drHoward Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 Greetings! I just landed a gorgeous '99 Golden Eagle and would like to see what others have done with regards to upgrades. More specifically, I'm considering a Kent Armstrong or similar pickup upgrade, perhaps adding a tone control, and maybe even swapping out the trapeze tailpiece. and there's also whether to keep the bridge, which I'm inclined to do... What are people's opinions/experiences, pros/cons, etc?? Your insights are most appreciated! Cheers , Dr. Howard
Kuz Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 No grades needed on mine!!!! I did briefly consider a Kent Armstrong pup (I may do it someday, but sounds great now as is). Congrats on your purchase and welcome to the GE Club!!!
DavesNotHere Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 Greetings! I just landed a gorgeous '99 Golden Eagle and would like to see what others have done with regards to upgrades. More specifically, I'm considering a Kent Armstrong or similar pickup upgrade, perhaps adding a tone control, and maybe even swapping out the trapeze tailpiece. and there's also whether to keep the bridge, which I'm inclined to do... What are people's opinions/experiences, pros/cons, etc?? Your insights are most appreciated! Cheers , Dr. Howard I don't know... I'll have to play it for a few months and I'll let you know And the obligatory
kbp810 Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 I don't own a Golden Eagle so can't recommend any upgrades... ...but I sure would love to see some pics!
sheetsofsound Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 does it have a floating pickup? If not, I would say hold off on the pickup upgrades. The schallers are just fine.
ingeneri Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 No need to swap the tailpiece except for asthetic reasons. I wouldn't swap the bridge either unless you prefer TOMs. Personally, I like compensated wood bridges better, and think you'd lose some of that handmade Heritage mojo in a swap. The tuners are grover Imperial rotomatics, you can't do any better than that. I'm not personally familiar with the floating Heritage #3 pickup, but lots of folks swap them for the Kent Armstrongs. I have the Kent Armstrong Johnny Smith replica on my D'angelico NYL2 and it's a fantastic pickup. I saw Roni ben Hur using the Kent Armstrong full sized 12 pole floating humbucker that's an exact swap for the #3 on a Gibson Johnny Smith and he had amazing tone (despite playing through one of my least favorite amps that night). If you do buy a KA, get the handmade ones from archtop.com instead of the Korean copies, it's worth the extra money. If it's a mounted pup, Jack's right the Schallers are perfectly adaquate and reportedly sound similar to the SD '59s. I played the stock Schallers on my Super Eagle for three years and love the guitar and its tone. But, guitarists never being satisfied I'm swapping those pups for Seth Lovers since, aside from the KA Johnny Smith, those have been my favorite humbuckers.
sheetsofsound Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 No need to swap the tailpiece except for asthetic reasons. I wouldn't swap the bridge either unless you prefer TOMs. Personally, I like compensated wood bridges better, and think you'd lose some of that handmade Heritage mojo in a swap. I have a different outlook on that. The heritage tailpiece is not very good. It has 2 issues. Retainer for ball end doesn't work. The strings slip out constantly. Almost every heritage archtop you see is pitted at the tailpiece from the strings popping out under pressure. On two of my heritage guitars, I replaced the tailpiece with an eastman tailpiece which I bought for under $50 and has a much better design which holds the string properly and happens to look great. Unstable - The heritage tailpieces are not stable. They exhibit some twist and so if you tune the low string down to D (for example) it puts the other strings out of tune.
Kuz Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 No need to swap the tailpiece except for asthetic reasons. I wouldn't swap the bridge either unless you prefer TOMs. Personally, I like compensated wood bridges better, and think you'd lose some of that handmade Heritage mojo in a swap. The tuners are grover Imperial rotomatics, you can't do any better than that. I'm not personally familiar with the floating Heritage #3 pickup, but lots of folks swap them for the Kent Armstrongs. I have the Kent Armstrong Johnny Smith replica on my D'angelico NYL2 and it's a fantastic pickup. I saw Roni ben Hur using the Kent Armstrong full sized 12 pole floating humbucker that's an exact swap for the #3 on a Gibson Johnny Smith and he had amazing tone (despite playing through one of my least favorite amps that night). If you do buy a KA, get the handmade ones from archtop.com instead of the Korean copies, it's worth the extra money. If it's a mounted pup, Jack's right the Schallers are perfectly adaquate and reportedly sound similar to the SD '59s. I played the stock Schallers on my Super Eagle for three years and love the guitar and its tone. But, guitarists never being satisfied I'm swapping those pups for Seth Lovers since, aside from the KA Johnny Smith, those have been my favorite humbuckers. +1 NEVER any problems with any on all my Heritage archtops. Henry Johnson, Mimi Fox, & Vince Lewis don't seem to have a problem either.
