29er

Thanks! This is the first brand new guitar I have bought in a long, long time. It's also the most expensive guitar I have ever owned. I tend to buy used instruments that I am able to audition in person. But this time I took the plunge with the hope that the Heritage factory & the dealer would do it right. I was not disappointed. The set up was perfect right out of the box. Fit & finish is the best I've seen from any manufacturer. The custom shop P90's do everything I need. I'm playing it through a Tone Master Bassman and wow, it just kills it.

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.

I love that color, enjoy! I just bought a Heritage from Sweetwater this morning but I'll save the details for my own NGD post when it arrives.

Thanks for all the good info. I haven't owned a Heritage since I stopped gigging in the early 2000's but my recent interest in fully hollow electrics finds me in the market. I've owned a couple of Korean made Casinos, which are ok but I have my heart set on a 530 now. I just need to sell a few instruments first, they tend to pile up in my house and I'm at the stage of life where I ask myself "Why do you have all this stuff?" I'm leaning towards the custom core model in either cherry or blonde. Again, thanks to you all for giving me some education.

Back to my original thought, I'm only 5 hours from Dave's La Crosse store (where it seems all of their Heritage stock is located) I'm an old retired fart so there's no reason for me to not make the trip to sample a 530. As for my Harmony, I forgot to mention that it features a phase reversal switch in the volume control. In the phase reversal mode the guitar gets as close to the T-Bone Walker tone as anything I've ever heard. It's a sweet little guitar!

Harmony says these are humbuckers. I'm not sure I've ever heard a humbucking pup that sounds as much like a single coil than these.

I don't know if these gold foils are made in house but I tend to think they might be since there are no markings or labels attached (See pic) They sound great, clean and bell like with a lot of chime.

Thanks for the good info you all have shared. I just joined this group because after selling a couple of 535's in the late 90's I have not owned a Heritage. I am now casually looking for a used 530. The info about leadership changes, neck profiles & pickup changes are good to know. I've fallen in love with fully hollow body guitars and the 530 seems like a good choice for my clean toned blues style.

Thanks for the info. The custom core model is very tempting. I need to get my hands on one of these soon!

I've not paid close attention to Heritage for a while but now that I'm in the marker for an H-530 I noticed the headstock has become a bit larger. Is that a recent change?

Interesting. Where did you see this?

A quick post to say hello and ask a couple of questions. I joined this forum in the spring of 2021 but have not been active. In my younger days I owned a foolishly sold 2 H-535's (early to mid 90's) I'm here because I plan on buying an H-530 sometime soon. I currently have a Kalamazoo made Harmony Comet which is a great guitar but I prefer a larger bodied instrument and the Harmony is not that. I plan on selling the Harmony and grabbing a 530. It looks like the H-530 can be found at @ 2k or so on the used market which is where my budget falls. Now for a shopping question: Among the dealer sites I frequent is Dave's Guitar Shop in Wisconsin. I've done a fair amount of business with them over the years and have always been a happy customer. Dave's always has several used 530's, 535's and H-150's of very recent vintage in stock. It makes me wonder how they come to have these. Seems unlikely that there is that much turnover of high quality US made instruments and that one dealer always has a supply of them. I wonder how they get these guitars on a regular basis? Does anyone have any insight? Is Dave's buying stock from other dealers? Are they getting guitars directly from Heritage? I did ask this question directly via email but their answer was vague and not clear. At first I wondered if these recent used guitars were factory 2nd's or something but I don't get the feeling that's the case. Anyhoo, I've always wondered how they get that many nearly mint condition Heritage's. Just for fun I've attached two shots of my Harmony. One with and one without the Duesenburg Les Trem. TIA for any info!