2000 Heritage H150, best Les Paul ever.

[les paulverizer]

I've had this guitar for years, and the more I play it, the better it sounds.

To be honest, that applies to all the guitars I own, they're all great as I tend to avoid impulse buying: I'm a professional guitarist, so quality is of paramount importance, but this Heritage is something else!

The serial number tells me that it was made in 2000. I've had it since 2004, and the only changes I've made are a set of OX4 'Beano' pickups and a Shadow pickup ring tuner, as I like to stay in tune(!) but this guitar excels even in that department: once it's tuned, it stays that way forever, no matter how wild the bends!!!

Anyway, after I'd used it regularly for years, it ended up in storage for the last three years, as I ended up playing other guitars, all of which really served the purpose I have to admit, however a few days ago I took it back home, and I'm delighted to say it's by far the best Les Paul, not only in my collection but also the best I've ever had the pleasure of playing, and that includes some very expensive vintage "Holy Grails"!

Playability, resonance, range of tones, and ultimately looks, it ticks all boxes.

This is one guitar I'll never part with, that's for sure.

 

 

 

Edited yesterday at 10:24 AM by les paulverizer
Missing picture

[TalismanRich]

Welcome Les.  It's good to have some more members from the UK.  

Sweet looking H150.   Its funny how certain guitars just really feel and sound so "right".   It's almost like you don't want to even change the strings lest it loses that magic feel.

[les paulverizer]

17 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

Welcome Les.  It's good to have some more members from the UK.  

Sweet looking H150.   Its funny how certain guitars just really feel and sound so "right".   It's almost like you don't want to even change the strings lest it loses that magic feel.

Thank you!

Yes, certain guitars are, as you say, "just right". I have a Telecaster, an American Ultra one, that is just perfect and even when other people play they just go "oh yes...!"

Heritage guitars are very much a cult thing, at least here in the UK they definitely are, and when I pull it out some guys are always amazed and captivated by it, one esteemed luthier in particular even asked me if I really knew what I had there!!!! Of course I do!

Now Heritage has changed hands so I don't know how things are, but back then when my H150 was made it was still very much a small, almost family-type operation, and the care, craftsmanship and expertise were second to none, and it definitely shows...

 

[TalismanRich]

Having just been through the factory 2 weeks ago,   things are a bit more modern, but it's still a relatively small operation compared to a Fender, Gibson,  Cort or World Music.    There aren't any conveyor belts carrying a hundred guitars around the building.   

What you see is people at benches with a guitar,  maybe 2 people in the spray booth with a rack of 15 or 20 guitars hand spraying the guitars as they did for decades before.  On one side,  there's a guy hand wrapping binding with a half dozen guitars hanging next to him as the binding.

My oldest Heritage is an 87 H140, and my newest is a 2025 H-530 that I got yesterday.   I play all my old ones,  I'm sure I'll play this one just the same.   I love 'em.

[bolero]

les paulverizer that's a beautiful H150!

nice top figuring too

I agree every time I grab one of my Heritage's I get wowed by the quality, feel & sound of the instrument.
Last night I had a similar epiphany with my H157: pulled it out & thought "damn, I need to play this more often!"

It's a mahogany top that has aged enough that the woodgrain is now textured into the nitro lacquer. Or the reverse. Whatever, it looks great.

This thread has me inspired me to pull out the H150