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After catching Heritage fever last fall I finally pulled the trigger on this brand new Custom Core H-530. It was built on the 10th January, 2025 so it still thinks it's a tree! I owned a couple of 535's in the late 90's so I've known about Heritage for a while. After spending the last 20 years playing fingerstyle acoustic blues I got the electric bug again. As you all know, this is a special guitar and I'm a lucky man to own it.

Back in the club. I had to sell my H-150 Vintage Wine Burst about 6 months ago and immediately regretted it. I recently found another Vintage Wine Burst, this time a 2009 H150 and I am happy again. It needed some TLC as a number of things were not working, switch, pots and the pickups had been swapped out. I completely stripped the guitar and used Virtuoso cleaner and polish to buff out a fair amount of scratches. I had a pair of Seymour Duncan double creams and thought it would be a nice contrast to the darker burst and they seem to match the binding well. I added aged Faber hardware to allow the pickups and reflector knobs to pop. I also removed the pickguard to show off the top, because why should that top be hiding behind a boring piece of plastic. The guitar weighs an impressive 8.4 pounds and has a nice authentic and woody tone. Out of curiosity, does anyone know why the burst is so wide on these? My previous VWB from 2017 was more of a typical burst around the edges only. This one seems to graduate almost to the center of the guitar.

Great, great post OP!!!! I own 5 LP guitars, I am very new to guitar playing, but being an architect I absolutely go bananas for the look and design of the Les Paul. It just makes you want to pick it up and play it!!.....even if you are a newby like myself. So I have five, lol....2 Gibson (Classic & Slash November Burst) and 3 Heritage H150's....'14,'22,'23. My Gibson Slash is an absolute dream to play, everything in that guitar is just perfect (I think I got lucky with that guitar, I spent 4 hours at Gibson Garage looking at LP 50's & 60's and they all sucked, until they brought me this one. It took me 5 minutes to know that it was it!!! Having said that, it being a Gibson...something had to be wrong. The finish on the guitar started to "check/crack" on me on the oddest of places AND the finish was super sensitive to scratching. Took it to Gibson repair and they washed their hands, blaming me for the issue, mind you I bought it in April '24 and by June it was already doing this. I baby my guitars, so it really pissed me off that Gibson would blame me. So I will never buy a Gibson guitar and will only buy Heritage!!!! Once I get better, I plan on taking a trip to the holly land in Michigan and picking myself up a 150 Custom!! Side note, for decades, my wife has had an obsession with purses (Gucci, Channel, LV, etc....) for years I gave her shit, after finding my passion in guitar playing and specifically in Les Paul models........I don't say a word to her about her purses anymore, lol!!! As a matter of fact I encourage her to pursue her happiness because every time she buys a new purse, it gives me the excuse to buy another Heritage!! 😂 Sorry for going on a tangent post!!🙂

The Marv Wineburst that Kuz was kind enough to send on to me... And for you blasphemers, here it is with a proper pickguard...

YouTube suggested 'Bangles Frank Zappa, Tonight Show - 1986'. Hoping that FZ was actually sitting in the Bangles (of course not to be), I watched it. The Bangles played their hits of that year, Walk Like an Egyptian and the Prince-penned Manic Monday, both of which sounded pretty good live. Nice vocals. On Manic Monday, spotted what I think is an H-170 being played by Vicki Peterson, which may make the Bangles an early (first?) 'famous user' of Heritage guitars.

You mean like this Millie. My first Heritage Custom Shop build from 2011.

I was in the showroom at the PSP gathering this last summer and really liked the vintage wine burst finish on this H-150. I kind of impulsively bought it and I am glad I did. It is hard to find this finish on new models anymore.

