NGD 2001 H535, question about cases?

[nuke]

New (used) guitar day for me. Picked up a nice clean, 2001 H535 in natural, figured maple with HRW pickups.  Very little wear on it front or back, frets in very good condition. I had an aluminum stop bar and Nashville tune-o-matic bridge, so I swapped off the Schaller bridge and tailpiece. The Schaller hardware is ok, but the rollers on that style tailpiece tend to work themselves loose over the years, and I had the parts in my parts drawer.  At 7lbs, 12-ounces, it is a really nice light weight.  The label doesn't say "HRW", but the black-dot on the switch and the dates match, no sign that it has ever been worked on before, so it looks all legit as shipped back then. 

I know HRW's are not everyone's cup of tea, but I'll give them a fair shot. So far, it sounds really good with them. 

Sadly, the Heritage case didn't come with it.   It looks like they're out of stock at Heritage, maybe I'll call Monday and see about it.  It did come with a cheap, poorly fitting generic case. It does fit pretty well in a Gibson ES335 case. But there's some disagreement as to the ES335 vs. H535 dimensions, and I don't know if the Heritage case is specifically-fitted or not. It does appear the 535 might be a little thinner than the 335. 

The 2002 H535 joins my 1998 H150 that I've had for over 20 years as my second Heritage. The H150 came factory with SD59's, Nashville bridge and heavy stop bar. It's been a great guitar all this time too. 

Photo of the H535 after cleanup, swapping the hardware and restringing. Temporarily occupying a Gibson case. 

 

Edited April 27 by nuke
correct year for serial number

[Gitfiddler]

Welcome to the HOC.  Excellent looking H535.  They're great instruments.

[LonelyLefty]

5 hours ago, nuke said:

New (used) guitar day for me. Picked up a nice clean, 2001 H535 in natural, figured maple with HRW pickups.  Very little wear on it front or back, frets in very good condition. I had an aluminum stop bar and Nashville tune-o-matic bridge, so I swapped off the Schaller bridge and tailpiece. The Schaller hardware is ok, but the rollers on that style tailpiece tend to work themselves loose over the years, and I had the parts in my parts drawer.  At 7lbs, 12-ounces, it is a really nice light weight.  The label doesn't say "HRW", but the black-dot on the switch and the dates match, no sign that it has ever been worked on before, so it looks all legit as shipped back then. 

I know HRW's are not everyone's cup of tea, but I'll give them a fair shot. So far, it sounds really good with them. 

Sadly, the Heritage case didn't come with it.   It looks like they're out of stock at Heritage, maybe I'll call Monday and see about it.  It did come with a cheap, poorly fitting generic case. It does fit pretty well in a Gibson ES335 case. But there's some disagreement as to the ES335 vs. H535 dimensions, and I don't know if the Heritage case is specifically-fitted or not. It does appear the 535 might be a little thinner than the 335. 

The 2002 H535 joins my 1998 H150 that I've had for over 20 years as my second Heritage. The H150 came factory with SD59's, Nashville bridge and heavy stop bar. It's been a great guitar all this time too. 

Photo of the H535 after cleanup, swapping the hardware and restringing. Temporarily occupying a Gibson case. 

 

Hello Nuke. Yes, Welcome. I'm a recent new member as well and have enjoyed the interactions with other members. Yes, the H535 is a little thinner then the ES335 so I would think the cases would be a bit different to fit each snuggly. Maybe do a post in the thread where folks sell items and see if anyone is selling one. Talk to Chris in customer service if you do call Heritage. He has been great with me. Enjoy your new guitar. I just recently got a H535 and can't put it down.

[nuke]

Thanks everyone! 

I've been around at least one or more Heritage Forums over the last 20 years. I got my H150 back in 2002, when it was a used guitar (very used at that point!) from Buffalo Brothers at the Marin Guitar Show. 

