What’s happening at Heritage on September 25th?

[MelodiusThunk]

On 9/21/2025 at 4:59 PM, bolero said:

Maybe they are going back to using wood pickguards?

Since they seem to be cutting costs, going back to a more labor intensive wood pickguard wouldn’t make much sense.

[TalismanRich]

1 hour ago, MelodiusThunk said:

I refused shipment on the guitars. I do happen to know that they had the same headstock as in the listings that you see for them online.

So which headstock do you think it had?    Heritage has different size headstocks for different guitars.   My new 530 is wider at the top than my old 535 by 1/2".    Its easy to see the difference by looking at the string pull and the space on the sides of the logo.

The archtops always have had wider headstocks than the solid bodies.   

[MelodiusThunk]

22 minutes ago, TalismanRich said:

So which headstock do you think it had?    Heritage has different size headstocks for different guitars.   My new 530 is wider at the top than my old 535 by 1/2".    Its easy to see the difference by looking at the string pull and the space on the sides of the logo.

The archtops always have had wider headstocks than the solid bodies.   

I wasn’t able to measure them or compare. But, here’s a photo of what they would have looked like:

 

[TalismanRich]

That's the wider headstock.   This is the older headstock.

 

[Spectrum13]

3 hours ago, MelodiusThunk said:

I don’t understand? That’s just a link to a cartoon character humming and singing a racist minstrel song. Can you just stop beating around the bush and explain in words what was meant in the earlier post?

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Posted Thursday at 04:43 PM (edited)

  On 9/18/2025 at 4:18 PM, Steiner said:

Wait a week.  I NEED a Heritage bespoke banjo!  Do Dah…

Like in my statement that you quoted, they are coming tomorrow. I do not have a week. And what does "Do Dah…" mean? 

Edited Thursday at 04:45 PM by MelodiusThunk`

Was Gregg (Steiner) not I that started the "Do Dah" - so all I could relate to was cartoons from the 1950's  - sorry just having fun with the flow.

 

[bolero]

I guess we'll find out on the 25th. Otherwise its just wild speculation & banter

[bolero]

-->At one of the PSP's, a large stash of old Banjo parts was spotted, and it's been a long-running joke that Heritage would build Banjos again

They did build a few at one point

Myself, I was hoping for some Accordions too

Edited yesterday at 05:19 AM by bolero
more banjo

[MelodiusThunk]

5 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

That's the wider headstock.   This is the older headstock.

 

I am thinking that there may have been a misunderstanding. When I spoke of possible new headstock designs, those designs wouldn’t be released until this Thursday. And that’s just pure speculation. The announcement may have nothing to do with headstocks. I was not that keen on keeping the two H-530s if there was going to be a headstock change. So, I decided to send the guitars back and see what happens on Thursday. At the same time I found an insane deal on a new Collings, so I purchased that. 
 

I am curious though, what year did they widen the headstocks?

 

 

Edited yesterday at 07:23 AM by MelodiusThunk

[MelodiusThunk]

5 hours ago, Spectrum13 said:

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Posted Thursday at 04:43 PM (edited)

  On 9/18/2025 at 4:18 PM, Steiner said:

Wait a week.  I NEED a Heritage bespoke banjo!  Do Dah…

Like in my statement that you quoted, they are coming tomorrow. I do not have a week. And what does "Do Dah…" mean? 

Edited Thursday at 04:45 PM by MelodiusThunk`

Was Gregg (Steiner) not I that started the "Do Dah" - so all I could relate to was cartoons from the 1950's  - sorry just having fun with the flow.

 

There’s no need to be sorry. I asked a question, and you provided what seemed to me to be cryptic hints as to what the answer might be. I wasn't able to decipher what I thought were hints but was genuinely interested in the answer. So, I was hoping that you would get straight to the point and provide that. Now I understand that you don’t know yourself. No worries.

[MelodiusThunk]

2 hours ago, bolero said:

-->At one of the PSP's, a large stash of old Banjo parts was spotted, and it's been a long-running joke that Heritage would build Banjos again

They did build a few at one point

Myself, I was hoping for some Accordions too

I own three Loyd Loar era banjos and two Loyd Loar era mandolins. All four have the snakehead headstock. In my mind, current Heritage headstock would look right at home on a banjo. What is PSP?

