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Eyeeee Laddie…. ON THE BENCH…..1998 Heritage H170 in Emerald Green!!! Rare color. The owner wants… New pickups New bridge New tailpiece Fret polish Fretboard conditioning Cleaning and detailing Poker chip added New pickup rings New strings and full setup Should be a fun Saturday project.

ALL DONE!!! Playing and sounding great!!!

I don't know if this previously was posted. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXCAKNkDvL0 At 3:00 exactly you'll see Ren Wall's dad with a guitar. This is Rem Wall, a local country legend with a great voice.

Very nice! I question the description of the neck. It appears to be a three piece consisting of Korina and Maple. When I was at a PSP and picked out a neck blank, I chose a three piece Korina / maple they had lying around. Could be an employee build which IMO is better than a production with choice of wood and attention to detail. So there is that.

You have a MetroPlex? I bought the very last MK I. Took delivery in Dec of last year. It only took 2 years, but I completed the collection of all MK I & MK II models (MetroPlex, SuperPlex, GPM 45 and my desert isle DVL-1). George is a multi-faceted person. Deep sense of humor, curiosity, will to experiment and document the 60s Marshalls. He created the first master volume that, instead of coloring the tone like the rest, it behaves akin to a stereo’s volume; you get the same sound regardless of the volume. The only factor that changes is the drive of the speakers. He included a lossless loop that is the industry standard (designed by George’s friend Steve Miller - not the Fly Like an Eagle guy). They are the only amp I found that allow the player to stand in front of a 4x12 cranked to soak it all in. He obsessed with circuits that sound and react identically to his 1960s amps. As @greatmutah2112 can attest, switching back and forth between his and the original is undetectable. I believe he has a dozen or so pre-orders to fulfill and then he’s out. Those lucky people will find it worth the wait. As George said “Once you hear it, you’ll never unhear it.” I wish him the very best and still believe he will be back in, at least, a circuit designer position. You can’t turn off that level of curiosity and genius.

It’s been a massive bummer. I still read the Friday blurbs from George. I’m sad I wasn’t able to jump on one of the Mk IIs but my Mk I is going strong still. George loved building amps. When I took mine back in to have the free upgrade done to give it 3 modes instead of 2, George was so geeked to tear into mine just to make sure I had the latest updates and best sounds available. That amp is my desert island amp. It can do anything I want it to do. And I’ll always be thankful that I got to meet the man before I bought it which cemented me buying it. Playing the prototype alongside his 68 Superlead sealed it.

My 30-something yrs old H150 came with Schaller pup's, "Golden 50s" I think, which I swapped for Seymour Duncan Antiquities, the a SD '59 in the neck, then I put a first production Gibson '57+ (the Tom Holmes ones!) and it always sounded wonderful. Not for nothing it's called a pick-up, after all the acoustic sound of the guitar is what every pickup has as the basis for the sound it will eventually produce, unless one goes through extreme processing, then the guitar becomes "almost" irrelevant because 99% of what we hear is the effects: Anyway, few years ago I fitted a set of OX4 "Beano" pups on my H150 (I also have a set of OX4 "Jimmy Page" on my Gibson '58 Reissue) and oh my God, who ever said that perfection is not of this world has never tried this combo! It's just "that" sound and it has everything, sustain, thick while extremely dynamic, sensitive to the touch and changes in Volume or Tone controls on the guitar, a perfect EQ with just the right balance of bass - mids & treble....as I said perfect, and these are the only pups that hit me like that, love at first chord. I have to say that I tend to go for a very simple set up guitar - 1 or 2 pedals - Marshall on crunch, however I am a professional musicians hance at time I h=found myself playing though elaborate set up, both live and in the studio (I used this guitar straight to the console when laying down parts for a Netflix soundtrack...) nevertheless the results have never been short of impressive! That's my experience anyway...

It sounds great but what about the headstock?

