Leaderboard

My 14 year old grandson has been a studious guitar learner for two years and takes lessons. Some time ago I gave him a G&L to play. Yesterday he spent the day playing a ghost built Gretsch made by Heritage. It has the dimensions of a Super Eagle. He took right to it and played it for hours. He asked a lot of questions about it. He's 5'7" and it fit him well. I'll get the G&L back, which is a cool take on the Fender Jazzmaster, and he'll keep the Gretsch. I also gave him 10 sets of strings. He's at my house frequently. I'll teach him how to scope the interior and do sets up. Normally he's not that enthusiasted about things. This time it was different. He played for a few hours before he said it fits him well, is easy to play, and sounds great.

I have a soft spot for the PSPs at the barn. So many good memories. Lizzy chasing fireflies. The garden shed. The bridge over nowhere-near-troubled waters. Rob's wineburst H-150. Randy's Caddy. Ron and his knee-high tube socks at the factory. The t-shirts, banners, food. Just the general camaraderie. It was a magical time.

The Heritage H150 Production of the H150 started in 1988. The first generation of the H150 (made in 1988 and 1989) had a body design that MIRRORED the Gibson Les Paul standard!!! It was rumored that some of the early H150s were actually built with leftover Gibson bodies from when Gibson left Kalamazoo in 1984, that were bought at the auction, bought by the original Heritage Guitar founders. Heritage was threatened with a lawsuit by Gibson in 1990 and Heritage changed the body design….basically changed the slope of the horn cut. ….and the H150 has basically stayed that way to this day!! It fun to see the evolution of a local company like Heritage, the history and the instruments from that historic building over the years! Pictured is a 1988 H150 (L) and a 2022 H150 Custom core (R). See the differences!!!