sheetsofsound Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 +1 NEVER any problems with any on all my Heritage archtops. Henry Johnson, Mimi Fox, & Vince Lewis don't seem to have a problem either. how do you know?
Kuz Posted April 22, 2011 Posted April 22, 2011 how do you know? I think you are kidding, but I have talked personally with Vince Lewis (saw & played his guitar) and he has never said a bad word about the tailpiece. And his guitar still has the Heritage "H" tailpiece. All the videos I have seen of H. Johnson & Mimi, they still have the "H" tailpiece on their guitars. SO, unless they just keep replacing a bad tailpiece with the same bad design, or they don't have any problems. As for my guitars, I know I haven't had any problems. LOL!!
morg21279 Posted April 23, 2011 Posted April 23, 2011 FWIW, Kent Armstrong will take your #3 pickup, and replace the guts with his floating PAF. No individual screws per string, but very reasonable, and you don't have to mod the pickguard, as I think you do on the replacement from Archtop dot com. As long as he had the pickguard (no need to send anything but the pickup and the guard), I had him add a tone control. Also, had a new bone nut cut.
drHoward Posted April 24, 2011 Author Posted April 24, 2011 Wow! You guys are awesome! I certainly do appreciate a knowledgeable forum!! So, yes, my Golden Eagle does have a floating pickup, which is a new experience for me, so I'm adjusting to the tone.. It does seem to be a bit thin to me, which is why I was looking into a Kent Armstrong upgrade.. Definitely not touching the bridge, and for now I'll also leave the 'H' trapeze tailpiece alone.. I think, I may pursue morg21279's suggestion of sending Kent the pickguard - I would like a tone control also. Otherwise, my love affair has begun with this beauty! Love the feel, sweet neck and great projection! Very woody tone, which is what I was hoping for!! I've had 175s before, but this is my first Johnny Smith-type guitar! Very exciting, indeed! Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions! And, yes, DavesNotHere , pictures coming shortly - hold tight!
sheetsofsound Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I think you are kidding, but I have talked personally with Vince Lewis (saw & played his guitar) and he has never said a bad word about the tailpiece. Why would he? Someone comes up to him (and he as an endorser) and he's going to say the tailpiece isn't up to snuff? haha. I've talked to plenty of people about those tailpieces. Anyone who owns a heritage with that tailpiece has to go to a lot of trouble to keep the strings from popping out while stringing it up. My repairman has dealt with the heritage tailpiece issues for years and 2 of my 4 heritage guitars have multiple indentations under the tailpiece from the strings popping out and both the previous owners disclosed this as an issue and mentioned the tailpiece was "junk". I love my heritage guitars but let's not candy coat the issues when we see them. We should be helping them improve. I guess I'm just making it up though, lol...
drHoward Posted April 24, 2011 Author Posted April 24, 2011 I just restrung her with Flat-Wound 13s and they seem to be holding in there okay.. I'll keep an eye on that tailpiece... Here she is:
Kuz Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 Why would he? Someone comes up to him (and he as an endorser) and he's going to say the tailpiece isn't up to snuff? haha. I've talked to plenty of people about those tailpieces. Anyone who owns a heritage with that tailpiece has to go to a lot of trouble to keep the strings from popping out while stringing it up. My repairman has dealt with the heritage tailpiece issues for years and 2 of my 4 heritage guitars have multiple indentations under the tailpiece from the strings popping out and both the previous owners disclosed this as an issue and mentioned the tailpiece was "junk". I love my heritage guitars but let's not candy coat the issues when we see them. We should be helping them improve. I guess I'm just making it up though, lol... I will just end by saying, honestly, you are the only one I have ever heard complain about the Heritage "H" not retaining, slipping, or falling out strings. But here at HOC everyone is entitled to their opinion.
