TalismanRich

That's something you might want to talk about with Mike at Heritage. They have a process, and it probably depends on how much of an upcharge it would require. Under the CC portion of the website they mention their "bespoke" program. I don't know where you live, but if there is a dealer anywhere close, you should check out the current line. I didn't feel like the necks on the Standard II guitars were toothpicks! The couple I picked up were comfortable. I've felt much thinner necks. The 530 I bought in '25 is the original Standard line, but the neck isn't really any thicker than my 2005 535. I hear all these comments about thin and thick necks, but for me, shape is FAR FAR more important than how thick it is. My 2014 Vintage '54 Strat has a baseball bat for a neck, but it's comfortable. My 74 Guild S100 is much thinner but I've played that for years! I've tried several PRS necks that were thin and were painful to play. I can pick up a guitar and can tell within 10 or 15 seconds if it's right or wrong for me. And if cost were no object, I would just fly up to Kalamazoo on a private jet and visit the factory.... or else drive my Ferrari up there. Unfortunately, someone else won the $700+ million Powerball, so there's no private jet or Ferrari in my future!

If money were no object, I would get the CC but probably with something closer to the standard carve neck. My fingers aren't that long, and fat necks aren't necessarily the best thing. I'm sure I could talk Pete into carving one that fit me... for the right price. And it's not just the size, it's the shape. V necks aren't good for me. Wide and flat isn't good. I like the edges to have some roll to them. A sharp edge on the fingerboard turns me right off.

When the CC 150 came out, the top carve was said to be different. That was done along with 4.5 degree angle to lower the bridge and tailpiece and give low action. That was under Edwin Wilson's direction. He also mentioned that they employed a larger truss rod to make a more stable neck. I don't know if any of the specs for the Core line have migrated the standard line. It's a question that I don't think anyone has asked. That would be a good thing to ask Pete Farmer at PSP next year. I suspect that a 1 degree difference in the neck angle would be pretty hard to detect simply by feel. I don't see a difference in the horn itself. If you take the two photos from the web page and overlay them, the shape is identical. They use the shorter horn based on their agreement with Gibson from years ago. Andertons did a comparison of various LP Jr style guitars including an H137. You could distinctly see the different horn vs the Gibson, Epiphone, PJD guitars.

It wouldn't matter if guitars came with vintage 59 PAFs, SOMEBODY would pull them and put a different set in, and then sell the original pickups. There was a time when the HRW pickups were special, and were considered an upgrade. Then people pulled them out of the guitars and they started showing up for sale at $3-400 a set. It's important that you can't just order a set the way you do a pair of Seth Lovers, or 36 Anniv PAFs. It's like they're made of unobtanium! 😁

The wood for the two are "different", at least for the 150s. Custom Core use selected light weight mahogany pieces. The Standard line use the heavier pieces, but now do weight relief. Some people will claim that doing weight relief does bad things, but that hasn't been my experience. The Millenniums are similar in shape and spec as the 150s, but are hollowed out. My Mille LE is as good as my 157 with a heavy dense chunk of wood. Same bridge and tailpiece, same strings. Not necessarily sounding exactly the same with different pickups, but if I crank up the distortion, who can tell what the guitar sounds like. It's like trying to judge the better tasting piece of steak after you douse it in salt, pepper, and cover it in a bottle of A1 sauce! Some people will claim that the denser wood is better, others will say that lighter wood is more resonant. Whatever... If you believe it, it's true! It's on the internet so its a fact. Oh yeah, the earth is really flat. I read that on the internet too! When you're talking about the 535 and 530, it's a laminate anyway. There should be minimal difference, except for the figuring of the top laminate. I don't know how much of a premium that should command. I don't know the differences in the bridge/tailpiece. There's a difference in neck profile, but that shouldn't be a cost difference. I don't know if they choose different grades of wood. Do they use the better quartersawn for the CC neck? The best quartersawn wood should be more stable due to the orientation of the grain. As the grain goes more towards flatsawn, it can flex more. Pete did say that the finish isn't the same between the two series. The final polishing of the CC line is slightly duller than the Standard lines. It should feel a bit slicker, since the smoother something is, the more you can have some "stiction". It sounds counter intuitive, we had a similar situation in the printing industry. A chrome surface that was too smooth would literally destroy itself in a few hours. If it was above a certain roughness, it would last weeks. I know some people like the fake aging, but for me, if I had a choice between a pristine Standard II and an aged CC at the same price, I would take the Std II. Fake finish checking and fake corrosion isn't for me. I like the inlay work on the CC line. For me, the block inlays on the 535, 555 and 530 CC guitars are a definite advantage. Dots are ok, and I live with them on my guitars, but I bought the 157 for the blocks, extra binding and gold hardware. For a while, I was watching for a red 555, just to get the same vs my 535. Since they are making the pickups, I don't know what premium one would have over the other. Whether it has 5000 turns, or 4750 turns, Alnico II vs III vs V, rough or smooth magnet. I don't know that it makes a tremendous cost difference. It would be a lot less that the difference between nickel and gold plating, especially at the price of gold today! The case of the CC line is definitely nicer than what comes with the standard line. I even mentioned to Mike that the new case that came with my 530 wasn't as nice as my old TKLs that came with my 157, 535, or 140. It's OK, functional, but it binds a bit when I close it. It's not lined up as well. Once snapped down, it's fine. Something I think should be on the CC line would be stainless steel frets. I don't know how much of an issue that would cause with the Plek, but you're already paying a hefty premium. That is an upgrade that I think would be very worthwhile, especially for a guitar that gets a lot of use.

