Jimbob

Yep! Absolutely! Funny, but I should really know better than to describe a certain tone that I'm hearing for any given product, for every time I do someone will have a difference of opinion. But yet, often times amps, types of guitars, effects, strings, or even the actual player himself never become part of the conversation. The fact of the matter is that tone is very subjective, and there are simply too many variables involved for us all to arrive at the same conclusions.

I agree, they don't sound "hi-fi" in that recording. There's some nice tone going on there! I just recall my pickup rabbit hole experience from 10 to 15 years ago when I picked up a set of Imperials, and compared to the others they just didn't sound right to me. Of course, it could've been the guitar I installed them in, too. No pickup is likely to work well in every guitar, either!

Yeah, I agree about ThroBak's consistency. I've had several sets of them without any issues, and the SLE-101s are the ones that have remained. Between Tom Holmes' pickups and ThroBaks, I haven't felt a need to look any further. Wolfe's Legends can't be beat for the price, either. I did have one set of Imperials about 10 or 11 years ago but, frankly, they just didn't do it for me. If I remember correctly, they had sort of a "hi-fi" type of high-end that just didn't sound very vintage-like to my ears. I do understand why some folks really like them, though, for they do have a certain tonal quality about them that's appealing to many. As far as ThroBak's customer service goes, thankfully I've never had to deal with it, but I do have to admit that it would certainly put a bad taste in my mouth if a company didn't honor its lifetime warranty for a defective product.

Just curious, but what set of Throbaks did you have installed, and what was it that you didn't care about them? The reason I ask is because I'm thinking of installing a set of Throbak SLE-101s into my H-150 CC goldtop, and it happens to be a set that I've always liked in the past. Of course, a 575 is an entirely different beast than a 150, so I can understand why the Imperials might be preferred for that guitar.

Congrats on the new guitar purchases! There's certainly nothing wrong with a nice plain top regardless of brand! Also, I've mentioned this before, but the bridges on these new H-150s and other Custom Cores have been upgraded to the more traditional zamac/brass tune-o-matic style bridge and, in my honest opinion, they're vastly superior tone-wise to the Pinnacle bridges that were installed up until 2025. They may not be locking, but the materials do matter! Can't wait to hear how you like the new guitars!

Sorry to hear of your trouble with the Schaller tuners! This scenario reminds me of a time back in the '70s when there was a huge debate about installing heavier Grovers on Norlin-era Les Pauls. Of course, at the time Gibson was installing those shoddy chrome tulip tuners that no one cared for, and everyone was raving that not only were the Grovers far superior, but the shear mass of the tuners themselves helped to give the guitars better tone and more sustain, or at least that was the claim. I don't recall how much of a tonal difference they really made, but I do find it interesting that modern-day Gibson Les Paul Historic Reissues continue to feature lighter-weight Kluson-style tuners. Rarely do we see anyone replacing them with the heavier Grovers or Schallers these days, but I'm sure there are exceptions. That said, I think we posted about this before, correct? Anyway, I decided to try the Gotoh SG381 tuners after reading the reviews that Kuz and a few others had written here. They're a direct drop-in replacement for the Heritage tuners, and I honestly didn't notice a bit of a tonal change in the guitar. I also tend to be super picky about what I'm hearing out of a guitar, too. The biggest difference that I noticed was that the tuning quality of the Gotohs was far superior to the Heritage tuners, so I've never felt any need to look any further. Plus, they're relatively inexpensive: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B012EBV47A?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

FWIW, I've spoken of this previously, but Heritage is now using a new ABR-style bridge/thumbwheel system on their new CC models that's a direct drop-in replacement for the Pinnacle system. They can be ordered through Mike at Heritage as well. I've compared it to a couple of Fabers, and while I actually prefer the Heritage ABR to the Faber, it's not necessarily better or worse-sounding, just a bit different. It's a little louder and brighter than the Faber with perhaps a little less in the low-mids, so that's something to take into consideration before purchasing this system. Also, I've compared the new Heritage ABR to a recent Gibson Historic ABR-1 from an aesthetic point of view as well as their tonal characteristics, and other than the Gibson name on the underside of the ABR-1, they look and sound nearly identical to one another in every respect. If Kluson is still manufacturing the Gibson bridge, I suspect that they're also producing the same bridge for Heritage. EDIT: Just another note upon comparing the Faber to the new Heritage ABR, if construction is a primary consideration, the Faber definitely beats the Heritage bridge by a mile. Just the fact that Faber has resolved the issue of loose saddles falling out is a big plus for me.

The headstock repair looks to be a pretty solid and clean job, too! Nice score!

Mike at Heritage told me a few weeks ago that the Custom Core line would start installing the vintage-style "tune-o-matic" bridges for 2025, and it appears as though they've started shipping them out as well. Mike also said that these were made up with a zinc body with brass saddles, so they're obviously attempting to get them a bit closer to the original thing. I currently have these bridges on both of my H-150s and, just as one might expect, they do indeed have a vintage vibe going on: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/H150CSTE--heritage-custom-shop-factory-special-h-150-electric-guitar-tiger-eye

I like the keystone knobs on these headstocks, too!

Congrats on the H150 goldtop! I picked up a new 2023 goldtop myself a couple of weeks ago! Great guitars!

Those tuners work very well with that guitar!

I don't personally feel that anything made in China is crap - quite the contrary - but I do feel that the stock Heritage tuners on the CC models, regardless of where they're made, are of average quality at best. They just feel sloppy with way too much play in them. Why Heritage decided to use these tuners on guitars with this level of quality is beyond me, but they simply don't stack up compared to Gotoh or many other tuners out there.

I think I came across a thread a few weeks ago where someone said that they were made in China, apparently because they could do the Heritage logo. I don't recall where I read that, though.

You know, I feel much the same way. While the new CC models are significantly lighter than the standards, and while they make for a very good modding platform, they would indeed be a very tough guitar to beat if their parts were all top shelf along with some nicer tops throughout. After all the mods I've done to these guitars, I'm pretty happy with them, but if there's one minor gripe that I continue to have, it's the shorter frets. For what they call a "Jescar medium jumbo" fret, it feels much more like a lower vintage fret. While I'm certainly doing okay with the frets just as they are now, if I ever need to do a fret leveling on either of them, I think I'd likely opt to have a refret job done instead. I have no idea about the Schaller M6 tuners and whether or not they'd fit.