My 535 Custom

[DetroitBlues]

10 years ago, when I finally felt financially comfortable to purchase a new Heritage, it had to be a 535.

At the time, I had an Epiphone Dot Deluxe with Seth Lover pickups in it.  It was my number one guitar and with its big neck, was easily my favorite guitar to play.

When I custom ordered my 535, I wasn't looking to trick it out or make it a flashy guitar.  I basically wanted a Heritage H535 that looked like my Epiphone.  Flame maple top, wine red, Seth Lover pickups, gold hardware, and a big neck.  I added just a couple subtle touches like a bound, inlaid headstock and gold top reflector knobs; an excellent Heritage dealer hooked me up with a deluxe wood package- highly flamed maple top, back, and sides!  

For many years, I only played it at home, took it to PSP or to a few friends' homes for jams.  It never went to a gig.  Until last weekend.

2 years ago, I tried it at a gig briefly and couldn't get the tone I wanted, and the feedback was killing me even when I tried it at a few practices.  So, it stayed at home atop its wall hanging perch.  At first, I thought my problem was the Seth Lover pickups, so I swapped them for Railhammer pickups.  While "vintage" voiced, I found those pickups were too clean, too bright.  I realized their design was more or less for heavy guitar players in drop tunings and high gain.  Earlier this year, thanks to a recommendation Brent, I purchased a custom made A3 magnet Red Rocks humbucker for the bridge pickup.  Did a swap and I loved the tone again.

Since my personal life went into an upheaval a few months ago, I had purged many of my guitars, with me only really owning a couple now.  My Heritages remain with me, but officially I do not own them; I retain them under the premise they get played.  So, they do.

I had a double header weekend playing a gig Friday and another on Saturday.  This time, I took my 535.  With exception to 1 song out of 42, the 535 was used for every song and genre.  Country, Rock, Pop, didn't matter.  Its versatility was amazing!  Paired with a Marshall DSL40C (not the gen2) and a few good pedals to spice up the tone, this guitar was perfect.  My H150 came with me just to play an open G tune to start a set.

Between my H535 and my H150, I really don't need any other guitars to gig with.  I found keeping similar guitars (pickup configurations) for swapping on songs, I don't have to mess with tone controls (going from a Tele to a H150 required a lot of eq changes to cut through).   This is a "trick" I discovered when I watched a killer cover band and how their lead guitarist used only one guitar the whole night and his backup was a similar guitar (humbucker loaded).

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by DetroitBlues

[TalismanRich]

Glad to see you're still out there playing gigs.     

I agree completely.   You can cover most all bases with the 535.   I've heard you play that 535 enough at PSP to know that it's a killer.   It's good that it's still in your arsenal, even if it is "on loan".

Your band must have been playing REALLY LOUD if you coudn't play without feeding back.   On the other hand,  it's perfect to get the acoustic feedback going when you want to sustain a note infinitely!   Turn away and it should go back to normal.  

[DetroitBlues]

49 minutes ago, TalismanRich said:

Glad to see you're still out there playing gigs.     

I agree completely.   You can cover most all bases with the 535.   I've heard you play that 535 enough at PSP to know that it's a killer.   It's good that it's still in your arsenal, even if it is "on loan".

Your band must have been playing REALLY LOUD if you coudn't play without feeding back.   On the other hand,  it's perfect to get the acoustic feedback going when you want to sustain a note infinitely!   Turn away and it should go back to normal.  

Thanks Rich.  It's not feedback free, but I can control it, mostly by not standing 2' away from it like I do in practice.  There are times where I intentionally go up to the amp to get some harmonic feedback to sustain.  Sounds so cool when you can keep it under control.