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Wow, that's awesome!

I think the varying lengths on the finger bridge and similar designs outside of appearance, is perhaps the overtones that occur with the length of string from the saddle to the ball termination. On the trapeze tail guitars I've owned, the dead length between the bridge and tail is clearly audible when plucked, acoustically and via the pickups. The plucked notes are not at all musical, with no relationship to the tuned note of the vibrating length of the string. Now, if one were to design the bridge/tail to arrive at something more harmonically in tune or at least not objectionable, I think that might be appealing musically. FWIW I put silk-wrapped ball-end strings on my trapeze tail guitars for that reason, to just deaden the ringing. It's minor and maybe, nobody but me noticed it.

I don't think that's actually true. I went and looked in my old physics book and then confirmed a few other sources as well. The reference calculation is called Taylor's Formula: F = m * f^2 * L^2 The length (L) only refers to the vibrating length of the string, between the inside edge of the saddle and the inside edge of the nut. What we guitar players call "scale length". These links discuss orchestral instruments, but the math is applicable to guitars as well. https://www.thomastik-infeld.com/en/stringtelligence/string-technology/do-changes-in-frequency-or-vibrating-string-length-affect-the-string-tension This one is also by TI but covers more of it in a single article: https://www.thestrad.com/accessories/stringtelligence-by-thomastik-infeld-vibrating-string-length-and-string-tension/9132.article I know this comes up a lot in electric guitars, and acoustic flat tops as well, with regard to the break-angle over the bridge. For instance, the practice of top-wrapping the strings over a Tune-O-Matic tailpiece versus using the holes. It is often said it reduces string tension and make them more "bendy" but tuning the same mass to the same pitch on the same scale, would necessarily mean the same string tension. The break angle does though, alter the down-force of the bridge against the soundboard or body of the instrument. Here's a calculator that will compute the force exerted on soundboard once the string tension is known: https://www.liutaiomottola.com/formulae/downforce.htm

I think only the length of the scale determines tension for any particular gauge/weight of string. So the distance between the nut and saddle a determinant, but the distance from saddle to stop bar is not part of the equation. There are a certain amount of harmonics present on the string outside of the scale length, and this can have an effect on sound. The string between tuner and nut, and between the saddle and tail piece are audible if plucked, and a certain amount of sympathetic vibration happens when the intentional note excites the string beyond the nut and saddles. I've occasionally stuffed the head stock of basses and a guitar or two to stop the weird ringing overtones that come that. It seems more apparent to me on bass, FWIW. I'd tend to think that the finger tailpiece was probably designed for appearance primarily. It sure looks nicer than a trapeze tail.

I thought Heritage has been giving Gibson a run for its money ever since the first few I saw in the mid 1980's!!! I have a great Gibson Les Paul, 60th anniversary 1960 Ver 2 custom reissue. It is just killer. But my H535 is the best ES style I've ever owned and among the best I've ever played. Side by side with the Collings I35, I'd take the 535 for half the price (or less actually). That Collins weren't no slouch either.

Doesn't seem wrong for Seth Lovers. They're usually around 8k ish. I can't remember if they have the same impedance bridge and neck, or slightly more winds on the bridge. I was thinking they were the same. They're in the ballpark anyway. The original PAF were the same, neck or bridge.

Just curious if you can read the ohms of the pickups? Something strikes me odd about the bridge, like maybe it just got a sticker. I think SD keeps a database of the Seth Lover pickups and can recall the DCR based on the serial number sticker on it.

The pickups are little odd. Usually, the Seth Lover set has a smooth base plate, a sticker in the middle with a rubber stamp serial number, and the blue "Seth E Lover / Seymour Duncan" signature stamp over it. Then there's the little model number and date sticker by the leg. If you look at the photos here at Sweetwater, they have an image of a 2016 Seth Lover https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SH55n4NKL--seymour-duncan-sh-55n-seth-lover-4-conductor-pickup-nickel-neck Usually what they look like. Looks like you have a bridge with the embossed "Seymour Duncan" logo pressed into it, no rubber-stamp sticker and no blue signature. But the neck (fuzzy background) looks more like I'd expect. I think the H-535 '06 is actually "106". Which makes sense if it was part of special run or something. Perhaps the internal sticker has been lost to the winds. It is just a paper decal, a dose of humidity or bad luck might loosen it. Or someone picked it out, or who knows on a 9-year old guitar. I think you got one someone's mildly modified. The blonde 2001 with HRW pickups I own, I found a couple of years ago at a shop that had it marked as a 2020 for some weird reason. It was pristine, with the original Schaller hardware. It had "the sound" one wants from a 535. Had to have it. I later found it had the waviest fretboard to escape the factory. Neck perfectly straight, fretboard like a roller-coaster, though all the frets were level. Some were brand new tall, and some were leveled down to .027" tall. Eventually I pulled all the frets, leveled the rosewood, then refretted it myself with medium jumbo, which means the nibs had to go, then put Faber hardware. So, the moral of that story is you never know what someone does to them in the field. What counts is how good it is. My 98 H150 I bought used when it was 2-3 years old, from the original selling dealer. (Buffalo Brothers, who were a big Heritage dealer long ago). They ordered the run with this spec, and took this one back in trade from the original purchaser. The SD59's in it are OEM ones that SD sold to manufacturers back then. No stickers and a little different stamping on the back. So definitely original.

