Leaderboard

Stumbled across this video: great playing & a beauty new custom core H535 from Kalamazoo

When I was a kid I worked for the Kalamazoo County Fair. Aside from all the manual work of putting up huge tents and taking them down, I worked the stage area. I assisted Jerry Reid and Bobby Vinton. I was with them immediately before the show around their dressing rooms, on stage to hand them instruments, and to escort them off stage. Honestly, I didn't care for their styles of music. But both were very nice to me. And both were amazing musicians. Bobby Vinton sang wonderfully, played some great piano, and then played the clarinet, the sax, and the trumpet. He did all of this effortlessly. Jerry was an amazing showman and incredible guitarist, particularly speedy. What I learned as an 18 year old was that these guys worked hard and made it look easy and enjoyable to them. They brought joy to audiences every day despite the drudgery of life on the road doing the same gig to a smallish crowd of yahoos. Bobby Vinton was particularly nice to me and asked me about myself in the 15 minutes we sat in a room together. I remain impressed with both of them.

Warm beer and cold women!

Late to the party here, but I recently purchased a 2022 CC H150, and I've tried doing a similar mod as well. I also started with Kuz's idea of using the Faber Tone-Lock bridge while using the existing Pinnacle thumbwheels and lock nuts, and I also beveled out a bit of the metal from the underside of the bridge so that the Faber bridge would sit as it should on the Pinnacle thumbwheels (photo below). Everything seemed to fit perfectly well but, for whatever reason, the change seemed to deaden the tone of the guitar a bit while also losing sustain. Whether it was just a dead-sounding bridge or if the connection went awry in some way or another, I don't really know. With that being said, I decided to try another approach after determining that these CC bridge posts are actually an 8-32 thread pitch as opposed to the standard 6-32 thread that Gibson and older Heritages have typically used. I then proceeded to have a machinist friend enlarge the holes on some thumbwheels I had on hand to the 8-32 thread pitch so that I could put a Faber ABRN bridge on it. Since the post diameter of the 8-32 posts measures out to about 4.2mm, I became a little concerned as to whether or not the ABRN bridge would actually fit, but it fit perfectly! Granted, it was just a tiny bit tight, but I certainly didn't feel any need to force it on. If anything, it helped to make this system a little more solid. But, in my honest opinion, this system is pretty clean and is now working flawlessly, and once I tested the guitar again, all of the tone and sustain I had previously lost with the Tone-Lock system came back and then some! Needless to say, I'm quite happy with it! I also just happened to have a set of Faber's locking tailpiece studs on hand, so that became a part of this mod as well. I might also add that while it's entirely possible to simply turn the Pinnacle thumbwheels upside down if one is looking to place an ABRN on the thumbwheel's flat side, I also became a bit concerned about the center protrusion on those thumbwheels hitting the body of the guitar if the bridge height needed to be set too low. Of course, using a pair of standard thumbwheels with the holes enlarged solves that problem.

The guy is a monster player, and if this video doesn't sell some Heritage guitars, I don't know what will! At first he had too bright of a tone, but you can see/hear that he dialed it in pretty quick. Those Fishman pickups definitely have something going on. And at 15:05 he started to burn. The guy is truly a freak of nature guitarist.

Well, to be honest, I use a small hand truck to get my amp from the car to the stage and back - same within my house to the car - so the only lifting I really need to do is to heave it in and out of my car and perhaps occasionally on an amp stand or on to the stage itself. Thankfully, the lifting is so minimal that it doesn't bother me much. If I know that I'll need to haul an amp up and down a full flight of stairs, though, I'll definitely choose a lighter amp. My primary amp is a Two-Rock TS1 combo, and even though it's a 100-watt beast of sorts, between the loop and the master volume control, I can dial it in for the kind of tone I like at any stage volume without having any issues. I'd be the first to say that I'd go for a modeling amp or a much lighter tube amp if I could produce the same kind of vibe that the TS1 puts out, but since I have yet to find anything that'll do that, I just tolerate the weight. Funny, but since the TS1 1x12 combo is still relatively small in size, the other guys in the band think I'm just using a small amp. Little do they know that I could run that same amp at the Madison Square Garden and get away with it.......LOL.

I wouldn’t dare lift 60lbs. Good for you for still being able to do it! Up until recently i was going with head/cab just to split up the weight. Around 40 lbs each. I’m very happy to have found a single combo package under 35lbs. Plenty loud for the venues i play at 35 watts.

Yep- I’ll be 65 this year and have a bad back. Still lugging a tube amp. Really glad I finally found a reasonably ‘light’ one that I like at sub 35lbs.

I just turned 71, and I'm going out with my tube amps! For whatever reason I have absolutely no interest in buying a modeling amp.

Ahhh cold beer. One of the benefits of being the piano player is a good place to put your beer.

Yep - i dont get the name either except the “Extra Spanky”. It is indeed very spanky, kind of like a deluxe reverb, Speaker - WGS ET-65 12″ Speaker (8 Ohms) I didnt expect to like it, but after some break-in, it is great. plenty clean, not as midrangy as i thought. sweet high end.

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.

R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged

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