Heritage Kenny Burrell Groovemaster Review

[ingeneri]

Apparently, great things come in two's.  My Heritage Kenny Burrell Groovemaster arrived on Thursday.  Like Yoslate's custom Super Eagle, this guitar was a custom job on order for 14 months.

 

The Groovemaster is a 16" maple laminate archtop with a 23.75" rosewood fingerboard.  It's similar to the old ES-175 except for two features: 1) the depth is only 2.75" and 2) there is a floating center block.  Unlike a semi-hollow 335 or 535, the block only reinforces the center and the guitar remains fully hollow.  This reduces feedback, and allows for a tune-o-matic bridge installed in the top, instead of the more traditional floating kind, that increases sustain.  Unlike a semi-hollow, it has the traditional trapeze tailpeice seen on new 575s.  The tuners are Grovers (I believe rotomatics) but without the Imperial buttons featured on the Super.

 

I customized my Groovemaster with gold hardware and SD Phat Cat pickups (humbucker sized P-90s). The finish is a flawless antique sunburst and the black pickguard is actually attractive!  This guitar looks much better in person than in most of the photos available that are the single pickup version.  The fretting is perfect, you can feel the difference the PLEK process makes versus my older Super Eagle. 

 

I played this at three gigs over the weekend using Thomastik Swing .13 guage flatwounds.  With my Super or D'angelico, there is a hard snap at the bottom of the sound regardless of how deep the tone is.  In contrast, you can hear the soft maple producing a warm creamier tone.  Unlike the other 16" maple laminates I've played (Epi Joe Pass, new ES-175, and even a 1954 ES-175) this guitar didn't sound tiny or dead.  With the neck pickup, you get a very warm and dark 1950's ES-175 tone.  With the tone opened up it sounds like Herb Ellis, with it dialed off your in early Jim Hall territory.  The bridge pickup is twangier, more of a blues tone.  I've been experimenting with using this for a bright Grant Green tone, but I'm not there yet.  Using both pickups, I got close to the early Kenny Burrell sound you hear on all those Jimmy Smith records.  I'm curious how this guitar will sound with rounds. 

 

The shorter scale (as opposed to the 25.5" on the Super) is great for bop runs.  At the same time, unlike my old Les Paul, I don't feel cramped when playing complex voicings or chord melody.  In some ways the guitar is too easy to play, you have to be a bit more conscious of editing yourself.  When the volume is cranked, I did start sustaining too much (like a 535, I suspect) and had to adjust my playing a bit.  I've seen some of these guitars modded with a floating wooden bridge, and it might be something I'd consider since I'm going for that older sound.  But I plan to try the tune-o-matic out fully first.

 

My biggest design complaint, however, is the pickup selector.  Back when I ordered this guitar, the switch was located in the same place as an ES-175 or 575, now it's down among the tone and volume controls like on a semi.  I found the new location pretty inconvenient when I was trying to switch between comping with the neck pickup and soloing with both.  I'd advise Heritage to go back to the older design.

 

Yeah, I know  :this_thread_is_useless_withou.  In the meantime:  http://www.jhalemusic.com/pages/heritage.html and http://www.heritageguitar.com/GrooveMaster.htm

[fxdx99]

Nice review, ingen - thanks and 1up.

[yoslate]

Heartiest congrats on the new box, ingeneri!  Very, very glad to hear that it turned out well.  I hope the Phat Cats meet with your approval, as I feel just a little complicit in that.  I haven't had time for my tone report yet, but rest assured, I think the Lollar P-90's and the Cats are very, very close.  Those differences I hear in the 576 and the Super seem very much the product of the differences in the bodies of the two guitars only.  Looking forward to hearing more about the Groovemaster as you break it in.  And thanks for refiling your Super review, gratifying to see a few consistencies between us, as I think you actually know what you're talking about!    :wink:

[brentrocks]

Congrats!  i hope you enjoy it!

[big bob]

great googlie mooglie, what a fine lookin peice of wood.

how about some sound clips. 

[AnH555]

Congratulations and thanks for the report. That sounds like a pretty unique guitar, and with an incredible action. I've got a short scale guitar and it's very comfortable to me. One conclusion I've drawn from people who have placed custom orders is it's a good idea to specify everything from control layout to strap button location - even string brand and gauge. Hopefully Heritage will shorten wait times as their home page states. +1

[Gitfiddler]

Ingeneri~ Great review!!  And yes, great guitar...or should I say...'Groovy Guitar'!  8)

[ingeneri]

I little update/addendum to the review above.  Like an old ES-175, the neck is mahogany and has a thick1950's G****n profile.  On a longer 25.5" scale guitar like the Super this would be uncomfortable.  While I normally prefer a thinner neck, here it balances the 23.75" scale fingerboard nicely. 

 

Regarding the Phat Cats, there's a debate as to just how much these sound like P-90s.  I don't have true P-90 experience and will leave this question to Yoslate.  I did side by side comparisons with my humbucker equiped Super using the same amps.  The Phat Cats definitely have a broader frequency and are quite distinct from the regular humbuckers.  Their a bit more sheilded because of the humbucker shape and covers, so the dreaded single coil hum is less noticable (and certainly inaudible in a bar).

 

In the tone report above, I was using a solid-state Jazzkat on gigs.  This is a very warm and dark sounding amp.  Last night I tried it out  solo with my Fender 65' DRRI.  As usual, the tube amp killed.  The DRRI is bright, and the Groovemaster immediately slipped right into that early Blue Note tone without any tweaking. See here for what I'm going for: http://www.amazon.com/Kenny-Burrell-John-C...3693&sr=8-1

 

Here is a good example that's similar to the sound with the Jazzkat: http://www.amazon.com/A-Night-At-The-Vangu...3856&sr=8-3

[111518]

Nice review, Ingeneri, and congrats on what sounds like a very fun, versatile, and beautiful guitar.  Interesting point about Grant Green ... makes sense, given the construction of the guitar, and the fat cats, that you should be in the neighborhood of that cool es 330 sound.  (Green sort of defines  "groovemaster" to me; finding his records (with John Patton) in the cut out bin was one of my introductions to jazz guitar.)

 

Looking forward to the pictures ...every sunburst seems to have its own character. 

[ingeneri]

I'm selling this guitar on consignment through Jeff Hale.  It's a great instrument, but, as I noted above, it has a bit too much sustain for my tastes.  Since I have multiple guitars, I decided to go with a 575 modified with P-90s.  But if I was looking to have one versatile jazz guitar, the Groovemaster is an excellent choice.

 

I posted more info in the for sale forum, but here's the link to Jeff's site for those who are interested:

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Heritage-Kenny-Burrell...oQQcmdZViewItem

[peterbright]

What a beauty!