Leaderboard

There may be an ethical argument there about the Firebird, but Aaron Cowles told me that much of the design was by committee, headed up by McCarty. Aaron had to keep reconfiguring the instrument and the Flying V. There was a channel where the pickups could go, not discreet routing. He was told to slide a pickup in a direction. They'd play it for a while. They then would give it back to him and have him reposition the pickup. The point is that there wasn't a single person who designed the guitar. That was true with the Les Paul, the SG, and the semi-hollows. Look at the odd pickup posit

I've gigged in some bars I wouldn't bring one of these into. Some of them I wasn't sure I should bring myself into. JP Moats did the wood sourcing, as I recall. He had good connections that preceded the birth of Heritage. Each year I have more respect for the original Heritage owners. What they did took guts and stamina. The majority of the guitar world had no interest in their success. I'm sure a lot of corporate types either paid them little attention or just thought they'd fold. Heritage was often up to some twist. The D'Angelico and Gretsch ghost builds, the flattops,

I can resist anything other than temptation.... https://larkguitars.com/collections/electrics-heritage-guitar-inc/products/heritage-custom-shop-core-collection-h-150-artisan-aged-tobacco-sunburst

...and these. Hope this'll take care of things until I can put the review together. And FYI, the color in these pics is dead on to the real thing, advertised as tobacco burst. In slightly less light, the red almost disappears into brown, a chameleon. Now that I have this sussed, I can take shots of specifics, if anyone has a request. But remember, a comprehensive review is forthcoming. I'll try to be as objective as I can, but I'm over the moon with this thing!

I just saw your post today Vicki and wanted to share with you that I also have a Heritage with the serial number starting with the letter "A"...mine is a 1984 model H-140 with signatures of all the owners on the tag on the back....it is dated 3/15/84..... I spoke with Heritage with respect to the "A", since the website drop down list starts with "B".... they told me that prior to incorporating on April 1, 1985 they used the letter "A" on the serial number and they signed all the guitars, however, after they incorporated, they began using the letter "B" to indicate the year made and o

Well said, sir.

I have been studying the Vietnam war for over 5 years. I mainly read books written by the people who were there. I am planning on having my wife help me make a few Viet Cong flags to give to people, to burn if they wish, and one to the local museum. I will age the hell out of these flags before giving them away. They are intended to be replicas. My taste in guitars doesn't lead me in this direction. Every time I get a senseless scratch on a guitar it bothers me. I sold my Marvbird because I was so uptight around it -especially when other people asked to play it. I hate when people gra

Ok, cannot let this one slide (yes, off topic 😉) This is my Grandfathers Estwing. He passed in the 1970's and was a general contractor in the 1930's in New Jersey. My kid, when he moved out of the nest recently, could not understand why I gave him the "new" hammer from Home Depot and kept the "old beat up" one... I still remember riding around in the back of Grampa Sam's baby-blue Ford Falcon pickup in the late 60's (in the bed, without a seatbelt - the horror! Hell, without a seat, lol) along with his tools while we drove to the local market for a pack of Lucky Strikes. Good times!

Well.... With a little help from Kuz, there are these....

I have the pics on my iMac now, and am waiting on instructions from the resident photo wiz (or anyone, actually) on how to resize them to post. They're too large. I've recently sent two Custom Shop Lesters packing in anticipation of this one. Saving my observations for a review that'll be too long, which I hope to post soon.

I wonder why Heritage and G i b s o n don't move their long standing trademark infringement issues to binding arbitration and bring the legal pissing contest to an end. Once that is done then maybe they could cease paying lawyers and focus their resources on making great guitars.

Well...it arrived yesterday. I have a lot of plates in the air, and I really don't want to give this instrument short shrift. Pictures will be a challenge, as this computer's iPhoto function is dead. I'll have to make other arrangements for that, I'm afraid. But I'm writing up a comprehensive review, which requires spending time I don't have right now with the guitar. Just imagine a little spinning beach ball here, for the time being. Doing the best I can....

This one is not everyone's taste. I'd say it's not a lot of people's taste at all. Five or six years ago I picked up a quilted American Eagle. It's a long story. The gist of it is that someone in the music industry got it in 1992. Soon thereafter he died. His son, a folk player, ended up with it, didn't like archtops, and I got it. I eventually traded it for a very nice Heritage archtop that was made for the Heritage sales rep for New York. I'll show you those pics first.

Thanks, Will. Actually, I've been downsizing. I've sold a McInturff, an R4, a Whitfill, a vintage Silvertone, and put a PRS DGT and an R7 on the block. Been very intrigued by the Custom Cores, and this one spoke to me. Wasn't exactly looking for it, but it kind of found me. Have yet to see one in the flesh, but the Heritage sponsored demos are really good and piqued my interest. Been a Lester guy forever, and have played a pile of vintage ones, but my "retirement wealth" doesn't include a disposable $300K to snag one. And as I've thought about all the stuff I have, the fact I don't gig

I have minty new guitars that I have played/gigged for years and babied. And I have new relic'd guitars that I have played/giged for years. I now prefer relic'd guitars. Why? Because I am not afraid to take out relic'd guitars to gigs/jams with without fear of a ding happening. AND I feel relic'd guitars feel better, lighter, and have less finish so they sound better. The BEST argument I heard for relic'd guitars was this comment; "Everyone talks about true, honest, player-wear on vintage guitars. So people like the played-in wear on vintage guitars. BUT if they think about it, it was

Amps schmamps, what about the tubes!

