HANGAR18 Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 New Guitar Day! Used 1999 Heritage H157, haven’t plugged it in yet. It’s been played and it has just the right amount of mojo wear and the beginnings of some vintage yellowing on the binding. Does this maple top look like “quilted maple” to you or does it look more like a squirrelly “flame maple”? Maybe those of you who know more than I about how they grade instrument wood can provide your opinion as to what it should be officially classified as. I’ve never owned Schaller Pickups made in West Germany. Are they good? What kind of output can I expect? High, medium or low? Fancy bridge, what kind is it? I’ve never seen one of these up close. Anyone ever seen this guitar before and know any history about it?
HANGAR18 Posted April 3, 2013 Author Posted April 3, 2013 Looks like I was the first person to ever open the pot cover.
H Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 First of all - nice snatch! That's flame maple, not quilt, but it's very pronounced flame. The Schallers are low-output PAF type pickups. They'll do classic rock but probably not death metal
smurph1 Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 First of all - nice snatch! That's flame maple, not quilt, but it's very pronounced flame. The Schallers are low-output PAF type pickups. They'll do classic rock but probably not death metal I know I'm in the minority here, but I like Schaller pickups..But the decision is yours though..Sweet axe by the way!!
H Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 I know I'm in the minority here, but I like Schaller pickups..But the decision is yours though..Sweet axe by the way!! I'm with you smurph, Schallers are good pickups
Gitfiddler Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 Mmmmmm! Nice one. Are you going to keep it stock or refin the top?
ridethatbike Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 Whatever you call it, that's good wood. Congrats on your acquisition!
HANGAR18 Posted April 3, 2013 Author Posted April 3, 2013 Mmmmmm! Nice one. Are you going to keep it stock or refin the top? I expect to replace the pickups at some point with hot pickups. I'm looking at a SD combo pack with a SH4 bridge and a Jazz neck but they aren't covered and I don't want to screw up the looks too much. Also considering some passive EMG (all black) pickups but I have no idea what direction to go on that yet. It will be a while before I change the pickups.
hinesarchtop Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 That's flamed not quilted. Very nice flame figure indeed. Congrats.
Guest HRB853370 Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 I think Brent had that one at some time? Maybe? Good score Hangar!
Hfan Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 Congrats, I have that guitar's twin. Give the Schallers a chance, they sound good to me in my 157. I did change the tailpiece for cosmetic reasons. Enjoy.
RhoadsScholar Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 I think that top would look great with Zebra Style Pickups as it has cream highlights with the black and flame. B E A U T I F U L .
Yooper Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 Cool. Flame/quilt under translucent black has real character.
Steiner Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 First of all - nice snatch! That's flame maple, not quilt, but it's very pronounced flame. The Schallers are low-output PAF type pickups. They'll do classic rock but probably not death metal What he says; snatch and all
PunkKitty Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 I saw this on Facebook. It's beautiful. As for Schaller pickups, I like them. Every time I think of replacing them in my 150P I plug it in and realize how much I like them. IMO they are comparable to Duncan 59's.
rockabilly69 Posted April 3, 2013 Posted April 3, 2013 I think that top would look great with Zebra Style Pickups as it has cream highlights with the black and flame. B E A U T I F U L . +1 If I had that guitar I would change it to all nickel hardware, with the neck pickup covered and the back pickup a zebra!
Millennium Maestro Posted April 4, 2013 Posted April 4, 2013 Awesome snag, I love trans Black, you did well. The shaller hardware is great, easy pup changes, very fine tunable....ENJOY!!
tsp17 Posted April 4, 2013 Posted April 4, 2013 Sweet! love the trans black also. always thought that finish was neat.
heritagefan7 Posted April 4, 2013 Posted April 4, 2013 That is beautiful! Nice grab! I just talked w/ aguy who made the statement "every guitar I won is black!" Great flame on a great git!
AP515 Posted April 4, 2013 Posted April 4, 2013 That is very nice flame. Congrats If you haven't seen it, and want to know, here is an example of quilt maple. That it is laying on a quilt was not a visual pun...
HANGAR18 Posted April 4, 2013 Author Posted April 4, 2013 Below is a picture of my old red guitar (which I no longer have) which displays a Quilted Maple (veneer) top. The pattern in the wood is pretty textbook for "Quilted Maple", but I also know there are different grades of quality for whichever type of maple. (ie AAA vs AAAAA etc) As far as flame goes, I've always seen "flame maple" as very thin 3D pattern lines with very straight edges which seem to flicker or appear and disappear as the view angle changes. With quilt, the 3D pattern does not have straight edge lines but rather it has a very wide and irregular pillow pattern with curved edges. In the example above from AP515, as well as this example below, the quilt effect is also 3-dimensional in appearance and would seem to appear and disappear at least a little bit as the view angle would change. So after looking at the 3D pattern of the maple top in my original post (very bottom), it seemed to me that it might be a low grade quilted maple top because the 3D pattern has an irregular pillow pattern with curved edges, only narrow pillows instead of wide pillows as you would see in a higher grade of maple. Is quilted maple and flame maple the same thing except for the pattern of the 3D effect? Or does quilted maple only come from a diseased portion of a maple tree while flame maple can come from any part of a healthy maple tree? Did I just answer my own question? BTW, not that it matters but when I asked the Guitar Center salesguy over the phone to describe the maple top to me (all I had to look at was a crappy cell phone photo of the guitar while he had the guitar in front of him 800 miles away) I specifically asked him if he would describe it as flame maple or as quilt and he said "definitely quilt". So, being a technical specs junkie as I am at times, I was hoping to positively confirm one way or the other what I should call it, quilt or flame. But either way, I do think it is a cool looking and very unique looking guitar and I think I'll be happy with it either way, regardless of whether it is quilt or flame.
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