Well, I scored a used set of 2016 Seth Lovers on FleaBay, reasonable price and already patina'd and "pre-aged" from natural wear and tear, so they look right in this workhorse guitar with its own natural wear and tear. The harshness I heard with the stock 59's is reduced, the Seth Lovers are more bell-like, clear, and I think a step in the right direction for me anyway. I took measurements of inductance and capacitance at 120hz, DCR, and magnetic field strength while they were out. SD-59 Bridge: 5.016 H, 350nF Cs, 59.47 nF Cp, DCR 8.27k, field 40mt at the top screws. SD-59 Neck: 4.191 H, 419.6 nF Cs, 65.84 nF Cp, DCR 7.236k, field 40mt at the top screws. Seth Lover Bridge: 4.76 H, 369.6 nF Cs, 58 nF Cp, DCR 8.202k, field 37mt at the top screws. Seth Lover Neck: 4.00 H, 438.7 nF Cs, 58.84 nF Cs, DCR7.59kk, field 37mt at the top screws. I compared the Seth Lovers now installed in my 1998 H150, with Faber hardware and lightweight locking Gotoh tuners, against my Gibson Custom Shop R0, 60th anniversary edition, with its stock Custom Bucker III pickups in it, unpotted like the Seth Lovers. Both have 50's wiring, paper-in-oil caps. The biggest difference is weight, the H150 being 8lbs and 13oz, the Gibson Les Paul is a svelte 8lbs, 1oz. (not chambered). The Gibson is more lush, with a bit more overtones, the neck being on the dark side and the bridge having a good bit more brightness and snap. It does that, "beefy telecaster" thing. Though both pickups are the same in the set. The H150 with Seths is more forward sounding, brighter, punchy, but doesn't have the same rich overtones as the Gibson. They're quite distinctly different sounding guitars, in spite of their close similarities. Both have the pickups set to the exact same height, both wearing pure nickel strings. With nearly a pound of weight difference between them (about 13oz) I wonder how much is wood and how much is pickups.

check out Wolfetone Legends too. I have set in my '97 H150 & they are the bomb I like Seth Lovers as well

Thank you for the kind words Todd!!!

Nice! I think i like the look of the back better than the top.

Love me some green guitars!

Just ordered a MOD replacement reverb tank for my Fender DRRI. Apparently the springs rusted from the salty air when the house flooded during Helene.

found locally at a killer price, picking it up this afternoon . . . the Deluxe Reverb will take a breather . . .

The "description" is just the standard description for a generic H-150. It's not a "standard" 150, with the bound headstock, it's more like a Deluxe. The neck does appear to be korina with a strip of perhaps mahogany or maple. The pickups also look like aged pickups, perhaps SD Antiquities. Most likely not stock 59s. It's surprising to me that a "boutique guitar" dealer trying to sell a guitar as being unique doesn't put a bit more time into the research instead of just pulling junk off the web. As an AG serial number, it would date to 2016 which is a full year after JP passed away. I'm sure Jim, Marv or Ren could fill in the details. The obviously have the other 3. There's no reason that the owners couldn't have decided to commemorate the 4 original owners in guitars. It was still their company at that point, just when Plaza was buying into the company (spring of 2016).

