Kuz

R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged

Almost forgot the best part... PHOTOS!!! 150 Custom Core Aged

Introduction/Explanation; The Gibson Les Paul Standard (and a close second, the Gibson ES-335/345) has always been my favorite/dream guitar. To the LP Standard's looks (the Goldtop and especially the Bursts), and to the tone (deep rich, sustaining, detailed sound) has always suckered me in to it's sirens' call. So even though I have Heritage Aged Cust Core 150, I always wanted to have the best Gibson version of the Les Paul Standard, their 1959 RI. So after just recently acquiring my R9 Murphy Ultra Light Aged, I thought I would give an honest & fair comparison of my Aged 150 CC (that I have had for a couple years) to the newly acquired R9. Visual (Looks); Without comparing the "Aging" - TIE Both the R9 and the 150 CC are equally gorgeous. The colors and the wood flames are utterly AMAZING!!! The wood used by both companies is extraordinary! The corresponding headstocks on both guitars look like they only belong to their guitar (I can't imagine the R9 with a Heritage headstock and visa versa). Same with the pickguards, they both seem to "match" the corresponding guitar. I did add a poker chip to the 150CC for person preference, but it looks fine without it. I do prefer the look of Kluson tuners over the 150CC "Grover looking" tuners, again personal preference. I DEFINATELY prefer the look of an ABR-1 tuneamatic, however on both guitars I switched out their bridges to locking Faber ABR-1 bridges. Visual (Looks) The "Aging/Relicing" - R9 win (slightly) I do like/prefer aged guitars. I like the look, the feel, and (in my opinion as well as others) improved guitar tone due to a thinner finish. I like the fact that I don't have to baby a relic'd guitar like I would a new, pristine finished guitar. While shopping for my R9, I wanted the "aging" to be either NOS, Ultra Light, or Light aged (the Heavy and the Ultra Heavy aged finish is way too much for me). So after R9 live-shopping, I can state that the R9 Light Aged (more aging than their Ultra Light) is the same degree of aging as Heritage's Custom Core "Aged". TO ME, the Gibson "aging" (regardless of the level of aging) is more vintage accurate. The Gibson checking is more sporadic, less uniform. The Gibson aging seems to be heavier where a real vintage guitar would be worn more. The Heritage "aging" seems (TO ME) to look slightly more artificial and mass produced (especially on the headstock). Do I regret getting my 150CC in the "aged" version? Absolutely not. I just slightly prefer the more vintage accurate Gibson aging look. Weight - TIE Both guitars are nearly the same weight around 8.4-8.5lbs. The decrease weight of Heritage's CC line is probably the MAIN reason to buy a Cust Core Heritage, a HUGE improvement over the 9.5-11lbs of Heritage's standard line. Factory Setup - TIE A factory setup is usually useless to me, as I know I will set up the guitars to my personal specs. But both factory setups were just fine and playable. Feel - R9 win (slightly) Tim Pierce and a few other professional/session guitarist have raved & sang the praises of their new Heritage CC 150s.... except for.... the shorter frets. I always thought my aged 150 CC felt kind of stiff, regardless of where I set the action. When I read about the shallower frets, then I knew exactly what they describing. The R9 has slightly taller, more comfortable frets. It's not like bass frets verses vintage frets on a Strat, it's definitely more subtle. But I swear that all my other Heritage guitars (and all my other previous 150s) had the slightly taller R9-like frets. SO I feel ever so more confident/comfortable playing the R9. But in a different sense, the 150CC overall feels more vintage, the R9 feels overall "newer". Picking up the 150CC feels like wearing a broken-in pair of jeans, the R9 feels like comfortable dress slacks. I would love to play a 150CC with the slightly taller R9 frets. (Side note; the R9 begs for a slightly longer guitar strap over the shoulder than the 150CC does. I have no idea way this is but playing the R9 with the same strap I use for