TalismanRich

That's what the guitar was built for. I like the fancy strap you have on that thing.

I'm guessing that the change in feel wasn't so much a thickness issue, but a surface roughness change. Feeling a couple thousandths of a change in thickness would be impossible. A change of several microns difference in surface roughness is detectable. I worked with inks and coatings for 40 years and one of the measurements was surface roughness. It affects gloss and abrasion. Too smooth can feel sticky unless there is something to cause it to glide like an oil, wax or silicone. There are multiple instruments that will measure the film thickness in microns. It would be a really simple way to test an instrument before and after attacking it with sandpaper. Then measure the surface with a profilometer. While I didn't formulate any wood coatings, I had friends that worked in labs of a few paint companies around here who did. NC was on its way out for most purposes, but it is still used for certain coatings. We still had 4 plants using it at one point. It's excellent for certain packaging materials. BTW, I once formulated a really nice NC lacquer for the brass pans on my slot car chassis. We were trying to make an overprint varnish (didn't work because of solvent restrictions). We had a bunch of different grades of NC along with different plasticizers and compatible resins. Besides keeping them nice and shiny, it insulated so it couldn't spark if they hit the braids on the track. As long as you didn't need to solder it back together it was great. It was easily removed with a mix of acetone and alcohol.

While wood doesn't breathe, exposed wood will absorb and release moisture, which causes the wood to swell and shrink. That's why acoustic guitar bodies will move significantly with seasonal changes in humidity. The whole inside of the guitar is bare wood. The fretboards of guitars are generally uncoated, so they will also move with humidity changes. That's why we have truss rods. You won't see the body of electric guitars move like that since they are a) much thicker and stable and b) coated with lacquer to seal the surface.

As I understand, the nitro finish on most guitars is in the few thousandths of an inch... maybe 3 to 6 thou. They aren't very thick. I think polyester finishes can be 20-30 thou.

I don't doubt he says it's more resonant. NOBODY is going to say that they went through all that effort and money and ruined their guitar's sound. I have read hundreds of comments of people modding stuff, and it always turns out better... 100% of the time. It never fails to make a massive improvement. Call me a skeptic.

I hate to say it, but nitro lacquer doesn't allow the wood to "breathe" (the wood is dead anyway..) It's a myth the gets posted on the internet all the time. It's just BS that people say to distinguish it from polyester or urethane coatings that are "plastic". If you're going to sand it down, you better have a good polishing wheel handy to buff it back, unless you want an "old looking" dull finish. Just be careful that you don't sand or buff through the whole finish. According to my dad, I had an uncle who used to polish his black Oldsmobile every week back in the early 50s. After a couple of years, he hit metal on a few spots!

Frankie's rockin' that thing! I guess he's not so "country" anymore.

I didn't get the impression that they are in any way based on HRWs. I even asked the fellow who winds the pickups at Heritage about HRWs during the tour last year (Has Ren told you his secret sauce?"). I remember Ren smiling, but no comment. Has anyone ever tested HRWs to know what type of magnet it has? Measure the resistance and inductance values? Cryogenicly treated with liquid Nitrogen? We know it was based on the Schallers, but everything else was just speculation. My take was that Heritage is trying to get a "vintage PAF" sound. However, what that means is pretty vague. EVERYONE is going for that sound, from Seth Lovers, to CustomBuckers, Mojotone 59s, Dimarzio PAF Anniversary, etc, etc. Everybody using different magnets (including Gibson in the PAF era). The number of winds varies, so resistance varies. I think most are using 42gauge enamel wire.

I don't think they sell any of their 225 pickups, except for in a guitar. I wonder if they would put 225s in a standard guitar, like they did with the old HRWs.

That guitar takes me back to my guitar lessons in the mid 60s at Dee Wells music studio. They had one in the display case for sale (WAY more than we could afford), but seeing that, as well as guys like Johnny Rivers on the cover of his album Live at the Whiskey a Go Go just fired up my first case of guitar lust. You can have your Les Pauls and Strats. That's what a guitar should look like!

Why in the heck didn't you tell me I was supposed to hate the headstock. Now I feel so stupid!!!!

