Leaderboard

111518, I see you have the red Heritage Leon Rhodes. I have the blue one. I think there were only five built. I changed out the white pick guard and now have a black pearl on it. It is one of my faves but I don't have a lot of call for it as my H-170 and 162 seem to go with the music I am hired to play lately. My all time favorite Heritage model is the H-170....or at least mine. I don't know why as I have fancier Heritage's, but this particular guitar is just the perfect balance of tone, feel and soulfulness.

535. Versatility to die for.

These threads come up every once in a while. I love them because I start going through all my models and fall in love with all over again.

I guess my fondness for Heritage has always been in part that they are a bit off the beaten path, and, since that was part of the appeal, seems logical so many of mine were one-offs or someone's custom orders. I guess my favorite model is a custom order... First was a 550, bought used, but with a "custom" truss rod cover and with gold hardware and grover imperials and harptone case. Second was my 535, custom-ordered from Wolfe based on his custom configuration of the time (bound headstock, sperzels, more Gibson-like but still wood pickguard, antiquities) but with an ebony board. (I wanted, but didn't get, a real black to yellow burst. Oh well...) Third was an Eagle Classic, but with split blocks (ala the Super 400 I once owned) and a floating pickup. Fourth was a 140 (or maybe 147?), but with classic LP-shaped body, traps, ebony board, and bound headstock* Fifth and Six (came on the same day) were my employee-one-off Eagle, with spruce top and ebony board with no markers and bound golden-eagle inlay headstock, and Leon Rhodes prototype mahog tele style with set neck. These are all in my estimation custom versions of great models. 550 is pretty unique with veneer construction and plate, so feedback resistant. Eagle Classic is a little thinner than classic Gibson 17" carved guitars, and therefore more manageable for me at 5'7". Eagle with mahogany back has a little different sound I think that maple-backed guitars. Leon Rhodes is unique combination of features --still a project since I want to reconfigure the pickups. 535 is a little smaller and thinner than a 335, but the real advantage to me was that I could custom order one with dots on ebony, which I could never have afforded from Gibson. *Here's the funny thing. I don't think I've played a LP-style guitar in public but once I remember in 40 years. I've always played semi's, or, a semi + a strat or a tele, or, for a run of years now, the Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion, which works well for me as a one-guitar gig instrument. But, I've probably had the Heritage custom 140/147 in my hands as much or more than any instrument I own. My wife has developed a real sensitivity to sound, and so practicing at home has involved compromise. I get a couple of hours a day of loud, and, then for the rest of the time that we're awake, she gets to not hear me practice. Even a semi is loud enough to be a significant distraction for her. Especially since I've taken up saxophone, that, or an acoustic, usually gets my two hours of loud. My other guitar time is usually spent on the 140/147, playing through headphones. It's the perfect guitar for that, esp. lounging on the couch -- not too big, not too heavy, but feels like a classic-era Gibson, which is still my home base.