Leaderboard

Here is a Millie DC. It has a lot of maple- the back, top and neck. Upper register access is easy. It balances well enough. A consideration with a blue guitar is that it will very slowly have some yellowing emerge. The original owner swapped out the HRWs with a set of PRS pups, which sound very good. I have the HRWs sitting in the case pocket, but so far have not had the urge to install them. From an aesthetics point of view, a well done burst is grand. Black is elegant. I like block inlays. I got a Les Paul Supreme earlier this year from a friend. There are similarities to the Millie series. The Supreme has solid woods with a lot of body hollowing, so both the Millie series and the Supreme are fairly light. The Supreme is less "neck heavy", but in neither is that a real concern. The Supreme has no back cavity cover. PIckup and harness work is doable but challenging. The better return on your dollar investment is the Millie if you plan to keep it. I'll add a little controversy. Of course every element in the signal chain and instrument affects the tone. I play the blue DC through four amps. Each takes the same instrument but sounds different. The Supreme is most like the chambered but has no back plate. I wish I had kept my Millie Eagle 2000. I had a lot of time with that guitar. I don't even remember why I traded it now. Oh well.

I'm fortunate. Back in the early 80's when I was studying guitar at the local community college, Joe Pass played 2 shows in one night. Prior to that, he hosted a student seminar. I met him. I sat in on the seminar, and watched 2 solo shows that night. It's a night that I won't ever forget. Joe was such a nice guy who went through a lot in his life. He was incredibly blunt, honest, and inspirational.

I think Kent had a deal with parents. Buy your kid a Kent guitar and they'll never want to play guitar again, you can thank us later.

I see these in a different light. The guitar seems decent by this review. The price point is attractive to the begining and intermediate player due to the price. Those who can pay more and want "better", there are other places to go. I don't own anything in this series but have played a couple. I also recall one of my favorite rock players, Randy California of Spirit, played a Sears Silvertone in his early recording and performing days to great reviews. I have modded my H-150/157s over the years in some cases. The didn't "need" mods, but some fret work and slot cutting helped. If I were back in 6th grade, there's no way I could afford a new American built H-150 or H-535 from my paper route. If the Ascent+ was available, that may be within reach. I have an emotional bias though. I grew up in Kalamazoo. I'd take the temperature of the community since they are my audience. I don't think there would be resentment if I got the Asian version, especially as a kid. I can tell you that in Kalamazoo years ago, a lot of guys played Fenders and Gretsches. They never got any pushback for disloyalty. Rather, my friends liked trying them out. Quite a few were loyal Fender players. Some worked for Gibson. Brand loyalty has advantages. And if QC is solid, one advantage is you pretty much know what you're going to get before you open the case. If the Ascent series does have the quality and tight specs, those are strong positives. I don't own one, but I'm not allergic to them! A major reason I had a good early experience, 6th-10th grade, was a glut of Gibsons in my city. I got a Firebird V with a Kalamazoo amp from a neighbor for 6 weeks of paper route money. If I were not in Kalamazoo at the time, I'd probably would have had to go Asian! Let me mention that the Ascent line is still owned and managed by the Heritage company owners. If they can produce very good guitars with a significantly lower price in Asia, they likely have to strongly consider doing that for their investors. It is likely mandated. But it's our choice as to what we buy, and we buy for different reasons. My choice has been to buy locally. That's easy when the product is good and it supports your neighbors. If I were 13 again and had to earn the money for a guitar, amp and lessons, and a used Gibson or Heritage would cost more than a new Ascent, the lofty ideals of "buying American" may not be reachable. Lastly, the Ascent series idea came from somewhere. It may be what allowed the new Heritage owners the ability to maintain the original Kalamazoo site for the Heritage models. IDK. Recall that whatever the original Heritage factory owners were doing was not survivable, leading to its sale. Projecting from my youth when I'd stare at the Gibson catalogs, quite a few kids who get an Ascent will move up into a Heritage or Gibson or Fender or PRS. From what I see, the Ascent seems like it could work as an entry point for a kid into a lifetime of guitar.

As I remember, there was a core of mahogany or maple which formed the chambered body, with carved maple top and back. It wasn't just a center block. It was wider and forms the rim but much thicker than you get with semi like the 535. It would be more like the chambered LP above. There was the 158, 155 and DC versions, plus the LE series. 155s have an access panel to the pots. The 158 doens't. The 155 is the most common.

Post pick of them or tell me about the ones you have. I've been looking on Reverb etc and there aren't a lot out there. Im kinda curious. Cheers

Look up some Joe Pass videos on YouTube. Listen to his chord voicings and watch his fingers. And be amazed. The man was a genius.

that was great playing it reminded me of a steely dan song

I have both the H-160 Stat and this one which is an H-162. I gigged with the 162 for about 8 years after I got it. Back when nobody knew what Heritage guitars were worth I could find them dirt cheap. I think I got the 162 for $400. The Stat was a bit more, like $700 and had been sitting in a music store for years. Both had Schallers and if you have read my posts, I have always found Schallers to be lifeless. I put some kind of Dimarzio's in each of them and they became great guitars. The Whammy bars on both stay in tune. THe 162 is really light and the Stat has a rather fat neck and is pretty heavy. The Stat has a weird kind of switching system that took a while to get used to it. The 162 has a coil tap. This post has inspired me to take them off the wall again..... I posted this video of me playing my stat a few years back. I got hired to do the guitars on this session and then he wanted me in the video. In looking at it I have no idea what that neck pick up was as I have a different one in there now. The solo starts at around 2:30..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3pvhTUgXEo&loop=0

Facebook shows a few Heritage Stat models with comments from owners and lookers... https://www.facebook.com/groups/56102934732/posts/10161563743204733/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/1512934312328828/posts/3759989507623286/

My dad, a failed guitar player, had a cheap Kent acoustic guitar that I learned my first few chords on, eventually the neck popped off of it from me tuning higher than it should have been Well then for christmas that year, my mom told my dad to buy me a guitar and amp. I got a Teisco Checkmate guitar with a matching little amplifier (in a plastic case). That was equally as bad as the Kent acoustic. The action on that guitar was so high I risked damage to my fingers everytime I tried to play a chord on it. After that, I took matters into my own hands. I saved up all the money that I could from my caddy job at the local golf course, and bought my first real guitar, a 1959 Fender Musicmaster in Desert Sand, and a Danelectro Cadet amp. I was off and running from there. But even in the early 70's, that little guitar and amp cost me $400. For nostalgia's sake, a few years back, I bought a 1960 Musicmaster that is pretty much identical to my old '59, and the same DanElectro Cadet amp just to see if I could make music with it, and here's a song I recorded with it. The Danelectro amp is a toy, but the Musicmaster is really a great sounding guitar, here it is through a proper amp, my Victoria Regal II...

I've had two Roy Clark models. The first one was fully hollow and a thinline. That was a one-off. I have a standard model now which is just fabulous. It's gorgeous and plays very, very nicely. It's basically a 555 single cutaway. The cutaway is deep.

There's nothing like 1/4"+ action to build the strength in those 12 yr old fingers! (hey what's that adjustment thing at the base of the neck???? Could it have been a truss rod But look at all them PICKUPS! And it was a better guitar than the first one, made from the finest pressed paper tonewood. (masonite) I think I would take an Ascent H137 instead!

I had a Kent when I was a kid. They sucked.