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Hello Heritage! I am new to this forum-I just bought my first Heritage Custom Core H 535 Blonde! It is different than any other guitar I have played. I’m used to Gibsons, Fender, arch tops etc, but this feels/sounds so different. I love the QUALITY of the build. The neck is comfortable, pickups sound great. Very versetile. Playing Jazz, Blues, Bossa Nova and Swing on it right now. I love it! It has lots of flame in the wood-front, back and sides. The tuners work really well. I’m using Thomastic Strings, flatwound 11’s.

Here’s my new Heritage Custom Core H-535.

Thanks! They seem to give the guitar a bit more of a vintage vibe, too. Funny, but I was loving this guitar so much that I drove over to Dave's Guitar Shop earlier this week and pickup up another one......😁 This one got the newer ABR-style bridge and thumbwheels that came directly from Heritage. The pickguard is an old LP/P90 guard that I shaved down to fit this one. It's going to get the same tuners as well. I'm really enjoying these CC models. I only wish that I would've picked one up when they first came out:

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

You know how it is. You're wasting time on the internet and you come across a very nice guitar at a very nice price and not too far away... Big birthday coming up (exactly 10 years younger than Eric Clapton), contacted Rolly's Guitars and Rolly put the Heritage on hold for a few days until I could call in, which I did yesterday. I spent a pleasant hour playing the Heritage and talking guitars, bands and assorted nonsense, then made my way home as new member of the Custom Core Club. It's a 2023 model, well set up, in almost pristine condition and sounds glorious through the Drive King. I made a slight adjustment to the bridge pickup height, but that was it. Pics, I hear you say?

Congrats on the new CC H-535. I too am a recent purchaser of a Heritage custom core. I bought my CC H-530 from Sweetwater just a month after it left the factory in Kalamazoo. I owned two H-535's back in the mid 90's and they were great guitars. However, this 530 hits me in all the right places. A fully hollow thin line with great P90's is just what I want today as an old man who doesn't turn his amps up too loud anymore. Enjoy your Heritage. I've included a pic of my 530 from the Sweetwater collection of my guitar. I can't take better pics myself so why try?

seems like a nice product for the money for sure, and yes- SOP now. makes me a little sad, but gotta remember: "Its not personal Sonny, its strictly business." I was in London recently and I always go down to Denmark Street and Soho when there to check out the old historic (and new) guitar shops and studios. Dawsons had both US and Ch. made Heritages. They told me that they are owned by the same company that owns Heritage Kalamazoo, so they are the London distributor for both factories. The Chinese ones were downstairs in the main showroom. The good stuff was upstairs in the “private” room that was roped off. Some very nice new production instruments from both places.

There's a big difference between a customer having a build to his specifications vs buying a prebuilt NAMM special build. What I don't understand is the company doing "bespoke" custom builds for "influencers" vs people who have supported them for 10 or 20 years. For an artist, I'll give them more of a pass, as it most companies have artist programs. Frankie Ballard It's great that these people are finally looking at Heritage guitars, but how does someone who has ignored Heritage for years get to spec out a guitar with their color, a P90/PAF and Bigsby for free? Maybe it's because I'm old school, but social media influencers are probably the lowest point on my list of reasons to look at something, much less to buy something. I find about 90% of the online reviews or gear to be utterly useless.

Eh, lots of variables and generalizations in play... but in a nutshell; if the amp wattage is higher than what the power/watt handling of a speaker is, it's going to lead to 1 of 2 likely outcomes - 1) the speaker will easily distort... which in some scenarios could be a desirable effect and compliment the amp distortion (especially when paired with another higher power/sensitivity speaker); in other scenarios, it could just sound muddy, "farty", or bad. 2) The speaker could just fail...blow the cone out or toast the voice coil. In the reverse role; if the speaker watt/power handling is way higher than the amp output... usually this will make very little difference. It depends more on the design and sensitivity of the speaker at this point. For example, I love to pair the 300 watt EVM-12L with all sorts of amps, including little 5 watters; fairly transparent speaker pairing that let's more of the amps own voicing be heard (minimal speaker distortion/coloration). Usually the only negative scenario is where it's a speaker with a very heavy cone and low sensitivity; that could be a speaker that needs a whole lot of power to make it move in order to sound good. There's not many guitar oriented speakers out there that fall into this grouping though. It's more in the extreme cork sniffers high end of car or home audio (or cheap garbage speakers from temu or something). TLDR - Low power amp with high power speaker; okay. High power amp with low power speaker; may cause death of speaker, or could get you that cinnamon girl sound you've been searching for all your life (if one was to ever search for such a sound).

