Kuz

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.

If I was going to the trouble of switching the pup selector switch and the volume knob, I would have made that volume knob the bridge volume knob (or make it a Master volume).

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.

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.

NICE!!!

The nice thing about the Ironman II is that it is switchable from 4 to 8 to 16 ohms.

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

Ha, Ha,... Same here, I have never sounded like Gary Moore either! Well, played. Your comment made me laugh.

When I ordered my 535 P-90, I told Marv Lamb I wanted the first 535 P-90 and the first Marv Lamb wine-burst finish. Rockabilly wanted it bad so he now has it. I was also told that Marv was the only one that sprayed the Marv wine-burst finish himself.

Most would have never spotted a Heritage unless Suzanne Hoff was playing it. All this time I thought she was the only member of the band... huh....whenever a Bangles' video came on, all I ever saw Suzanne Hoff and her Ric. I'm pretty sure she always performed solo, yep, I never saw a band...😍

I never heard a gun sound like Gary Moore... hmm....

I love the OG 555 inlays!!!!

I have used both and it is just WAY too hard to do simple editing of presets/patches/simulated pedals when playing live with the direct modeler stuff. I like all my analog pedals available on the board where I can see them and just make a simple level or tone adjustment, by just reaching down and turning the knob on the pedal. What is essential is a Looper for your pedals (like Boss M8 or Gigrig G3) where you can program an infinite number of presets that can turn on/off multiple different pedals with just one step on the board. If editing of any the pedals are needed, just reach down and turn the knobs on the physical pedals. HONESTLY, the Looper & analog pedals combination is the best of both worlds of modeling & tube amps!

That is basically the take home message from this comparison. There are some features of the R9 that I wish were on the Custom Core, and visa versa. But they are both great guitars.

I remember that review and you did an excellent comparison as well. Overall they both have their own strengths, but now with Heritage's aged Core 150 (verse a standard 150 which is still a great guitar) compared to the Murphy aged R9... they are both growing increasingly closer & similar in comparisons. I am so blessed to have both. Thankfully they both sound different enough (each sound great in their own way) to keep both.

I had a friend that used to be the store manager at Willcutt guitars (where I bought 90% of my guitars). Eric gave me killer deal right before he retired. You probably can't get close to the deal I got, but call Willcutt Guitars, ask for Brandon (and tell him John Kuziak from Ohio referred you).

That is one of the classiest looking colors I have ever seen on a Heritage 150. I love it!

Killer video and what an awesome production of the video!

I believe you need to choose pickups based on the application used for the pickups. I also feel that HRWs are too "hot" and too "HiFi", based on what music I play (Blues, Classic Rock, Americana music). But HRWs are wonderful for Country or Jazz (where "Clean is King" with a lot of headroom). When I was going through my pseudo-jazz phase, I had a Sweet 16 and a Golden Eagle. In those jazz boxes the HRWs were the best humbuckers I ever heard... for clean jazz. I had a 555 that came with HRWs and the pickup were too hot & too HiFi. The HRWs in the 555 didn't give a smooth, round, bluesy breakup but more of a snappy clean tone (great for country, not so much for bluesy rock). Seth Lovers are a great all around pickup and closer to my default Throbak SLE-101 PAF pickups. The Throbaks are slightly rounder and have more mids. So if you have a 535/555 where you want a rounder, mid tone get Throbaks, if you want a slightly less powered pickup, less mids but still the characteristics of a good PAF then get Seth Lovers. Finally, many jazz players really like Schaller pickups because they offer are flatter & duller tone, and which is fine for clean jazz. AGAIN, don't trust general declarations you hear on the internet that say, "These pickups SUCK". Ask that poster what guitar where the stated pickups in and what kind of music did you play with those pickups/guitar combination. AGAIN, judge pickups like guitars, on a one to one comparison and what application you will use them for.

