Mike Doyle Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Hey guys, new member here! I have a 2003 Heritage Millenium Lefty, which I have religiously used for live shows the last 2 years, and I love it. I bought it used, and the tuning slips quite a bit, and the action isn't where I want it to be. I am pretty good at my own adjustments and setups, but I kind of want to bring the guitar to Kalamazoo for a hands on setup/fret dress/polish and all that good stuff. I emailed them and got this responce: "Everything - relates to normal action of 3/64 treble and 5/64 bass - action at 12th fret buzz free with your set. Got a million guitars under my belt. You will have the best guitar you will very play, after I set it up. Look forward to meeting you. ren PS Please provide your own set of strings for proper tweaking. Cost for set up is 75.00 " So my question is: who has brought their Heritage in for this setup? Ren wouldn't say exactly what was involved. Is it literally a $75 string change and truss rod adjustment, or do they go down on it for a complete buff up? Also, I am intrigued about the tour on Wednesday. Is it fun? Thanks! (Here is me and my baby!) http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v216/KingofLoss/_DSC7978.jpg[/img]
Millennium Maestro Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 If you do a little, and I mean a little.... you will find out setup is heritages worst attribute. Some of my worst playing guitars we setup at heritage. I wish that wasnt the fact, but reality is that I buy thier guitars for the way they build them!!! Honestly most pro's setup the guitars a certain way and hopefully it's not the way SRV had his guitars setup!! I spent a good hour and half resetting up my Millennium Eagle custom 2000 after I paid for a Plec job. Good Luck
Millennium Maestro Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Sorry,.... A little Reasearch ps. I love my Millenniums..... nice pic
High Flying Bird Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Also, I am intrigued about the tour on Wednesday. Is it fun? I set up my own guitars. For me the first string should be about 1/8th an inch over the 12th fret. That is why I don't understand all this set up fuss. ;D Is the tour fun? I smiled so much my jaws hurt. I have to say that the day of the factory tour was one of the best days of my life.
yoslate Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Is the tour fun? I smiled so much my jaws hurt. I have to say that the day of the factory tour was one of the best days of my life. To take the tour with Ren is to go down to the river....
SouthpawGuy Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Hi Mike and Welcome to the HOC and greetings from a fellow lefty ! There seems to be an influx of lefties here lately, more power to them ;D I too have a Millennium, a Standard Ultra, they are a great guitar see my sig for pics of my lefty Heritages. Regards.
brentrocks Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Welcome Mike..... I can almost 99% be sure that the price given to you will not include a buff job....in order to buff the guitar, it has to be completely disassembled....that takes a lot of time. I'm sure they will buff it for you, but expect there to be an additional cost on top of the setup fee. Rendal setup an old H 140 of mine i used to have a while back and it was great! ;D good luck in your venture!!! ;D
tulk1 Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Mike, The Millie. Uh ... wow!!! I'm a Millie owner, too. Is it OSB? My favorite color. In theory I have the boys at the 'zoo spec'ing one out a DC in OSB. In theory, that is. But what's with all these lefties showing up? Next thing you know they'll want their own room on the forum. "No Righties Allowed". I can see it now. ;D
Kuz Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 OK, from someone who has had some experience with Ren working on his guitars... ;D I took a 555 in the factory for a pickup swap for HRWs. I asked Ren if he could "look" at the guitar for me and buff out a few spots. Bottom line: he (or someone there) replace the pickups, buffed the entire guitar, set up the guitar, filed/polished the frets to his liking (I didn't even ask he to do anything on the frets, he said he gave me $100 fret job for free) and it played like a dream. All but one of my guitars have been from dealers first, then shipped to me and played great (these were new guitars I ordered, not ones lying around the shop for years). I ordered one and picked it up straight from the factory and it played great, I actuall had to raise the action it play so well (and I like the action low with 10s) The only thing Heritage doesn't do well is cut nuts. I think when Ren can take his time vs setting up 6 guitars a day for shipping (and the shipping is going to mess up the action anyhow) he does a great job. SO, if you are contemplating dropping your guitar off at 8:00AM, then catching the tour, then getting your guitar back after the tour, what did yo say the cost was $75. I will assure you if you point everything you want done on your guitar he will do it. I wouldn't have anyone else buff my guitar but the Heritage boys. Ask if they will buff it up for free while the srtings & hardware are off. I disagree with Brent I think they will give it a quick buff for free (they did for me). Here in Ohio my Luthier charges $65 for string change (this price doesn't including string cost), trus rod adjust, and lower the action to my specs. Anything additional (buffing, electronics, ect) cost more. So $75 for a pro set up (and probably the extra buffing, but make sure you asked and TELL THEM YOU ARE A MEMBER OF HOC) and a free guided tour from a living legend at an American iconic institution, Yea, WELL WORTH THE MONEY! Just my .02 John
Gitfiddler Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Welcome to the HOC, Mike!! Sweet looking Millie ya got there too. All of these newbies posting pics takes all of the fun of blasting them with the dreaded... :this_thread_is_useless_withou...emoticon. Good job. More pics of your Millie, please. Also with so many darned lefties here, it makes a lefty (that plays righty) like me want to flip my gitfiddle around backwards and start all over again as a player. 8)
GuitArtMan Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 I set up my own guitars. For me the first string should be about 1/8th an inch over the 12th fret. That is why I don't understand all this set up fuss. ;D Is the tour fun? I smiled so much my jaws hurt. I have to say that the day of the factory tour was one of the best days of my life. 1/8"?!? I usually shoot for a hair under 4/64" (1/16") on the plain strings and about 4/64 or just a hair over on the wound strings. 1/8" would be like barbed wire to me!
