DetroitBlues

Of course, this is amazing too!

This explains that odd finish on some Heritage guitars... "I got a hold of 3M in Minnesota and we worked out the formula for 18% gray. We sprayed it on a card. We ended up spraying a lot of them here at Heritage for several years and sold them to all the photography stores. That 18% gray was also what we used for the finish on the 101 and the 105 Heritage guitar and bass. You didn't even have to sand it. You just made the body, sprayed it with an 18% gray and that was it. " So now we know (for those of us like me who didn't know) what that paint was on the 101's. The paint was actually a Ren Wall invention!

Maybe a collectors item to Roy Clarke fans, otherwise, not really a collector's guitar. Very few if any Heritages are collectors instruments unless they were celebrity owned (and documented of said ownership).

I’ve heard of such infamous gatherings. Alas, my granddaughter will be 1 that same day, therefore I must regrettably decline such divine sonic extravaganza.

It’s okay Brent, I’m sure you’ll break even in a month or two when you sell it.

I've had many Heritages over the years, one had a twisted neck and one had a truss rod that was maxed out. But that is two out of about a dozen I've had.

I think it’s a matter of poor customer service rather than tone.

Took my 535 in last week for a new pickup to be installed in the bridge position. The Railhammer Hyper Vintage was a nice sounding pickup, but really bright. I found myself constantly adjusting the tone controls. I've come to realize that pickup design works best for people who tune down a lot and use lots of gain. Not exactly the type of pickup commonly found in a semi-hollow body design. So I had a custom-made Red Rock Alnico III humbucker made for the H535. Since this is a semi-hollow body, I don't trust myself to install it. Instead I paid for an old tech of mine to do the work, to me, its worth the price paid. However, the point of this thread is not about Red Rock pickups but more about the old tech I used. This gentlemen ran a very popular music store in Royal Oak for a couple decades that provided guitar tech services, gear rentals, and even lessons in guitar, bass, and drums. (Fun fact, his drum instructor at the store was Chad Smith right up until he was recruited to join the Red Hot Chili Peppers). In those years, he has seen hundreds of Heritages guitars come through that front door. While he sold the business/building years ago, he continues to work out of his shop in his basement. He is rather amused how much I like Heritage. He kinda of shakes his head about it but ended up telling me he's seen a lot of bad ones come through his door. Recently had a 575 come through that had some weird pickups that were solid black (a lot like an EMG). What was not noticeable until he did a pickup swap with a normal pickup with pole pieces, did he notice the bridge pickup was so poorly misaligned. He said there was about a 1/4" offset to the pickup. He's never seen one that bad but mentioned how many of the Heritages he's serviced have terrible quality controls. I agreed with him to an extent. We all love our Heritages, but until they went under new management and manufacturing standards did Heritage's quality control improve. Heritage had its charms of being unique, custom, hand-made instruments from 1985 to 2015. However the uncontrolled environment and build methods would sometimes lead to a varying degree of quality. Just like Fender and Gibson in the 70's, Heritage also suffered from loose quality standards for many years. There are a lot of gems out there but also there are some dogs... So when people ask for the best years, its all subjective. For unique finishes, appointments, and typically slim, fast necks, go for the older stuff. For a consistent quality, choose newer stuff. Just my $.02.

Don't need to be big to be loud these days. Plus just about everyone mics their amps anyway...

Can't deny some of these small solid state amps can get the job done. Never played anything from Hotone, but they have a lot of good stuff out there that is inexpensive but makes some great sounds. I personally have a Quilter Interblock 45 as an emergency backup amp for playing live. I've had to use it in the past and it worked fabolously. I would assume this little guy also packs a serious punch and can be a primary on-the-go lightweight amp or as a backup.

That Gibby on the right has a rather light-colored fretboard. Gibson used to stain them darker, wonder if they stopped?

Now that makes sense, I've heard about some problems with the tuners, I've had my Heritage H150 for a couple years now without issues. I gig my H150 regularly and hardly ever have to adjust. But part of quality is consistency, if there is a variance between one set of tuners to the other, there is a quality issue. I've had many Heritages over the years, one of which is over 40 years old and still has the same Grover tuners on it that have no issues.

