Heritage Guitars, back to work!

[tulk1]

Do they pay attention to this place?  Dunno, but from a marketing (marketing is not just advertising and sales) perspective, I think they'd be foolish not to lurk at the very least.  But, that's just my opinion, and my dad used to tell me opinions are like...well, anyway, they're back to work and that's cool!

 

Considering they didn't "have a computer in the place" and the condition of their own website, I'd say it's highly unlikely they pay much attention here. 

 

I didn't realize this was a relatively new (cyberly speaking) forum when I joined a few weeks back. I found it after getting my 157 and wanting to show it off to other Heritage enthusiasts. I also didn't realize H only turned out 1200 gtrs per year! Sure makes the two I've got seem even that much more special.

 

Glad to see the boys are back to work. And looking forward to getting an H575 in the near future. Hmmm, maybe that should be done before any price increases. Whats the general thought on that? Think the $$'s will increase once production gets back up to speed? New owners almost always mean $$ increases, from what I've seen.

[PacerX]

Well, I think the important issue in the long term is the improvement in three areas:

 

1) Quality.  Heritage cannot continue sending dealers guitars that are less than flawless.  I think it is reasonable to expect a dealer to take a well built and set up guitar and do some fine-tuning adjustments for a particular player's taste (such as re-intonating for a different string gage, or raising or lowering the action in accordance with a player's style), but those are the only things a dealer should have to do.  Dealers can't be used as unpaid sources of repair. 

 

Players are becoming used to guitars that play very, very well - and great tone is considered part of the bargain and not something special or rare.  Modern players expect that their guitars play flawlessly, and that the tone they are looking for is there.  They are, at the end of the day, Heritage's future - and the bar has been raised beyond what was considered OK back in the 1980's.

 

2) Operational efficiency.  This follows from the ordering process, to scheduling, to every step in the process being as efficient as possible, to delivery on (or BEFORE) the quoted time.  It improves the operation across the board.

 

3) Solvency.  The theory goes that #1 and #2 above will take care of this one.  There are a good number of examples out there of companies that have been very, very sucessful because of these items being their stock and trade.

[Paul P]

Glad to see the boys are back to work. And looking forward to getting an H575 in the near future. Hmmm, maybe that should be done before any price increases. Whats the general thought on that? Think the $$'s will increase once production gets back up to speed? New owners almost always mean $$ increases, from what I've seen.

 

I certainly hope they don't follow Gibson's example.  When I read their president say, with a certain amount of glee it seemed,

that everytime he raised prices he sold more guitars, I added a(nother) big cross on that maker on my personal list.

 

Paul P

[sweet-tooth]

New from the Gazette:

 

http://www.mlive.com/business/kzgazette/in...&thispage=1

[tulk1]

New from the Gazette:

 

http://www.mlive.com/business/kzgazette/in...&thispage=1

 

That article really doesn't say much. Not that I could read, anyway. Was there more than just those 3-4 short paragraphs?

[Thundersteel]

1) Quality.  Heritage cannot continue sending dealers guitars that are less than flawless.

 

I agree 100%. ALL my Heritages have some sort of minor finishing flaws in them. Maybe that's what distinguishes them as handmade; I don't know. They need to add a QA department and look for those flaws. If they would just take an extra 10 minutes or so, those flaws wouldn't exist. If Hamer can do it, so can Heritage.

[Gitfiddler]

+1 on the QC.

 

My pre-shutdown '07 H-555 is absolutely perfect, I'm happy to report.  If they can do that AND answer the phone, just think how much nicer the post-shutdown guitars should be.

[JohnCovach]

There are two more pages past the first one.

[tulk1]

There are two more pages past the first one.

 

When I clicked on the "next" I thought it wanted me to register, so I passed. Went back today and noticed it was only a statistics gathering app. Did that and read the rest of the article. Still no mention of a planned price increase. But I don't see how they are going to meet ends if they don't. Interesting bit:

All Heritage's bookkeeping will be computerized to make sure orders are filled and the company is paid for its products,

.

[JohnCovach]

The part of that article that interest me most is that the original guys will be out within the next two years.  This means that we are nearing the end of guitars made by "the former Gibson guys" and that the supply of those guitars in the market will be finite.  Even if the guitars that follow are just as good, there will still be an "identity crisis" for Heritage.  When they are no longer the company run by former Gibson guys, they'll be just another company.  They need to figure out how to transition into this new era and create a distinctive image for the brand.  It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.