rockabilly69 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 As a lot of you guys know I just bought a new H150 with all the cool custom specs from Jay at Wolfe Guitars. One of the reasons I did this had to do with my curiosity on just how good the new H150's are. More than once I've seen reviews where people say H150's are as good or better than production Gibson Les Pauls, but not as good as the historics. Well my 2006 H150, after tweaks by me, seems to hang with my '60 reissue just fine. But to get it there, the bridge needed work, the tailpiece was replaced, the frets needed attending to compensate for a rise in the fingerboard, a new nut needed to be made, the electronics were swapped out with a complete RS kit, and new pickups installed. Now it happens to be my favorite guitar and has a very vintage LP voice, but with all those changes I really can't compare it to my bone stock '60 reissue. But now I can take my new guitar and compare it head to head! And, just to get it out there, this Historic is one of the best I've ever heard in a bone stock example! Now a used Gibson '60 reissue with this kind of flame would go between $3000 and $4000, depending on condition, my new Heritage cost me $2240 shipped to my door. If this new Heritage hangs it seems like this can open the eyes of a lot people that are on the fence about which way to go with their guitar money! These guitars both have long neck tenons, and are within a few ounces weight wise. Spec wise they are different here. My new guitar will be here in a few days so I can't post sound clips, but I will! Gibson 60 reissue ABR bridge nonlocking lightweight aluminum tailpiece burstbucker pickups plastic inlays bigger headstock fake bumble bee caps kluson style tuners plastiziced nitro thin 60 style neck carve Heritage H150 tonepros locking Nashville bridge tonepros locking lightweight aluminum tailpiece seymour duncan Pearly Gates pickups pearl inlays smaller headstock spraque caps grover tuners non platiziced nitro slightly bigger med c neck carve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schundog Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'm looking forward to your report! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Genericmusic Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I'm looking forward to your report! Me too. Member reviews are my favorite part to HOC. A lot of interesting and useful information is dispersed here and hear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smurph1 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Yeah Buddy and some clips..I bet those Pearly Gates are killer!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitArtMan Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 If you've ever hung out at the Les Paul Forum you will know that nearly every mod you've done to your H-150, the people over their do to their Les Pauls, and more. Look up Historic Makeovers if you want to laugh out loud. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 If you've ever hung out at the Les Paul Forum you will know that nearly every mod you've done to your H-150, the people over their do to their Les Pauls, and more. Look up Historic Makeovers if you want to laugh out loud. Yes I hang out there too, but I'm sure my infatuation with Heritage would probably have the Les Paul guys screaming Heretic at me:) I make my living with guitars so I really care most about what gets the job done. If you notice I didn't mod my '60 reissue in any way, but my old Heritage, until it was modded, was clearly outclassed by my Les Paul, especially in the neck/fret finish department. Now, I feel my new Heritage, aside from the Nashville style tonepros bridge, is set up with enough of the good stuff to make this comparison fair! If money was no object I would send my Historic or Heritage to historic makeovers, but, I would rather see if I could have Heritage custom make me a H150 with a vintage style trussrod with no condom, and Hide Glue in the neck joint, I would also like a proper ABR bridge (Pigtail, Callaham, or Faber) which have posts that go deep into the wood and no inserts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I had a stellar R7 black beauty, as well as a superb handmade '59 replica, and my '94 H150 CHERRY BURST no clowns in sight plus some other great LP's...a nice vintage tokai love rock I owned them for years & played them all....constantly comparing, experimenting...I think I was in denial that the heritage was the better guitar it takes a lot to overcome the mental images of Page, Clapton, Bloomfield, BillyG, Peter Green, Allman, Joe Walsh, Jeff Beck etc all playing lesters. that's the best free advertising Gibson ever got!! but finally I realized didn't need them IMO Heritages are much cooler guitars anyway why be a sheep? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Well I have no problem regarding the better guitar for my purposes, and currently my older H150 is the guitar I took to my last two big electric gigs, and it's made it as the only electric guitar on the CD I'm recording! I'm just wondering if the new H150s with the Wolfe Specs can stand on there own! By the way Bolero, that was an awesome video! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redshark Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Actually since 2010 Gibson has been putting GREAT volume and tone pots in the historics. Better than RS or any other modern pots since the new "historic" pots are replica of the 50's and 60's centralab pots. They have the same taper than the old ones and this is not BS. At the amp garage (trainwreck discussion) we documented this. This is because of how critical to the performance of a trainwreck amp the pots of the guitar are. Especially with the express amp. My H-150 has this pots and I would put them in any Heritage model. Just saying!