the 150CC feels like the R9 is too high. Huh?) Neck - TIE The 150CC is very, very close (if not identical) to the R9 (1959 neck) neck shape. So the Heritage 150CC is an accurate 1959 neck carve. Hardware - R9 win (slightly) The R9 was ROCK solid from the store. Both the ABR-1 bridge and the aluminum stoptail on the R9 were super stable. The Gibson Kluson tuners work great. Heritage has improved their hardware in the Cust Core series by adding a locking Pinnacle tunamatic bridge and aluminum stoptail. However, the Cust Core tuners are horrendous, incredibly bad. I know they are laser etched with the Heritage logo, but they slip tuning and just plain break/fall apart. The Heritage tuners are the absolute WORST part of the 150CC, and Heritage needs to improve/change tuners (luckily, Gotoh makes drop-in replacement tuners that are incredibly great and I was even able to get "aged' nickle Gotoh tuners for my 150CC). With all this said, I changed to Faber locking ABR-1 bridges and Faber locking stoptail studs on both guitars (using the supplied aluminum stoptails that came on both guitars). The locking Faber hardware is "set it up and it will never move". This was not a necessary upgrade but a personal preference. (Side note: the holes for the bridge posts and stoptail studs on the 150CC were both drilled at angle instead of straight perpendicular to the top. I could have lived with this error, I suppose, but with the replacement Faber hardware the angle of the posts & studs is not an issue, fixed.) Pots, caps, jacks - TIE Both guitars come with capable components. I do like the repro "bumblebee" caps in the R9 verse the "orange drop" caps in the 150CC (I had a set of repro bumblebee caps so I put them in the 150CC). I am going to replace the volume pots in the R9 because the taper is not very long when tuner the volume pots down (turning down past "8-7.5" and the pickups are almost off). I will get some RS guitarworks volume pot to replace the stock R9 volume pots. I don't remember this being as big an issue when I first got my 150CC, but I switched out 150CC pots to RS guitarworks pots as well. Pickups - TIE Both the 150CC and R9 use A3 humbuckers (A3 magnets for both neck & bridge). I didn't measure but the outputs of the Parson Street pickups or the Gibson CustomBuckers, but they seemed to be the same. I don't really like A3 magnets (especially in the bridge), so I swapped the pickups in both guitars for Throbak pickups ( I love the SLE-101s and ER-Custom sets). A lot has been said about Heritage "wax potting" their Parson Street pickups, but I didn't really hear a difference compared to the unpotted CustomBuckers. They sounded the same to me. Both companies' pickups were very good and it was just personal preference to change both guitars to Throbak pickups. (Side note; There was a more discernable difference in tone when I switched pickups in the R9 than after switching pickups in the 150CC. So I guess the 150CC seemed to keep it's personal sonic character more than compared to the R9's.) Sound/Tone - TIE I was able to compare over 7 different R9s and personally handpicked my Ultra Light R9. I had to buy my 150CC from a dealer that played a few 150CCs through the phone and gave me his description of each guitar. Bottom line, both the R9 & 150CC sound amazing. The R9 has a little more "bloom" after the fundamental note, and the 150CC is more focus & ballsier. The sustain is equally great on both. Cost/Value - 150CC win I think I paid $4200 for my new 150CC Aged and $5700 for the new R9 Murphy Light Aged. The R9 will retain it's resale value more than the 150CC. Bottom line/Summary: I truly love both these guitars equally. Each has it's own personal appeal. Do I need both? Absolutely not, but neither one is leaving me. The R9 is more of European sports car, the 150CC is more American Muscle Car. If forced to own only one, I don't think I could choose. The best value is to buy a 150CC then update/modify it as you see (the tuners have to go for sure), where the R9 is more "nothing needs changed". The R9 will retain more resale value, but you will definitely pay more upfront for a R9 over a 150CC.