FWIW, just saying that something is made in China doesn't necessarily mean it's a piece of crap. There are things made in the US that are crap, and stuff that is high quality. The same happens over there. I used to deal with a few Chinese plants and a few were consistent, and more than willing to go the extra mile to make a quality product. Others couldn't make the same thing twice if their lives depended on it. China is a massive country with lots of different companies. Anyone over a certain age will remember when Made In Japan was the sign of cheapness. Now the majority of things out of Japan are world class.

I have requested builds but have been rebuffed. So much for loyalty. If they only knew!

Thanks! Well, I've actually been into Heritage guitars since the early '90s, at which time I picked up a '92 H-535. In '96 I bought an Eagle Classic from Jay Wolfe, and I still have both of these guitars (I'll post a photo below). I've since owned and sold two other H-150s, a natural H-535, an H-110, and an H-170.. The H-150s I owned were great guitars, but both of them weighed over 10 pounds. I eventually sold them to purchase three R8s, two of which were chambered. They were also great guitars, but I do tend to like the tone of the solid bodies a bit more. The solid R8 was a Dave's Guitar Shop limited run that I should've kept, but so it goes. Long story short, I've had an eye out for a while now hoping to replace some of those H-150s and R8s, and once I discovered the Heritage CC H-150s a few weeks ago, I sort of went on a spending spree!.....LOL. So, here I am back at the HOC and posting again after a rather lengthy hiatus from the place.......🙂 I haven't seen a "cadillac green" guitar in person, but they look pretty sweet online! I like the Pelham blue, too. I picked up the goldtop primarily because I wanted something different from the cherryburst, but it just so happened to sound and play a little better than the other H-150s that I tried at Dave's, too. Like most H-150s, these CC guitars are nice and lively-sounding, but it's the weight of them makes them much more tolerable to play on stage as well, especially for a guy my age with an aching back. Is that pole piece that you're speaking of bent? Or is it just installed with a tilt to it? The reason I ask is because I noticed that the pole pieces are quite easy to remove, and Heritage does have new replacement pole pieces ( and ABR-style bridges & thumbwheels) that can be ordered directly from Mike. Apparently Heritage is going to start installing this more traditional bridge system on their CC models sometime this year, but I have yet to see one online. This is the reason that they have them available.......that and for Heritage owners wanting to upgrade their guitars from the Pinnacle system. Anyway....hope to see that cadillac green H-150 posted here one of these days.......🙂 And oh, here's that photo. A '92 H-535 and a '96 Eagle Classic. I just noticed that the 535 has a plasic pickguard that I installed to save the flamed maple one from getting too scratched up, but the maple guard is on back on it:

I wouldn't trust a thing that comes out of that's guys mouth. I can't understand why Heritage would build this guy a guitar for free. Just google up Vertex and rippoff and you will find out about his history... from Joe Bonnamassa... Hey Guys, I'm sorry to be chiming in so late but I must warn all you fellow gear nerds to stay away from Vertex effects and pedalboard services. Mason is not truthful nor is his work good or in most cases his own. He had me on his site without permission as a user and happy customer. I am/was neither happy nor do I use any of his products. My pedalboard sounded awful, took tons of gain away, and added a huge ground hum. It also cost $1400 and that was after I pitched a fit when the $2000 bill came to my tour manager all the while seeing unauthorized You Tube videos of my " new rig" a rig I never tried nor signed off on. Fortunately Dave Friedman at Rack Systems came in and saved the day for $400. All I wanted and asked for was to have some cables cut to size. I didn't want to waste Dave's time so I gave it to Mason. BIG MISTAKE.... I am very disturbed by his actions and have heard recently that he has been called out on some Wah Wah pedal stuff. Bad News Bear that cat is unfortunately. So... In closing... Just trying to keep my fellow guitar nerds from getting ripped off like I was. Caveat Emptor Joe Bonamassa.

