Who knows that ol' lady?

[RockinTom]

Hello there!

Is there anybody that could help me with this beauty I just bought last week? Weird story of a lady that wanted to sell her stepfathers guitars because he really got sick without a chance of playing guitar any more.
All I have is the guitar itself incl. case and a few bucks less in my wallet.

By heading through the Internet I found out the following:
Refering to the Serial No. I04406 the guitar should be made on 16.11.1992 and should be 6th guitar of the day.
- The hardware (bridge, stop tail piece) should be Schaller
- The PickUps are Schaller as well
- The Tuners are Grovers
- The colour should be cherry translucent

There hardware is in a fantastic shape, the body has a a few bumps, fortunatelly not in the front. Even on Heritage's homepage I can't find any details that will fit to my modell. I'm not quite sure whether it's a H140 or H150? Most of the pictures I find I see necks with bigger inlays, whereas mine only has the small dot inlays. Most of the other guitars do have closed pickups (chrom plated caps).
On the Heritage page I can't find anything refering to the pickups, but it seems as they have been using Schaller for some models in original.

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Tom

 

[DC Ron]

Welcome and CONGRATS on a terrific looking Heritage! Think that's an H-150P but others will know for certain. Enjoy!

[mars_hall]

Is there a label in the control cavity?

[SouthpawGuy]

 

Looks like a mahogany top on that one, I'd say it's a 150 Special with mahogany top, a 150P would have a poplar top. Any pictures of the back ? Is it mahogany ? There have been a few all mahogany 140s.

 

edit to add: 150P has a poplar body and poplar top

[chico]

H150 Special, as noted. Dot inlays instead of traps. Discontinued. Schallers were standard for that model.

 

congrats on the score and welcome to HOC!

[DetroitBlues]

As Mars_hall has indicated, the control cavity plate usually has a sticker on the inside with a label indicating the model/finish/pickups.

[PunkKitty]

That's a nice find. Congratulations and welcome to the HOC.

[bobmeyrick]

My 150 Special has a bound fingerboard, so I'm inclined to think you might have a 150P. Also the 150 Special's body is thinner 1⁵/₈" (4cm) as opposed to the standard 150's width of 2" (5cm).

[RockinTom]

Thanks for your help!
Today I again removed all plates from the backside (toggle and control cavity) and truss rod, but there's absolutely nothing! It all looked like "old dust" so I don't think that a label / sticker / whatever might have been removed.

I haven't removed the pickups again today, but had a look at the pictures I made and there is also nothing. I guess I would have noticed it yesterday

It's a mahogany body, not only the top and it's thickness is 4,6 cm or 1,81 inches.

 

I'll upload some better pictures soon. That old lady is difficult for making pictures. She's got a nice color in real and very fine wood structure but I have to find a room with fantastic light surrounding. Most often her colour is getting into purple, what doesn't suit her.

Cheers,
Tom

[High Flying Bird]

Here is a 150 and a 150 Special. The special is much thinner than the 150. The bottom photo is the 150 Special.

 

 

[smurph1]

H150 Special, as noted. Dot inlays instead of traps. Discontinued. Schallers were standard for that model.

 

congrats on the score and welcome to HOC!

That's Purdy!! Congrats and welcome to the cult..(I mean club..)

[HANGAR18]

 

Hello there!

Is there anybody that could help me with this beauty I just bought last week? Weird story of a lady that wanted to sell her stepfathers guitars because he really got sick without a chance of playing guitar any more.

All I have is the guitar itself incl. case and a few bucks less in my wallet.

By heading through the Internet I found out the following:

Refering to the Serial No. I04406 the guitar should be made on 16.11.1992 and should be 6th guitar of the day.

- The hardware (bridge, stop tail piece) should be Schaller

- The PickUps are Schaller as well

- The Tuners are Grovers

- The colour should be cherry translucent

There hardware is in a fantastic shape, the body has a a few bumps, fortunatelly not in the front. Even on Heritage's homepage I can't find any details that will fit to my modell. I'm not quite sure whether it's a H140 or H150? Most of the pictures I find I see necks with bigger inlays, whereas mine only has the small dot inlays. Most of the other guitars do have closed pickups (chrom plated caps).

