MartyGrass Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Pete Moreno worked for Gibson in Kalamazoo for many years. He is now a private luthier who always has interesting stories. One of them is that he was asked by Julius Belson, the Gibson CFO, to take a huge number of PAF pickups to the dump just to make space. He loaded up a truck and did this. So much for those sacred PAFs- they were just getting in the way in the early 60s. Yesterday Pete told me another great story. When Gibson closed and Heritage had not yet started, Gibson had a large number of guitars that customers returned to Gibson for repairs. Gibson did not want to haul them to Nashville and asked Pete if he'd repair them. Pete agreed. There were literally over a thousand of them, some of them already a couple years waiting for repair. He hired Jack, who is now Heritage's repair guy, to help fix all of the Gibsons. They were busy. It took three years to get them all done, so some of them had been sent in by Gibson customers five years before the repairs were complete. Pete filled his truck with repaired guitars and drove to Nashville every month for those three years. He also brought back other Gibsons that needed repair to his shop from Nashville. He is still is closely tied to Heritage and does a lot of work on Heritages. Ren has referred me to Pete for complicated electronics, for example. Pete is a modest man. I've never heard him brag. But his stories should be told to add to our appreciation of the rich history behind Heritage. One another note, I just returned from the Heritage factory. My new Millie is being fully restored by them, Jack in particular actually. The work could have been satisfactorily done by some wet sanding, a little nitro, and buffing. I wouldn't have complained, and that was what the price quote was for. But Jack kept looking at the guitar. Billie and Ren also came around and noted it was the first production model, which was a big deal back then 12 years ago. There was some more eyeballing. Then Jack told me that he was going to take all of the hardware off and make it look perfectly new. He said that there wasn't anything he couldn't get out. I did want to change pickups, since I already have one of these MIllies and need somehow justify two of them. He said he'd redo the electrical harness, put my Fralin P92s in, and put on a better jack with a plate for $20. All I could say was thanks! Dealing with Pete and the Heritage group is like taking a trip with a time machine. Basically I enter the 1950s, only better- not perfect, but better. It's hard to describe. Walmart doesn't give me those same feelings.
Blunote Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 You'll need to tell that story someday over a glass of lemonade.
pegleg32 Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Those are cool stories Mark, Thanks for sharing. The guys at Heritage are top notch for sure.
NoNameBand Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 MG, thanks for sharing. It's always great to hear these stories. Shame about the PAFs though. If we only knew then what we know now.
nicknickhall Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 So, let me get this straight... Mark gets a lemon (bad analogy, how about a piece of bruised fruit?) and makes lemonade! It's called the art of living. Thanks for this post.
FredZepp Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Some good tales from Kalamazoo there... I have to agree with your thoughts of the magic of Parsons Street, a time machine indeed.
DetroitBlues Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Wonder if I should of had Heritage refinish the old 140. They really go the extra mile. Maybe I take the 150 in for new strings and get a fresh paint job instead....
PunkKitty Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Reading stories like this makes me want to drive to Kalamazoo and bring my Prospect to them for restoration. There is a bit of binding separation that I'd like repaired. *sigh* Too bad PSP is not in the cards for me this year.
Keith7940236 Posted June 27, 2012 Posted June 27, 2012 Stories like that make me appreciate my Heritage guitars all the more. It's great to be a part of such a great tradition
blueox Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 "Reading stories like this makes me want to drive to Kalamazoo and bring my Prospect to them for restoration. There is a bit of binding separation that I'd like repaired. *sigh* Too bad PSP is not in the cards for me this year." Yes, it would be worth the drive. Just be sure to come on that day they are giving the afternoon factory tour. Then when your Prospect is done, you'd get another look at the factory when you come back to pick it up.
brentrocks Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 I so enjoy going to Petes shop....he is a great fella to just chew the fat with....i always end up talking to him for hours and not really talking about guitars.
Jazzerous Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Those guys are great and thanks for sharing the history too!!!
bolero Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 excellent news!! I'm glad the whole debacle surrounding the purchase of that millie is resolving itself and thx for the stories...I too have heard the tale of huge amounts of PAF pickups shipped off to a landfill some years ago by Gibson, to clear old inventory I wish I knew which landfill
brentrocks Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Pete told me that story about the PAFs years ago....he said he was literally "shoveling" them into a truck to take to the dump....the thousands of dollars that are sitting in a landfill.....
