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Incoming: Heritage Johnny Smith


MartyGrass

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Posted

This 1994 natural blond was sent to a Heritage dealer a couple of decades ago. The dealer, an archtop aficionado, sold it to his friend, another archtop buff. That guy traded it back for a pre-WWII Epiphone Emporer (that tells you what kind of a nutty archtop connoisseurs these guys are).

 

The guitar was minty in condition until the cold spell hit us. The humidity dropped to 30% in this store. This seems to have led to some flaking of the finish at the neck joint.

 

photo5_zpsfc908b98.jpg

 

 

I was on the fence about buying it, worrying about the neck joint being unstable. Ren Wall looked at the pic and asked for some more shots.

 

I got more pix

 

photo1_zps6eefa856.jpgphoto2_zps710d3663.jpgphoto4_zpscd33c0b0.jpgphoto3_zps8b99fd2a.jpg

 

 

A local guitar tech as well as the shop owner found that the action is unchanged, the neck is straight, and the neck joint doesn't open with moderate stress.

 

So the cool thing is that both Ren and Marv looked at all of the pix and said the neck joint and said "the neck joint is glued well". No worries. It's normal with age and retraction due to low humidity.

 

I have seen this on more than several Heritages and Gibsons myself. But I wanted to be sure since it's an Internet purchase.

 

Once it gets proper water, I may have the nitro touch up there just for looks.

 

 

More pix below.

 

 

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Posted

Damon that auto correct. Should be

"tailpiece".

 

See, I though tailpipe was a cool new vernacular for tailpiece. I was going to start calling it that.

Posted

Wow! That's fabulous. I'm also drawn to the red sunburst guitar behind it - wonder what that is.

 

Wow! That's fabulous. I'm also drawn to the red sunburst guitar behind it - wonder what that is.

 

I saw that. But I was more drawn to the Campellone Deluxe behind it! :)

Posted

Lovely looking, but what is that connection in photo 5? It is an odd one, is it stable or would it 'clunk' around inside the cavity?

Posted

 

Look harder, my friend.

 

Even the owner never noticed.

 

The pearl block inlays appear rather normal, as compared to the abalone inlays i've seen on every other Heritage JS.

Posted

No rose on the finger-rest (pickguard)?

 

Or

 

No inlay on the base of the bridge?

Posted

No rose on the finger-rest (pickguard)?

 

Or

 

No inlay on the base of the bridge?

 

Nahhh....I've seen many more without a rose on the pickguard than with - same for bridge inlays.

 

p1_uuhzdbats_so_zpsd2b4e03a.jpg

Posted

I say it is the tailpiece.

Posted

I say it is the tailpiece.

+1

Posted

Murch Music in Cambridge Ont. I've played that guitar. Very nice acoustic tone and the Campellone behind it is no slouch either.

Posted

Lovely looking, but what is that connection in photo 5? It is an odd one, is it stable or would it 'clunk' around inside the cavity?

That's an RCA connection. Those are pretty common in archtops with floating pups. They allow the PG to be removed and the pup to simply be unplugged. That way another "acoustic" PG can easily replace the one with the pup on it.

 

The connection can rattle in the body. If it does, a simple solution is to put a velcro strip around the connection area. It muffles any banging.

 

You can also easily tack the wiring down in the body. I've done that only once.

 

It's considered a good thing to have an RCA plug in the body in this style of guitar.

Posted

Murch Music in Cambridge Ont. I've played that guitar. Very nice acoustic tone and the Campellone behind it is no slouch either.

I'm glad you met it in person.

 

I dealt with Fred primarily but Glenn and two ladies as well. They were all very courteous and straightforward.

Posted

Thanks MartyGrass. Explains a few things.But you still haven't given us the answer to the quiz question.........?

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