GuitArtMan Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 I love the boys at Heritage, I do I do, but set ups isn't their specialty unless they do better when you bring it back in than when it originally left the factory. I would recomment finding a good local tech if you can and also learning to do much of it yourself. Dan Erlewine has some great books out that talk in detail about setting up your guitars - highly recommended. Welcome to the club and beautifull millie!
Kuz Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 I love the boys at Heritage, I do I do, but set ups isn't their specialty unless they do better when you bring it back in than when it originally left the factory. I would recomment finding a good local tech if you can and also learning to do much of it yourself. Dan Erlewine has some great books out that talk in detail about setting up your guitars - highly recommended. Welcome to the club and beautifull millie! Yes they do. I wanted a buff and frets polished in addition to a general set up, plus take the tour for the first time, I'd go to Heritage. For just a general set up, a local dealer/luthier probably be just fine. Each has to make up his own mind, but the guitars I have picked up straight from Ren without them being shipped (Sweet 16, 555, 150) have all been set up and played great with VERY low action and no buzz.
ThroBak Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 I actually think Heritage does a better job cutting a nut than. Gibson. All of the Hirstoric LP's I have have the D string too low. A couple of my Heritages have the high E string a little closer to the edge of the neck than I would prefer but other than that they are fit perfectly. My latest Heritage was ordered with a bone nut and it is also fit perfectly.
brentrocks Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 What i meant was if he wanted a complete buff job (which requires complete dissasembly of the guitar, electronics, hardware, etc.) then it would probably cost more because the labor involved would be quite a bit. If you just want them to hit a couple spots that are not near pickips or hardware, they may do it up for ya.
Mike Doyle Posted August 5, 2008 Author Posted August 5, 2008 Nice! Fantastic posts...appreciate the kindness and help. I think I will go next Wednesday, gonna take a nice tour with a bandmate and see how they do it at a classic factory. Plus we get cheap booze and (for his sake smokes) when we cross the border again. Oh! And .90 cents a liter gas...how about that! I'll probably make money on the trip :wink:
Mike Doyle Posted August 5, 2008 Author Posted August 5, 2008 More pics of your Millie, please. Haha, well here I uploaded a video of my playing when I got it a few years ago. Having fun with a harmonizer and delay. Sorry if its not your cup of tea...but you can see the beast!
SouthpawGuy Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Hi Mike, If you do make the trip next Wednesday please do me a big favour and bring a digital camera and photograph everything that is even remotely lefty. Of course you were gonna do that anyway, right ? Regards ...
Mike Doyle Posted August 5, 2008 Author Posted August 5, 2008 Hi Mike,If you do make the trip next Wednesday please do me a big favour and bring a digital camera and photograph everything that is even remotely lefty. Of course you were gonna do that anyway, right ? Regards ... Of COURSE! hahah P.S. That millennium you have...unbelievable. If I had my choice...that would be the EXACT Heritage guitar I would want. I love the sound of mine with HRW etc....but I want that finish. ;D
SouthpawGuy Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Of COURSE! hahah P.S. That millennium you have...unbelievable. If I had my choice...that would be the EXACT Heritage guitar I would want. I love the sound of mine with HRW etc....but I want that finish. ;D Thanks Mike, the finish is Burnt Amber, and it sure does look fine. It also has the HRWs. I got it used, it's a 2004, from the String Collector, (www.stringcollector.com), and got a good deal on it. The thing is mint, I'd say it was never played by its' previous owner.
skydog52 Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Ren has done a set up on my H-555 twice once when I upgraded to HRWs and just this year. Both times he buffed out a few spots. Guitar came back playing like soft butter and looked great. I would ecourage you to go for it. They have always been fair on pricing.
tulk1 Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 P.S. That millennium you have...unbelievable. If I had my choice...that would be the EXACT Heritage guitar I would want. I love the sound of mine with HRW etc....but I want that finish. ;D I like SP's Millie, it's a lot like mine. Altho' mine only says Amber, not Burnt. But I like the finish on yours better. It'd be even THAT much better with tonepros locking nickle hardware and trap-inlays. And a rosewood fretboard. And Seth Lovers - and was a DC. And was right handed. Oh wait -- that's the one I'm spec'ing. BTW, the noodling was fine. Love harmonizers and delays.
brentrocks Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 Haha, well here I uploaded a video of my playing when I got it a few years ago. Having fun with a harmonizer and delay. Sorry if its not your cup of tea...but you can see the beast! I LIKE THE DELAY YOU USED ON THAT...REALLY COOL!!!!
big bob Posted August 5, 2008 Posted August 5, 2008 I bought my millie ltd from elderly the tag says it was set up by "BIG Dave" ,the set up is fabulous
chico Posted August 6, 2008 Posted August 6, 2008 Hi Mike, Took my H150 CL and Milllie DC in to the factory a few months back, probs with the G and B strings on each guitar seemingly havng to be tuned all the time..I knew something wasn't right, Ren took one look and within an hour's time I had both back. They stay in tune great now! photos over on photobucket, make sure to post some there of your git. my millie is DC in old style burst, bought it new in 04. love it. love ALL my heritages.
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