Guest HRB853370 Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 But what you dont know is somebody most likey spotted them, recovered them, and stashed them away for years. These are the ones you see popping up on Fleabay for big bucks. It amazes me what people AND companies just throw away.
DetroitBlues Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Pete told me that story about the PAFs years ago....he said he was literally "shoveling" them into a truck to take to the dump....the thousands of dollars that are sitting in a landfill..... Did he say which one????
MartyGrass Posted June 28, 2012 Author Posted June 28, 2012 Pete told me that story about the PAFs years ago....he said he was literally "shoveling" them into a truck to take to the dump....the thousands of dollars that are sitting in a landfill..... In today's market it could be millions of dollars. And by now they'd be "antiqued".
blueox Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 "Did he say which one????" Growing up on the southeast side of Kalamazoo, I could see the landfill (generally called The Dump) off in the distance to the east on the other side of the Pennsylvania Railroad track. It was south of Cork St. and north of I-94. Actually, what we now call a "waste management" business is still there, but I think the actual landfill is capped. I remember kids going over there (before the days of security and fencing) to scavenge for stuff. One brought back a control piece for a Gibson double-neck. Bird's Eye View: http://binged.it/ODpalf
Gitfiddler Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Marty~ Your Millie is being treated like a celebrity at the Heritage factory. That is absolutely wonderful, especially considering the insults it has had to endure...not to mention your angst!! Your factory tales are priceless, historical nuggets. Someone needs to write a book on all of this stuff.
Guest HRB853370 Posted June 28, 2012 Posted June 28, 2012 Might end up being the most famous Heritage on the HOC!!
bolero Posted July 4, 2012 Posted July 4, 2012 I saw this in the news & immediately thought of this thread...no, it wasn't me http://ca.news.yahoo.com/body-found-michigan-landfill-identified-canadian-man-missing-133913221.html
unikh550 Posted July 9, 2012 Posted July 9, 2012 Bet Pete's pulling his hair out over my H-550, which I had him refinish in late March. Besides removing and putting back in the Charlie Christian pickup, he's taking the ACB to the bare wood and refinishing it a deep antique natural kind of color that he showed me. Also, putting on new tuners that don't match up with the holes, filling in those holes, repairing a couple of small top stress cracks, and reinforcing the jack hole from the inside with a wooden patch about 3" long, which Heritage had not included back in '98. My Epi Joe Pass spruce top does the job, but I sure miss the Heritage. Will wait a few days before pestering Pete again. He's a nice curmudgeon.- Charley Bevell
MartyGrass Posted July 10, 2012 Author Posted July 10, 2012 Bet Pete's pulling his hair out over my H-550, which I had him refinish in late March. Besides removing and putting back in the Charlie Christian pickup, he's taking the ACB to the bare wood and refinishing it a deep antique natural kind of color that he showed me. Also, putting on new tuners that don't match up with the holes, filling in those holes, repairing a couple of small top stress cracks, and reinforcing the jack hole from the inside with a wooden patch about 3" long, which Heritage had not included back in '98. My Epi Joe Pass spruce top does the job, but I sure miss the Heritage. Will wait a few days before pestering Pete again. He's a nice curmudgeon.- Charley Bevell I find that unusual for a laminated top to have stress cracks. Have you seen that before? The red stain is difficult to get out. The wood is beautiful.
unikh550 Posted July 10, 2012 Posted July 10, 2012 Hi, MartyGrass, Suspect that those two tiny- and, I mean, tiny- cracks were caused by the weight of the Charlie Christian pickup. Also, about five months ago, I tripped over a step outside of a club where I was playing and landed on my face. The guitar case landed hard on the concrete. Who knows? Actually, have dialed in the Joe Pass to my Polytone so that it's remarkably close to the bite of the 550, but not exactly there. Have replicated the tone of Barney kessel; Now, have to become as good of a guitar player.Barney liked the guitar when he held it back in '99 in his SD home. Pete said that he was using wood stripper to take off the red. Told him that if he's not successful, would be okay with the tobacco sunburst-type of finish that he showed me would be the backup to the Antique Natural. I'm going to call him right now!.- Charley Bevell
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