or Joe Pass. I just find it fun to learn how all this stuff works. As I said, I'm somewhat skeptical of some of the lore that is put forth on the internet. It's probably part of my Deming/ISO 9000 quality training. Tribal knowledge vs verified observation and all that. I'm sure there are people who can hear this kind of stuff, just like there are drivers who can tell a 1/2 degree difference in a wing, or 1/4 pound difference in tire pressure, but I'm not Max Verstappen or Helio Castroneves.
    4 points
  40. Heritage certainly didn’t disappoint with the Custom Core P90!!! Now, Heritage did not just take the Custom Core humbucker model and just route it out for P-90s….they totally redesigned this model (a little birdy told me). The neck shape was cloned from a 1956 Les Paul. The dish carve was also cloned from that same 56. First off, the setup out of the box was PERFECT! I couldn’t have set it up any better. PLEKed to perfection. Low-medium low action. Plays like a dream!!! Finish work and final preparations were excellent!! VOS finish. A glorious flame top! Great burst. One piece mahogany back and neck. Good binding scrape. Buff and sanding is very well done. Neck angle is perfect. Very little neck relief necessary. Only 8.5 lbs. The neck is great feeling 50s carve. Medium shoulder, not super fat. The pickups are Heritage designed, just like the 225 humbuckers. These p90s sound great. The bridge has great clarity and sparkle. But still has a warmness to it. The neck also has great clarity and a hint of sparkle but also has a fat, warm bottom end. The hardware is decent. Lightweight Aluminum bridge and tailpiece. Gotoh tuners. Switchcraft toggle and jack. CTS pots. Orange Drop caps. Amber top hat knobs sans pointers. It shipped in a very nice, heavy duty case with a crushed velvet interior. Included was a really nice gatefold hard covered COA, keychain, final inspection card and Heritage info card. All in all, I’m VERY IMPRESSED with Heritage’s new Custom Core model. It follows suit with its cousin with humbuckers. A beautiful, great playing, wonderful sounding guitar!!!
    4 points
  41. Thank you so much, Dan from MojoAxe and, especially, skydog52 for your advice and tips regarding the pickguard and installation. BTW, besides the pickguard, I made the following mods on my H-530 since I bought it last year: - Amber knobs - Amber switch tip - Amber tuner knobs - Tonepros bridge w/nylon saddles - Bigsby
    4 points
  42. I think I will keep this one.
    4 points
  43. What on earth would they change on the 535? I get the enthusiast demand for a 1959 LP, but a 535 too? It's already a better guitar
    4 points
×
×
  • Create New...