That's what is on my 150CC; Faber locking tuneamatic and locking stoptail hardware, and Gotoh aged drop-in tuners. They are a MASSIVE upgrade.

They are modeled after the Custom Bucker pickups in Gibson's Custom Shop guitars. I have a Gibson Custom Shop 335 and a Custom Core with 225 Pickups. They are nearly identical, both sets use A3 magnets. Edwin Wilson came from the Gibson Custom Shop to oversee/engineer the Custom Core line for Heritage, so he brought the Custom Bucker humbucker model with him. The 225s are a vintage PAF clone, the HRWs are much hotter. The 225s and HRWs are completely different animals. I liked the HRWs in my Golden Eagle Jazz box, but I didn't like them in solid body 150s or Semi-hollow 535/555 guitars.

The 225 Humbuckers and HRWs are night & day and completely different. The 225s use A3s and the HRWs use (I believe I am correct) A5s. I have a set of aged 225 Humbuckers that came out of my 150 CC. PM me if you are interest in buying them.

There is no adjusting at the venue that you can't do on the fly, that is the beauty of it. If you call up a patch with overdrive, chorus, & delay; if you want the delay off, then just step on the button where the delay is looped to the Boss and it is off. Same with the other pedals, just step on the board and turn them on and off. But the basic patch with 1-8 pedals on or off as you like can come on. If the delay is too long or the OD has too much gain, then reach down to the pedal and adjust the physical pedal. No menus to surf through like the all digital-sh*t. You are using your ACTUALLY pedals but you can set up patches for songs and still edit the patches by just turning pedal on or off. Regularly, I would add an extra OD to a patch I thought was perfect for the chorus to give it more punch. Or if the two OD pedals I had made for the patch were too much, then I just stomp one off on the Boss. It's just a looper where all your pedals are available in any order and on or off as you choose. All the "editing" on the pedals (level, gain, amount of delay or chorus) you just reach down and do like on a traditional board. You can even use keep the delay length & repeats different on different patches thru midi. I don't really gig my electrics anymore, but I couldn't live without using a Boss M8 or Gigrig G3. Look at the rig round downs of popular touring guitarists. Unless you are only using a couple pedals, everyone is using a looper of some kind to program patches for songs.

In 2005-ish (maybe 2006 or 2007), I picked up at the factory a 150 Goldtop that I custom ordered through a dealer but just wanted to pickup at Heritage. I asked Marv if he would install a poker chip and Gibson LP pickguard that I bought and brought with me on my brand new 150 Goldtop. He said, "We used to install those years ago at Heritage, but due to the lawsuit we don't use/install them anymore". But he was kind enough to do it anyhow, he said to just keep it between us. So now the secret is out.... I think he is safe from litigation.

When I was the Praise Band Director at church for 6 years, every Sunday I used my Boss M8 looper and LOVED it. I could store (on the unit and store to my computer) all my patches for all my songs. Before each Sunday, I would just download the the stored songs (and their patches) to a separate bank and the songs were done. We did a lot of songs weekly (a lot for a Praise Band) 8-11 songs each week and each bank was a song, within in song I had the 4-5 patches I would use. A bank was a one step (up or down) and the patches was one step to control 4-5 pedals all at once... NO MORE TAP DANCING. And mostly importantly, since I saved each song to my computer, the work flow was simple & easy and I didn't have to program each song & it's patches every week. Just download them from the computer and done. We did over 130 songs so having all my songs & patches saved was wonderful. Plus with the Boss M8, it acted like a muli-effects unit BUT you are using your great sounding analog pedals. Personally, I have never heard a mult-effects unit that sound good, give me my analog pedals over digital effect units anyday!

Too late, it's sold off.

Yes, most definitely. The source and the type of Magnet (A2, A3, A4, A5) is 90-95% of the pickup's tone.... BUT.... All A2 magnets are NOT the same. A cheap over sea's magnet is NOT the same as a US sourced, US made to exact specs magnet. Chinese magnets are harsh & brittle sounding and can be all over the place in terms of output. I have paid $80 for a set of USA specific spec'd magnets. I am sure many here will scoff at that, but you get what you pay for...

Boom!! This it the word. Well, said.

I have a Gibby CS '62 335 RI with their Custom Buckers that use A3 magnets for neck & bridge. I have a CS '64 345 RI with their MHS pickups (A3 in the neck, A2 in the bridge). I have also tried to use a number of Peter Florence Custom Voodoo humbuckers (A3 magnets in neck & bridge) in my Heritage 150s over the years. I do understand what he means when he says the neck is pickup is "dark". I personally would not call A3 pickups "dark", but very "sterile, flat, and anemic". The A3s to my ear don't have enough punch. I am an A2 humbucker fan. I had the Parson's Street A3 potted pickups in my Custom Core and took them out because the A3 bridge was under powered (and without any overdrive when played clean, it was kind of bright) and the neck A3 was just SO focused and flat that it had little to no bloom or overtones. But again, this has been my experience with all A3 humbuckers not just the Heritage A3 pickups. I really am just not an A3 fan. A2s all day for me.

