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Who loves this Pic??? Happy Holidays!!

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.

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.

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.

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

Back around 2010 Joe and I went to Nashville to visit the Gibson Store. As Heritage owners are want to do, we took photos of us outside of the store with our Heritages. Good times.

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.

They are brothers but not identical quads. Each has a different quality. The far left is one is a 1991, one of the earliest. It has a 12 pole pickup installed on a second pickguard Heritage made. It's 17" across and 3" deep. It weighs 5# 9 oz. It's in a natural finish. Next to it is a 1992 rose natural with an 18" body and 3" depth. It is 6# 11 oz. It has a Floating #3. The next one is a green burst 17" by 3" weighing 5# 14 oz with a Floating #3. This came from 1996. Lastly, the antique natural is 6# 12 oz and also was made in 1996. It has a stock pickup. Its measurements are 18" by 3.25". I don't know how many HJSs were made. Over the years I had a few others. I'm guessing there were a few hundred made, but I don't know. I doubt Heritage has records. Maybe. There's an irony about this model. Johnny left Gibson because he was concerned about quality and consistency. He knew JP Moats from the Gibson building days and worked toward the design specs on the HJS. Johnny specifically wanted a custom finish they called rose natural to be an option along with the usual natural on his guitars. The first ones came out in 1989. It didn't take long for variants to emerge. This eventually led to Johnny leaving Heritage and eventually joining Guild. By 1996, Heritage built HJS with bodies ranging from 16-18" and various other finishes. The 16" guitars were not labeled HJS, but they were the same sort of build without inlays. I believe the quality remained high, and the Heritage workers confirmed that they treated HJS with special care. But the build specs were what was ordered, not necessarily what Johnny wanted. I have a couple of Heritage ghost-built Gretsch Synchromatics built around the same time period, the early 1990s. It should be no surprise that their weight and dimensions are almost identical to the 18" HJS. The second pic shows how they line up. The main difference besides cosmetics is the nut is 1 3/4" on the HJS. That's all I got for today.

Here is my HJS acoustically played in smokes and sounds great.

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.

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.

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

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.

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!!🙂

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

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!!!

We visit this topic from time to time, but it is always a joy. One of my favorite finishes is the chestnut sunburst. One nice feature is that the color difference between maple and mahogany isn't stark. Here are two older instruments. Note how the artists spraying them went for a slightly different result.

I really like the look of the Millie and the build concept. My favorite in appearance is the Eagle 2000. The easiest to get high access on is the DC. I don't think they sound different in general, but individual instruments may well vary. In route is a DC. It's blue. There are a few notable features. The hardware is chrome, probably because the finish is blue. The neck is maple. It's a 2004. It came with HRWs, but the seller swapped out for Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge and APH-1n Alnico II Pro in the neck. I found HRWs in my previous Millies and solidbodies to be too harsh and shrill. They work well in hollowbodies. The seller was kind enough to include the strap components of the straplocks, a new set of strings, and the HRWs. He's a real gent. I'm tempted to change out the bridge and tailpiece. I'll hunt to see if I have the parts already. That's not essential for me. I've had experience with Heritage's blue guitars. They go greenish over the years with yellowing of the lacquer. This one's 20 years old and looks deep blue still.

You knew this was coming, I was busy and couldn't post this until today. I believe this was the last Millie made by Heritage (January 2019). It just had the full Spa treatment at "The Music Gallery" from George. 1 replacement tuner (B string), new strings, polished frets and intonated. They also weighed it for the first time and it was 5.7lbs. I meet the guy that created the pickup at this years PSP and he got to see the completed guitar.

I took a photo in 2010, the day after I received my Marvbird, at a railroad museum across the road where Marv grew up. This guitar is really a collector's piece. I was afraid to play it. It totally ate my guts up to let other people play it. One wrong move or act of dumbassery and this guitar would have been rendered useless. I have never had a regretful thought about selling it. I also can't stand to let people play my 535 because it has a Bigsby on it. People tend to try and wear out the Bigsby instead of appreciating the guitar.

One of the few guitars that I regret selling was a very limited run Ibanez AR3000 reissue. Man, what a wonderful guitar!

It seems like forever since I have made an entry in my blog about the story of my playing in a band, maybe all the lockdown had a lot to do with that. After Lockdown, we started trying to gig again but the market for bands had really slowed down and many of the social clubs we were playing were no longer booking bands. Bars and pubs were booking less also, as they were building their trade up after Lockdown. We were playing several gigs, but something was just not sitting right with me. We had lost our drummer to a serious stroke, although we had already decided to replace him as we were fed up of his forcing his political viewpoint on us all, in that there was no discussion and if he didn't like your opinion, he took offense. We got a fabulous new drummer after some long auditions, but that didn't work out personality wise. Eventually we settled on a guy in his late sixties who had a wife a fair bit younger than him, which has some relevance. The point being that wives were always welcome at gigs but any wife interfering in band business was considered very bad form and well out of order. It had caused extreme trouble previously. But back to the main plot. I had for some while feeling that I wasn't really doing what I wanted to be doing by being in the band, I had a vision for it that was successful when that vision was followed, but others were not sharing the vision that I had set the band up with along with my bass playing friend when we decided to give it a go. Because that vision was not being followed, it was getting harder. I'd taken on the role of lead vocals and I know the songs I can sing and can't sing - for example, I can really do well on singing Rolling Stones songs. And, because the vision was harder for me to fulfill, I was losing interest. On top of that, it was down to me to find gigs, no one else made any effort. Put all this together with the effort to rehearse, play gigs, lose weekends with my family because of gigs and all the effort involved, slowly buy surely, and with accelerating speed, I was losing all desire to be in the band, and just over a week ago, the day before a gig, I decided I'd come to the end of the road. I played the gig, wasn't happy in doing so, and then the new drummers wife told the rest of the band and their wives that she'd been told I was seen playing at venue during the week with another band - a total untruth. Shaun, our bass player, is not just a friend, he's my brother from a different mother and we have a deep brotherly love, we know each others extended family and we used to hang around as kids, stopping over at each others homes. The relationship is close. Anyway, Shaun's wife, Debbie, is a lovely woman who understands how things are, and she tactfully told me what had been said, which didn't make me angry, but just made me even more sure that I'd come to the wright decision. I didn't tell anyone that night because I didn't want to cause any upset, or have people try and tell me I was just being silly. And of course, I wanted one more night to sleep on it. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I knew the decision was right for me, and prior to going out to church, I sent an e mail to the guys in the band explaining how I felt and why I had come to my decision. The decision was made because my priorities have shifted. I'm now 62, have six grandchildren who live quite a distance from me and I want my weekends free to spend time with them. I want to spend Saturday nights with my wife Helen, we have busy days and after doing all the Saturday jobs round the house, I want to sit down with her and enjoy our time together. Going out for a day is also something we want to do and not worry about what time we need to be back for. The bottom line of why I've decided to put the band down can be condensed into one word, and that word is "family" Shaun, my partner in the band, has taken it really well, hes been very supportive and I hope they carry on with a new singer and guitar player, they are good musicians and the band has a good name. But for me, it's time to call it a day with bands. The highs have been great and the lows terrible, but that is life in a band for you. For now, I'm gig to sit back and enjoy others playing, and sitting at home enjoying my guitars and maybe, just maybe, I might get that PRS custom I've always wanted. Thanks for reading - Mark.

Oops. I can count. There are four. I started the thread and then recalled i had a fourth in storage. I forgot to change the title. My go-to guitar is a H-535 these days, but I was raised on jazz boxes.

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.

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.

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