Alex78 Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 Hello everybody, as I wrote in the presentation thread I'm Alex and. First,I hope you can forgive my ignorance, here it's very difficult to find any Heritage so I've a lot of questions about the brands and the models. In short, I'ma rock guitarist and I am looking for a semihollow, I narrowed my options to the following guitars: 1) Epiphone Sheraton Elitist...the one MIJ with minibuckers. I always love "flashy" guitars and this one has a good reputation, unfortunately it's hard to procure and now they want about two grands for that, a little to expensive for me for a MIJ guitar, no matter how good. 2) Gibson 345: I'm a fan of Chuck Berry so a red 345 would be an ideal choice. This axe is also hard to find,I don't think it's in production anymore. 3) Heritage: here I need your help guys, I've never played one, I know the history of the brand and the reputation it has...but how different is from a "standard" 335, the only good guitar of this genre I played? The 555 looks very good, a sort of Gibson 355 version made in Heritage, but I've seen there are many variants and options, do Heritage make one of these Stereo and with the Varitone? Generally speaking, how is the neck of an Heritage? Thin and narrow? Thanks for the answers!
Guest HRB853370 Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 Hi Alex, I am no expert, but I can tell you that the Heritage 535 has been compared very favorably to the G brand 335 and the 555 is a 535 with many more appointments. Necks on these range from medium to medium thick but if you custom order, you can get the carve you desire. They do not make stereo as far as I know the varitone has been discontinued. If you like Rockabilly you may want to consider a 575 but this is a true hollowbody instead of semi. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search!
SouthpawGuy Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 Hi and welcome. The short answer is you can't really go wrong with a 535, newer ones have chunkier necks, older models have slimmer necks. My first Heritage was a new '07 535 it probably has the biggest neck of all of mine. The 535 by default has a mahogany neck with rosewood board, dot markers and unbound headstock although there more than a few out there with block inlays and bound headstock. The 555 has had a few incarnations, mahogany with ebony board is the norm nowadays previously it had a multipiece maple neck with ebony, the tonal differences between them may or may not figure into your thoughts. As for hardware the 555 is usually gold, the 535 has nickle.
Alex78 Posted July 31, 2012 Author Posted July 31, 2012 Hi Alex, I am no expert, but I can tell you that the Heritage 535 has been compared very favorably to the G brand 335 and the 555 is a 535 with many more appointments. Necks on these range from medium to medium thick but if you custom order, you can get the carve you desire. They do not make stereo as far as I know the varitone has been discontinued. If you like Rockabilly you may want to consider a 575 but this is a true hollowbody instead of semi. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search! Mmm, the 575 and the sweet 16 are stunning guitars but I don't think I can control them with a tubescreamer into an AC30...I usually play what is called today "classic rock" like Zed Zep, Rush (as far as I remember Lifeson used a 355 without feedback problems), Guns'n'Roses but also 50s stuff. Hi Alex, I am no expert, but I can tell you that the Heritage 535 has been compared very favorably to the G brand 335 and the 555 is a 535 with many more appointments. Necks on these range from medium to medium thick but if you custom order, you can get the carve you desire. They do not make stereo as far as I know the varitone has been discontinued. If you like Rockabilly you may want to consider a 575 but this is a true hollowbody instead of semi. Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search! The 555 has had a few incarnations, mahogany with ebony board is the norm nowadays previously it had a multipiece maple neck with ebony, the tonal differences between them may or may not figure into your thoughts. As for hardware the 555 is usually gold, the 535 has nickle. I prefer thin necks possibly or flamed maple like my acoustic Guilds...do you think they still make it custom ordered? What surprised me more is that for the 555 there are different inlays: Or
DetroitBlues Posted July 31, 2012 Posted July 31, 2012 That's the beauty of Heritage. You can get a custom ordered to look and feel exactly as you want for the price of a off the shelf Gibson 355...
Kuz Posted August 1, 2012 Posted August 1, 2012 Will, yes they will and do still make flamed maple necks for a 555 (or a 535) for an uncharge. Most people prefer the original 335 which has a mahogany neck with rosewood fretboard so they made that the default for the 535/555, but maple neck with ebony fb can be ordered as an option. As for full disclosure, the 535/555 is a little thinner at the rim, I believe .25". I spoke with Patrick (Eastern US Heritage Rep) and he said that there would probably be no discernible difference in tone due to the ever so slightly thinner rim width. Also the F holes are slightly larger on all Heritage guitars. According to Ren this give a bigger, woodier, and louder sounding guitar.