Yeah I got my Mk I in the wave of the first 25. Funny story… earlier that year I won an auction on eBay for 4 Greenbacks and asked if I could meet the guy in Saginaw. He sent me George’s address and told me to meet him there. That was Danny Ardouin and he introduced me to George and they sold me an amp by having me play his prototype and 12380. I made an order shortly thereafter and got #22. This was when it only had the 68 and modded 68 modes. He later did the 66 mode and offered free upgrades to anyone who wanted to send theirs in. So I drove back up and he happily ripped my amp apart to get it up to date lol. Last time I saw George in person was before my son was born in 2018. Took my amp up just to have it looked over and checked out and say hello. He gave it a clean bill of health but while he had it on the bench he let me try the clipping diode he was using for the DVL-1s. Offered to put it in too. We A/B’ed that a couple times against the stock and I stayed with the stock because I liked it better. More classic plexi chime in that one. I could have had a DVL-0.5 hahaha. George is a salt of the earth human being and I’m bummed his business went this way but I hope he’ll be back in some capacity. Why a company like Boutique Amp Design or someone else hasn’t offered to buy and produce his designs and have him on as a consultant is beyond me. Yeah, I know folks will say Dave Friedman’s stuff is already in their portfolio and I get that… but Dave’s stuff sounds like a recording of a perfected modded Marshall. George’s amps sound and feel like real 60s Marshalls. George’s amps capture the raspiness and raw edginess of the old Plexis.

Never heard of this particular special run, but I spotted this 2025 listing on Facebook... https://www.facebook.com/shoalsguitarboutique/posts/just-arrived-like-new-heritage-h-150-one-of-four-built-by-heritage-in-the-origin/1424474409683848/

Got a kick out of this line... "Although the plant is equipped with the latest woodworking machines like this belt sander...." After all, that was only 70 years ago.

I was checking out this video from the Howard Stern show of Kate Hudson's band, and her guitarist used a Custom Core for a few songs. On the original song he does some nice fills, and the rhythm on Vasoline sounds good too.

It has one!

Those pesky Heritage headstocks!!!

To me it makes perfect sense for working musicians who don't have an endorsement deal with a major legacy brand to gravitate to Heritage. They need the best tool for their trade. And that's not to say they're looking for a 'knock-off' or 'discount brand'. Heritage of late has greatly improved its QC, build consistency and bang-for-buck value. Professional musicians need the best tool for their trade. It's great to see more and more of them using Heritage guitars.

To be candid about this, around a decade ago I really didn't like HRWs, at least in the bridge position in solid bodies. The high frequency output was too sharp to my ears. Eventually I sorted it out. The neck position was always fine. It's odd to me because I've never had an issue with Schallers. I'm pretty sure HRWs were cryo treated. I asked Ren once. He just smiled. In that particular context it would have been easy for him to say something like there's more to the story. He didn't. This conversation occured when I brought in a Johnny Smith with a Floating #3 pickup and asked about getting a tone control added. He did the work while I was there, which took maybe 15-20 minutes. He charged very little, no more than $50.

But I thought Schaller glued the magnets in, so they aren't so easy to replace.

When I got my H150 I thought it had Seths in it. It didnt, it had 59s. I cant remember why I thought they were seth's. I loved the sounds I got out of the guitar, cleans, low gain, high gain, neck or bridge. I talked about Seths as though they were the best things. After a few years I found out they were 59s....lol. So I swapped them for seths. Didnt like the guitar so much after that, played it less. Eventually I put the 59s back in and joy was restored. Then I temporarily swapped the guitar with a friend for a gibson R59. When we traded our guitars back to each other the SD 59s were in the case and it had SD antiquities and new potentiometers. He thought he was giving me a gift, a nice surprise. He is a lovely guy, a good friend, he meant well... it had lost some of the immediate rocknroll crack and snap, there was a lazy fizz and ear fatiguing boxy mid honk. It lost some the sweetness and clarity when played through a clean amp. It had lost chug and that deep percussive "thunk" That was 10yrs ago, the SD antiquities are still in it. I never got around to putting it back to original. Sounds great, its a really good sounding guitar. Some where during that 10yrs the pick ups just conformed to my expectations and developed all the traits I liked of the SD59s.

One thing is a clear difference. Tap the cover of a Seth and you will hear a click. No wax. Not a big deal.

My buddy got a PRS SE Hollowbody II with the Piezo pickup as well as the humbuckers. I played it through one of the new Fender Vibro champ reissues for hours until he took it from me and said don't you have somewhere you have to be?. I absolutely fell in love with that guitar, and now here I am smitten once again.