I will STRONGLY second this statement about the Heritage CC tuners being complete crap, compared to how amazing the guitar is. I was able to find some aged nickel Gotoh tuners on Ebay for my aged 150 CC. They look better and are lighter than the originals, are drop-in no mods, and are rock-steady in tuning.

I am both an ES125 fan (I've had 4 of them, but only kept one single pickup version, because it's a beast, it's nicknamed the '69 Chevelle because of the rumble it makes) and a P90 fan in general. I think P90s are the sound of rock and roll! Here are all of my P90 guitars. The Heritage H525 P90 (Lollar P90s) 1965 Gibson ES125T (vintage original Gibson P90) 2024 USA Les Paul Special (Gibson P90s), 2010 Gibson Historic SG Special (Wolfetone Mean And Meaner P90s) 2024 Gibson Historic 1954 Les Paul Reissue (Gibson P90s) As for tubes, that is what the good lord intended for all electric guitars to be plugged into

Yes! Greg is such a unique player, and person! He has combined several guitar styles into his own signature sound. He is a very funny guy! I am new to this forum. Looking fwd to discussing all things guitar!

There was a reason when the old guard retired, Heritage only made the 535 and 150's and discontinued or limited production of archtops. They opened to Sweatwater and other large retailers and cut off lots of brick and mortar, mom and pops stores. They were looking at the bottom line. The time and expense of building one-off for Boomers and dealing with expectations of same was altruistic and a money suck. Having a website promising future "bespoke" and making the occasional for a high-profile player and influencers is smart marketing. I was fortunate to have my builds made in 2009, 2011 and 2013. Those days are gone forever over a long time ago, oh well!

If Heritage is currently unable or unwilling to take 'bespoke' custom orders, then they should take down that section of their website. They did offer a few custom builds for NAMM a while back, but I've not seen any customer ordered one-offs in years.

Front view

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.

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 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!

Just after 12'45" you can see him try to do a swell with the bridge pickup selected. It doesn't work, so he selects the neck pickup and swells away!

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.

C J Stanley band. He owns a bunch of them. https://youtu.be/oahyiijnjwQ?si=H2MRO7llLOYSSNl9

DanElectro Hodad MKIII Bass, and one more H357 on the stand on the far right!

My favorite speaker is the Weber 12A125A. It's a low wattage speaker that I use in three amps currently Mesa DC-2 (25 watts) Clark Beaufort Supreme (20 watts) TopHat Club Deluxe (20 watts) The speaker is rated at 30 watts, but sometimes I throw a lot of outboard gain pedals into these amps (Origin Effects Revival Drive and M/EQ driver, Analogman Sunface BC108 fuzz, Durham Sex Drive) so I try to listen carefully to see if I'm at that edge. Because as Rich says above, square waves (particularly fuzzes), can destroy speakers if pushed close to their ratings! That said, I WANT the speaker to distort as I think that is part of the rock and roll sound.

Bolero, thank you for reply! Yes, this is my first Heritage guitar! I had seen several YouTube videos of the factory, owners, tours, demos, etc, so I knew it would be a quality build. I heard it might take almost a year, so I decided to get one I saw at Truetone Music in LA. I knew them from when living there-had guitars repaired. This one was a 2024 build, blonde, extra flame, not a scratch on it! I had their repair guy lower the action, and put the Thomastic flat-wound 11’s on. I couldn’t believe how nice it was to play. I love it! I will have husband take a picture & post it on here. It covers Jazz, Blues, Swing, Bossa really well with those pickups. Thanks again!

I'm a big Gotoh fan, I have there Luxury series 21:1 ratio 510 series on 4 of my Zemaitis guitars, and I have plenty of experience with the 381 series, they are definitely an upgrade to the stock tuners.

the best part was this old English Bulldog snoring away on the tattered old couch while folks came in and out and played guitars. People were talking so you can barely hear him snoring due to the chatter in the room (if you listen closely at the end), but trust me- it was classic.

Welcome to the cult! We have a saying, photos or it never happened.

