TalismanRich

Very nice. I'm glad they brought back the 555 and 157. I like gold hardware, and the bound headstock just looks great.

I missed the 2 above the serial #. Good catch.

If Marv doesn't know anything about it, then did he NOT get one of the 4 guitars? You would think he would know if 4 were made and he got one. I guess it's down to Pete, Ren, Bill or Jim to unravel the mystery.

Pull the control cover and check there. It should be written there. The numbers are 00402. It's hard to tell if the letter is a Q or not. There was a point where their stamp was getting pretty well worn. It made some of the serial number unreadable. For a bit, they wrote them out by hand, then they got a new stamp. They had to do that when they got to AA serials anyway.

"Sorry, can't talk. I'm late for church!!!"

....except for the listing says "barely played". I guess it could have been played by one of JP Moats' relatives since it was made a year after his death.

Ok, we already discussed that the neck is Korina. I guess the back is as well. We didn't have a shot of the back before, but that would make sense. The serial number puts it at about April 28th 2016, 2nd guitar assigned that day. I'm surprised it says Duncan 59s. They look aged, or very dirty.

The "description" is just the standard description for a generic H-150. It's not a "standard" 150, with the bound headstock, it's more like a Deluxe. The neck does appear to be korina with a strip of perhaps mahogany or maple. The pickups also look like aged pickups, perhaps SD Antiquities. Most likely not stock 59s. It's surprising to me that a "boutique guitar" dealer trying to sell a guitar as being unique doesn't put a bit more time into the research instead of just pulling junk off the web. As an AG serial number, it would date to 2016 which is a full year after JP passed away. I'm sure Jim, Marv or Ren could fill in the details. The obviously have the other 3. There's no reason that the owners couldn't have decided to commemorate the 4 original owners in guitars. It was still their company at that point, just when Plaza was buying into the company (spring of 2016).

I remember seeing someone working on an H-150 on a belt sander years ago. I liked the CNC carver right off the bat! We all got to see Heritage's duplicarver. Today, it's all in the CNC.

I don't have massive long fingers. A thinner neck works well for me. But it's not just the size or thickness but the shape. It's one reason that I don't even look at PRS guitars. The neck shape, especially the SE versions are actually painful, especially for my thumb. My Vint 54 Strat has a beefy neck, but it's rounded which helps.

But I thought Schaller glued the magnets in, so they aren't so easy to replace.

Pete said that the Plek machine is fully booked, just with their production. I think he might have said they run on weekends sometimes. There's no time for outside work.

Have you tried tapping down those few frets? I've heard of instances where a fret lifted a bit, but when tapped, was reseated and fine.

Yeah, there are some classic songs with fuzz, most of the time it's a solo and the fuzz is used to punch things up. The ending of the Carpenters "Goodbye To Love" is and ES335 into a Big Muff played by Tony Peluso, who was in Mark Lindsey's backup band. It's classic fuzz tone. It's just that I find an OD to be more useful overall. An overdrive rolled back can be left on and when it comes time to solo time, roll up the volume on the the bridge pickup for some bite. At some point, you just run out of room on the pedal board!

All the original P90 Heritages that I'm aware of have Jason Lollar pickups. Unless it was a custom order, or the pickups were changed, those would likely be the stock ones. The control cover may even say the pickups. Check there.

Lets see..... I had an original Fuzz Face. Got stolen around '72. I didn't think it was great, but it was one of the few pedals that you had back then. You didn't have 247 different fuzz pedals! Replaced it with a Jordan Boss Tone that plugged into the front of the Jaguar. Great for doing Satisfaction and Inna Gadda Da Vita. I eventully traded that for an EEPROM burner many years later. The knobs were broken where the whammy bar would swing around and hit the plastic. I covered it up later with a piece of Erector set with electrical tape on it to protect it. Got a Fender Blender. Very fizzy. It did fuzz and octave. I don't know where that pedal went. I probably left it at the bass players house. All told those 3 would probably fetch you 2 or 3 grand today. At the time, I was out about $100 total. Pedals back then were much cheaper! Most of the time, I simply turned my Guild Thunderbird amp to 10 and if you toggled the 3 way tone switch between two settings, it was almost like doing the jumper on a Marshall. The amp was only about 35 watts, so it would really distort when full up. Today, I don't use fuzz, I prefer the OD. Klon style and Tube Screamer have been my mainstays, although I really like the Blues Driver that Pete Farmer lent me at PSP. It wasn't so midrangy like a TS. Haven't bought one yet but it will happen. I haven't decided if I'll get the standard or WazaCraft model. I have a Soul Food, but I replaced it with a NotaKlon. It sounded smoother to me, and was less noisy. My preference is for a smoother, creamy overdrive, not a harsh biting sound. I like the sustain for soloing.

That's funny, micing the floor to hear your tapping. I once read an interview with Paul McCartney, and he said there's one thing EVERYONE does wrong when they play Blackbird. He said that nobody ever taps their foot, and that was something he did on purpose! Nice pickin', Daniel.

Mark, good to hear from you again. Glad to hear you're enjoying your time. I missed reading your tales (sometimes good, sometimes tales of woe). Should there come a day that you get the bug, you'll surely find some like-minded mates to scratch the itch. Don't stay away so long next time.

Lordy Mark, Do you have a black cloud floating somewhere over your head? I remember what it was like when my leg was in a cast for 6 weeks. UGH! Hope you heal up quickly!

Wow, you were looking to replace a guitar player, and you end up with a rotation of drummers! That stinks that your man had to bow out because of arthritis. This aging stuff just sneaks up and bites us when we're just having fun. Hopefully the days of drama and drunken spouses are far behind you. Perhaps you can grace us with some videos of the new band.

I can't think of a more eloquent way of putting the HOC and PSP in perspective. Yes, this is a hobby for most of us, but the friendships are what make it all worthwhile. Well said!

You mention the neck/body junction, but I don't see a photo of that joint. Perhaps I am not understanding the nature of the problem. Is the problem only with the binding, or is there a more structural issue with the neck joint? While I personally would not have an issue with the offcenter dots, it clearly is a fault. Your best recourse is to deal with the seller. If he is an authorized dealer, he should act as the bridge between you and the factory. Having modified the guitar with the Bigsby may present a problem. Changing the binding on the neck would be one way to remedy the situation, and I fear that it could result in more visible flaws. The dots are knocked in by hand, so the dot could be drilled out by hand, filled and redrilled for the new dot.