Introduction/Explanation; The Gibson Les Paul Standard (and a close second, the Gibson ES-335/345) has always been my favorite/dream guitar. To the LP Standard's looks (the Goldtop and especially the Bursts), and to the tone (deep rich, sustaining, detailed sound) has always suckered me in to it's sirens' call. So even though I have Heritage Aged Cust Core 150, I always wanted to have the best Gibson version of the Les Paul Standard, their 1959 RI. So after just recently acquiring my R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged, I thought I would give an honest & fair comparison of my Aged 150 CC (that I have had for a couple years) to the newly acquired R9. Visual (Looks); Without comparing the "Aging" - TIE Both the R9 and the 150 CC are equally gorgeous. The colors and the wood flames are utterly AMAZING!!! The wood used by both companies is extraordinary! The corresponding headstocks on both guitars look like they only belong to their guitar (I can't imagine the R9 with a Heritage headstock and visa versa). Same with the pickguards, they both seem to "match" the corresponding guitar. I did add a poker chip to the 150CC for person preference, but it looks fine without it. I do prefer the look of Kluson tuners over the 150CC "Grover looking" tuners, again personal preference. I DEFINATELY prefer the look of an ABR-1 tuneamatic, however on both guitars I switched out their bridges to locking Faber ABR-1 bridges. Visual (Looks) The "Aging/Relicing" - R9 win (slightly) I do like/prefer aged guitars. I like the look, the feel, and (in my opinion as well as others) improved guitar tone due to a thinner finish. I like the fact that I don't have to baby a relic'd guitar like I would a new, pristine finished guitar. While shopping for my R9, I wanted the "aging" to be either NOS, Ultra Light, or Light aged (the Heavy and the Ultra Heavy aged finish is way too much for me). So after R9 live-shopping, I can state that the R9 Light Aged (more aging than their Ultra Light) is the same degree of aging as Heritage's Custom Core "Aged". TO ME, the Gibson "aging" (regardless of the level of aging) is more vintage accurate. The Gibson checking is more sporadic, less uniform. The Gibson aging seems to be heavier where a real vintage guitar would be worn more. The Heritage "aging" seems (TO ME) to look slightly more artificial and mass produced (especially on the headstock). Do I regret getting my 150CC in the "aged" version? Absolutely not. I just slightly prefer the more vintage accurate Gibson aging look. Weight - TIE Both guitars are nearly the same weight around 8.4-8.5lbs. The decrease weight of Heritage's CC line is probably the MAIN reason to buy a Cust Core Heritage, a HUGE improvement over the 9.5-11lbs of Heritage's standard line. Factory Setup - TIE A factory setup is usually useless to me, as I know I will set up the guitars to my personal specs. But both factory setups were just fine and playable. Feel - R9 win (slightly) Tim Pierce and a few other professional/session guitarist have raved & sang the praises of their new Heritage CC 150s.... except for.... the shorter frets. I always thought my aged 150 CC felt kind of stiff, regardless of where I set the action. When I read about the shallower frets, then I knew exactly what they describing. The R9 has slightly taller, more comfortable frets. It's not like bass frets verses vintage frets on a Strat, it's definitely more subtle. But I swear that all my other Heritage guitars (and all my other previous 150s) had the slightly taller R9-like frets. SO I feel ever so more confident/comfortable playing the R9. But in a different sense, the 150CC overall feels more vintage, the R9 feels overall "newer". Picking up the 150CC feels like wearing a broken-in pair of jeans, the R9 feels like comfortable dress slacks. I would love to play a 150CC with the slightly taller R9 frets. (Side note; the R9 begs for a slightly longer guitar strap over the shoulder than the 150CC does. I have no idea way this is but playing the R9 with the same strap I use for the 150CC feels like the R9 is too high. Huh?) Neck - TIE The 150CC is very, very close (if not identical) to the R9 (1959 neck) neck shape. So the Heritage 150CC is an accurate 1959 neck carve. Hardware - R9 win (slightly) The R9 was ROCK solid from the store. Both the ABR-1 bridge and the aluminum stoptail on the R9 were super stable. The Gibson Kluson tuners work great. Heritage has improved their hardware in the Cust Core series by adding a locking Pinnacle tunamatic bridge and aluminum stoptail. However, the Cust Core tuners are horrendous, incredibly bad. I know they are laser etched with the Heritage logo, but they slip tuning and just plain break/fall apart. The Heritage tuners are the absolute WORST part of the 150CC, and Heritage needs to improve/change tuners (luckily, Gotoh makes drop-in replacement tuners that are incredibly great and I was even able to get "aged' nickle Gotoh tuners for my 150CC). With all this said, I changed to Faber locking ABR-1 bridges and Faber locking stoptail studs on both guitars (using the supplied aluminum stoptails that came on both guitars). The locking Faber hardware is "set it up and it will never move". This was not a necessary upgrade but a personal preference. (Side note: the holes for the bridge posts and stoptail studs on the 150CC were both drilled at angle instead of straight perpendicular to the top. I could have lived with this error, I suppose, but with the replacement Faber hardware the angle of the posts & studs is not an issue, fixed.) Pots, caps, jacks - TIE Both guitars come with capable components. I do like the repro "bumblebee" caps in the R9 verse the "orange drop" caps in the 150CC (I had a set of repro bumblebee caps so I put them in the 150CC). I am going to replace the volume pots in the R9 because the taper is not very long when tuner the volume pots down (turning down past "8-7.5" and the pickups are almost off). I will get some RS guitarworks volume pot to replace the stock R9 volume pots. I don't remember this being as big an issue when I first got my 150CC, but I switched out 150CC pots to RS guitarworks pots as well. Pickups - TIE Both the 150CC and R9 use A3 humbuckers (A3 magnets for both neck & bridge). I didn't measure but the outputs of the Parson Street pickups or the Gibson CustomBuckers, but they seemed to be the same. I don't really like A3 magnets (especially in the bridge), so I swapped the pickups in both guitars for Throbak pickups ( I love the SLE-101s and ER-Custom sets). A lot has been said about Heritage "wax potting" their Parson Street pickups, but I didn't really hear a difference compared to the unpotted CustomBuckers. They sounded the same to me. Both companies' pickups were very good and it was just personal preference to change both guitars to Throbak pickups. (Side note; There was a more discernable difference in tone when I switched pickups in the R9 than after switching pickups in the 150CC. So I guess the 150CC seemed to keep it's personal sonic character more than compared to the R9's.) Sound/Tone - TIE I was able to compare over 7 different R9s and personally handpicked my Ultra Light R9. I had to buy my 150CC from a dealer that played a few 150CCs through the phone and gave me his description of each guitar. Bottom line, both the R9 & 150CC sound amazing. The R9 has a little more "bloom" after the fundamental note, and the 150CC is more focus & ballsier. The sustain is equally great on both. Cost/Value - 150CC win I think I paid $4200 for my new 150CC Aged and $5700 for the new R9 Murphy Light Aged. The R9 will retain it's resale value more than the 150CC. Bottom line/Summary: I truly love both these guitars equally. Each has it's own personal appeal. Do I need both? Absolutely not, but neither one is leaving me. The R9 is more of European sports car, the 150CC is more American Muscle Car. If forced to own only one, I don't think I could choose. The best value is to buy a 150CC then update/modify it as you see (the tuners have to go for sure), where the R9 is more "nothing needs changed". The R9 will retain more resale value, but you will definitely pay more upfront for a R9 over a 150CC.