My "D" serial # H-140 has the old style pickguard and poker chip. I've left it stock except that one of the Schaller pickups was bad. I put in a pair of SD Alnico Pro IIs in it.

I agree, make whatever changes you like. I have my preferences, others have different ones. The main thing is that you play it!

Does this mean I can play my Hello Kitty guitar without fear of ridicule or guitar shaming?

Some of my guitars have top hat and reflectors. I like speed knobs, but they make me play too fast sometimes. Going to 11 is probably a good thing, but I have trouble reading those little numbers when I'm playing! I have to stop picking, lift the guitar up, put on my reading glasses and set the volume. It tends to mess up the rest of the guys. They think I forgot the song!

On the other hand, one of these poker chips might be an improvement! I'm partial to playing Mary Ann most of the time, but Ginger can be fun.

If the reason for changing stuff is just to make it "more like Gibson", the my answer is a resounding "NO". Adding a pickguard to the 137 is good because it serves a purpose. Changing tuners to locking ones serves a purpose. Changing electronics can also serve a purpose. Changing the pickguard to an ugly Gibson style is wrong. I think the Heritage guard is far superior, I like how it flows with the shape of the body. Adding a Poker chip is just pointless. It's a worthless piece of plastic. Maybe in 1952 it let people know that up was for "rhythm" and down for "treble", although to me, that doesn't even make sense. You play rhythm, you don't play treble! Seriously, does anyone even look at a poker chip to decide what setting to use? If I wanted it to look like a Gibson, I could buy a Gibson. I bought a Heritage.

Maybe my memory is off, but I thought that all the Heritage made pickups were potted. There was the wax potting setup in the pickup winding room. I'm wondering if the squeal is due to the covers rather than the coils themselves. It's easy to test... when it starts to squeal, press on the pickup cover and see if it stops.

I thought the guitar looked like a "stripped" Groove Master. No inlays, no Kenny Burrell signature, 2 knobs, 1 pickup.

I don't know that they could use a pick guard similar to the one on DB's HOC 137. It's almost exactly the same a what Gibby is using on the USA model. They don't need another Gibby lawsuit. It might have been better to just leave it off. I don't know if using a stoptail/bridge vs the wraptail is another way to distinguish itself from Gibby, but I don't remember any issues with the old H137 with the wraptails. It would just mean additional inventory but that shouldn't be a huge deal. Order a dozen, and do a run. They mention enhanced sustain, but I think a good wrap can be solid as well. The headstock is part of the Custom Core identity. I can understand them using it, but it shouldn't add a lot to the cost structure. I also think $3300 is a bit pricey. $2750 +/- would be more in line. You don't have the carving to deal with, binding, or any of the niceties of the 150 or 535s. Its nice that it doesn't have the poker chip. It's a worthless piece of plastic.

The showcase has been closed for many years. The factory is on Massman, close to the airport, off the Briley Parkway.

I've got Alnico Pro IIs in my H-140 and they sound fine. I put Sheptone Tributes in my H-535, and my Mille 2000 has Seth Lovers. The 157 still has the Schallers in them. Nobody complained about the tone at PSP when I played it. I get more differences from my amps than I do from the pickup changes.

I liken the Ascent line as similar to the G&L Tribute line. When first introduced, the guitars were labeled as Tribute by G&L. I think it limited the appeal of the guitars. Later, they changed to G&L Tribute Series for the logo and I think it gave the junior line a boost. I think Heritage should have done some thing similar. It would differentiate the guitars from the US line (although it easy enough to tell an Ascent by looking at the back of the headstock). I will say that my Tribute ASAT is an excellent guitar. There's no reason an Ascent guitar can't be an excellent guitar as well. As for the company dying in 2016, I would rather have the company stay alive even if it means change. I've got a guitar that was hand built by an outstanding luthier, Gerard Melancon. Unfortunately, he developed cancer and passed away some years back. The company died that day, no more Melancon guitars... JP has already passed, Jim, Bill and Marv are no longer spring chickens (God love 'em) and deserve some rest. Sometimes you just need to pass things along to the younger generation.

Right around the corner from Prospect and Academy is Henderson! Sir Brentrocks could have been immortalized. if only.... 😁