Lkdog Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Am looking at a used 1999 535. Any years that are not so great for Heritage? I seem to recall reading where there were some QC issues for a period of time. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tulk1 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 A '99 model will be killer. The biggest difference throughout the years has been the neck profiles. Older generally = thinner. If there were a bad year or period .. and I'm not saying there is, it might be around the time of the fire or right after. That said, I had an '05. 535 and it was a great guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegleg32 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 There have been some very minor issues in QC over the years, but Heritage has always made them right if they knew about them. Again, they are few and far between, I think it is safe to say that their quality has been consistantly good over the life of the company. I have owned gits from several years and have been more than happy with all of them. One thing that has changed over the years is the hardware and pickups. Most of the older guitars come with Schaller pickups which are not bad, just different. Today most come with SD's (of course you can order them with about anything so there is no predicting what might be in yours). I would feel safe in purchasing a guitar from any year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lkdog Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Seller thinks it has HRW pickups. Did they start putting HRW's in them by 1999? Has the older style bridge and stoptail. Is this stoptail/bridge quality hardware? http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showthread.php?t=1099965&highlight=heritage Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegleg32 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Seller thinks it has HRW pickups. Did they start putting HRW's in them by 1999? Has the older style bridge and stoptail. Is this stoptail/bridge quality hardware? http://www.thegearpa...hlight=heritage I addressed HRW's in your other post. Someone else will have better info on the stoptail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Yeah... the difference between the various years of Heritage guitars is in neck profiles, hardware and pickups... and none are bad, just slight differences. And even then, the neck profiles vary according to what the dealer requested, the hardware is easily changed, and it's not uncommon for pickups to be swapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 You might see what the label inside says on it. It may say about the pickups. The guitars equiped with HRW pickups, an upgrade option, usually have a toggle switch with a dot on it to mark them. But it's possible that the toggle switch tip has been swapped out, or oddly didn't have the dot. The Schaller hardware is a good quality , made in Germany. On my LP style Heritages , I swapped out the tailpiece for appearance reasons really. The roller bridge works fine, just a bit different from a tune-a-matic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 A '99 model will be killer. The biggest difference throughout the years has been the neck profiles. Older generally = thinner. If there were a bad year or period .. and I'm not saying there is, it might be around the time of the fire or right after. That said, I had an '05. 535 and it was a great guitar. Fire??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I've played a couple heritages from the mid eighties. Very thin, shredder style necks. There really isn't a bad year in my opinion. The fire just means a reduction in production models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HRB853370 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 What fire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lkdog Posted June 21, 2012 Author Share Posted June 21, 2012 Thanks for the info guys. People here are very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 What fire? The one that shut them down for months and almost for good. ... 2007 maybe.. they had 10" of water on the floor at the plant. Huge loss of instruments and everything backed up. The 23rd Anniversary model ( with 23 inlaid in the neck ) was a special thing for them to release.. because they weren't sure that they'd make it back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Avoid Heritages from ALL years. Failure to do so will result in you buying at least two more Heritages - guaranteed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SouthpawGuy Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Avoid Heritages from ALL years. Failure to do so will result in you buying at least two more Heritages - guaranteed I can vouch for that ! My '07 535 has a bigger beefier neck than the '96 535. Looks like the seller on TGP is a dealer, (4,500 transactions on Ebay), might account for the higher asking price ( in my opinion of course ) As for HRWs you might ask for pictures of the label, sometimes the pickups are noted on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I'd avoid any Heritage made before 1984. But if you can manage to find a 1984, let us know... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveHoffman Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Avoid any Heritage guitar that I want to buy. Over and out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Seacup Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I wouldn't buy any Heritage from before 1985, nor any that say "Prestige" on them anywhere. Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbp810 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 I would also avoid the ones built in 2013 as they have not been built yet... unless you have a time machine, in which case if you plan on traveling to the future to 2013, that should be another great year for Heritage guitars so you should go ahead and pick one up while your there. (in other news, a '99 535 should serve you very well!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HANGAR18 Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Whenever I'm looking over a guitar offered online for sale, I make a point to watch out for the "2" on the headstock and make sure that the asking price reflects whether there is one there or not. (Factory second) If I don't have a picture of the back of the headstock to see, I'll ask the seller about it. I won't refuse to buy the guitar on that point alone but it does factor into haggling over price. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chico Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 avoid the one made 1985-91, 93, 95-99, 00, 02-05, 07, 09-11. notify me if you see any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barrymclark Posted June 21, 2012 Share Posted June 21, 2012 Avoid the ones made before 1984! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TONEHOUND Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 While trying to stay positive and within the forum rules, I must say I am really tired of the hitchhikin' use of the name heritage in descriptions that seem to flood Ebay. No prestige is shown to the world with such an undeserving reference.....But hey....Nobody is really fooled by such stunts. Play on brothers.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FredZepp Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 While trying to stay positive and within the forum rules, I must say I am really tired of the hitchhikin' use of the name heritage in descriptions that seem to flood Ebay. No prestige is shown to the world with such an undeserving reference.....But hey....Nobody is really fooled by such stunts. Play on brothers.... It is a bummer when you're searching for the real deal Heritage and the Prestige comes up or... guitars in Heritage Cherry finish.. But hopefully it works both ways... people searching for those others may accidentally find the Kalamazoo made Heritage guitar and learn about those ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hfan Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 You might see what the label inside says on it. It may say about the pickups. The guitars equiped with HRW pickups, an upgrade option, usually have a toggle switch with a dot on it to mark them. But it's possible that the toggle switch tip has been swapped out, or oddly didn't have the dot. The Schaller hardware is a good quality , made in Germany. On my LP style Heritages , I swapped out the tailpiece for appearance reasons really. The roller bridge works fine, just a bit different from a tune-a-matic. I agree about the tail piece changed mine for looks only. I searched the LP forum a lot and found that the Gotoh tails are considered as good as the tone pros, just not lockable and are less $. The roller bridge provides a good break angle, no chance of the string hitting the bridge frame so you can adjust the tail down to the body (at least in my limited experience). Just watch the rollers don't move on their own when changing strings etc. Some members here claim the roller bridges rob sustain, I haven't noticed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DetroitBlues Posted June 25, 2012 Share Posted June 25, 2012 Whenever I'm looking over a guitar offered online for sale, I make a point to watch out for the "2" on the headstock and make sure that the asking price reflects whether there is one there or not. (Factory second) If I don't have a picture of the back of the headstock to see, I'll ask the seller about it. I won't refuse to buy the guitar on that point alone but it does factor into haggling over price. Nothing wrong with my factory 2nd that I can tell, so don't let that bother you either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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