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.

Almost forgot the best part... PHOTOS!!! 150 Custom Core Aged

People made fun of the headstock since its inception, but it didn't stop us from enjoying the guitars. Labeling them "Heritage" makes good sense since that's what we called them all along. Fender, Guild, Gibson and Martin don't put "The" on the headstock either. I also like the wider, shorter headstock cosmetically. I don't know what all the yellow is about. Is it supposed to look aged? Another issue is that the string angle is sharper at the nut with the new headstock. The justification for the "snake head" shape was more good nut slippage with string bends and tuning. The last point I'd make is that the older H-150 has a smaller heel than the CC. This may seem minor, but the smaller heel helps high fret access slightly. In summary, which would I rather have depends on the individual instrument.

When I looked at fixing the nut slot, I saw the nut was slightly chipped and should be replaced. So I gave him this H-157 instead. I think this one originally landed in Los Vegas at Heritage dealer who liked Black Backs. Anyway, my grandson really liked the guitar and played a long time until he went back home last night. I'll get the Ultra taken care of. Here's the H-157. She's a looker and pretty light. The small heel is nice, too.

Hope everyone has a great Holiday!

Well, having only owned 5 pre-2017 Heritage guitars, my thoughts are likely only worth about 25% of what Kuz has said. Mine were built in 1996, 2001, 2005, 2006, and 2008. None of my 5 had any significant issues whatsoever. Yes, the oldest one (1996 H535) has a somewhat slimmer neck than the others, but that was how things were done back then. And so what? With the arthritis in my left hand, neck scale length is now far more important to me than thickness. That's why I now have a 24" Ron Kirn Jaguar and my recent Doug Harrison custom build is 24.6". John's absolutely correct: listening to dumbass internet 'experts' about Heritage quality from the old days is a waste of your time.

I will preference this buy saying that I have owned over 20 Heritage guitars and that is more than most on this forum. I only bought one Heritage that was made after 2017 (my 2022 150 Custom Core), the rest were bought before 2017 and earlier. You are getting a lot of good advice here and most is accurate, especially about the specs of older vs new Heritage guitars. BUT if you excluding Heritage guitars made before 2017 based on internet folklore that the new guitar are ALWAY ALL better, than that is a huge mistake. Most internet post on other sites are from those who haven't played older ones or haven't played newer ones to compare. My 2022 Heritage 150 Custom Core had some issues with the tuneamatic posts and stoptail studs drilled at about a 20% off angle from straight perpendicular and the bottom strap button hole drilled about a half inch off center seam. The issues were corrected (except for the bottom strap button placement) with Faber locking hardware. The guitar plays and sound amazing. BUT my point is, that I never had any issues even close to those with the handmade older Heritages Pre-2017. Obviously like any guitar company there will be the occasional rare, lemon produced. My older Heritages were as close to mint-perfect from the factory as any other guitars produced from other companies. The ONLY issue that occasional happened back in the day from the Heritage factory was less than perfect cut nuts ( Heritage intentionally cut the nut high so you could lower it yourself if you wanted to) and even less often was the frets might need buffed. I NEVER had either of these issues on any of my pre-2017 Heritages, but the luthier cost to have these issues fixed is $50-100 and now you have a handmade guitar costing thousands of dollars less than what other companies would have charged. My point is, ANY guitar from ANY company should be judged on a guitar by guitar bases. To dismiss all Heritage guitars made by the the original owners (pre-2017) would be a huge mistake and any misinformation claimed that the newer guitars are ALWAYS better.... well, ask them how many older Heritages verse new Heritages they have owned. Good luck with your purchase!!!