Ha, ha,... yes, of course I mean .022 caps.

Here is what I always add/mod to my Heritage guitars (current and in the past); -Throbak Pickups -RS Guitarworks 500K pots and reissue Luxe Bumble Bee 250k caps -Faber locking ABR-1 bridge, Aluminum stoptail with Faber locking stoptail studs -Kluson (or the same looking Grover Deluxe) tuners -Poker chip (rhythm and lead) -Metal pointers under the volume & tone knobs

I got this beauty used from Willcutt's a couple of years ago. Like new, not blemish anywhere. Did I say it came with Throbak P-90s that are just f'ing INCREDIBLE!!! She was under $3K. I think my LP Jr/137 tones are covered. Heritage has lost it's way. No way a Heritage 137 slab guitar (with a stupid tuneamatic & stoptail??? wtf???) should cost over $2500.

Yep, I have Faber locking ABR-1 bridges and locking stoptails on all my Tuneamatic/Stoptail guitars. I hear more sustain (especially with the Aluminum stoptails) and all the hardware is locked down tight, the hardware won't move if you remove the strings. The Faber hardware is superior to any other locking hardware made, both in the materials used and the locking mechanisms.

I would have loved a GM Heritage 150 back in the day, even with EMGs. GREAT CATCH, Brent!!! But there is two things I wished Heritage would have changed on the GM 150; -Gary Moore is a Blues/Rock legend. I wish they would have made his signature in mother of peril inlay on the headstock. -Every GM 150 I have seen and read about are close to 10lbs or more. I wish they would have made them around 8.5lbs like the Custom Core 150s.

Use a thick shoe lace or wrap guitar polishing rag around one side under the pot, then just pull up one side, then the other. They will pop right off.

My 1965 ES-335. It played and sounded amazing in wonderful condition. I made a lot of money off the sale but it is one guitar I would love to have it back... at the original cost I paid for it (paid $1900) (sold it 8yrs later for $10,000). But once the money from the sale is gone, you can never really get the guitar back.

Mark, it is great when the chemistry of the band comes together and it looks like you are finally there! I love all my guitars and currently don't have any PRS guitars. But I can tell you that from my experience PRS guitars are the most versatile guitars out there. Get a PRS with a Trem and they can sound close to a LP & SG, and the coil tapping is surprisingly good for Strat & Tele tones. If I could only have one guitar for a gig, a Trem equipped PRS with coil tapping would be the one. I will eventually get another PRS DGT, but I have two kids with college expenses right around the corner. And don't let anyone tell you that Guitar -->input cord ---> amp is the only way to play. NO professional plays this way. Clubs don't allow you to play loud enough anymore for amp only distortion. Even Robben Ford uses a zen drive to goose his $50K Dumble. You aren't less of a guitarist if you use pedals. Your tone doesn't suck if you use pedals. Hello, David Gilmore forever has used a clean amp and pedals for his OD/Dist and no complains of his tone. EVERYONE use pedals. One question; How long are you banned from driving? That really stinks. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

That's a shame Mark, but you showed a lot of patience. Time to move ahead with a new guitarist. Life is too short not to enjoy yourself playing out at gigs!

Mark, it is always good to feel vindicated. And why is it that the truth always comes around after the fact? I am glad the band is still together and hope your drummer is up and running (or at least up and walking) soon! Yea, turning on the footswitch for the lights helps. Lately, I learned that plugging the input cord from my pedal board to my amp helps make my guitar sound louder!!!! Ha, ha

Mark, I am really glad you were able to solve this issue in a civilized manor. I know many here on the HOC were advising you to fire him, but maybe now the message came through loud in clear. It's my experience that she will go through cycles of good & bad behavior, so I would be prepared that the "bad" wife may come back. Hopefully, another quick talk to the husband will get her back on track if needed. Bottom line, it's like rebooting your iPad or computer....you don't have to reboot that often but it fixes the problem quickly until the next glitch & reboot. Again, I commend you on your patience and civil behavior especially when you did nothing wrong.