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Yeah and once they cleaned the shop floor up, all that dust & clutter that had been laying around since the 50s was gone too! Haha, no more dusty mojo... I'll take the skills of someone who can tap tune & build a big hollowbody jazz guitar over a solid chunk of wood with a neck glued on, anyday. I think it's ludicrous how much 50s Les Paul's are worshipped, and priced, compared to the much more demanding & involved build of a hollowbody jazz gtr.

That's one reason I liked the old wooden pickguards. I prefer the Heritage shape, and dislike the clunky plastic. Screw "vintage". I would probably change the pickup rings before the guard if I was worried about the color..

Yeah, when I was first started fooling around with swapping the bridge, it looked as though the protruded portion of the Pinnacle thumbwheels being on the underside would come very close to hitting the body. However, once I put the ABRN bridge on with the altered 8-32 thumbwheels, it became apparent that I would've had enough room to use the Pinnacles. By that time I had already had a few thumbwheel holes enlarged, so I stuck with them. Also, while I gave the locking Faber bridge a try, for whatever reason my guitar just lost a little something, mostly just a slight loss in sustain. Everything looked good and tight and felt solid but, once I put the ABRN on, it resolved that issue. I'll have to try the locking bridge again at some point in time. I do have the feeling that some guitarists will evenutally run into some issues with the 8-32 posts, though, for I'm not aware of any other guitar maker that uses them. On the other hand, I would think that the larger post size would also add some strength to the system, so perhaps that might be a good thing? Regarding the 8-32 thumbwheels, I had a longtime machinist friend enlarge the holes free of charge but, if push comes to shove, with the 8-32 thread count that matches the 6-32, it's a relatively easy job for any pro machinist to enlarge it to an 8-32. It's a bit of a hassle for sure, but doable. Thanks for the kind comment on the burst finish! I just had to grab it when it popped up for sale a couple of weeks ago, and I'm loving this guitar! The bonus is that it's a pretty sweet-sounding instrument, too! Regarding the quality aspects of the Faber ABRN vs the Heritage bridge, at first glance I think I have to favor the Faber. It just looks a little more polished and refined. But, the Heritage bridge is clearly a faithful design of an ABR-1. While I don't know what kind of alloy it's built from, I instantly noticed that it's heavier than the existing Pinnacle bridge. I'm thinking that it's probably a zinc/aluminum mix of some kind, but I wouldn't know. The string saddle slots will also need some attention since they're only slotted for the placement of the string and not to the actual gauge of the string. Since I only took the time to see if the Heritage bridge fit okay, at the moment I'm not able to provide any kind of a tone comparison between the two. All in all, though, it seems that the Heritage bridge will certainly do an adequate job! One thing that you'll notice is that the Heritage bridge will slip over the 8-32 posts quite easily with just a tiny bit of play. Conversely, since the Faber ABRN has a hole diameter size of 4.2mm, which just happens to be the same nominal diameter of the 8-32 posts according to my digital calipers, you'll find that the Faber bridge will feel just a bit tighter upon slipping it over the posts. I certainly didn't have to force it down, by any means, and while it did align perfectly, it will be just a tiny bit tighter. I personally like it that way simply because it seems to make the system a little more solid. But, as they say, YMMV. And oh......one more note......when I first installed the ABRN bridge, I noticed that the posts were actually turning just a bit while putting the thumbwheels on, so I took two thumbwheels to tighten the posts down so that they'd bottom out into the post hole. This brought the posts down on each side by about 1/8", so while it may not be necessary to do this, the posts won't sit quite as high as they previously did. On the other hand, I just felt that it couldn't hurt to make as much contact with the post and body as much as possible, so that's what I did. The G-pickguard was just a part that I had on hand from owning Les Pauls previously, so I decided to see if it would fit. I found that the screw hole near the neck pickup was about 1/16" off, so I just filed a bit of an extension of that hole to fit the existing hole in the body. If you zoom into the photo, it is visible, but not enough for me to worry about it. I also found that the mounting bracket was as a slight angle, too, so I just put a felt washer along the binding side so that the mount wouldn't dent the body. If I ever do another one, though, I think I'll try to find a pickguard with no holes so that I can drill my own. If I'm not mistaken, I think WD has them. Anyway, I hope that helps, and thanks for asking!