Alex78 Posted August 1, 2012 Author Posted August 1, 2012 So, I received the news: no varitone,no stereo. Disappointed!
SouthpawGuy Posted August 1, 2012 Posted August 1, 2012 I don't think Heritage have ever done Varitone, a single rotary tone control with different capacitors. The Heritage D-VIP variphase uses two three way switches, one for each pickup with humbucker / single coil / out of phase for each pickup. As for stereo a piezo bridge pickup was an option previously and it used a stereo output jack to enable the use of the magnetic pickups and piezo at the same time. I don't know if that's an option currently or if that's even what you're looking for. Can't harm to ask though.
Kuz Posted August 1, 2012 Posted August 1, 2012 So, I received the news: no varitone,no stereo. Disappointed! Most of the '60s guitarist disabled the varitone and ran it in mono anyhow.
Alex78 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Posted August 2, 2012 Most of the '60s guitarist disabled the varitone and ran it in mono anyhow. Yes I know but some time ago I tried a 355 and I liked both varitone and the possibility to run two separate amps, and I consider them important features of this type of guitars. So the option now is to install them on a Heritage ( if the Varitone is available aftermarket) or getting a 345.
kidsmoke Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 Yes I know but some time ago I tried a 355 and I liked both varitone and the possibility to run two separate amps, and I consider them important features of this type of guitars. So the option now is to install them on a Heritage ( if the Varitone is available aftermarket) or getting a 345. You're talking electronics. let Heritage build you a guitar, and have a luthier set you up with Varitone. Worst case you drill a 3/8" hole in the top and rim which is what has to be done anyway. Probably still get out of it for the price of a G****n, with a truly unique guitar. Somewhere in the last couple days Southpaw posted a link to a Danish distributor. Buy one of his 555's and have it done. That would be a great guitar. Welcome, by the way. Good luck with your search.
NoNameBand Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 In a conversation at the last PSP with Jim Deurloo, he said he would put the Heritage 535 up against any similar guitar made by anyone else. I don't think anyone makes a better semi-hollow than Heritage's 535/555. I'm just sayin. Welcome to the club, get a Heritage 535/555 and you'll never look back.
Alex78 Posted August 2, 2012 Author Posted August 2, 2012 In a conversation at the last PSP with Jim Deurloo, he said he would put the Heritage 535 up against any similar guitar made by anyone else. I don't think anyone makes a better semi-hollow than Heritage's 535/555. I'm just sayin. Welcome to the club, get a Heritage 535/555 and you'll never look back. No doubt the 555 has an edge over other brands, especially speaking of woods and finish (some of Heritage sunbursts are the best I've ever seen) but the lack of many electronic options is a pity IMO, I don't see many customization options on the website and I had to come here and see some custom orders, for instance the 535 with binding on the headstock and blocks. You're talking electronics. let Heritage build you a guitar, and have a luthier set you up with Varitone. Worst case you drill a 3/8" hole in the top and rim which is what has to be done anyway. Probably still get out of it for the price of a G****n, with a truly unique guitar. Somewhere in the last couple days Southpaw posted a link to a Danish distributor. Buy one of his 555's and have it done. That would be a great guitar. Welcome, by the way. Good luck with your search. Yes I also thought about it, unfortunately here I don't know who could do the job. I personally work on many of my guitars and perhaps I would be able to replicate the circuit of the 355 with stereo outputs and varitone, but Im scared to death at the idea of working on a circuit into an F of a semihollow. However it's an option I'm considering, after all the 345 and 355 are mostly "production" guitars and perhaps I don't think you can order a thin slim taper and a 42 mm nut, not to mention the limited choice of finish.
Gitfiddler Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 I'd bet Ren could work with you on installing a custom order with everything your heart desires...including a Varitone. Here's a link to the Gibson ES345 Varitone schematic: http://images.gibson.com/Lifestyle/Support/Files/Schematics/ES345.PDF And here's a current one for the Blueshawk Varitone: http://www.blueshawk.info/official_gibson_schematic.htm If you wanto to go nuts, here are the rest of their schematics: http://www2.gibson.com/Support/Schematics.aspx
SouthpawGuy Posted August 2, 2012 Posted August 2, 2012 I'm almost certain I've seen a 535 or 555 with a rear access panel. Think it was white or silver, a one off for a Heritage artist maybe.
light01 Posted August 3, 2012 Posted August 3, 2012 thank you for sharing pictures guys. I was able to get some ideas for my costum guitars
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