I think "50s" neck is meaningless. It varied at Gibson from 52 to 59. Every one was hand rolled and there were more than one person doing the work. Generally 50s means thicker. 60s SGs had thinner necks than 59 LPs. I certainly haven't played enough old Gibsons to say they are all the same, but the ones I've played varied. As for quality issues, I have 5 Heritage guitars from an 87 to 08. The only thing I have really done as a "repair" was changing the pickups in my H140 (it was used and one of the pickups was really screwed up). I put Sheptones in my 535, but just to try them. They sound different from the stock Schallers. I also changed the pots and caps in my 157 to see if there was any improvement. I can't say it was better. The Vishay Poly caps are good, so I don't think the oil filled caps improved anything. One advantage of the later models is the use of SD59s in place of the Schaller pickups. People used to pull the Schallers and put in new pickups, often SD59s or Seth Lovers. Now they pull the SDs and put in something else. On a Semi, that's a harder task than on a solid body with an access panel for the controls. Some people don't like the Schaller bridge and tailpiece. They change them to ABR or Nashville types, which are usually lighter. My 535 already came that way, so not all have the Schaller hardware. A couple of the Grovers on my 535 were getting tight, so last year, I changed to locking Grovers, and used keystone buttons instead of kidney beans. Strictly a choice. Normal factory is Grovers with kidney beans. They can be replaced in about an hour for under $100 if you want. You can see how they look in this thread.

R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged

Best wishes for 2025.I hope it's a good year for you all.

The first year, as shown above, I did the shirt logo. We also made shirts for the Employees with this logs:

If anyone wants to actually measure, a set of under-string radius gauges is pretty cheap, under $10 from the usual online sources. Or for $0, get a string, a pencil, an exacto blade, a ruler and some poster board, index card or some other sturdy bit of paper. Tie the pencil to the string and a fixed point like a thumbtack at 12 inches, draw an arc on the index card. Repeat for 10, 11, 13. Trim the arc off with the exacto just wider than the width of your fingerboard. Then measure what you got. (how we did it before pre-made guitar tools became commonplace).

That guy from Psionic Audio is a dipshit who seems to ride the high horse with his opinions, while ripping people off constantly!!!! Type "Ripped off by Psionic Audio" into any search engine, and you will see what I mean. He had the balls to say he could improve TopHat amps. In his dreams. Brian Gerhard (Tophat) knows how to build amps period! As for Boogie amps being unreliable, I have owned 4 Boogies and only had one problem in all 4 of them. Yes they stack a bunch of stuff in thier amps, but most of these amps have ton of options so there's not going to be a bunch of room in the chassis. There is a tech named Mike C in Salt Lake City that totally knows his way around Boogies, I had tube go bad in my Fillmore 50 but that ain't the fault of Mesa. He had my amp back to me in less than a day. As for Metropoulos Amps, they are stellar. The guy knows how to build a Marshall better than Marshall.

I stopped playing reso on stage a while ago but I always liked this tone. It's from 14 years ago. The pickup is a Flatbucker. https://youtu.be/JJTOLHiw_Fs?feature=shared

My musical partner in crime Ryan, who plays guitar with me in our band Vorraro gifted me this great Fuzz, check it out… https://on.soundcloud.com/WFeDMaVeSHaYBDgT9

Oups...I didn't pay attention, sorry. above are the photos in JPG, of course ! I meant microphones, you will understand by viewing the pic...

THat's EXACTLY what I want to do, as the song is going to open up a set. 4 clicks of the drum sticks and boom, there it is

It's pretty unthinkable. With the with the devastion in North Carolina and Florida, this just adds up to a bad run of natural disasters. My heart goes out to all of the people that have to go through this suffering.