Wasn’t it @rjsanders who exclaimed “boutique amps for boutique guitars”? If there are no tubes, I have no time. There is so much more buried in a tube amp’s sound.

ps the original owners were masters of building big hollowbodies, those were really Heritage's flagships IMO

I think the serial number starts with O. But it suffered a tragic headstock break and Marv made me a new one. It’s a 5 piece maple neck with an eagle size headstock. Funny story when I got it back I asked who I should make the check out to and Marv said in his dead tone voice “Marv Lamb”. If memory serves me it was $400.00. photo by Ron Warren

I'm not sure if anyone has posted this yet or if this news is still relatively unknown, but upon speaking with Mike at Heritage the other day, he informed me that the new 2025 Custom Core H150 and other CC models will receive a new ABR-style bridge as well as the standard flat thumbwheels. In other words, the Pinnacle system is getting replaced. My conversation with Mike began when I inquired about finding some standard thumbwheels with an 8-32 thread pitch, for I was hoping to install a Faber ABRN bridge while using the existing bridge posts that share the same 8-32 thread pitch. I also became concerned about flipping the Pinnicle thumbwheels over to use the flat side, for I felt that the centered protrusion being on the underside could potentially hit the top of the body if the action was set low. For the life of me, though, I could not find any thumbwheels other than a 6-32 thread or M4 metric, so not only did I have a machinist friend enlarge the holes to 8-32 on some thumbwheels I had laying around, I also went ahead and ordered the new bridge upgrade from Mike. Well, the parts arrived today, and the bridge and thumbwheels mount perfectly on the H150 bridge posts without any modifications whatsoever. I'm not sure who's building these bridges for Heritage, but it seems to be well-built and pretty solid: Just for reference sake, I am keeping the Faber bridge and the modified thumbwheels on the H150 for now, simply because I'm loving the way it sounds with this system. Still, as long as one obtains a set of thumbwheels with the 8-32 thread pitch, it's entirely possible to use a Faber ABRN or to upgrade to the new Heritage system without any installation issues. Of course, it's getting away from the lockable version, but I tend to prefer this system myself.

Yeah, both my '98 H150 and 2001 H535 are wearing Faber locking ABR bridges and tailpieces including the threaded bushing inserts. My H150 was factory equipped with a Nashville bridge and standard (heavy zinc) tailpiece instead of the Schaller hardware that was usual at the time. The bushing didn't make much difference on the H150, as the bushings installed in it were actually pretty decent. My 535 had the Schaller roller and top-loader bridge and tail. It had the really crappy short bridge bushing inserts. I used them with the Faber bridge for a while, as the holes were not drilled deep enough in the body. I got the right size and type of bit to do the job correctly and installed the longer Faber steel bushings. Wow, I was not expecting how much they improved the tone of the 535. It really just did the trick, they fit solidly into the maple center block and that seemed to couple the bridge into the body way, way better. The original bushings were so short they really didn't contact much but the laminate top. All in all, I really like the Faber hardware. Seems like a great choice by Heritage to switch.

That's a swell catch Bob!

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

Aw, he's a rank amateur! Someday maybe he'll be able to afford a REAL guitar and amp. 😁

To me all Les Pauls and H150s need to be taken on a case by case basis. They all sound different, my two H-150s are light years apart in tone, and so are my 4 Les Pauls. If I had to sell all but one of them, I would keep my 1960 Reissue Les Paul, it just has the best tone for the type of music that I play along with a very comfortable neck. And coming in second and third in neck shapes for my guitars are my Heritages. They are both medium C with my darkburst being a tad bigger. My Les Paul reissue necks are a bit too big. As for quality I had fret issues and nut issues on both of my Heritages, and most pre band lab H150s I picked up around here had many of the same issues. But the cost of used H150s were so low they were an absolute bargain to someone like me who knows how to do fretwork. That said, since the Bandlab crew cleaned up the shop I'm seeing a much higher quality control on H150s. None that I have picked up have any fret/nut issues. I did see one H530 that had a badly placed bridge that couldn't be intonated, which was a heartbreaker because it belonged to my best friend and it sounded GREAT. The quality of the wood has consistently been good with Heritage on most every Heritage that I have picked up, all though many of the earlier sold bodies were pretty heavy. So do I think Heritage builds a better Les Paul? Re-read my first sentence

gorgeous. I bet that plays wonderfully.