I will preference this buy saying that I have owned over 20 Heritage guitars and that is more than most on this forum. I only bought one Heritage that was made after 2017 (my 2022 150 Custom Core), the rest were bought before 2017 and earlier. You are getting a lot of good advice here and most is accurate, especially about the specs of older vs new Heritage guitars. BUT if you excluding Heritage guitars made before 2017 based on internet folklore that the new guitar are ALWAY ALL better, than that is a huge mistake. Most internet post on other sites are from those who haven't played older ones or haven't played newer ones to compare. My 2022 Heritage 150 Custom Core had some issues with the tuneamatic posts and stoptail studs drilled at about a 20% off angle from straight perpendicular and the bottom strap button hole drilled about a half inch off center seam. The issues were corrected (except for the bottom strap button placement) with Faber locking hardware. The guitar plays and sound amazing. BUT my point is, that I never had any issues even close to those with the handmade older Heritages Pre-2017. Obviously like any guitar company there will be the occasional rare, lemon produced. My older Heritages were as close to mint-perfect from the factory as any other guitars produced from other companies. The ONLY issue that occasional happened back in the day from the Heritage factory was less than perfect cut nuts ( Heritage intentionally cut the nut high so you could lower it yourself if you wanted to) and even less often was the frets might need buffed. I NEVER had either of these issues on any of my pre-2017 Heritages, but the luthier cost to have these issues fixed is $50-100 and now you have a handmade guitar costing thousands of dollars less than what other companies would have charged. My point is, ANY guitar from ANY company should be judged on a guitar by guitar bases. To dismiss all Heritage guitars made by the the original owners (pre-2017) would be a huge mistake and any misinformation claimed that the newer guitars are ALWAYS better.... well, ask them how many older Heritages verse new Heritages they have owned. Good luck with your purchase!!!

Finally, as far as the "aged/relic'd" debate goes.... Everyone should know the story now about the first company "aged/relic'd" guitar. Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones asked Fender to make him am exact copy of one of his vintage Telecasters so he wouldn't have to take the expensive, vintage Tele on the road (or he was retiring the vintage Tele to studio work only). Fender laser spec'd his vintage Tele exactly and sent him a NOS exact copy of his vintage Tele. Keith sent it back to Fender and said something to the effect that he wanted the new guitar to "look and feel" EXACTLY like his Vintage original Tele. So Fender re-made the first "aged/relic'd" guitar for Keith Richards of the Stones that looked identical to his vintage Tele. SO if "aged/relic'd" guitars are good enough for Keith Richards, they are certainly good enough for me. The other response to "aged/relic'd" guitars that I like, came from a famous English rockabilly guitarist (his name is escaping me). He said, "A lot of guitarist say that they like the 'authentic, honest, real-wear' of a vintage guitar over factory 'artificial aged' guitars. Well, if you buy a vintage worn guitar, YOU DIDN'T contribute to that 'honest wear' on the vintage guitar... it's not your honest wear. So if you didn't produce that 'honest wear' and you don't have 50 years to wait for your 'honest wear' on a new guitar, what's the difference between someone else's honest aging and factory aging? Neither wear was by your hands, so who cares if you like the look & feel of the guitar?"

Well, I forgot one last comparison... Case - 150CC win (slightly) The Gibson Custom Shop case is CONSIDERABLY lighter (in a good way) and has a smaller footprint (which I like) than the Heritage Custom Core case. But the Gibson case only has one substantial, full closing latch. If you close the four other latches and forget to close the main latch (I don't know how you would forget) there is a very good chance the Gibson case would still open. Maybe this Gibson case is "period correct" but it is not the most secure case for your investment. The Heritage Custom Core case is a direct spin off Ameritage cases that other high end companies use (Collings, PRS Acoustics, ect..). It has fully 5 substantial, full closing latches and is built like a tank! The trade off is that it is extremely heavy (probably close to the same weight as the guitar) and has a much bigger footprint.

Yes, he was the MAN on the Custom Core models before he passed. RIP

Great eye Daniel!!! That picture of the 150CC was BEFORE the Faber Hardware change.

Greg, I think what you are seeing on the 150CC is more the heavy aging (cracked nitro finish) on the top than actual mineral streaks. But it is a fantastic looking too either way!