Edited yesterday at 07:35 AM by MelodiusThunk

[Steiner]

9 hours ago, Spectrum13 said:

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Posted Thursday at 04:43 PM (edited)

  On 9/18/2025 at 4:18 PM, Steiner said:

Wait a week.  I NEED a Heritage bespoke banjo!  Do Dah…

Like in my statement that you quoted, they are coming tomorrow. I do not have a week. And what does "Do Dah…" mean? 

Edited Thursday at 04:45 PM by MelodiusThunk`

Was Gregg (Steiner) not I that started the "Do Dah" - so all I could relate to was cartoons from the 1950's  - sorry just having fun with the flow.

 

Spectrum13, you hit the nail on the head; it’s good to have folk one can count on.
When it was mentioned the banjos might be coming back, all I could imagine was that big, old rooster whanging away…

 

8 hours ago, bolero said:

I guess we'll find out on the 25th. Otherwise its just wild speculation & banter

Why would you say that?  Do you know something that your not telling us?  I bet you know.  You’re too well read; I bet you’ve unearthed the answer and you’re not willing to let it out.  Spill the beans bolero…

 

4 hours ago, MelodiusThunk said:

I own three Loyd Loar era banjos and two Loyd Loar era mandolins. All four have the snakehead headstock. In my mind, current Heritage headstock would look right at home on a banjo. What is PSP?

You own banjos and are not familiar with Do Dah?!  Shame…
As far as PSP, you will find out once you’ve been placed in double secret probation.  Take your time…

[Spectrum13]

9 hours ago, bolero said:

-->At one of the PSP's, a large stash of old Banjo parts was spotted, and it's been a long-running joke that Heritage would build Banjos again

They did build a few at one point

Myself, I was hoping for some Accordions too

Will (skin slammer) would jump on a Heritage accordion! Perhaps ABC will show old Lawrence Welk reruns in their 11:30 slot.

At the 2012 PSP when I ordered my 147 black beauty Marv took me in a back room to choose a board of Korina for the body, I spied several "V" bodies left over from the Gibson days. Some time ago I posted a photo of them. 

[TalismanRich]

7 hours ago, MelodiusThunk said:

I am thinking that there may have been a misunderstanding. When I spoke of possible new headstock designs, those designs wouldn’t be released until this Thursday. And that’s just pure speculation. The announcement may have nothing to do with headstocks. I was not that keen on keeping the two H-530s if there was going to be a headstock change. So, I decided to send the guitars back and see what happens on Thursday. At the same time I found an insane deal on a new Collings, so I purchased that. 

I am curious though, what year did they widen the headstocks?

I think that the change over started with the design of the custom core series.   It seems that now they are spreading it though the whole line.   There were still guitars with the narrow headstock.   I don't know if it qualifies as a big announcement.   

There have always been wider headstocks on 575s, Eagles,  525s, etc.   The narrow ones were on the 140, 150, 535, 137 lines.   

[MelodiusThunk]

8 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

I think that the change over started with the design of the custom core series.   It seems that now they are spreading it though the whole line.   There were still guitars with the narrow headstock.   I don't know if it qualifies as a big announcement.   

There have always been wider headstocks on 575s, Eagles,  525s, etc.   The narrow ones were on the 140, 150, 535, 137 lines.   

Thanks for the info.

[MelodiusThunk]

Just an FYI… based on what Mike from Heritage has told people, the change affects H-530s and H-535s. So, it probably is not a new product. It is most likely an update to a current line. I guess we’ll see in a little while.

[bolero]

I heard from now on all hollowbodies will come with routed Kahler tremolo systems

with those locking nut things on the headstock

Edited 13 hours ago by bolero

[Jimbob]

On 9/22/2025 at 6:26 PM, MelodiusThunk said:

I wasn’t able to measure them or compare. But, here’s a photo of what they would have looked like:

 

Well, like I said in my previous post, when I was at the factory a few weeks ago, I noticed that all of the standard series guitars that were about to be shipped out had this wider headstock on them. Regarding the question about when the wider headstock was released, I agree with the other poster who said that they originally came out with the Custom Core models, which I believe were released in 2020 (not certain about the exact timing). However, I am quite certain that these newer and wider headstocks were released just this year for the standard models, and my guess is that they've only been around for the last couple of months or so. The only difference that I can see between the Custom Shop models vs the standard models is that the standard headstock lacks the center inlay. While I have no idea what the big announcement may be, but aside from that, my guess is that the wider headstock will become standard on all models that previously had the narrower one. At least that's my take on it.

Edited 1 hour ago by Jimbob