Just out of curiosity, I searched for reviews on Schaller's humbuckers from back in the day. Specifically I looked for the German made ones. I looked at non-HOC posts. There were several threads in the Seymour Duncan Forum on these. The comments were largely favorable, even glowing. This does not prove anything except some people liked them a lot. Here's an example. https://forum.seymourduncan.com/forum/the-pickup-lounge/114718-schaller-golden-50s-humbuckers My guess is that Heritage had some deal going to use Schaller hardware and pickups, which makes sense from a business perspective in an emerging company. Even back in the earlier years the Heritage founders would defend their choice. Specifically, the four original owners and Ren said Schallers were good pickups. Ren told me that the bridge and tailpiece were very well engineered. Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a pickup engineer and luthier who knows Heritage well. He has been designing pickups for decades. He did not disparage the Schaller pickups Heritage used. It's refreshing to get his perspective. Not that many would be surprised though. To paraphrase, whatever a skilled pickup designer makes, someone will call junk. He likes Seymour Duncan's quality and says Paul Reed Smith is very fussy about his pickups. He also has respect for Fralin and Lollar. Lastly, he commented that he's sad to see such harsh criticisms for new winders on pickup creators forums. A budding designer shows his new ideas and their sounds and will receive harsh criticism from some, not encouragement to keep going. It sounds like the same sort of stuff that happens on various guitar forums also about pickup opinions. For example, I recently looked for reviews on Phat Cats. It seems that hate motivates posting more than praise. I've heard good reviews about the 225 hots on the H-555 from a person I don't think is over critical in nature. The big picture I get about Heritage is that it has morphed from the origins we all know well to a different company which is more refined and that has a R&D process that's pretty sophisticated. I have my older Heritages that I cherish. I've also have handled the new ones and understand the changes. I'm optimistic about the company. There's a reason Gibson moved to Tennessee from Kalamazoo. I don't fully understand why, but it certainly had something to do with cost reduction or profit ratio. Now Heritage can make a guitar consistently as good as Gibson for less money. Some will differ in which is better, but that's soft opinion. Kuz, for example, gave an excellent and detailed review of two LP style guitars made by each. Neither seemed shabby and there was a significant price difference. That's remarkable. I posted recently about a H-535 I got built just a few years ago. It is as good as any I've seen and better than some. It has PRS pickups in it. They sound good. Would I pay twice as much for them and replace the harness? No. But I don't think I would get a better sound out of any other setup. I also got a 2019 ES-345. The pickups were replaced with Phat Cats. Various forums contained hate reviews of these pickups as well as a little praise. People are nuts. They sound like single coils, hotter than stock Fenders. I have the T-types to put back in it but won't do that, at least for now. I'm done rambling. The bottom line for me is that Heritage is in a great place as a quality electric guitar producer and innovator. I have not always felt that way but have always respected the original owners and what they could do. Heritage is not the same without the internal soap operas, which were a source of interesting drama. Here are pics of my 2002 Ultra that just had a bone nut put in and frets leveled.

I'll pay a Million extra if you duct tape a banana to that canvas!

So happy, just bought this beauty! New Custom Core Heritage Factory Special H150 Antique Pelham Blue! Can’t wait to get it in my hands! Not what I would normally buy color wise, but the combination of the Pelham blue and the light color wood just got my attention! Anybody else have one of these? Or am I the only weirdo that likes them 😅

I remember that review and you did an excellent comparison as well. Overall they both have their own strengths, but now with Heritage's aged Core 150 (verse a standard 150 which is still a great guitar) compared to the Murphy aged R9... they are both growing increasingly closer & similar in comparisons. I am so blessed to have both. Thankfully they both sound different enough (each sound great in their own way) to keep both.

Per Arnie Helinski, it was a bit of both. The neck was originally supposed to be for a custom Roy Clark but something didn't meet the original customer's spec and it wound up just sitting on the shelf being "too nice to scrap". When the PSP giveaway was being discussed that year, Arnie suggested using that five piece neck on the giveaway guitar and Marv et al agreed. I'm glad they made that decision. 😁

That's a stunner! I agree on the pickguard removal, a nice burst should never be hidden behind a pickguard unless it's one of the wood guards that Heritage used to spec. Enjoy.

They are all hand sprayed, so every one is different, depending on the way the painter feels on that day. There's no "template". It's free hand.

Well, you can't hunt deer, turkey, or fight off zombies with a guitar.

This guitar was bought used by a friend about a decade ago from a GC. The neck was not right, but I don't recall why. The action was high, so he got a discount, as I recall. He brought this to Aaron Cowles, a superb luthier from Gibson who did work for Heritage, including tap tuning. The guitar was renecked. This is a standard H-575 but now has a maple neck and an ebony fretboard. There is binding on the headstock and a MOP Heritage inlay. The harness was resoldered due some instability. There now is no serial number on it. It plays very well and has an old style beefy neck. It has a nice tone, too. My friend lent it to me a couple of years ago. I'm about to return it. It weighs 7 lb 10 oz, slightly heavier than other H-575s I've handled, about an extra 5 oz. It's built like a tank. The top is fairly thick but not to any extreme. Before it goes, here are some pics. It is a beauty.

The old H-555s had maple necks. Some were single pieced and some were multiple.

Not everything is an upgrade, sometimes it's just a change.

Beautiful guitar! Here's it's Sister- a 2005 Ultra. Thanks for posting- great read! As you mention, I think Heritage started off using Schaller as Gibson was using Schaller hardware, etc in the late 70's/early 80's. So when Heritage opened, I'm sure it was easy to just stick with things that were already being used. I have never had a problem with Schaller pickups. I know so many do, but they've always worked just fine for me. And at the end of the day, it's all opinion. One person thinks Schallers sound terrible, then the next person has found their dream tone. There really is no "one sound fits all" in the guitar world, and thank God for that!

