Sweetwater Exclusive Heritages are just alright!

[eljay]

This bad boy joined the herd over the weekend . . .

I'm not normally one for factory aging but the one in this thread 

[eljay]

this website's unwieldy edit property wrecked my efforts to polish the preceding post . . . 

The short of it is that Heritage works with Sweetwater for the "Exclusive" releases. Heritage goodness with some one-off variety. My new one has Seth Lovers which was a key consideration in pulling the trigger. H's 225 humbuckers don't garner universal praise and I don't want to gamble with tone since tried-and-true pickup choices are out there. Quick aside, my Sweetwater Exclusive H-150 from earlier in the fall has Lollar Imperials and they're the cat's meow.

Good job, H and SW!

[bolero]

Lollar Imperials are great pickups, I have them in an H150

These 2 threads ramind me of a Doobie Bros tune. I didn't know it was a cover version, or that there were a bunch of versions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Is_Just_Alright

Edited Friday at 01:52 AM by bolero

[bolero]

I herd it's got some pretty good pickups in thar!

[eljay]

I was making sly reference to the Doobies tune

[TalismanRich]

22 minutes ago, bolero said:

Lollar Imperials are great pickups, I have them in an H150

These 2 threads ramind me of a Doobie Bros tune. I didn't know it was a cover version, or that there were a bunch of versions:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_Is_Just_Alright

Great tune.    I'll gladly join in for it at PSP next year.

[TalismanRich]

50 minutes ago, eljay said:

this website's unwieldy edit property wrecked my efforts to polish the preceding post . . . 

The short of it is that Heritage works with Sweetwater for the "Exclusive" releases. Heritage goodness with some one-off variety. My new one has Seth Lovers which was a key consideration in pulling the trigger. H's 225 humbuckers don't garner universal praise and I don't want to gamble with tone since tried-and-true pickup choices are out there. Quick aside, my Sweetwater Exclusive H-150 from earlier in the fall has Lollar Imperials and they're the cat's meow.

Good job, H and SW!

It wouldn't matter what Heritage put in the guitars,   SOMEBODY would complain and change them.    I've seen HRWs panned, and then see them sell for $350 a set, and 225s were listed for the same,  when you can get Seth Lovers for $200 a set. 

[HANGAR18]

I started getting confused by seeing guitars listed as Custom Shop, while others were Custom Core, and while others were just regular Heritage guitars without either of those two "Custom" descriptors. I wonder if they are phasing out the Custom Core branding or perhaps maybe separating the Custom Core to mean big beefey neck carves while Custom Shop would refer to more normal medium or 60's style neck carves. I haven't figured it out yet.

[TalismanRich]

They are currently listing the guitars as Custom Shop  Core Collection,  which is the "high end" spec (lighter weight mahogany,  225 pickups,  50s C shape neck).    Guitars that are "Custom Shop" exclusives like Sweetwaters, appear to be dealer spec'd guitars, much as Wildwood does with Fender and Gibson.    If you want to buy enough guitars,   I'm sure they'll happily make 25 or 50 with your choice of pickup,  color, etc.   

 

Edited 19 hours ago by TalismanRich

[nuke]

On 12/4/2025 at 6:23 PM, TalismanRich said:

It wouldn't matter what Heritage put in the guitars,   SOMEBODY would complain and change them.    I've seen HRWs panned, and then see them sell for $350 a set, and 225s were listed for the same,  when you can get Seth Lovers for $200 a set. 

yeah, I have an '01 535 with the HRW's.  I absolutely love the pickups. I'd never change them. 

The SD59's in my '98 H150 are not my favorite, OK though. They don't bug me enough to spend money changing them. 

[DetroitBlues]

With good tone controls, I really don't bother with pickup changes/swaps these days.  I roll the volume/tone controls back for whatever I'm playing, add them back if I need a better cut through or gritter tone.  That being said, I'm perfectly happy with Seymour Duncan.  Consistent and well-balanced.  My H150 has SD59's, my H140 has a Seth Lover Bridge and '59 Neck. 

The last time I really did any pickup swaps was for My H535 had Seth Lovers (just because I wanted less feedback/squeal for higher gain). Changed to Railhammers, which ended up sounding too clean as they are designed for ultra-high gain, drop tunings, didn't work well for typical classic rock, country, and blues.  Because of the low cost, I ordered a custom bridge pickup from Red Rocks; an A3 overwound wax-potted humbucker.  

Probably the last pickup swap I'll do now that I have become fond of the use of volume and tone controls.  The in-house built 225 Humbuckers probably sound great and just a slight twist of a couple of knobs will coax whatever sound I'm chasing in my head.  Just no need for it these days.

Now going back to the OP, you picked another beautiful guitar Larry.  I'm up for adoption, so if you need an heir for your collection, I'm your guy. 

Edited 54 minutes ago by DetroitBlues

[DetroitBlues]

On 12/7/2025 at 10:19 AM, HANGAR18 said:

I started getting confused by seeing guitars listed as Custom Shop, while others were Custom Core, and while others were just regular Heritage guitars without either of those two "Custom" descriptors. I wonder if they are phasing out the Custom Core branding or perhaps maybe separating the Custom Core to mean big beefey neck carves while Custom Shop would refer to more normal medium or 60's style neck carves. I haven't figured it out yet.

Up until ten years ago, they were all custom shop guitars.