I have a box full of Schaller pickups, from many different brands of guitars. Schaller manufactured a *wide* variety of humbuckers, everything from low-output PAF style, to high-gain ceramic-magnet meatgrinders. Their PAF clones were really pretty good. Schaller had very good winding equipment in the 80's and 90's, as characteristically, most of their coils exhibit low capacitance, meaning they tend to cut bit less high frequency than comparably wound humbuckers from other makers. I have a Fender Esprit Elite with Schaller's most high-end pickup, also used on the Fender D'Aquisto jazz boxes from the early 80's MIJ "master series" (very nice instruments). Those are dark and highly overwound, but they are quite comparable to the SD '59 neck and JB Bridge combo, though constructed somewhat differently and with coil splitting. Can't really pin Schaller pickups to any one particular sound. They made an enormous variety of pickups, usually to whatever the OEM guitar manufacturer ordered. Schaller wasn't really available in the retail market for the most part. They'd probably still be around had they gotten into that racket. I mostly play blues and rock on the 535 with the HRW's. I find they work really well for that, and I can dial in very good tones with same tube amps I've been playing for decades now. Playing A/B side by side with a Collings I35LC and the Throbak SLE-101 Plus, they really were very similar in the H535 vs the Collings. On the other hand, I find the SD59's that came stock in my H150 to be higher output and darker, with a frequency response peak that sits a little lower in sort of a strident range. to each his own I guess. Changing pickups has become like changing socks these days. In the 1980's, it was kind of an exception to the rule, as pickups weren't quite as readily available on the retail market to players. Dimarzio and Seymour Duncan were kind of the early players in that market.

Who loves this Pic??? Happy Holidays!!

It's funny, because I have all the electronic test equipment to measure pickup performance, from the magnetic field and strength, to the inductance, capacitance and resistance (LCR). I can even make Bode plots of the full frequency response with a signal generator and an exciter coil with my digital oscilloscope. Truth is, humbuckers in the Gibson "PAF" style are far more similar than they are different. What is different, is generally, quite easily measured. Pickup changing has become a thing, as it is pretty easy, and buying stuff is a lot faster gratification than practicing guitar. LOL 🤔

The first two guitars I got, back in my teens, were a Firebird V and then a ES-345. It is likely the Firebird had a fat neck and the 345 a thin one, based on specs I can see these days. I never noticed back then. At 18, I got a late 1920's L-5. That neck was very fat. I noticed that but adjusted. Nowadays I like a medium thin neck best but still have some "59" carved necks on several instruments which I can play equally poorly! The L-5 I got was from a studio musician who played for Chess Records for years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_Records This guy good easily go from that fat neck to my much thinner Howard Roberts without missing a beat- literally. It can be difficult to predict how a neck will feel. There are some with small hands or arthritis who may be handicapped with a fat neck. But they couldn't be as limited as this guy, who managed to do quite well. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ308aOOX04 I understand that guitars mean different things to different people. Many are very finicky, and I get that. Yet I reflect on working with traveling musicians, going state to state. Many, probably most, pianists did not bring their own pianos. Those who did said it was for the tone, not the feel of the keyboard. I played a few woodwinds a decade. I don't recall anyone complaining about the "action". Quite a few virtuoso guitarists can switch from a 24 3/4th" scale to a 25.5", some in the same show. Jimmy Page went back and forth between a double neck and a single neck guitar in the same shows. Most of us spend a good amount of time driving. I'll bet very few swapped out their driver's seats because they were too narrow, fat, stiff or soft. Most things in life we are okay with even if they are not ideal because they simply are a means to an end and they work. It seems to me that often some find that the precise comfort of the guitar is an end or at least one of the ends. I know that we are fussy about guitars. We have hundreds of different types of picks, strings, pickups, amps, pedals, and so much more. There is a risk that the pursuit of perfection spoils the journey. I don't want to be snide to the effetes, but here's some practical advice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0x978oZa3Y&t=39s

Years ago, I saw Keith Richards and Ron Wood play together in Salt Lake City with the New Barbarians. They were both playing Mesa IIC amps and they sounded great. I was right up front so I could hear those amps really good!

I have a Mesa KingSnake which is also supposed to be simple but there is simple and then there's Mesa simple. I think it weighs about 85 lbs. I can't move it anywhere, ha. Good times.

MIne is .88 at 1st and 1.03 at 12th. Bolero, the trick is to have a small piece of wood or plastic that is thicker than the strings, and fits between the and stringsfrets. Measure that, and subtract from the total. I have a small piece of wood that is 2.1mm. So I measure 24.40mm and get 22.30 which is 0.878 inches for the neck. For me, shape is as important, or more, than the total thickness.

Good advice from TR above I'll add I had a 90s 535 & sold it because the neck was too slim for me. I replaced it with a 2013 or 2015 H-535 & it is the bomb!! Amazing gtr, nice beefy neck but not a baseball bat. I also put Wolfetone Legend pickups in Gratuitous pic And a shoutout to Bill Paige: it never had a pickguard installed; one year at the factory I asked if I could buy one, he walked back into the shop retreived one & gave it to me. So thank you Bill!