The H535 is my latest acquisition. I was out looking for a fretless bass of all things, spotted this hanging in a corner and gave it a tryout. Kind of like "just looking" at puppies at the pound.  When I first looked it over, was amazed at the condition, despite the used-guitar-shop, "grunge" all over it.  They had misdated it as a 2020, but the R-serial number clearly dated it, along with the Schaller bridge and two-screw pickups. The black dot switch tip I also spotted as the HRW, and sure enough, there they are. Handwritten date corresponds with the serial number.  I'll keep the Schaller bridge and tail aside, as there's nothing wrong with them and cosmetically, they're also in good shape. 

As I recall from the era, HRW were a factory upcharge and I think the wood was likely a factory upgrade as well. The top, back and sides are very "flamey".  Virtually no fretwear, binding nibs all intact. Clean inside and out, very little dust inside. 

After a little setup work, I managed to find a sweet spot for the pickup height adjustments, where it really gets that semi-hollow sound happening. The HRW's are pretty hot but remarkably clear sounding. Tone control is also very effective, and a little tone rolloff sweetens them up without darkening them.  

The Nashville bridge and aluminum stop bar made it a little brighter than the Schaller hardware, both acoustically and in the amp. 

Bummer about the case. This one clearly lived most of its life in the case, but who knows where it went. Would have loved to have it. 

Looks like TKL cases are still Heritage's manufacturer. It fits very well in a modern, "brown vintage Gibson" case for a 335.  Though it just seems weird to put a Heritage in a Gibson case, and I need to sell the guitar (an ES-135) that lives in that case now. 

If I get a chance, I'll measure the inductance, capacitance, resonant frequency and make a Bode plot of the pickups. I've been studying Schaller pickups from the 80's-2000's for another project. It will be interesting to see how they compare electronically. 

[TalismanRich]

It's weird.   I've seen posts about them,  saying the HRWs are crappy pickups, too hi-fi,  etc.  They get yanked out for a $200 set of Seth Lovers or something, and then get posted for sale for $400 a set.   

I remember when people were trying to get Rendall to give up his "secret sauce" for the HRWs.   Why would you want to know how to make crappy hi-fi pickups?

The guitar world doesn't make much sense to me sometimes.  😁

[nuke]

I got on the phone with Heritage and bought a b-stock, or "shop-worn" case at a nice discount. 

LOL, yeah, the guitar world makes no sense at all. So much is voodoo and superstition and the often silly, "conventional wisdom" from the interwebs. 

I'm an electrical engineer by training. I have the equipment to measure pickups magnetically and electronically. I can measure the coil inductance, capacitance, resonant frequency and I can take response plots using a signal generator, exciter coil and an integrator with an oscilloscope and make accurate frequency response Bode plots. 

If it weren't such a PITA to get to the wiring in a 335/535, I'd have measured these already.  There's a little "white corrosion" I want to clean off the bodies of the pots, and I'm curious enough, that I'll get around to measuring these. 

The extra long solder joint on the covers of the HRW are a sign someone didn't want us in there easily. I've never seen images of one opened up. I have a pile of Schaller humbuckers in my work bench draw and I've measured them. It will be interesting to have an objective measure of these. 

Honestly, the difference in tone by setting the pickup-string distance was rather marked with the HRW, more than I think most humbuckers I've played with. I started at 1/16" from the string to the covers and worked them down, little by little. At a certain point, with just a little more distance, the zingy-ness dropped away and they got right into the zone. 

They have relatively strong magnetic fields, likely alnico-V magnets, as most similar Schallers and SD59's also have.  The Custombucker III's in my Gibson have about half the magnetic strength at the poles, as they are alnico-III and they're happy to be very close to the strings.

[bolero]

Wow, that's a nice 535!! Congrats!

Interesting about the magnet strength differences. I had HRW's in a 535 too & eventually swapped in other pups to experiment. They looked just like that. Pup swaps in a 535 are a hassle & as I liked the other pups, I eventually sold the HRW's since they were just sitting in a drawer.

Good to hear you found a case!

[helmi]

Congrats. I have a 97’ 535 in natural also, with  OX4 low wind pickups in it. Wonderful guitar. I’ll bet you’ll come to love it. Amazingly versatile.