I have never used the capture feature on my Quad Cortex until the other day. If you are not familiar with this feature, in a nutshell, you plug the QC (Or Fractal, Kemper, etc) into your amp and it digitally captures the amp and stores it for you. You can then call it up and voila, you can use that amp sound anywhere, anytime. My friend has a Brown Super and a Tweed Deluxe. HIs assistant captured both amps for me and sent it to the QC Cloud and then I was able to download it. It was mind blowing. Matt took several captures for me and I finally get what this is about. Modeling digitally models an amp.....all controls, eq, bright switch volume, gain, etc. Captures capture only one moment. So I have a capture of the Tweed Deluxe at volume 5 and the tone control on 5. Or another capture of the amp with everything dimed. When I call it up, that is what I get. I can turn the volume up and down, but I cannot change the eq, even though the screen has some eq controls. They work like a studio where you record a guitar through an amp and then you can add treble, bass, etc in the mix but you are not changing the eq of the actual amp. So if I want a nicely overdriven Super sound for a rhythym part, I call that up. If I want a nasty distorted tweed deluxe sound for the solo, I call that up. This thing can also captrueOD/Distortion pedals, mic preamps and a host of other cool things. Again, I am a tube guy, but damn! This thing is pretty amazing. Here is the Anderton boys doing the A/B thing with the QC capture feature. They also demo how to do the captures, which takes only a couple of minutes.

Surprised that he was so in love with the neck. But, perhaps that's my "backward looking" opinion, from when the neck carve you got depended entirely upon who did it. Which, actually, was kind of fun, it it's own way. Like that he points out that Heritage, operating out of the K'zoo plant actually has a longer, well, heritage building LPs than Gibson does. Except, for me, that kind of fell off when the OG owners stepped out. Not a knock on Pete Farmer, but he wasn't there when the original 50s LPs were being built, like, you know, the OG owners were. The line has been broken, in my mind.

Looks great!!

Tone King Ironman II 100-Watt Reactive Power Attenuator I did a lot of research on attenuators. Some suck tone incredible bad. Others are designed for more direct to the board recording. I couldn't find one bad review on the Tone King Ironman II. I have four vintage Fender and a 12-15 year old Headstrong Lil' King (Princeton reverb clone). I am a huge pedal fan and prefer all my OD/distortion tones come from pedals. But I also do think (as everyone pretty much does) that tubes cooking to the point just before breakup makes the amp's cleans & overdriven tones (even with OD pedals) sound best. WOW, does this attenuator sound flipping AMAZING!!! My amps are 12 to 35 watts and to turn the volume up to "3-4" is still incredibly LOUD. With the Ironman II the attenuator is based on reactive power attenuation so it sounds AWESOME at even -25 to -32db!!! I was very suspicious of the claims of "little to no loss in BOTH tone & feel" even at below bedroom volumes, but it is absolutely true. If anything, now that I can cook the tubes to volume of 3-4 at a reasonable (or even below reasonable) volume, the cleans sound richer & fuller and the OD pedals make the dirty/distortion tones sound thick and smooth. Many touring bands are using this unit LIVE as well to control the stage volume, but maintain the rich tube amp tones on stage and mic'd to the PA. Yes, this unit is pricey but more than worth every dollar. Using the Tone King Ironman II allows me to play/practice more often at anytime of day or night... even with the wifey at home!!!! Truly and amazing unit and I can't recommend it high enough!! (I just wish I would have bought it years ago!) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PXVLFDS?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

I have probably used 15 Locking Faber ABRN bridges and locking stoptail studs and they have always given at least the same, if not better, overall sustain/note separation/overall tone. And even with any tonal benefits aside, using the locking Faber hardware (ABRN bridge & locking stoptail studs) everything is locked down tight and will never move even with all the stings off the guitar.

I got the Faber ABRN yesterday and installed it right away. The fit was perfect. Thanks to your recommendation, I adjusted the posts so that they are just sub-flush to the bridge when the bridge is lowered to my liking. While I was at it, I also replaced the stock pickups with Mojotone 59 clones. I don't know it's because of the Faber bridge or the pickups, probably combination of both, but the note separation and overall sound definition are a lot better now.