All earlier 535s don't necessarily have thin necks. First, since they were all hand carved, there was some variation in the necks. They had templates to check as they were working the neck, but they would vary. My 535 neck (2005) is rounder and beefier than my 03 H157 or 87 H-140. There's a slight difference in shape as well. Second, different people did the carving. Marv could be different from Arnie. The guitars from the past few years have tended to be on the thicker side, but you'll still see a bit of variation between individual instruments. If you have the opportunity to play the guitar first, I would highly advise that. Some people are very picky about the feel, others can play varying thicknesses, but shape makes a difference. My Strat has a VERY thick neck, my 140 is relatively thin. Both are comfortable. I've played several PRS guitars and I hated the shape. They hit my thumb in a manner that was actually painful in a short time. I have a dislike of wide/flat necks. Hardware can be changed if you want, but the neck and body are pretty much set in stone.... er... wood.

Yes, he was the MAN on the Custom Core models before he passed. RIP

Interesting comparison and great review. I know exactly where you're coming from. I've got a 1998 Heritage H150 and a 2020 Gibson Custom Shop 60th Anniversary 1960 v2 Tomato Soup Burst. (can you possibly make the name of that any longer?) The 1960 v2 neck is slightly thinner than the '59 profile, but not razor thin as the v3 1960 and later necks. Turns out, Gibson made 3 versions of the real burst in 1960, v1 which is exactly the same as the '59, the v2 which had improved color stability, only-slightly thinner neck profile and double-ring Kluson tuners. The custom 60th is lightly aged, one-piece mahogany body. Mine is a stunningly light 8.1lbs. Pickups are unpotted Custombucker-3 with alnico 3 magnets. I got a deal on the 1960v2 re-issue (brand new) and it is truly, great. I picked it up and it had that "beefy telecaster sound" instantly. The slight aging (not Murphy Lab, just Custom Shop) gives it a played in look without being "relic'd". My 1998 H150 was a special dealer run (I bought used from the dealer who originally sold it), originally made with SD59 p'ups and standard tune-o-matic tail (heavy zinc) and Nashville bridge, and jumbo fretwire (Dunlop 6100 profile). This one originally weighed in a little over 9lbs. The neck is maybe a hair thinner than the 1960v2, but I liked the R0-v2 because the neck was so familiar since I was playing the H150 since about 2001. The "aging" on my H150 is 100% authentic played-the-heck-out-it-lab. (LOL). The H150, I put on a diet, with Gotoh locking SG301 tuners with plastic keystone knobs, replacing the very heavy Grover Rotomatics, and it is now wearing Faber locking bridge, aluminum tail and the Faber bridge post inserts and tail bushings. It's about 8.8lbs now. Much nicer to live with as I get older. I'm just not gonna mess with the Les Paul at all. Just perfect the way it is. Thought I was going to sell the H150 when I got the Gibson. But after putting the lighter hardware on, it seems a lot more comfortable and practical to take out to play. So much for catch-and-release guitar collecting.

I like the look of ya H150CC better !!

It is recent and on the custom core models only, the standard models have the original size head stock.

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.

My 1998 H150 was fretted with Dunlop 6100 (measured with a micrometer), or some equivalent since Jescar and some others make the same size fret wire. It has always played very, very well and it had that resonance acoustically when I first picked it up at the Marin County guitar show 20+ years ago. I bought it on the spot from Buffalo Brothers, who at the time were a big Heritage shop. They said it was a special order run they had made with standard tail piece and SD59, the jumbo frets and no nibs. The original owner had traded it in for something else. I've not really done much other than play it most of that time. It was always a little dark, but when I had to change the output jack, I found they had also used the late-70's era Gibson pot values of 300k volume and 100k tone. I just re-did it all since I was doing the jack. (those enclosed barrel jacks tend to fail). I recently put it on a diet, put on Gotoh SG301 locking tuners in place of the Rotomatics (perfect drop-in fit) and half the weight, which took almost a 1/4-pound off the weight of the guitar! Those Grovers are heavy. Also put on locking Faber aluminum tail and bridge with the inserts. It's now down from a little over 9lbs to about 8-3/4 lbs, which is a lot more pleasant and balanced. Locking tuners and hardware make string changing so easy. I figured the 6100 fret wire would be good on the H535, they feel great and leveling the fretboard was the key. I didn't have to do much to level the frets after installation. I was stunned at how much better it sounded when I installed the longer Faber bushings for the tail and the bridge. They just really made an enormous sound difference in the 535. I think it just coupled the vibrations well into the maple center block, where the original Schaller bushings were much shorter, making little contact with the core. The bushings had little effect on the H150, as the ones that were there were pretty good actually, longer and securely pressed in. I'd recommend the 6100 wire. It's the biggest and smoothest that doesn't feel weird. I have another guitar with the even bigger super-jumbo Dunlop 6000 wire and it feels "train-tracky" to me.

