Jimbob

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.

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/

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!

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.

Ha! I had to look that up to see what the Brockburst was all about out, but yeah, I thought that the flamed-maple was pretty amazing on this one. It's even nicer better in person and, thankfully, it sounds pretty sweet, too! It's getting heavily modded, though. The next mod is a tuner swap.

Thanks! I just had to grab it when it came up for sale a couple of weeks ago:

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.

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.

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.