I also swapped out the pickup rings, not so much because of the color but because the existing rings were pretty tall. The strings were actually getting pretty close to hitting the bridge pickup ring. I just happened to have a set on hand that fit a little better as well as matching the pickguard, so it was a stroke of luck that the colors actually matched. I might just make a wooden pickguard for my CC H150, for I really liked the old ones as well. They added a nice taste of "elegance" to the guitar! I still have an old 535 and an Eagle Classic with them.

Thanks again for looking into this! I don't dislike the shape of Heritage pickguard. But the issue is the pickguard color not matching the pickup ring color... It's not really obvious on the standard models, but on CC models, the pickup ring color is almost like parchment. I guess it's probably more historically correct, but it's just too noticeable on the solid black guitar I have.

Oh this explains why one of the bridge posts looks taller on my guitar. I will definitely tighten them down when I swap the bridge. I like everything tight and solid. Thank you so much for the detailed information! That helps a lot!

I just checked into this, and it appears as though a WD LP pickguard can indeed be ordered without holes, but I would check to make sure that the dimensions are correct before ordering. I also noticed that @Lkdoghad ordered one from MojoAxe, and that thread can be found here: I'd probably call call or email the guy at MojoAxe while asking him specifically about the Heritage CC model. Perhaps Lkdog will pipe in here as well? Since I've had this CC H-150, I'm actually thinking of purchasing another one.......LOL. If I do, I'll likely talk with MojoAxe. EDIT: BTW, on the MojoAxe website, scroll all the way to the bottom of the page to find the Heritage pickguards: http://www.mojoaxe.com/

First of all, your guitar looks beautiful. I have an ebony CC and every time I see a burst, I’m like I want that one too haha. Actually, I’ve emailed Mike about that bridge and am waiting for an invoice. I also have Faber ABRN on order. I guess when I get both, I will have to decide which one I like more and install it. Since you have both already, have you noticed any difference in quality, dimensions, etc.? BTW, where did you find that G-style pickguard that fits Heritage CC? I’ve been looking everywhere but haven’t found one yet.

I have two sweet 16s ,one with a long and one with a short, I think the short sounds better but it cloud be the wood.

Huh, I flipped my Pinnacle thumbwheels over and have plenty of clearance from the top, and my action is 4.5/64th on the low E and 4/64th on the high E. I believe the action could go as low as I want without worry about the domes of the thumbwheels hitting the top. I guess it all depends on the neck angle of your guitar. Personally, I like the "locked down tight" Faber lock ABR bridge. If Heritage is switching to a more traditional ABR-1, why not just use the more traditional 6-32 posts? It certainly would allow for easier conversions and what are we to do if the 8-32 posts break? Like you said 8-32 posts and 8-32 thumbwheels are near impossible to find.

I made a short little demo with no speaker cabinets, just the di straight in for both guitars and the bass...

@dvnmjcNIcely Done! Some nice KB voicings there.

My experience with Schaller pickups is pretty good..I have a few Heritage guitars with HRWs, and I found the Heritage Schallers were the Schaller classic 50s..I converted a few to HRWs and prefer those over the classic 50s, but that's my own subjective thing...the Schaller classic 50 is a fine pickup.

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 have a bad back as well, but I'm still lugging around a 60-pound combo. It's heavy, but I still manage to get it in and out of gigs. I just love the sound of big iron and tubes.

Yeah, but they don't make your beer get hot during the set! What's worse, Cold pizza or warm beer?

LOL. Gives your tone extra flavor I did have a Line 6 Helix Light that i liked a lot, but not quite enough to keep. i still had to bring a cabinet if there wasnt a PA, and i was in option overload. Found a couple of settings that were very useable. The old Cyber Twin was cool. I havent tried the new Fender modelers, but I bet they are pretty good. Honestly - blindfolded, I might not be able to tell the difference... Still - nothing quite like feeling that fire, that organic ...whatever it is.

Modelling amps suck at heating up cold pizza slices you didn't have time to eat before the gig so you put them in the back of the amp to warm them up until the break.

I've made my living with music as a full time musician for 30+ years now, and I'll be lugging out my tube amps till the very end. I get the convenience factor, but as with most things I've found: when you try cutting corners, something else ends up suffering. In this case, the tone IMO. Just can't beat feeling that wave of sound blowing out of an amplifier. To me, there's no substitute for the real thing.