I have another grandson who plays and takes lessons. I'm showing him how to correct an overcut nut with crazy glue and baking soda today. It's on a H-150 Ultra. Years ago I pulled the HRWs and replaced the bridge and tailpiece. Here are some before and after pics. Once we get it restrung and setup, he keeps it. I want to see him do the work first. He will. He doesn't know yet he can keep it.

Merry Christmas to All in the Heritage orbit!

In truth, The Heritage built some wonderful guitars and they built some goofs. Many years ago, I got a 1998 H150, that was just a few years old. It was from a special dealer order, with regular tune-o-matic tail and Nashville bridge and SD59, jumbo frets without nibs. It was on the lighter weight range too. As soon as I strummed it, knew it was right. Have owned that one over twenty years now. Last year I came upon a gorgeous H535 from 2001, in virtually unplayed condition, with HRW pickups and beautiful figured maple, natural blonde. It had, “the sound” that a great semi-hollow is supposed to have. If you’ve gone through a bunch of 335 style guitars, you know can be all over the place tone-wise. But I discovered why it had been played so little, because the factory fretwork and fingerboard was utter poo. After careful measurements I could tell it had a heroic attempt or two at leveling the frets. But ultimately the fretboard needed to be leveled to correct it. Still had the nibs, so it left the factory this way. A notched straightedge revealed the fingerboard was a total roller coaster of high and low spots. Tried everything I could think of first, but ended up pulling the frets and properly leveled the fingerboard, then fretted it with Dunlop 6100. Plays fantastic now. Total keeper. So the old-era Heritage wasn’t immune to screwing up, just like the prior occupants of 225 Parsons. They also made some great gems as well.

Happy Christmas to all from the U.K.

These do belong to one person, and Skydog is right, since the time of this picture he actually does have more. Mind blowing collection, including two Basses, many 150's 160's. he told me I could post this for fun.

Not sure of the date but it looks so much like yours.

Brent bought them all

Thanks! As for playing resonators, the big thing about them is that they are loud and that could me intimidating at first! And the break angle at the bridge makes them feel much different than acoustic guitars. I find them harder to flatpick, but I love playing them fingerstyle like in this video! Yes that's a "Dual Caliber" DC2 Boogie and a Fulltone Fulldrive II Mosfet. That's for the dirty side of the signal. There's also an RE-20 Boss Space Echo in there too! And the reso also has a mic on it for the acoustic tone. Thanks, and yes that metal guitar, amplifier, and suitcase have bounced around in the back of car for many gigs! As for the Boogie, I've had it about 20 years and not one blip. That amp is ridiculously relaible. It still gets used in the rehearsal room at some decent volume most every Monday night. I did change the speaker to my favorite though, a Weber 12A125A, which is my favorite all time speaker. I have one in my Princeton Reverb, Tophat Club Deluxe, Clark Beaufort, and this Boogie! In a few days I'm going to try one in my Vox AC15HW1.

You know what gets me? The biggest they go is 2xl. I need a 3xl. I know I'm not the only fat guy out there that would like to rock one of these...

I have a 97’ 535 amd it has a thin neck, and I absolutely love it. alot easier on my arthritic hand as I get older.

Bolero's looks very much like mine, which is a 2005. This has the Sheptone Tribute pickups, otherwise it's stock.

Funny I'm an unabashed Gibson fan, but I've always preferred the Heritage H150 pickguard. I love the way it follows the body lines...

I’m pretty sure Brent sold me the very first one! What was he thinking?