The Return of Johnny Smith?

[ingeneri]

Ok, so now that the Guild/Benedetto partnership is dust and Heritage has finished its reorganization, why don't they make a play for the return of the Johnny Smith endorsement/signature model? Anyone got any good gossip? Seems like it would create some good buzz to show Heritage is back on the map after last year's shut down.

 

For the uninitiated: Johnny Smith is one of the greatest unsung Jazz guitarists of all time and enjoyed a big hit in the 50's with "Moonlight in Vermont".  After a discouraging experience with Guild, Smith, a freind of luthier legend D'angelico, worked with Gibson in the early 1960s to design a signature model.  The result was an archtop with an L5 body and Super 400 neck and headstock.  However, the biggest innovation was a floating humbucker that was attached to the neck and rested on top of the carved top.  This innovation, named the Johnny Smith pickup, elminated the need to carve a hole in the top and preserved the guitar's acoustic sound.  Smith endorsed a Heritage signature model after the move to TN. However, he shifted his endorsement to Guild afte signing an agreement with Bob Benedetto to produce the Guild/Benedetto Johnny Smith.  Benedetto recently pulled out of his partnership with Fender/Guild, allegedly due to dissatisfaction with their factory's quality control.

[ingeneri]

Here's a cool link to an archtop.com listing for a Heritage JS. Good description and nice pics!

 

http://www.guitarforgrownups.com/ac_95heritage_js.html

[Dick Seacup]

"The Sound of the Johnny Smith Guitar"...excellent album.  That's a nice looking guitar, ingeneri.  I wonder what it went for, as it doesn't seem to be available any longer.