Blues, You made it! I love that place. I’ve been there a few times. I agree with your analogy of the OG Heritage. They are dedicated to delivering the vintage sound and feel akin to the old guard in Kalamazoo. A small shop with some 8 people cranking out their designs. I think they just got to 4 or 5 amps per week. Everybody comes across as happy at their tasks and very proud of their accomplishments-they should be. Soldano sold to BAD. I used to visit them every so often in Ballard, WA. On my last trip Mike talked about selling the brand and retiring. The end of DeYoung transformers was the last straw. IIRC, there were 5 or 6 employees. They purchased their bare cabs and wrapped them in-house. It always amazed me that so few people could make such a big wave in music. BAD now owns Soldano, Friedman, Egnater and Bogner pedals; probably a few others too. They redesigned the Soldano SLO and GTO pedal but haven’t released any earth shattering devices. For the time, I’m sticking with Metropoulos. With only 4 models released since Covid, he’s captured the sound of the JTM 45, JTM 45-100, 1959 SuperPlex and a now extinct ditty George created with Alice in Chains’ guitarist+vocalist William DuVall that wraps the 45/45-100/SuperPlex into 1 head called the DVL-1. Each model captures the sound in my head and constitutes 95% of play time since we were all ordered to stay home; no problem 😊 We’re lucky to have awesome amps and guitars being produced so close to home!

At $4800, I don't think there needs to be a lot of cost saving. Certainly not the lack of bound f-holes. They could have done a single binding there. That said, I wouldn't leave it sitting in the case just for having them unbound. Something that I've always wondered is if a 3 or 5 piece neck is more stable than one piece mahogany, in terms of twisting or even needing less adjustment.

"And then you get an artist Says he doesn't want to paint at all Takes an empty canvas, hangs it on the wall"

It doesn't matter if they offered it. They would get changed anyway. I have realized that it doesn't matter what the factory uses. If they use SD, they get swapped for Dimarzios. If they use Dimarzio, they get swapped for Lollars, IF an amp company uses JJs, they get swapped for TungSols. If it came with TungSols, then it really needs TADs. If it has a Jensen speaker, it really should have a Celestion. If it has a Celestion, it gets swapped for an Eminence or Warehouse. Heck if it has GHS strings, it really should have D'Addarios or Ernie Balls. Mojotone makes the P90 that Josh had them put in the HOC 137. They sounded pretty darn good. It's a pain in the butt to change pickups in a semi or hollow body, but it can be done with a bit of patience.

I had a friend that used to be the store manager at Willcutt guitars (where I bought 90% of my guitars). Eric gave me killer deal right before he retired. You probably can't get close to the deal I got, but call Willcutt Guitars, ask for Brandon (and tell him John Kuziak from Ohio referred you).

Thanks! This is the first brand new guitar I have bought in a long, long time. It's also the most expensive guitar I have ever owned. I tend to buy used instruments that I am able to audition in person. But this time I took the plunge with the hope that the Heritage factory & the dealer would do it right. I was not disappointed. The set up was perfect right out of the box. Fit & finish is the best I've seen from any manufacturer. The custom shop P90's do everything I need. I'm playing it through a Tone Master Bassman and wow, it just kills it.

I was discussing this elsewhere. Marshall has two manufacturing sites, Milton Keynes and Dong Nai, Viet Nam, near Ho Chi Minh city (old Saigon). Have you got any Marshall amps built in China? I figure they might subcontract some things, but it doesn't appear that they have a full manufacturing site. Marshall was sold to the Swedish Zounds group, and the Altor bought a large share of that. I think the Swedes changed things more, when they started selling headphones, bluetooth speakers and drums. In any case, it's just another equity firm buying and selling a company, not much different from when Ford bought Jaguar, then sold it to Tata of India. They still make the Jaguars in England. HongShan also owns large shares of Byd (EVs) ByteDance (TikTok) Genesis MedTech, Monzo (digital banking) and over a hundred other companies. It seems to be a big difference from what Ming has done building up an empire of music related companies.

Try a Carr Rambler. All the headroom you could want in a 1 x 12 package. Swap the speaker out for a Neo and it carves a fair bit off the already reasonable sub 40# weight. I have a 1 x 12 Victoria Ivy League that is exceptionally light. It uses 6V6 tubes but is still loud as hell prior to breakup. It's not equipped with all the bells and whistles that he Accomplice is, but makes for a great pedal platform if you want to add 'Verb and Trem.

