Heritage1970

Great book! Basically pictures and not much text/info at all. Still a great book though! I'm just stating, if you get a chance to grab one thinking there's a lot of info to read, facts, etc, there is not. Great photos of old school Heritage though!

Thanks! Yeah I was pretty sure there weren't any "Marvbirds" before 2010- so good to know.

I agree. I'm as guilty as anyone for calling them ALL "Marvbirds." Anything that has that 357/Firebird shape and was put out by Heritage, many of us have gotten used to calling them "Marvbirds" but I agree there is a difference. From what I've seen, the 357's started in about 1988 (the prototype was built in 1987), and the latest one I've ever seen was a '93. Heritage stopped production of the 357 in 1991 from what I've heard. There seems to be a million stories about "what really happened" as to why they stopped. I've heard they were forced to from a Gibson lawsuit, and I've also heard they were just too costly to make, mainly due to the whole "neck through" construction, with no neck to body separation. There's also been much said about Marv legally being the only one that could work on them for a short time, as he was in on the original creation in Kalamazoo back in 1963. That story always sounded a little out there to me, as I don't believe anyone would have those kind of rights exclusively, unless they owned the design on a guitar. To my knowledge, Ted McCarty and Ray Dietrich were the only two names on the Firebird, although Marv did build them. Then Marv started taking custom orders in later years. I've seen those run from about 2011-2015. There very well could be some 2010s out there. Has anyone seen an earlier one? Chime in as I'd love to know. To me, those later models were the "Marvbirds", and the late 80's/early 90's run were "H-357s", and there is a difference, as you mentioned. ALL great guitars though! Hopefully more people chime in here! Interesting stuff with a million different versions of "what really happened." All great to read though!

Great picture and story! Thanks for sharing

Love this! Looking great Marv!!

Definitely a numbered run. Pop the cover off the back and see if it says anything. Keep us posted!

Totally know what you mean. Some guitars just seem to have a need to have a pickguard on them and some just look better without. For the most part I like pickguards on. There is the occasional guitar where it just seems like they look nicer when you can see the entire top without a pickguard covering anything.

😂 Terminator was definitely a different breed! Especially for Heritage.

Marv built the Terminators!

I've heard he is doing well, health wise now, and just enjoying his Grandkids and retirement. Someone told me (don't know this for fact- just something I was told) Marv made the final runs of Marvbirds around 2015ish, shortly before the company was sold and said he was done making them because his arthritis had gotten so bad it was just too much on his hands. Again, not sure if that's true or not, but if so, I seriously doubt he would be up for making anything these days. Would be great if he did though!

🤣🤣 Hilarious!

These listings are hilarious! A couple of them have sat there, at that price, for quite some time now. And I believe they'll continue to sit there. Those prices are so far off base it's not even funny. I think just because they've seen one listed for that much, they're going ahead and listing their's for sale at that price too. But, as the saying goes: "Just because you saw one LISTED for that much, doesn't mean they're actually SELLING for that much." I can list a Snickers bar for $30,000 right now, and we can all watch it sit there, at that price, for eternity.......

This whole thing makes me sad. I get it- "gotta roll with the times", "gotta do something to stay in the market or the company will close" (insert philosophical quote here)- and that's fine. But IMO they should have went with just "Ascent" on the headstock or "Ascent" with "by Heritage" in smaller font. But the bottom line is getting people to buy the guitar- and something that full on says "Heritage" on the headstock will grab more people's attention than "Ascent" will. I guess what really makes me sad is thinking about Marv, Jim and the guys that started Heritage- they always prided themselves on being Made in USA in Kalamazoo. A HERITAGE. I'm sure they never had this in mind.... but, welcome to America 3.0 in 2025.....

SWEET!! 👍

Nice find Brent!

Yeah, I LOVE HRW's. Can't get enough of them! Such clarity and definition. As for Schallers: I've always wondered why so many don't like them? I've never had a problem with them. I always have to laugh when I read something has been "upgraded." Based on what? Price? Opinion? It's ALL opinion. Some people like chocolate ice cream, some don't. That doesn't mean replacing chocolate with vanilla is necessarily an "upgrade", it's just your preference and opinion. At the end of the day, plug the guitar in and if you like it you're good, if you don't move on to another guitar. There is no good or bad, just preference.

Yours too! Great to see these two in pictures one after the other- love the look of these Ultras!

Beautiful guitar! Here's it's Sister- a 2005 Ultra. Thanks for posting- great read! As you mention, I think Heritage started off using Schaller as Gibson was using Schaller hardware, etc in the late 70's/early 80's. So when Heritage opened, I'm sure it was easy to just stick with things that were already being used. I have never had a problem with Schaller pickups. I know so many do, but they've always worked just fine for me. And at the end of the day, it's all opinion. One person thinks Schallers sound terrible, then the next person has found their dream tone. There really is no "one sound fits all" in the guitar world, and thank God for that!

I've made my living with music as a full time musician for 30+ years now, and I'll be lugging out my tube amps till the very end. I get the convenience factor, but as with most things I've found: when you try cutting corners, something else ends up suffering. In this case, the tone IMO. Just can't beat feeling that wave of sound blowing out of an amplifier. To me, there's no substitute for the real thing.

That's always great to see. Rare. But definitely great and makes me want to get behind them 110%.

Very cool to read stories like this about great, hands on companies that really care about their products and those that use them. Hopefully they can maintain things how they currently are. Definitely makes me think though: is it possible for a company to expand and grow and still keep that "down to Earth-Mom & Pop" vibe? History leads me to say no. It's understandable that businesses want to grow and expand. That's the whole point right? I've seen numerous companies in this exact position through the years that claim they'll maintain that down home feel, but once you start getting bigger and bigger and bigger, it just seems like it's impossible to do. More employees come in, more offices, bigger facilities, etc, etc, and that all just eventually seems to squash out the "people next door to you doing business" vibe. Sad but almost unavoidable I guess....

SWEET!! Great picture! Thanks for posting. Happy Holidays!