I'm loving the custom core headstock.

Have you ever seen us together?

If you find a used H-525, you can contact Wolfetone to build pickups. Wolfe is having a 25% off pandemic sale. https://www.wolfetone.com/product/dachswolff/

I don't really play jazz, but the P90s do really nice for rock and funk. I would think jazz would sound just as sweet.

I think this is a great idea. Several years Bill and Lance would stop here in Huntsville, AL on their way back to Florida from PSP. Lefty Alicia and Jim stopped by last September. I even had some hick from Indiana stop by with his family to visit the Space & Rocket center. This place isn't about guitars. It is about friendship. The guitars just give us an excuse. I looked at the park. I think it looks nice. Get a reservation as soon as you can. Do it!

This, yep.

most of the semi hollow and hollowbody lineups had matching wooden pickguards as a standard for a long time, i think until sometime in the mid 200's but i'm not entirely certain what year(s) my '94 550 and '87 535 both have matching wooden pickguards

I try not to have the neck too close to the strings because the magnets have a greater affect on them at the neck vs the bridge. I have an ES225 with the original set up from ‘57 and both pickups are pretty far from the strings. I raised the bridge poles until I felt like the volumes complimented each other between the neck and bridge. On my 150 the pick up is probably 1/4” when fretted at the 22nd fret. I have a special that is a bit closer but I cannot get it farther away. IMO if it sounds good then it is good. First raise the pole pieces then go from there. It’s easy to get a little overpo

I like bridge P90s as close as I can get 'em to the strings, then I balance the neck from there!

You can always get some P-90 shims to lift the pickup. Mojotone has a set of 3 (different thickness) for under $10.

I like the color on that one. It's not as much brown/black as some tobacco bursts that I've seen. I like the lighter/reddish tone. It looks almost like an almond sunburst, but not quite as red. You chose well.

Nice chunk of lumber!

Congratulations, looks like a dream to play 🙂

Beautiful even without a wood pickguard!

Given the more broad context of your response Marty, this statement, I think, really hits the nail on the head. A conversation regarding what "it" is and what "intact" might imply would be an interesting one, over a good single-malt.

Wow, Professor, that H-150 is something special! Play it in good health.

Lol, I forgot to add "quotes" around the "Les Paul" - I only said it that way to say that it beats all the Les Pauls I've owned and played lol

It's hard for me to imagine that Heritage is creating significant harm to Gibbons. Maybe so. I'm glad the case remains in Michigan. Gibbons is not the same company that it was in 1984. Heritage isn't either. These are two very large corporations/investor groups.

Can't wait.

Greetings to all here in the forum. I am a long time follower and first time poster here. Your experience and knowledge of all that is Heritage has been a great help to me as I search for my next guitar. My interests are in the Blues and Jazz styles. While there is no one guitar that fits both styles completely, I am looking for one that is a good choice for each. I do like the Heritage Millenium Eagle Limited Edition from 2000. Have also looked at the H-555 for its custom features and the H-575. The Heritage Millenium Eagle Limited Edition is harder to find. Any suggestions would be

So I see that yet another PSP has been cancelled. It got me wondering if there'd be enough Heritage fans here in SE Michigan to warrant hosting a similar non Heritage/HOC sanctioned get together? It'd be fun to get to something together that mainly focuses on just hanging out, bbq-ing and jamming. I live near a potentially solid location called 'Waterford Bend Park" it's a nice park within Wayne County's expansive Hines Park System, the park it's self is located in Northville (Michigan) at 6 mile and Northville Rd. I frequent this park often and have often thought it'd be a

Reminds me of Hondo.

I don't know Rob, that would be some serious craftsmanship looking square down the barrel at me. I can just imagine me sitting there in front of a microphone just begging to find something good enough to be worthy of one of these. You know me, one foot in The Faces camp, one foot in the Stones camp. I would have to break out of that to deliver the goods on of these beauts.

Just took out and cleaned my 555 Custom. Still sounds great!

The Centurion guitar it's connected to. It's a work of art.

In my case my ageing is due to my age !!!

i'm chuck aka motoputz, i like making motorcycles, making them run and playing my heritage 1993 - H150 and a new to me 2020 - H535 nothing sweeter than the sound of an electric guitar and a fine running motorcycle

Bought a new used amp today. Crate V18212 tube amp. Found it on OfferUp last night for $100. Picked it up this morning. Loud as hell. One of the last of Crates good amps.

People could just play the living crap out of their guitars, and they will age all by themselves. After 20 years of gigging in Phoenix, my Heritage guitars are all aged very well, especially "Blackie" and my goldtop. Just play and sweat. It will get to the right place. rooster.

I didn't clean up the headstock, but you still get the idea.

Outside of the 1988 & 1989 H150s, I personally, would seek out 2009-2014 H150s. The necks are typically a nice 50s (close to 50s) thickness. Or a newer H150..they are really nice!