KSquared Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 My first Heritage. For that matter, this is my first non-Fender electric. (How can that be?) This Chestnut Burst 535 arrived Thursday. Duncan '59 in the neck, Seth Lover in the bridge. It was formerly in the Brentrocks harem (thanks again, Brent). I've spent the better part of the weekend playing it, and playing around with it. It had more relief in the neck than I like, so I gave it a truss rod twist, which lowered the action about 1/64th. When I plugged back in, whoa -- just that little bit made the pickups way too hot. So I lowered them a bit. Back to perfect (until I tinker again). Brent had it setup with a top wrap on the tailpiece. I put on new strings and put it back to "normal", but I quickly decided I like the top wrap better, so I switched back and sacrificed a perfectly good set of strings . . . So enough tinkering, time to enjoy it. First impressions include: Bending and vibrato are so much easier on a G-scale guitar over an F scale. (I have 10s on both.) I need to lighten my touch. She's a curvy beauty, but a rocker at heart. Classic LP tones are easy to come by. I'm used to skinny necks. This neck is not. But it does not bother me at all; it even seems to improve my playing. Hmmmm . . . As far as setup goes, the action at the 17th fret is 7/64th bass and 6/64th treble. That's a bit higher than my Strat. I'm not going to tinker for a while, but I wanted to ask how others setup their 535s for rock/funk playing. It's a different beast than I'm used to (which was the point of getting it!).
DetroitBlues Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Congrats! You have a wonderful guitar and the piece of mind knowing it was taken care of by its previous owner.
schundog Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Congratulations, and welcome! That 535 Brent had, ever so briefly, is a beauty, and I think 535's are where it's AT! I hope you enjoy it for a long time.
Guest HRB853370 Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Hmm, Mr. Brently is turning guitars almost as quickly as Dr. MG is, even ones he has not even paid for yet!!! So in honor of this, I am plugging in my 535 right now and am going to jam on ZZ Top's "just got paid". I saw the photos of that one when he acquired it, and I was very lustful, as I love that finish. Congratulations and play it in good health! And lastly....photos please?
FredZepp Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Wow, you picked a winner with that one... excellent axe. I'd think that that pickup combination would work rather well also. Post some pics if you get a chance, here are a couple of Brent's pics....
blueox Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Congrats on your first non-Fender electric. The H-535 is a "can-do-all" guitar with looks to boot.
fxdx99 Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Congrats - that's a beauty. A tele and semi is my favorite twosome, so your fender mix should serve you well. Maybe put a set of 11 gauge strings on the 535's shorter scale to be closer in feel to fender. Wail it in good health!
KSquared Posted June 6, 2011 Author Posted June 6, 2011 so I meant to post a pic from my hard drive, but it didn't work. Do they need to be on Photobucket or some other web service to display? I can try that later.
Hfan Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 Beautiful 535, love that finish congrats. to post from photobucket I do the following: 1.Select your photo on photo bucket 2.On the right near the face book logos select "see more" 3.On the next page select "get link code" 4 Select and copy the link listed for "Direct link for layout pages" 5. On the HOC message tool bar, paste that link into the green square photo looking icon two over from the smiley face. Just click the green square, paste the link and then hit "insert Image"
FredZepp Posted June 6, 2011 Posted June 6, 2011 so I meant to post a pic from my hard drive, but it didn't work. Do they need to be on Photobucket or some other web service to display? I can try that later. If you download it and attach it directly into the post, it will show up as a thumbnail that has to be clicked. But if you put the pic in photobucket, Picassa, or in our gallery here then you can use the link to post it full size in your post.
KSquared Posted June 10, 2011 Author Posted June 10, 2011 Finally figured out how to upload the pic. Here she is posing with my strat. Dr Z amp in the background. The two are like light and dark, chocolate and vanilla, yin and yang . . .
FredZepp Posted June 10, 2011 Posted June 10, 2011 Finally figured out how to upload the pic. Here she is posing with my strat. Dr Z amp in the background. The two are like light and dark, chocolate and vanilla, yin and yang . . . That setup could yield a whole lot of great tones...!!!
JeffB Posted June 10, 2011 Posted June 10, 2011 Finally figured out how to upload the pic. Here she is posing with my strat. Dr Z amp in the background. The two are like light and dark, chocolate and vanilla, yin and yang . . . Looks awesome. Nice score. Congrats on that beauty.
KSquared Posted June 10, 2011 Author Posted June 10, 2011 That setup could yield a whole lot of great tones...!!! Yep -- my tone hunting has kept me from getting a lot of work done this week. Oh well.
TalismanRich Posted June 10, 2011 Posted June 10, 2011 As far as setup goes, the action at the 17th fret is 7/64th bass and 6/64th treble. That's a bit higher than my Strat. I'm not going to tinker for a while, but I wanted to ask how others setup their 535s for rock/funk playing. It's a different beast than I'm used to (which was the point of getting it!). There's a ton of difference in feel between a Strat and a 535, but it's amazing how quickly you can adapt. I can go from my G&Ls to my Heritages without any problem. One thing you won't encounter that might be an issue with a 150 type would be access to the upper frets. Your action sounds a bit high at 6/64ths on the high E. I'll have to go back and watch my PSP recording but I remember Ren saying "3 & 5" 64ths. That jives with the standard Gibby setup of: 1st fret- treble side - 1/64" 1st fret- bass side - 2/64" 12th fret- treble side - 3/64" 12th fret - bass side - 5/64" Enjoy your 535. They're great guitars!
KSquared Posted June 11, 2011 Author Posted June 11, 2011 That is beautiful! What is the finish? Chestnut Sunburst (CNSB). It's very red in person, but darker than cherry. The flames show through up close.
KSquared Posted June 11, 2011 Author Posted June 11, 2011 There's a ton of difference in feel between a Strat and a 535, but it's amazing how quickly you can adapt. I can go from my G&Ls to my Heritages without any problem. One thing you won't encounter that might be an issue with a 150 type would be access to the upper frets. Your action sounds a bit high at 6/64ths on the high E. I'll have to go back and watch my PSP recording but I remember Ren saying "3 & 5" 64ths. That jives with the standard Gibby setup of: 1st fret- treble side - 1/64" 1st fret- bass side - 2/64" 12th fret- treble side - 3/64" 12th fret - bass side - 5/64" Enjoy your 535. They're great guitars! Thanks for sending the Gibby specs; I had not seen that before. That ought to be a good frame of reference. I still have about .03" of relief (measured at 8th fret, with a capo on 1st and holding the string down at the 22nd). I would not be surprised if a truss rod adjustment lowers the action closer to the spec. The bridge is more than 1/8" off the top, so there's room there too. I guess I need to tinker some more.
koula901 Posted June 11, 2011 Posted June 11, 2011 Don't know how I missed this post, but congratulations! It's a real beauty! I love my 535.
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