MartyGrass

I definitely heard Pete talk about the PAF dump. Gibson moved on to another pickup design and was promoting it. Pete said there were to factors that led to burying them. The first was that they were not going to put them in new production, and the second was the boxes of PAFs took up shelf space. They were put in a pit in a dump Gibson used. Pete would have told me if he kept any, and he did not. However, there were a lot of billets and damaged guitars that Pete and other employees took home, presumably for firewood. I mentioned before my 15 year old bandmate got a LP ebony Custom that was sawed in half due to some defect. They put it back together at home with dowels and glue. The mother worked in finishing, so this became an ebony. It was a beautiful guitar. Pete Moreno had a ton of guitar wood and metal parts. He kept his shop warm with wood discards from Gibson and Heritage. When Pete died his son managed the estate but didn't know much about guitars. I believe he sold it off as a lot. The really interesting collection Pete had was Marilyn Monroe memorabilia. He had tons of it in his basement. But there was no way I could take that stuff to my home. Another strange Pete Moreno story is that he got four upright basses from Western Michigan University that needed some work. They were being discarded. He fixed them then sold them.

That means it left the factory with HRWs usually. I've put HRWs into guitars and had the switch tips drilled and and sidemarker dot glued in, which is what Heritage did in the factory. Bob is right that the dot is a good indicator.

I wonder how much free publicity and advertising they get from the existence of HOC.

Well, one thing is that they do sound different than the Schallers they once were. It's hard to put that difference into words. The bridge pickup seems brighter. You can get a dental mirror for a few bucks if you don't want to pull the pickup. The truth is that it is faster to loosen the strings and look for the sticker on the back than it is to get a mirror and futz around with it and a flashlight. I recommend getting a fiberoptic scope. It comes in handy for all sorts of things. https://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Borescope-Semi-Rigid-Smartphones-KEEMIKA/dp/B0F2PQTT1G/ref=sxin_16_pa_sp_search_thematic_sspa?content-id=amzn1.sym.2da95b6c-f59a-4699-bc43-d0ff036c6388%3Aamzn1.sym.2da95b6c-f59a-4699-bc43-d0ff036c6388&cv_ct_cx=Fiber%2BOptic%2BEndoscope&keywords=Fiber%2BOptic%2BEndoscope&pd_rd_i=B0F2PQTT1G&pd_rd_r=ebd8a8ea-c575-4304-8839-bbacb633b3ed&pd_rd_w=t4eyH&pd_rd_wg=jWuCz&pf_rd_p=2da95b6c-f59a-4699-bc43-d0ff036c6388&pf_rd_r=YFHZAEV3BGXF2SCBWR0E&qid=1749560793&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=1-4-6024b2a3-78e4-4fed-8fed-e1613be3bcce-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9zZWFyY2hfdGhlbWF0aWM&th=1

My recollection about the classics is that these were ordered by Jay Wolfe and had Gibson-like bridges and tailpieces. I also think they had SD pickups. The maple neck was common back then but inconsistently done. I've had a one piece, two piece, and three piece on H-555s made in that era. Custom select could mean anything, but the select probably refers to the woods. They probably charged extra money for each of those two words. Currently those words are custom core.

I do remember this when it came out. I never saw it in person.

Blue really shows up those major cracks!

Yours is a dark blue but is translucent, but it should say on the label. The appearance depends on lightling. There probably is a name like Neptune blue. Skydog's is a blue burst. Mine is called translucent blue. But look at the two pics with different lighting. Some finishes make no apologies for looking unnatural. Blue, black, white, green, red, gold and silver are examples.

In the long run, the money difference doesn't matter when you find the right guitar. It saves time and anxiety plus increases goodwill just to pay a little more. You won't find another one just like that for a very long time.

Large crack alert!!!

99% sure that's a reflection, not a crack. Bigsby was next door to Gibson back in the day. That's part of the reason Gibson used so many Bigsbys. My best guess is that someone loved this guitar and changed the pickups, the tuners, and added the Bigsby. It looks like an older Heritage because of the solid maple neck. Expect it to turn yellowish over time, which is cool. I like it.

A very nice one!

Hmm. That's really interesting. How would you describe the tone? Did it slide into the pickguard mount like the Floating #3?

I believe Ken made 3 versions, the large majority being Floating #3. Ken Armstrong would rebuild these to a higher output for about $100. I have what's probably a unique one rebuilt as a single coil by one of the current Heritage team. People bad mouthed the Floating #3 a lot. I firmly believe much of the criticism came from the urge to guild the lilly. The #3 is an excellent low output humbucker. It is very clean, almost acoustic sounding.

The performance is masterful as is the arrangement and improv. At first I thought it was too dark in tone. Thirty seconds later, I changed my mind. Very, very cool.