Heritage Prospect History

[Bandade]

I picked up a 1998 Heritage Prospect in Cherry almost a year ago from a music store in DC. Its a real nice guitar visually and feels great. Whoever owned it before must have loved it as well because it looks like it has seen a lot of gigs given the relic look and worn frets between the 9th and 11th. I haven't found the pickups for it yet, it came with Schallers and i now have Seth Lovers in it which are slightly more to my liking, I have been giving some thought to trying some humbucker sized p90s because I generally prefer the non compressed sound of single coils.

 

In all the research I have done on the Prospect I feel like I have only seen around a dozen total on all websites. So here are my questions:

 

When did Heritage start making the Prospect?

 

What kind of pickups do folks use in their Prospects?

 

Any other hardware or electrical upgrades people like on these guitars?

[Bandade]

Here are a couple pictures. Origional pickup rings are cream but the Seth lovers had black so i didn't bother changing them when i put the new pups in.

[DetroitBlues]

Wow, nice guitar. I'm pretty sure the prospect came out a couple years after Heritage began producing guitars. Brentrocks and others would know more. Heck, you could always call Heritage about it too.

[Gitfiddler]

The Prospect series began in 1991 according to their website.

 

Most of them came from the factory with Schaller humbuckers, some with DVIP switching and other customer options.

 

Several custom one-offs have been seen around here.

 

Hopefully some of them will drop in with pictures and details for you.

 

http://www.heritageguitar.com/modelhistory.html

 

[tulk1]

I've had a couple of Prospects. First one was fairly stock - Schallers, Almond Burst, etc. Very very nice guitar.

 

 

My Pride and Joy is my Prospect Custom. Dark Almond/OSB mix, trap inlays, tulip tuners and PhatCat H90s. Not quite Humbuckers, not quite Single Coil, not quite P90s. Just a good mix of all of them. Prospects are my favorite Heritages of all I've owned. Don't think you can go wrong with one of these.

 

 

[dbetts41]

Here are a couple pictures. Origional pickup rings are cream but the Seth lovers had black so i didn't bother changing them when i put the new pups in.

 

Bandade,

 

Nice guitar. I have seen a couple of cherry prospects over the years but none with that nice flame. Can't go wrong with the Seth Lovers either.

[mars_hall]

FWIW, An large un-named store owner in Vegas took Prospects and put his spin on them and sold them under the model known as Heritage Blues Deluxe, which was really his own naming. There are a couple of flavors of these, as I recall, with one being called a Blues Deluxe Standard or Std.

[BrianToth]

Here I am with mine which is pretty modified:

 

Ebony board w/split block inlays, ebony pickguard, tonepros hardware, cream binding, chunky neck carve, master volume installed a la Guild Starfire, Fralin P-92 pickups, Roland synth wiring,

 

[bolero]

prospects are fantastic guitars, kind of like a LP sized 335

 

I sold one long ago & regret it, but at the time something had to go

[BrianToth]

With regard to the Las Vegas dealer, you can still order a Prospect with a full block inside instead of the partial one that's standard.

[needane]

The prospect and the gibie es 336 have lot in common, not sure whiche came first but the heritage "as most know" can be ordered with almost any "what's your pleasure". HRWs Are my choice of pups and the guitars weight and size are easy on ya if a night of playing is on order. Great sounding covering most styles single instrument

[kidsmoke]

 

 

My Pride and Joy is my Prospect Custom. Dark Almond/OSB mix, trap inlays, tulip tuners and PhatCat H90s. Not quite Humbuckers, not quite Single Coil, not quite P90s. Just a good mix of all of them. Prospects are my favorite Heritages of all I've owned. Don't think you can go wrong with one of these.

 

 

 

 

 

sweet jesus. Tulk, that is perfect. A Prospect quickly became something I wanted to get my hands on when I first learned about the Heritage line, after landing my 535. A lightly smaller version of my guitar strikes me as perfect. But man, THAT guitar. the bound headstock with the kluson's,the traps...and that finish. Nicely done...you spec'd that out yourself?

[tulk1]

 

 

sweet jesus. Tulk, that is perfect. A Prospect quickly became something I wanted to get my hands on when I first learned about the Heritage line, after landing my 535. A lightly smaller version of my guitar strikes me as perfect. But man, THAT guitar. the bound headstock with the kluson's,the traps...and that finish. Nicely done...you spec'd that out yourself?

Kid, glad you like it. Altho' the majority of it was my idea, I had help spec'ing it out. I have a few buds here that I have run my ideas past. They've all had input. And Ren helped a bit. I had the basic idea, he suggested the brand of tuners to match the "aged" binding; single binding was my idea. I had wanted a wrap tail and he suggested, rather emphatically "NO". <lol> The color mix was actually Vince M.'s idea - told him I had OSB and DASB already. He said he'd take care of it. The phatcats were actually my homage to Rob (yoslate) after playing his 150 with them. And my dealer suggesting I not go with real p90S if I'd never had them before. Things like that. All suggestions taken into account.

 

Your 535 is no slouch, tho'. Looks a lot like the Prospect.