How many of us have found a magic Heritage?

[AP515]

I've owned 4 Heritages in the last 6 years. One H535 and 3 H150's. They were all good guitars, very good. They all earned a place next to my best guitars and I was happy with them. I had to sell the 535 along with some other expensive guitars to pay a debt. I sold the first of the H150's because it was too heavy for me (10.5Lbs), and I started out searching for a lighter H150. I found one at (9.4Lbs), and lastly I found another H150 that the seller and I thought would be a little lighter. It turns out it weighs exactly the same as the other I currently have (9.4Lbs). But that is where the story gets interesting.

 

The two guitars weigh the same, are built 1 year apart in 2004 and 2005, and have a Tone Pros locking tailpiece. One has a Schaller rolling bridge and the other has a Tone Pros bridge. One has 59's and the new one came to me unloaded. It also had a poorly cut bone nut. It was so bad the strings would buzz against the first fret. I had a McCarty nut in the spare parts box so I just tried it to see if it fixed the buzzing. McCartys have a 10' radius so it wasn't perfect, but it worked. I also had PRS McCarty neck and a RP bridge pups so I put those in just to get it playing.

 

Wow, this thing has a tone to die for. Alive and rich in harmonics. It's completely different than the other H150. I've only heard an electric sound this good once and so I brought out the magic PRS to compare it too. They both are so close it is remarkable. The sound tails off with the most pleasing overtones I've ever heard. So what does it? What makes one H150 so much better than the other?

 

I decided to try to find out. I swapped the tailpieces and bridges - no difference. I read the cap values - both 22puffs. I thought it might be the pups so I got out a PRS I have that has Seth's installed. I compared the PRS to the H150 - the 150 killed it. I took out the Seth's and put them in the H150 and put the PRS pups from the H150 into the PRS - the only difference was the H150 now sounded even better!

 

So, what makes one H150 so much better than a very similar H150? What makes it sound as good as one of my best PRS's? I have 18 electric guitars. Two of them have so much more of "that magic tone" than the others, it amazes me. Is it the wood? The hardware? The years they have both been played (both show a lot of play wear)? The weight? What is it?

 

How many have found a special Heritage? Are these few in number?

[Yooper]

Seths are part of the magic. I wonder how the two 150s would compare with the 59s and Seths interchanged?

 

I tried my Eagle Classic with HRWs and decided to buy it. But Steiner wanted the HRWs, and offered Seths as replacements. I wasn't even a bit disappointed. It seemed to have even more warmth, along with plenty of bite. All the magic I need, the rest, unfortunately, is up to me.

 

Seths in my Epi Dot have that thing sounding better than many more expensive guitars. And they seem to especially love heavier or darker sounding instruments.

[Yooper]

And the H-150 family with P-90s are also pure magic.

 

After all this, I still play my 150 with the stock '59s as often as the others. Great contrast and complimentary sound to the others. And it seems to cover any style or need. Go figure.

[chico]

I found my Heritage holy GFrails in my HFT445 and H155. I don't have that extensive a collection history, but I thin I know what you mean. Some are expendable when you get "the one"

 

Great post topic by the way.

[NoSnowBlower]

Yes!! I've had lots of guitars pass my bench. Every brand!!. Some just ARE magic. I've built lots of guitars. 1000's under the Heritage name.#humbled. Always shooting for the apex. Sometimes the sum of all the parts,DOESN'T mean squat. Tooo many examples to quote.You have to work hard and HOPE. TIME!+Skill+Luck=

 

This thread is making me ill.

 

Just another reminder of my shortcomings.

[PunkKitty]

The wood makes a big difference. You can take a pickup that sounds rough in one guitar. But put it in an identical guitar and it sounds totally different. The only thing different is the wood.

 

My magic Heritage is my H-150. It's light at 8.5 pounds. But it's solid. It's not an LW. I installed a set of Sheptone Tributes in it. That guitar does everything I want it to and then some. And it does it so, so well.

[Kuz]

It is, and always has been, about how good the wood is. If the wooden chassis is not resonate acoustically, then no pickup will make it magical. It is about the wood.

[RSquared]

My 150 with 59's in it is the one for me. I've heard the arguments about what makes a guitar magic. Some swear its the electronics while others say its the wood. After all my research I've found it starts with the wood. (Once again I am in full agreement with you Kuz) The electronics need to agree with the wood that their inserted in. Thats why the same pickups sound different when they change the wood their in. When you get lucky (Some companies get lucky more often than others) and the sum of all the parts come together. We end up with an EPIC guitar. (The player also has a part in the equation) My 150 is also an 8lb'er PK. It just sings. Before I pick it up to play you can hear her singing, no matter what amp she just sounds good. My other Heritage is a Sweet 16. Now thats another story all together. All solid maple with Bartolini pickups, I just dont know what to do with her. Once I get her sorted out I might have another magical Heritage on my hands?