Well, as I understand it, they are woven from old growth Egyptian cotton, with vintage NOS thread and sewed on manual sewing machines with foot treadles. If you wait, I understand that they are going to launch an artisan aged version for $120. The logo is meticulously scratched off and the cloth is hand ripped for that truly worn out look. A better deal is to attend a PSP and you get a nice limited edition shirt for about $20 with a nicely designed logo. I've got a dozen or so. Honestly, I don't know why the are asking $40. Seems high, but an Adidas or Hilfiger shirt runs about $35. Sports team logo T-shirts tend to run $35 to $40. The days of $10 shirts seem to be long gone.

When I ordered my 535 P-90, I told Marv Lamb I wanted the first 535 P-90 and the first Marv Lamb wine-burst finish. Rockabilly wanted it bad so he now has it. I was also told that Marv was the only one that sprayed the Marv wine-burst finish himself.

That is a beautiful top on that H150 - congrats!

beautiful a very nice guitar

I went a different direction. I bought a new gun instead. It really sucks having 2 expensive hobbies...

Get it! As it is already dinged up, you will not have to baby it.

Yeah thanks for taking the time to do that. Great read. Great look. Great googlymoogly!

Ohh....you have impeccable taste, my friend!

I really like the OG inlays and F hole binding. I think they were beautiful looking guitars. Im sure the new ones will be great guitars, I just like the original aesthetics more.

Your builds were stellar, so well thought out and tasty

Awesome! I pulled my 2007 H555 out for a quick comparison In addition to the new larger headstock shape, these new H555's have 5-ply binding around the body (one more than previous models), and 3-ply around the headstock (2 more than before). Interestingly, the f-holes are now unbound. Still, I'm glad to see Heritage bring back its blingy triple nickel semi-hollow. Here's my '07...

I was very happy to see this. I had a custom-order 2015 in faded cherry, which I stupidly sold, and very much miss. It was a great guitar, and I've every confidence the new version will be as good. GAS officially triggered here!

I like all that swirly stuff on the tops. Plantain tops are only good on TV Yellow guitars. However, if you leave them out for a few days, they start to do some self aging.

I like playing my tube amps. I like the sound, I like the smell, and I enjoy interacting with them. They're fun to use. They inspire me. That said, if I were on tour and didn't have the funds to haul & maintain them, a modeller would be a good option. Otherwise why waste my time trying to replicate something I already have? I have better things to do.

That is one of the classiest looking colors I have ever seen on a Heritage 150. I love it!

beautiful, enjoy it 🙂

🤣 I bet it is exceptionally well made though! "Well made amps for well hung guitar players"

A quick post to say hello and ask a couple of questions. I joined this forum in the spring of 2021 but have not been active. In my younger days I owned a foolishly sold 2 H-535's (early to mid 90's) I'm here because I plan on buying an H-530 sometime soon. I currently have a Kalamazoo made Harmony Comet which is a great guitar but I prefer a larger bodied instrument and the Harmony is not that. I plan on selling the Harmony and grabbing a 530. It looks like the H-530 can be found at @ 2k or so on the used market which is where my budget falls. Now for a shopping question: Among the dealer sites I frequent is Dave's Guitar Shop in Wisconsin. I've done a fair amount of business with them over the years and have always been a happy customer. Dave's always has several used 530's, 535's and H-150's of very recent vintage in stock. It makes me wonder how they come to have these. Seems unlikely that there is that much turnover of high quality US made instruments and that one dealer always has a supply of them. I wonder how they get these guitars on a regular basis? Does anyone have any insight? Is Dave's buying stock from other dealers? Are they getting guitars directly from Heritage? I did ask this question directly via email but their answer was vague and not clear. At first I wondered if these recent used guitars were factory 2nd's or something but I don't get the feeling that's the case. Anyhoo, I've always wondered how they get that many nearly mint condition Heritage's. Just for fun I've attached two shots of my Harmony. One with and one without the Duesenburg Les Trem. TIA for any info!

I also approve because there's so many out there, people who have real '59 Les Pauls can gig them & tell everyone it's an aged replica Honestly I don't care if other people buy relic'd guitars

I'm with you Daniel. I think the Gibson guard looks clunky. I don't understand changing it as an "upgrade", or putting on the poker chip for that matter. It might have made sense in 1952, but after 70+ years, you would think players would know what the switch does.

I love the old story about these common men giving Gibson the finger and doing their thing with the old fashioned methods. That ended in 2016. I lived through it and, like all things, it has come to an end. I have my guitars and friends so I am perfectly happy.

Brent bought them all