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spectrum13 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 What could be more VOS than having Marv and Arnold carve the neck, Jim, Chris and Curley build the body or Floyd spray the nitro in the same place and the same way it was done in 1958-60? People and tradition make it historic. Marketing, glue and condom-less long tenons are just talking points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCovach Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I had a nice '57 Goldtop reissue. It was a great guitar in every way. But somehow I sold it and have kept my Heritage 150's, which I really prefer. I agree they often need a bit of modifying to get them where they need to be. I've got a couple of other Gibson custom shop guitars and they are great instruments that I won't sell (a 175 and a Switchmaster). My line about the Gibson custom shop guitars is that after the sting of the price wears off you're usually left with a pretty nice guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Actually since 2010 Gibson has been putting GREAT volume and tone pots in the historics. Better than RS or any other modern pots since the new "historic" pots are replica of the 50's and 60's centralab pots. They have the same taper than the old ones and this is not BS. At the amp garage (trainwreck discussion) we documented this. This is because of how critical to the performance of a trainwreck amp the pots of the guitar are. Especially with the express amp. My H-150 has this pots and I would put them in any Heritage model. Just saying!!I agree I like the new Gibson pots, but not the fake bees:) When I was modding/blueprinting my Zemaitis reissue guitar I soldered in two leads with alligator clips and tried every cap I could find to get the slide guitar woman tone I was looking for and the fake bees were some of the least favorite caps. I wound up going with Jensen PIOs from RS, which clearly were the best for MY tone. The orange drops that Heritage uses scored well in my test too. What I like about the RS pots is the smoother feel with the high amount of grease they use in the pot, plus I like that they are matched well in resistance value. I am really interested in trying out the pots that are in the new Heritage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 I had a nice '57 Goldtop reissue. It was a great guitar in every way. But somehow I sold it and have kept my Heritage 150's, which I really prefer. I agree they often need a bit of modifying to get them where they need to be. I've got a couple of other Gibson custom shop guitars and they are great instruments that I won't sell (a 175 and a Switchmaster). My line about the Gibson custom shop guitars is that after the sting of the price wears off you're usually left with a pretty nice guitar.I also had a nice 57 goldtop reissue, it sounded great, but the neck carve was a club of epic proportions with a huge shoulder I HATED! The tone was very good after I swapped out the Burstbuckers with a pair of some microhonic Seth Lovers I had. here it is... I like your line about the custom shop guitars, but if the new H150's sound as good out of the gate as a Historic LP that's a good way to help soothe the sting:) I would like a Switchmaster too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 What could be more VOS than having Marv and Arnold carve the neck, Jim, Chris and Curley build the body or Floyd spray the nitro in the same place and the same way it was done in 1958-60? People and tradition make it historic. Marketing, glue and condom-less long tenons are just talking points. I love the old school hands on building and that attracts me to Heritage, but I also like Hide Glue and proper trussrods without condoms. I don't want anything on that trussrod if I can avoid it! I feel that does make a difference, but I'm not sure a $4000.00 difference! Nice looking flametop R9s are going over $6000 now! I don't think the nitro is the same formula and thickness as the old stuff, as I have a few older Gibsons and my older H150 finish does not resemble the old 60's Gibson finish in the least. What I'm seeing from seeing some of these newer Heritage guitars is closer attention to detail, better woods and finishes, and improved hardware. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnCovach Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I like your line about the custom shop guitars, but if the new H150's sound as good out of the gate as a Historic LP that's a good way to help soothe the sting:) I would like a Switchmaster too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 5, 2013 Author Share Posted February 5, 2013 Now that's a fine rig you've got there JC! I love the volume and tone for each pickup! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gitfiddler Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 John~ That Switchmaster is the shizzle, John!! How about doing a thread about it? And I'm diggin' all of the R7 Goldtop love and love-lost in this thread. Mine's bone stock with original Classic 57's that are a perfect match for this gitfiddle. Neck carve fits my big paws like a glove too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redshark Posted February 7, 2013 Share Posted February 7, 2013 Actually I agree, those fake bumblebees aren't that great and yes, they need to be replaced. Talking about necks, I had played a couple of golden era LP's, a 58 and a 59 and also a 58V and none of those guitars had the big necks that new historics have. Heritage has also decided to go for bigger necks and put more shoulder on them. That is why I sold a H535 that I love and why I'm now trying to sell now a H137. I wish they were putting a round neck with NO shoulder in all new heritage guitars. A neck can be deep but not have the shoulders that make it feel wider than it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezra1 Posted February 9, 2013 Share Posted February 9, 2013 Well.......how is the new H-150 shaping up to the Gibson Historic? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolero Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 haha, yes inquiring minds want to know!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 10, 2013 Author Share Posted February 10, 2013 We couldn't do the test tonight as I got derailed by a bad snowstorm. Going to my buddies house would have required a lot of driving on some bad roads. And I already drove 140 miles roundtrip for my day gig! We are going to try for Monday night. But... I played the new H150 on my lap acoustically for about an hour tonight to get used to the neck, and I have to go to a lighter string gauge, as I can't get the vibrato I like with the current setup. But this guitar sustains for a hell of a long time and there are no dead notes that I can hear, so that's good sign! The acoustic tone is loud, though I hear a slight buzz on the A string, which may just be a crappy string. I have a set of Pyramid Round Wound pure nickel strings which is what's on my 60 reissue. Tommorrow night they are going to be put on and intonated. I would do it in the AM but I have a day gig which I also have to drive many miles for! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ezra1 Posted February 10, 2013 Share Posted February 10, 2013 There is a bad a$$ storm that goes from South Texas up into Michigan and is moving eastward ..do what you got to do and stay safe. ........but I am really looking forward to your review....how are the shoulders on the neck? ...but you can talk about that in your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hinesarchtop Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 I've had an R7, R9, and have played many R8's. I think my R7 was a very special guitar in every way. I had an early 150cm with the correct Gibson body shape that was a great guitar too. They can only be judged on a guitar by guitar basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 I've had an R7, R9, and have played many R8's. I think my R7 was a very special guitar in every way. I had an early 150cm with the correct Gibson body shape that was a great guitar too. They can only be judged on a guitar by guitar basis. After today's comparison I think is very accurate, but this is what I came up with. The Historic 60 reissue and the H150 were so different in tone they could have been different models. The H150 was much bigger sounding in the mids, but I didn't like the top end as much it was a little sterile, also the lows were better defined on the historic. I would say I prefer the historic for my type of tone, which slightly more resonant and sweet, whereas the H150 thumped the speakers in my amps! For the person who likes to feeI the thump of a closed back cab the H150 would deliver in spades. Also pinch harmonics seemed to jump out of the Pearly Gates. But like I said earlier for my tone (Mick Tayor and Jimmy Page inspired styles), I prefer the Historic especially in the light crunch tones. To test the tones I used my 64 Deluxe Reverb, 62 Alamo Fury, and a 2009 TopHat Club Deluxe I brought the guitars over to Fed Ex, and weighed both the Historic 8lbs 14oz, the H150 9lbs 6oz. The weight could have contributed alot to the difference in tone. When it came to sustain it really came down to what part of the fingerboard you were playing, but I found less dead spots on the Heritage. Fret work - even up, and neither work particularly great, both would benefit from some further polishing. The fretwork on my Japanese Zemaitis is better hands down! In the finish department, I think it's a tie, they are both excellent. The Heritage seems to have the all of the quality of my Historic and at a much lower price. Potentiometers on both guitars felt the same, and I didn't find much difference in the taper. I also didn't find much difference in the behavior of the capacitors in tonal changes. I like the shape of the Gibson neck better as the 60 reissue is a typical C shape, wheras the H150 also a C, has a slighty assymetrical shape (see pics) towards the heel. I noticed this shape also on my other H150. The new H150 has more of a shoulder which I don't like. I found I was playing better on my historic. My older H150 doesn't have that shoulder! Gibson Heritage After playing each for hours, I think I prefer the historic, but with some tweaking I think I could get the heritage to where I like it. After the comparison, I pickup up my older H150 and I liked it as much as the historic as I love the Zhangbucker pure handwound pickups in that one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockabilly69 Posted February 12, 2013 Author Share Posted February 12, 2013 If I was playing a gig with my 60 reissue, and broke a string and had to switch to my older H150, I wouldn't need to touch my amp and could go on without breaking a sweat. I could not do that with my new H150, they are that different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.