Clarity around how Heritage does weight relief

[mcdowell]

Let me preface that I am not a guitar gear guy....forgive anything I may refer to incorrectly.

 

I'm trying to get more clarity around how Heritage does weight relief. I have an H 150 (Y2 0902), purchased from Wolfe Guitars a few years ago. The guitar was sold to me as weight relieved. Fine I thought, good for my shoulders and the tone should still be there. A few issues around sustain, feedback, and tone seemed to linger but I faulted mics, amp, etc. at the time. Recently I had a friend swap out the pickups. He told me that the guitar is more or less a hollow body....not weight relieved or chambered. To be chambered it would have to have chambers...this was just an open cavity with a block at the bridge. I talked to Wolfe. They told me to talk to Heritage as there is really no one definition of weight relieved. I called Heritage left a message and emailed to find out what I have as it is not what I thought I had.

 

I'm guessing you folks here know what they do when relieving weight. I did a search on this site and found a few pictures but none seem to match what my tech is telling me.

 

Let me know. I'm not thrilled by this discovery. I expected a chambered guitar with more solid contact between the top and bottom....not holes mind you...just something that was more solid body than hollow.

 

Thank you.

 

 

[FredZepp]

Heritage H-150/157LW ( light weight )

 

And to compare...

a Gibson Historic "Chambered" body, (Cloud 9 models) used on their best.

 

 

Gibson USA "Chambered"

 

 

 

And Gibson USA " Weight Relieved"

[mcdowell]

Thank you Fred. This helps a great deal. I think I'd still like to hear the rationale for creating a gap between the neck and bridge...with pickups floating. Just seems a bit surprising. I'll wait to hear back from Heritage. Thank you again Fred. This is a very clear illustration.

[FredZepp]

I think I'd still like to hear the rationale for creating a gap between the neck and bridge...with pickups floating. Just seems a bit surprising.

 

I'd guess that they did it that way because there has to be routing for wiring etc in that area anyhow.

[fxdx99]

Mcdowell - how much does your LW 150 weigh?

[TalismanRich]

I would imagine that they used the same routing pattern that they use in the Millennium guitars. I would consider it more "chambered" than weight relieved.

 

[Thundersteel]

I used to own a H150LW, and it was one of the best sounding guitars I had. I personally don't care if a guitar has weight relief, chambering, or whatever it's called. If it sounds good to me, I buy it.

[HANGAR18]

And with any manufacturer, subject to change without notice.

[tulk1]

Thank you Fred. This helps a great deal. I think I'd still like to hear the rationale for creating a gap between the neck and bridge...with pickups floating. Just seems a bit surprising. I'll wait to hear back from Heritage. Thank you again Fred. This is a very clear illustration.

Good luck with that. Best bet is the route you've already gone - Jay and the HoC.

[volhoo]

The goal of the weight relief is of course to reduce the weight - therefore they have removed material between the neck and the bridge as well. If I had it to do over again, I would also have done a belly cut to reduce the weight even more. My new H-150 weighs in at 8.9 pounds, and that is with a Bigsby. It is one bad mofo fosho. Lovin it.

 

 

-

[Blunote]

Are you sure they can do a belly cut on a chambered guitar?

[kidsmoke]

Thank you Fred. This helps a great deal. I think I'd still like to hear the rationale for creating a gap between the neck and bridge...with pickups floating. Just seems a bit surprising. I'll wait to hear back from Heritage. Thank you again Fred. This is a very clear illustration.

 

 

 

also, consider each of the Gibson bodies that Fred presented, in each case, wood is removed to provide a cavity for the humbucker to float in, and then the humbucker is attched to the maple cap, not the mahogany body same with the 150. True there is more 'hog in the immediate vicinity of the bucker on the Gibsons, but after the bucker routes and the toggle switch route is done, The difference in physics is infinitesimal, at best. There's more mahogany on the 150 than the cloud 9 by a long shot.

 

A semi hollow is a thin rim a top and a body adhered to a center block. Your luthier mislead you or is misinformed.

[mcdowell]

Thank you all for the information. Again, I'm not deep into the technical side of how these things are built so I'm getting up to speed quickly with your collective expertise. Now that I have more information it seems that there may be two levels to to weight relief...a standard (minimal selective routing) and a more extreme version (my 150 and the Cloud 9). My only complaint is that this distinction wasn't communicated at the time of purchase and I wasn't knowledgeable enough to ask at the time. Nothing I'm going to worry about and I won't be giving up my 150. I bought it as a player and it has served me well. And more than I fully realized...has it has likely saved me a lot of back pain.

 

As for the small issues I am having, I'll work around them in different ways. I run a Marshall JCM 800 (2204) with no pedals...just a tuner...so there isn't a lot of dialing I can do but with music I play, few will notice what I'm hearing.

 

I don't have any stills of it but here it is in action:

 

FXDX99, I don't know off hand. My guess is that it is close to Offspring's 150..maybe a tad lighter w/o the Bigsby.

 

Again, thank you everyone. You have a fantastic resource here. If I hear back from Heritage I'll pass on what they communicate.

[buzzy]

I am not a guitar gear guy

 

Have no fear; it's a state of mind; just keep buying stuff and someday . . .

 

Those pictures are a fantastic reference; thanks.

 

I bought a Gibson Classic doublecut in '03 and wondered how it could be so light THEN I found out about chambering. After ten years and shoveling a lot of snow this year, my back would appreciate a LW.

Mine had a 'throaty' voice that was great for some songs; there a distinct difference between the chambered double cut and the traditional weight relieved single cut that I had at the time.

 

Maybe you can find out what your guitar does well and enjoy it for what it is.

[pressure]

Fab video. Poker without betting isn't poker its just cards. Rock without feedback isn't rock its just music. Truth.

[peterbright]

Keep on playin'!