Should Heritage use Schaller pickups.... VOTE

[cosmikdebriis]

.  I think I would rather get stuck inside a cave. 

 

I though you were into birds... Not Bats 

[VJonathan]

No!  Schallers don't do their instruments tonal justice, and I am beginning to think the HRWs are following close behind.  There are too many pup designers who make a far better product:  Duncun, Lollar, Fralin, Holmes (if you can get them)  etc.  These custom pups can be tailored to a specific instrument that compliments its tonal characteristic. Just  MHO.

[SouthpawGuy]

I think that Heritage should not use the Schallers.

 

I am a relative newcomer to the Heritage brand, I got my first a new H535 last October.

What attracted me was the quality, the finish, the price and the pickups ..... Duncan '59s.

More than likely I would not have purchased that guitar if it had Schaller pickups.

More to the point the Duncans were the deal maker, Schallers would have been the deal breaker.

Why put a $50 dollar pickup in a guitar that lists at $3500 ?

 

If it had Schallers I would have had to spend more money buying aftermarket pickups and then pay someone to install them on a semi, a feat I would not readily undertake on a new instrument.

 

At the time I wasn't even aware that Jay Wolfes Heritages were not the standard production line guitars, it was only afterwards that I came to realise that most of their guitars came with different pickups and hardware than mine.

 

On the HRWs, I only came to know about them from this forum, they are indeed great pickups but how many people outside of the circle of Heritage fans know that ?

 

If all Heritage guitars came with SDs as standard with an option to upgrade to HRWs, Lollars, Fralin or Kent Armstrong then the instruments would have pickups equal to the quality of the instruments.

 

Just my thoughts ...

[Jorgen-Denmark]

Well said... I'm in agreement with you there.

 

It's the perceived quality that matters. Heritage are under selling themselves with Schallers simply because people believe them to be a cheap(er) option, regardless of how good they actually are (or aren't).

 

Imagine being out at a gig somewhere with your 150. Chances are someone's going to inquire about it. Probably pass favorable comment too.

 

Thing is after you've told them all about Kalamazoo, studied the flame finish etc. Are you honestly going to say. "Yes and it's got Schaller pickups too"  ???

Maybe U got a point there, Cosmik...

 

I may be some kind of old rock dinosaur, when it comes to the opinion on what pup's 'm wearing, when I'm playing. I'm just playing with whatever sound, that comes out of my amp's :-[

 

I've been asked a lot 'bout the git's, I have had on stage, but never been asked, what kind of pup, I was using - when it comes to sound, there all looking at my pedalboard after checking out the guitar/amp costellation  ???

 

If I look on the bright side - here's room for improvement in my universe, even though I'm not sure, I want to be enlighted ;D

 

I think, I'll keep my mouth shut and just listening to what you guys have to say - Schaller or not 

 

And please don't ask, what else pup's should be standard on a Heritage, keeping in mind all the vendors being proposed as the best pup-makers in one of your other good threads....

[cosmikdebriis]

And please don't ask, what else pup's should be standard on a Heritage, keeping in mind all the vendors being proposed as the best pup-makers in one of your other good threads....

 

Yes... It wasn't my intention to suggest a better alternative, as you say that has been discussed elsewhere. and everyone has an opinion there.

 

It was purely to find if Schaller were a good idea, for the image of H

 

So far... Schaller aren't doing to well in the vote.

[jacques]

The Schallers in my old H162 are superb...

I don't understand this Schaller bashing actually. They are a great company with top products. Many people favour Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen because of the good engineering of the Germans. Now I understand this is not a good argument, but in general German products are considered the best in the world, so why would Schaller make a mess out of their pickups? There  were Schallers involved in some famous vintage sounds!

 

After all, pickups are just magnets with winding around them. After market pickups are big business, but how much of that is justified?

 

Doesn't anybody have some 'before and after' clips?

[cosmikdebriis]

The Schallers in my old H162 are superb...

I don't understand this Schaller bashing actually. They are a great company with top products. Many people favour Mercedes, BMW, Porsche and Volkswagen because of the good engineering of the Germans. Now I understand this is not a good argument, but in general German products are considered the best in the world, so why would Schaller make a mess out of their pickups? There  were Schallers involved in some famous vintage sounds!

 

After all, pickups are just magnets with winding around them. After market pickups are big business, but how much of that is justified?

 

Doesn't anybody have some 'before and after' clips?