sheetsofsound Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I will just end by saying, honestly, you are the only one I have ever heard complain about the Heritage "H" not retaining, slipping, or falling out strings. But here at HOC everyone is entitled to their opinion. It's a pretty well known issue. Any repairman who has strung one up will tell you this. In fact, the guy who sold me the sweet 16 recent (who is a luthier) mentioned this to me as a disclosure prior to selling the guitar and stated that the "H" tailpiece was terrible. Hopefully, when heritage specs out a replacement tailpiece they will fix this issue. You should try talking to some repairmen who work on these. Yes, some people are sports fans with their guitars (hence this site). I love my heritage but I call 'em as I see em.
Kuz Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 It's a pretty well known issue. Any repairman who has strung one up will tell you this. In fact, the guy who sold me the sweet 16 recent (who is a luthier) mentioned this to me as a disclosure prior to selling the guitar and stated that the "H" tailpiece was terrible. Hopefully, when heritage specs out a replacement tailpiece they will fix this issue. You should try talking to some repairmen who work on these. Yes, some people are sports fans with their guitars (hence this site). I love my heritage but I call 'em as I see em. I call them as I see them too. If I am a sports fan then fine, but I have more experience with Heritage guitars and have owned more Heritage guitars than some that make wide spread generalizations claiming their OPINIONS are absolute truths. For example, why hasn't my repairman ever had a problem stringing up my Golden Eagles??
big bob Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I call them as I see them too. If I am a sports fan then fine, but I have more experience with Heritage guitars and have owned more Heritage guitars than some that make wide spread generalizations claiming their OPINIONS are absolute truths. For example, why hasn't my repairman ever had a problem stringing up my Golden Eagles?? just a quick question for you gentlemen that may make the point moot. Does heritage still use the H tail piece? I've been thinking of replacing the H on my 575 non cutaway. Not because it is faulty but rather the large gold H seems out of place on that plain top, would like something more understated.
sheetsofsound Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I just restrung her with Flat-Wound 13s and they seem to be holding in there okay.. I'll keep an eye on that tailpiece... Here she is: i've never had a problem once they're fully under pressure. It's just during the "stringing up" process they they tend to pop out. I find that if I hold the ball end in with one hand while tuning the string up to pitch it holds ok.
Rob1250 Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 Greetings! I just landed a gorgeous '99 Golden Eagle and would like to see what others have done with regards to upgrades. More specifically, I'm considering a Kent Armstrong or similar pickup upgrade, perhaps adding a tone control, and maybe even swapping out the trapeze tailpiece. and there's also whether to keep the bridge, which I'm inclined to do... What are people's opinions/experiences, pros/cons, etc?? Your insights are most appreciated! Cheers , Dr. Howard Dr. Howard I recently put a Benedetto floater and a tone control on my Golden Eagle. I had owned a Fratello and a Golden Eagle previously and decided the tonal differences were so minor I could take this route and have a great acoustic archtop without spending $10,000. Happily, I think it worked out great! My GE is the custom orange burst finish. I had my tech make an traditional Gibson shape ebony pickguard for it, when he installed the Benedetto pickup. I think it is prettier than an Benedetto and the sound is just as good. Good luck with yours. (P.S. I'll post a pic here soon. Just recently joined.)
Rob1250 Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 Greetings! I just landed a gorgeous '99 Golden Eagle and would like to see what others have done with regards to upgrades. More specifically, I'm considering a Kent Armstrong or similar pickup upgrade, perhaps adding a tone control, and maybe even swapping out the trapeze tailpiece. and there's also whether to keep the bridge, which I'm inclined to do... What are people's opinions/experiences, pros/cons, etc?? Your insights are most appreciated! Cheers , Dr. Howard I decided to get a pic for you and the club. Here you go.
FredZepp Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I decided to get a pic for you and the club. Here you go. Sweet..
big bob Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I decided to get a pic for you and the club. Here you go. WOW, just WOW!
JeffB Posted April 24, 2011 Posted April 24, 2011 I just restrung her with Flat-Wound 13s and they seem to be holding in there okay.. I'll keep an eye on that tailpiece... Here she is: Looks great. I seem to gravitate to that finish.
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