On the Heritage page I can't find anything refering to the pickups, but it seems as they have been using Schaller for some models in original.

 

Thanks for your help.

 

Cheers,

Tom

 

I'm drooling.

[RockinTom]

So now it's official. Last week I sent details and pictures of my beauty to Heritage and received the following answer today:

 

 

"H-150 special
Poplar was used instead of maple.
Should be a little lighter than the norm.

ENJOY"

 

 

 

Thanks to everyone for helping.

 

Cheers,

Tom

[tulk1]

Well, there you go. Can't get a better answer than that. Congrats on the nice score. A Special, with Poplar. Think we may have just learned something ourselves.

[Guest HRB853370]

I would have said special too. It just looked like the rim was thinner. Congrats on that find!

[Blunote]

I think someone at Heritage meant to say that poplar was used instead of mahogany. IIRC, the spec read "hardwood" body which probably meant poplar. The special also had a maple cap, like the nicely figured one posted by Bird.

 

The H150P was a thinner all-poplar body and had an opaque finish front and back. If you take the control cavity cover off, you can see the that there is two layers of wood if it's a "Special". There will not be a visible seam on the H150P.

 

I think your's is an H150P.

[RockinTom]

@Bluenote:

I guess the body of my "H150 - whatever" is too thick for being thin with 1,81 inches (4,6 cm).

Here's a picture of the control cavitiy. Quality is not that good, but it seems that there are two layers.

So the journey is not at it's end?

[Blunote]

Here's the specs for an H150 Special that I found on a thread from last June:

 

150SP Special specs:

http://web.archive.o...H150Special.htm

===========================

H-150 Special Specs:
Neck - 17 degree peghead pitch; one piece mahogany neck.
Fingerboard - 24 3/4” scale rosewood cream bound fingerboard with 22 frets.
Body - Single cutaway with cream bound top carved maple top and solid hardwood back.
body size:
rim thickness - 1 3/4”
body width - 13”
body length - 17 1/4”
Electronics - Two chrome humbucking pickups two volume and two tone controls with selector switch.
Hardware - Chrome plated hardware. Plastic pickguard.
Color shown - Vintage Sunburst

Most "Specials" I've seen have a trans finish on the top, but they don't have to. They also have a bound fretboard and traps. Your's didn't. That's why I thought it was an H150P. And It may be that the H150P is a poplar body with a poplar cap glued on.

 

I still think it's an H150P.

[HANGAR18]

Yay! Another opportunity to post photos of my H150 Special.

Poplar body, maple top, rim thickness - 1 3/4”

Shown with and without the finger rest.

 

[RockinTom]

So, now it's getting weird. The pre-owner just wrote me, that it's an H140 CM. And again he says, that the owner, he bought the guitar from, bought it around 1985, what doesn't fit to the serial no., beginning with "I". I says 1992, refering to the Heritage page. I know the pre-pre-owners name now, but I don't think that he has documents after all this years. It's weird because I received the email from Heritage, saying it's a H150 special.

Maybe I should just lean back and enjoy the guitar without further digging in it's past? It maybe could get difficult when I'm about to sell this beauty and can't really say what it is, besides the fact that it's beautiful and a real good guitar.

 

Cheers,

Tom

[tsp17]

whatever it is, it is sweet. Enjoy, and congratualtions.

[rockabilly69]

Maybe I should just lean back and enjoy the guitar without further digging in it's past? It maybe could get difficult when I'm about to sell this beauty and can't really say what it is, besides the fact that it's beautiful and a real good guitar.

 

Cheers,

Tom

Heritage's record keeping seems sketchy at best, so yes, just lean back and enjoy. If you ever sell it, just describe the specs as you see them. But are you really thinking about selling already?