Yes, the Prospect is a semi. It's a bit like a smaller version of the 535, much narrower at the waist. It came out in 1991, along with the Academy which is a single cutaway.

Hey, look who popped on! Glad to see you're still around.

Welcome back JP. A year ago, I snagged a 530 after checking one out at the factory during PSP. Mine is the original Standard, with the Lollar P90s, not the newer Std II with the new Heritage pickups but it's still every bit a great guitar! It's since edged out my 535 for "most playing time". I can play without an amp, and plug in when I need to. Yeah, prices bumped up, but the standard lines are still good values for a quality US build. Plus they come Plek'd so we hear very few comments about poorly cut nuts or fret issues. The factory is stressing consistently high quality control.

As I remember, there was a core of mahogany or maple which formed the chambered body, with carved maple top and back. It wasn't just a center block. It was wider and forms the rim but much thicker than you get with semi like the 535. It would be more like the chambered LP above. There was the 158, 155 and DC versions, plus the LE series. 155s have an access panel to the pots. The 158 doens't. The 155 is the most common.

There's nothing like 1/4"+ action to build the strength in those 12 yr old fingers! (hey what's that adjustment thing at the base of the neck???? Could it have been a truss rod But look at all them PICKUPS! And it was a better guitar than the first one, made from the finest pressed paper tonewood. (masonite) I think I would take an Ascent H137 instead!

MG, you're entirely correct. The Asian built guitars aren't targeting the guy who has 2 dozen guitars, 6 drum kits, 8 amplifiers and is playing in bars. Imagine you're 35, got 2 kids, a mortgage and a car payment. Your 12 yr old wants to learn to play guitar. For $270 you can get an Ascent H150 new or spend $2600 on a US H150. What are you going to choose? Or you could get a Jackson Dinky, Epiphone SG, Ibanez Gio, Squire, Yamaha Pacifica. All in the $2-300 range. Now 4 years later, the kid has actually taken to playing, even started playing with his friends. Wants a new guitar. Mexican Strat? Fancy Epiphone or Ascent+ for $6-800. Or hunt for a used Epi or Mexican Tele? There's a market for the mid and low tier stuff. In my day, it was a SIlvertone Dano, then a Guyatone built Kent, then a used Fender Jaguar. What it wasn't was a $400 ES335! $400 in 1965 was a lot more than $400 today. There's a lot more options now, and Heritage is just looking to fill that hole.

You have admire the guys who can pull this off, one just about nailing Terry's solo note for note, the other getting the "spirit" but not following the script exactly.

I lean both ways... there are times where it's "play what you feel" and there are times where it's "play what they played". Depends on the song, and rarely do I have the skill to match the original, it's going to be an approximation! I don't worry about getting the exact tone or effect, but I want the notes.. the "tune" to be pretty close. It's like when Carlos and Tomita started interpreting classics. Tomita's Snowflakes are Dancing sounds nothing like any other versions, but the tune is definitely recognizable. If you start changing the notes, playing something totally different, it's NOT Snowflakes! When the Vanilla Fudge revamped multiple songs, they kept the tune. Season of the Witch, Shotgun, You Keep Me Hangin' On. It was reinterpretation, and it works. But watching Jeff Beck do Les Paul licks on How High The Moon sounds so true to Les' vision that it's a joy to hear! There's room for both situations.

I must say, that's one fine looking Millennium and a fine looking amp as well in that discussion..... Fine! 😁

If I want to change channels, I have to unplug from the first and plug into the second. No rack, no midi. Just a pedal board and a chord to the amp. I found the RP355 to be confusing... having a rack system would scamble my brain!