There really isn't a better tuner than Gotoh, made in Japan. I put them on both of my vintage Heritage in place of the rotomatics. Collings uses them on their electrics, and they are very good. Grover makes many tuners in China anymore. Schaller are still making them in Germany. Waverly still makes tuning machines in the USA. There are tuning machine companies in Korea supplying Fender and others with unique tuners, like the "70's F-branded" machines on the vintage re-issues. (originally made by Schaller).

Gotoh will put your label on a tuner if you are willing to pay for it. My Melanon built T has tuners with his name on it, very similar to Heritage. Gerard was a much smaller builder than Heritage and used top grade parts for his builds. I would be really surprised if Ed Wilson would have cheap'd out on tuners when he went through all the trouble to set up the custom core instruments. Save $20 on a $4000 instrument, that you've pleked, and designed the pickups for? Doesn't make sense.

Eh... I was about to make a long drawn out whiny post about my attempts at getting a bespoke made... but will just condense it to say; once asked for a 150 custom core in faded blue to match an amp my kid and I made (that was it, just the color; and it was a color they've done before); was told no. Later down the road there was some possible horse trade dealing going on, for which my terms were a 150 custom core in faded blue with split inlays or something to make it unique for my daughter; was again told no. As Blues hinted at; I think the program is just a teaser, and really only open to artists and influencers. They don't really have any interest in making unique one-offs; except maybe for NAMM. Which I do get, to some extent... they probably don't want to trump their own standard line up or things they've made for endorsing artists and what not. It's a different world and a different Heritage.

I remember spoken to Mike when getting my H150CC as i wanted to get his help to hand select "the one" with a nice decent tone and a wild flame top.... he has gotten me the best believed but i wasnt that impress with the top yet and Mike suggested me to wait for the bespoke custom to announce and i could basically do a custom.... but didnt want the wait so i grab that existing one whom he helped me painstakingly selected.... He went thru many boxes and i strongly believe its out of his working usual capacity but he was trying to help me realise my dream H150CC, we chatted abit over the mail and was really a pleasure to have conversed with him.... I lately play thru my H150CC especially after changing modded the bridge, this beast sound and resonate like no other LP does so far whom i played not plugging in.... its thick loud and with that mid character going with a hint of high end girth going... I then thought i probably sell the other H150 standard i got and perhaps do a bespoke custom H157CC and would like to hear if anybody does.... especially price and their custom work....

First gig last night with this little powerhouse went well. Sounded very good. Plenty room filling for a medium sized wine bar/restaurant. Saxophone player said: "great tone! I love that guitar." He didn't know that this amp was new and less than half the size/weight of my other rig (head/cab combined). I pulled the back panels today to try a different speaker. Eminence Neo Deltalite 2512. I've been using these speakers for a while in other amps. transparent, tight bass, maybe a little on the dark side, but pretty neutral. They take a little break in so we'll see how it goes. definitely sounds cleaner now. not sure better, but definitely more guitar sound and less speaker coloration. was good before, but not spot on, so I thought I'd try something that I like in other amps. Here's some interior pics to show the guts. it is roughly the size of a Princeton Reverb with beefier components for higher wattage and headroom, so the interior is super clean and very efficient use of space, tight! so much so that to get the speaker out I had to remove some tubes and the reverb tank.

Jimbob that's a sweet goldtop!

CP Thornton https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=7ae64cafba0f6c458fe46b9b335271fcf99aa38659a8add00fbdb51ad70f72aeJmltdHM9MTc0MTkxMDQwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=2333531d-5b6d-6ebb-0060-471b5a7a6fdb&psq=chuck+thornton&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY3B0aG9ybnRvbmd1aXRhcnMuY29tLw&ntb=1 Can't believe Kuz or Tim don't have some of them

I ended up going with the Gotoh SG381- P4N tuners. They're not locking, but they're a step above the stock tuners.

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

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

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.

That's a swell catch Bob!

This is my HJS. It was made for Jay Wolfe and one of the finest guitars I have ever played sound and neck-wise. I also have another one that is virtually equal in all respects but almond sunburst and has real Gibson Johnny Smith Tailpiece on the guitar. I am sure it was done after it was made. Both are acoustically powerful and strong. Here is is play acoustically and recorded only an iPhone but I think it came ok.

Here's 5 reasons in a Haiku No No No No No