"Hey honey, I was thinking to get junior this guitar for Christmas." (shows picture of Ascent)

Pics? It doesn't sound quite right to me. I do own a special order H150 from 1998. It was a dealer special order, they made a run of them, maybe a few runs of them. It is a standard H150 but it came with SD 59 pickups and a Nashville tune-o-matic bridge and a zinc stop bar, instead of the typical Schaller pickups, bridge and tail at the time. But it bears a regular serial number and it has the normal sticker under the control cavity cover.

The white one looks like it is frowning at you, or it has a fu-man-chu mustache! 😆

Those are real nice looking guitars!

Yeah, I got one of those ES-135 too. It's never really "taken" to me. I guess after 30-years, I could sell it. But it was a birthday present to myself, long ago.

yeah, I have an '01 535 with the HRW's. I absolutely love the pickups. I'd never change them. The SD59's in my '98 H150 are not my favorite, OK though. They don't bug me enough to spend money changing them.

I've played a few of the H150's with the weight relief and I think Heritage got a good balance of weight distribution that some of the earlier weight-relieved Les Pauls from Gibson didn't. I have a 1998 H150, that once I changed some of the hardware on, tips the scale at about 8lbs and 14oz, definitely one of the lighter ones. Unlike most H150's of the era, it had from the factory, a standard Nashville bridge and a heavy zinc tailpiece, and was just over the 9lb mark. Swapped the Grovers out (super heavy they are) and put a Faber aluminum tailpiece and ABR1 on it. That knocked a lot of ounces off. That guitar always had a ton of acoustic resonance. Which is was why I bought used so many years ago. Just a few years ago, I got a Gibson custom shop 1960 Les Paul reissue (60th anniversary model). That one is solid, one-piece mahogany body, and total weight is 8lbs and 1oz. It is a joy to play, light and resonant.

I’ve got a 2001 535 with the HRW’s in it. Like it very much. I put a Faber bridge and tailpiece on it, mostly for feel since I’m used to a tune-o-matic under my muting hand. I later put in the Faber bushings and was amazed at how much the tailpiece bushing inserts changed the tone. Made really good even better. They go much deeper and firmer into the maple center block, seem to acoustically couple to the wood much better than the much shorter and looser Schaller hardware. The HRW pickups are very amenable to tone shaping with the amp or pedals and EQ. Can dial in a variety of tones from them very easily. Some say they are “hi fi” but I’d say smooth frequency response curve. Which is ideal for dialing the amp/effects to get a sound. I’d say exhaust all the external tone shaping options before you change parts. A 7 or 10-band EQ can be very helpful to figure out what to do to get where you want to go.

Yeah, I'm a big fan. I have a USA Geddy Lee signature model. I really love it too! And a Rick 4003. Black, of course. (couldn't live with the old Rick bridge - neither did Geddy, as he put a BaddAss bridge on it.

A very young bass player once bought a Rickenbacker bass, in the footsteps of his hero, Chris Squire. He was most disappointed to find that he didn't sound at all like Chris Squire. The young bass player eventually became quite famous on his own and associated closely with the Rickenbacker bass. Thing is changing parts will make little tweaks in the sound, but you might be chasing a ghost. We don't really know what instrument might have been played in a studio, even when a musician is strongly associated with a particular instrument. Sometimes, maybe there was just something random in the place and he picked it up and played it. Then there's the amp, and the micing and the room, and the engineer's technique to take the track, that particular session or maybe many sessions and so on and so forth. Find the guitar that works for you and your hands, and play the song(s) you want as well as possible. Then, record it. Compare overlayed on the track you want to sound like. See what you can do with various studio/DAW plugins, especially ones that represent the things that might have been in use at the time it was originally recorded. Then do some deducing what is and isn't close to your ghost. In many cases you can get "there" with some EQ, compression and creative dialing in of those.

Just got to figure out the ship in the bottle approach specific to any particular semi-hollow. They're all a little different, think it through, make some tools. I have a 1/4" plug soldered onto a pretty stiff #8 wire with teflon insulation for pulling the jacks through on guitars like 535's where the jack is in the side, and a different one for 335 types with the jack on the face of the top. Switches on the 535 are more trouble-some, since they're thinner than the typical 335. And a roll of nylon floss, to tie to the pots, a few cuss words and a hell of a lot of patience.

I have a 2001 H535, with HRW's. The switch tip has a black dot (and black tips have a white or cream dot). The pickups have the double height adjust screws, as do the regular Schaller humbuckers. (HRW's are made with the same hardware from Schaller). They are also marked on the back of the pickups as HRW in ink.

I went with Farber, including the insert bushings. Super happy with the results, especially my 2001 H535 which came with the same Schaller roller bridge and top-load tail piece. I had to wait on getting the inserts for the H535, so I played for a while with just the Farber bridge. Once I pressed the much longer steel Farber bushings into the guitar, I was amazed at how much better it sounded. The go will into the maple center block, where as the original tailpiece bushing from Schaller was very short and just mostly contacted the upper shell. My 1998 H150, came with Gibson style zinc tailpiece and a "Nashville" bridge. The Farber hardware didn't make as much sound difference, but the lighter stop bar helped my goal of reducing weight of the guitar to under 9lbs, along with replacing the Grover tuners. I find the ABR-1 style bridge more comfortable to play.