 

The thing is... It's not the quality of the pickups that are the issue here. It's more whether people "think" Schaller pickups are suitable on a top quality instrument.

 

If we look at cars... Then if you own a Rolls Royce, people automatically think "quality". On the other hand, a Lexus doesn't have the same effect despite, quite possibly being a better car.

 

Oddly enough... I'd say that it is exactly the same principle that keeps people spending over the odds for a Gibson when a Heritage may well be a better instrument.

 

There will always be people that buck the trend but the majority will go for the perceived image...

 

Image is everything... :'(

[doggy1972]

I honestly think some people are believing the blurb here. Schallers certainly sound like PAFs to me. Good ones at that. They are not a distortion pickup. Just an honest to goodness hummer. Ive thought about changing, then I plug her in and think, Nahhh. Im not saying SD, G*****, Rio Grande, Dimarzio etc are not what some people want. I just think that people arent hearing the good stuff because they believe the hype.

Peace

[Cryoman]

I tend to agree with you, Dog.

 

It's in the ear of the beholder. I think the Schallers sound absolutely fantastic in my H535. Every bit as good as my SD 59s and Gibson 57's. I've also got HRWs, Burstbucker Pro's, 498/500s in other guitars and the differences in all of these is minor relative to amplifier settings, speakers and even tubes.  Everyone has a different aesthetical sense (thankfully).   Gotta trust your own ears and not the hype-print / marketing...

 

Cheers,  Cryoman

[Peter Cl]

Hi !

 

I had never heard of Heritage guitars When I chose my 1991 H 150 over 2 LP Standards in a store years ago. At the store manager's recommendation, I put them all through their paces and the Heritage won on all accounts, including tone. And I was using a great deal more overdrive in those days, too.

 

Since then, the "image" of Heritage has always, for me, gone hand in hand with actual, as against perceived, quality, which is the point of this thread, I believe.   

 

Anyway, years later, I "discovered" that my guitar had Schaller pickups in it. I was unmoved, I must say. They still sounded great and they certainly ain't "mopeds"

 

So, I voted yes.

[jacques]

Exactly! That is what I meant.

[fxdx99]

Well, I voted no I'd rather pay extra from my experience w/535.  I played that guitar w/schallers for 4 years or so, then swapped to seth lovers and I like it a lot better.  A LOT better.  Now the schaller's aren't a bad pickup - they don't sound bad per se, they just don't (to me) sound as good as the seth's.  No hype here, just comparing tones.  I can see where if you're playing very clean most of the time (think old style country or maybe jazz) that the schallers would work great.  For blues/rock, it's a large enough difference to have seth's in it. 

 

Guess this vote is more 'what would I pick' - from a business perspective having a partner in schaller and offering options of different pickups probably makes a lot of sense in a more custom-made type of company like Heritage.

[ingeneri]

Well, I voted no I'd rather pay extra from my experience w/535.  I played that guitar w/schallers for 4 years or so, then swapped to seth lovers and I like it a lot better.  A LOT better.  Now the schaller's aren't a bad pickup - they don't sound bad per se, they just don't (to me) sound as good as the seth's.  No hype here, just comparing tones.  I can see where if you're playing very clean most of the time (think old style country or maybe jazz) that the schallers would work great.  For blues/rock, it's a large enough difference to have seth's in it. 

 

Actually, see my earlier post about the Schallers for jazz.  They're not used by any of the major arch tops by either companies or small luthiers that I know of. Maybe Hoffner, I notice they don't specify what pickups they use either.

 

I've noticed that most of those defending the Schallers seem to play solid bodies, while us arch top guys seem to be universally in favor of dumping them.

[freshmattyp]

I'm new to the brand, and come from the Fender world where pickups get swappd about as often as strings.  I didn't know my new 535 had Seth Lovers until after I'd played it and decided to purchase.  I do think that for their market identity Heritage would be wise to switch to a more recognized brand name pickup in keeping with their image as a top of the line hand crafted instrument manufacturer.

[Peter Cl]

I've noticed that most of those defending the Schallers seem to play solid bodies, while us arch top guys seem to be universally in favor of dumping them.

 

Interesting. Living where I do, I've never had the opportunity to try out a Heritage archtop.

 

My H-150 is, in fact, set up for Jazz-style playing (one is not a schooled Jazzer), with fat flatwound or "halfround" strings and volume never above 7-8, straight into a tube combo.