CRAZY Heritage Horror Story

[iim7v7im7]

Hi,

 

I have had two experiences ordering custom instruments from Heritage through a large Heritage AD. One was an excellent experience and the other was a disappointment.

 

In 2001 I ordered a custom Sweet 16 through a major Heritage dealer which took about 5 months to delver and was "perfect". A wonderful guitar and I play it regularly to this day.

 

I also had another experience in 2009 ordering a custom H-535 which was also delivered in about 5 months through the same dealer. This instrument came with a number of quality problems: Tuner pegs inproperly located, an improperly cut nut, headstock binding over sanded and buffed eroding its thickness; a depression in the fingerboard across 4 frets. The instrument should have never been released by the company. These were not subtle defects.

 

I had the nut re-made and cut it to deal with the asymmetric pull angle from the tuners, and a luthier made 4 frets taller and pleked the neck. The tuners and the binding are as is. The instrument plays very well and sounds great, but I feel bad about it every time I play it; so I find that I play it less and less. I spoke with Heritage throughout the remediation process and they admitted fault, and offered to remedy the situation. I chose have it repaired on my own. I had lost trust.

 

Here is another data point.

 

Last February I was visiting one of the most established Acoustic and Archtop guitar shops in the country who is also a Heritage dealer. They had dropped Gibson after many years of business. We are friendly and I had purchased a number of instruments from this store. I asked about how was it being a Heritage dealer? I was told that they have problems with delivery (promised inventory does not arrive) and that they recently had to send an instrument back an H-535 because the nut was improperly cut! I about fell over and of course related my sad story. I also wished that my dealer who I had purchased the instrument through has had incoming quality inspection like this shop. So I am not certain what is happening back at Heritage but between my more recent dealing and this recent encounter I think that they still are working through some issues.

 

This makes me quite sad because 1) I am both fond of Heritage as a company and 2) they are capable of making profoundly good instruments when they get it “right”. So I guess what I am saying is buying a Heritage can be a great experience or there can be issues. I still am a fan and hope that they resolve issues and succeed.

 

Bob

[brentrocks]

it is the dealer's responsabilty to communicate with the factory and make sure your order is complete....if you buy a gutar new and something is not right, you go to your dealer. Plain and simple.

[brentrocks]

I've said it here before: I can't believe it's worth the trouble to Heritage to build custom guitars. It's one thing to build a special batch for a dealer, or to offer limited editions of certain models. But expectations for any single custom-made instrument are very high and not very flexible, making the chance of something going wrong much more likely. I'm sure they screw some orders up and I'm sure some customers are disappointed. It's almost unavoidable.

 

its only wood, right John? not legos.