I cannot help but wonder if lack of sustain contributes to a darker tone? Consider the strings contact the nut to the bridge, I wouldn't think it makes a difference either with the tuners unless the original tuners absorb some of the vibration? There is also the idea behind the tailpiece and the weight and type of metal used impacts the tone. Since I seldom play clean enough to notice such nuances, it doesn't really impact me. If I'm playing clean, I'll have some sort of modulation going, delay, reverb, chorus all of which impacts the tone. Of course, when playing dirty, I really don't notice because I'm hearing more of the amp and pickups more than anything else. Curious though, why did you change the tuners out? I have the Heritage branded tuners on my H150 standard but only considered swapping the tuners for locking tuners for quick string changes. However, I think I need to learn the luthier method of stringing up a guitar instead of the loop, pull, and bend over the string method.

Sounds like you have a nice pair of singlecuts coming your way, congratulations! When you go all in, you go all in! Going back to Heritage choice of Lollars, Heritage has a relationship going back a long time with Lollar pickups as most of their P90 (non-custom core) guitars use Lollar P90's. Seymour Duncans, while a fabulous pickup manufacturer, are common, everyday mass-produced pickups unlike the "boutique" brand like Lollar. Since this H150 is a Custom Core model whose pickups are normally hand-wound inhouse by Rob Dolittle (cool dude to talk to at PSP!) they are swapped out with the top-of-the-line Lollar Imperials. Not having a beautiful flame top is bummer for the cost, but also for a '58 Plaintop look, its spot on. Hope you like them both!

Rich for the win. Excellent and rare guitar! Nice snatch.

If memory serves, previous models had a banner inlay in the headstock.

Cleaning house I suppose. There were a few for sale on Reverb.

You can buy direct from the factory show room, usually at a discount too, so you'll save some money there. I bought my H150 that way 2 years ago. Plus, you may find some unique one-off's you will not find in any store too. Back to the original point, rough cutting of solid bodies and necks are all that CNC work does. The CNC's are heavily used for the Harmony guitars, so you'll see a lot of them on the machines.

Hardest thing is about swapping is the inserts. I cannot remember, but I think the bridge is metric and the tailpiece is imperial. Its been a long time since I swapped the original bridge/tailpiece out on those old schallers.

Have any pics? From what I remember, reworked Schaller pickups converted to HRW's have a sticker on the back of the pickup that says HRW on them. HRW short for Heritage-Ren Wall. As Mr. Wall did the hand-wind of the pickups. I also believe those were done on one of the original Gibson pickup winding machines. However, I think the story goes, Heritage sold those winders to Throbak in Grand Rapids. I could be wrong, but Heritage stopped winding pickups until the last few years when the Custom Core lineup was created.

Not much as they used to. HOC is miniscule to what social media like Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube influencers do these days.

5 years ago, when I convinced Heritage to do the HOC Guitar, I had originally suggested a H140, they had already sold off the templates. I even talked about my H140 from 1985 to be the template of either an Anniversary model or a HOC guitar. My 140 was not a typical model, it had a bound ebony fretboard with mini-block inlays, inlaid "the Heritage" headstock, one piece flame maple top, and a belly carve. Between sourcing one-piece tops, one-off building of the fretboards, and the lack of templates, it would have been too cost prohibited to even bring up.

As much as I'd like one, the new Custom Core Line up makes feels like how Heritage was to me 15 years ago; beyond my financial means. $5k for a guitar is so steep, I'm sure definitely worth it though. I'd have to sell all four of my Heritages to get one of those; even then I wouldn't be happy because the design has a slim 60's neck profile. While I have gotten used to thinner necks, I rather enjoy the meatiness of my current lineup. Its a shame there was not a custom inlay to show its a 40th Anniversary model.

Nice shooting Tex! Great photos, look much better than my bar band shots I get once in awhile. Beautiful H150 and congratulations on the new album!

My H150 used a 3/8" wrench when I set it up last weekend.