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I don't have much to say about this. A friend of mine bought another Heritage Johnny Smith, one that was Jay Wolfe's personal one I got years ago but traded to BigMike. As many may know, BigMike sold his 70 guitars to a music store in Chicago. Two Heritage JSs were part of the collection. My friend drove there and bought one but told me the other one sounded and played equally well but didn't have a rose on the pickguard. I called the store in Chicago and asked about the remaining HJS. I was able to make a purchase. Most of BigMike's instruments are not yet posted on Reverb. If you can buy an instrument now, you can save all the Reverb fees and negotiate a price. The trick is to know what they have that they haven't listed. I don't know what they are except a bunch of Gibsons. Here's the HJS hanging on the wall. It has a Heritage pickguard with Schatten volume and tone controls and a Kent Armstrong pickup. As best I can tell, that's how Heritage made it. We'll see.

I took a chance on one just out of curiosity. Not bad. Even has a belly cut. Obviously cheap hardware but I have to say it sounds pretty good. Set up was good. Intonation good. We'll see how long the parts hold up.

I don't think there would be a HOC if Heritage began the way they are now. They started with a group of skilled artisans flipping of the establishment and hand building in the day when machines were replacing humans and the American worker was devalued. It was easy to rally around them. And the Heritage owners were interesting characters with personality. You could order a guitar with a certain neck carve, different harware, and lots of finishes at a pretty reasonable price. They definitely were the underdogs. Now, they are more precise in their builds, more parsimonius in their offerings, and less personal. There is good with their progress and efficiencies, but they are no longer the underdogs fighting the system and making a variety of customizations at a low price. I recall that buyers sometimes were there when Marv carved necks. He would hand the neck of for inspection and the buyer may say something like make it a little flatter. I am a Heritage fan, but it's more corporate. There's no getting around it. I know there's a Gibson forum, but it's about the instruments, not the builders and the facility. I have a friend who designs Heritages. He's a great luthier and very smart. Heritage is lucky to have him. What I'll miss are things like Heritage closing for deer season opening day, dropping by and walking through the factory, and the little soap operas that somehow escape the plant. All the quirkiness and dramas that gave Heritage flavor will eventually be smoothed out.

Bingo! What drew me to Heritage was the old school mindset of making great American products. At the 2016 PSP I told MM that the brand was dead. I felt that the new owners were blowing smoke up our asses. Now we are getting cheap guitars being built over seas. Here is your proof. Now when I tell people I own Heritage guitars I will have to explain that mine were made by the original people of Kalamazoo. This cheapens the brand, it cheapens the name and it cheapens, "The Heritage."

The PRS SE line hasn't diminished the brand, nor has G&L's Tribute line (they are actually pretty good). Ibanez has the G10 line, Jackson had the Dinky line, Fender has Squire. These aren't guitars that an intermediate or pro level player will be buying. However, for someone starting out, it could be a great starter guitar. I'll bet it beats the crap out of the Silvertone I started with, or the Kent/Guyatone Videocaster that replaced it.

While I'm not interested in purchasing an off-shore, bargain basement Heritage, these low-priced imports will help spread the Heritage name to a much wider audience.

I met a guy in Marshall Michigan last night to do a trade deal. Nice guy. Had a nice talk and I ended up coming home with this beautiful 2011 Heritage H150!! One piece mahogany body and neck Beautiful carved flame maple top Dark streaky bound rosewood board Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers Tonepros locking bridge and tailpiece Grover tuners Heritage HSC It was 100% factory stock. The only changes I made, was to add a toggle poker chip and a Gibson style truss rod cover. This 150 weighs a frog hair over 9 lbs. The neck is a perfect 59 carve. It’s sooooo comfortable. The Seth’s sound absolutely amazing!!! Beautiful woods, great craftsmanship, killer tone and that 225 Parsons Street Mojo!!! What’s not to love???

Arrived in good shape. All is well. A 1991 at 5# 8 oz. The Kent Armstrong pickup seems hotter and fuller than the more acoustic sounding Floating #3. Nothing to not like.

Two brothers own two stores. They are very easy to deal with. I called the Illinois store because most of the guitars are there.

Very nice, I don't see many with that finish? Congrats!!

Wow! That's a stunner! Enjoy!

Sweet!

Congratulations, Brent. That's a beauty, and it came from the factory with Seths.

Actually, I think it just runs down the brand. Nothing wrong with buying a budget guitar made overseas. But some things should be true to the name, and I can't think of a brand that actually means true, than "The Heritage",.