P.S. My guitar teacher and my tech both agree on my assesment of the H150!

[Redsand]

Yes!! I've had lots of guitars pass my bench. Every brand!!. Some just ARE magic. I've built lots of guitars. 1000's under the Heritage name.#humbled. Always shooting for the apex. Sometimes the sum of all the parts,DOESN'T mean squat. Tooo many examples to quote.You have to work hard and HOPE. TIME!+Skill+Luck=

 

This thread is making me ill.

 

Just another reminder of my shortcomings.

 

Intervention.

[AP515]

... I wonder how the two 150s would compare with the 59s and Seths interchanged?

 

 

I'll swap the 59's and the Seth's tomorrow and report back.

[yoslate]

I've been beyond lucky in my experiences with guitars, in my fifty years of playing and owning. Among the guitars I and close friends have owned, there's just about nothing I haven't played at least two of. And true, that timing is everything. The arc of my maturing as a player intersected the line of a 535 coming into the hands of a friend (who, no kidding, goes through more guitars than Brent), four years ago. This guy knew I was a fan of Heritage guitars, and when he picked up a 535, he called me straight away. Going out of town, he left it at the shop of a mutual friend, for me to audition. I slid by one Saturday, for a test drive. Thirty seconds...no kidding...thirty seconds, and I knew I'd own it. As I've often said, it's not the prettiest, the most expensive, nor the most collectible guitar I've ever owned. But to plug it in, and throw the strap over my shoulder, play a couple of 9ths and a double stop lick or two, then bend one on the B string, is to commune with a guitar that seems actually to relax in your hand and arms, press itself slightly against your chest, and breathe. If Dusty Springfield were a guitar....

[Gitfiddler]

As for me, the magic is measured in a very subjective measurement that I call my smile factor. If a guitar makes me smile, it's a winner. Of all the fine Heritage guitars I've played and owned, there are two that go beyond the smile factor, and transcend into magic.

 

My Seth loaded 535 Goldtop takes me there each and every time I pick it up. Next is my 525 Custom Triburst. I'm certain that Marv sprinkled an extra dose of his mojo-hand-pixie-dust on it to give it such a huge and beautiful voice.

[NoSnowBlower]

 

Intervention.

You may be right. I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic your looking for.

I still think I'm a few pieces of maple away from wellness.

I may be wrong,but I may be right.

[Redsand]

You may be right. I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic your looking for.

I still think I'm a few pieces of maple away from wellness.

I may be wrong,but I may be right.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUnzrhmbk0U

[hinesarchtop]

You may be right. I may be crazy. But it just may be a lunatic your looking for.

I still think I'm a few pieces of maple away from wellness.

I may be wrong,but I may be right.

Hahaha........I know what you mean. I'm reorganizing my wood stash today.....thousands of pieces, and still I want more! The funny thing is you remember every single piece, and you may not have touched in in years. I might shoot some pics of this madness later.

[hinesarchtop]

Yes!! I've had lots of guitars pass my bench. Every brand!!. Some just ARE magic. I've built lots of guitars. 1000's under the Heritage name.#humbled. Always shooting for the apex. Sometimes the sum of all the parts,DOESN'T mean squat. Tooo many examples to quote.You have to work hard and HOPE. TIME!+Skill+Luck=

 

This thread is making me ill.

 

Just another reminder of my shortcomings.

The crazy thing is that if you have an idea to improve on what you've previously done, you have to make a whole other guitar, or guitars to try to prove it to yourself. So many variables, but you just have to run with your intuition and try to get a good groove on.

[hinesarchtop]

It is, and always has been, about how good the wood is. If the wooden chassis is not resonate acoustically, then no pickup will make it magical. It is about the wood.

I wood agree!

This will be an ongoing debate forever I'm afraid. Can you build a good sounding guitar from alternate woods.....sure. Can you build a good sounding guitar from a cigar box? probably. Does this mean that wood doesn't matter in an electric guitar.? I don't think so.

If you put a good (subjective) set of PAF's from a 1959 Les Paul in your Mexican Strat will it sound just like the Les Paul....No way.

Benedetto built his knotty Pine archtop that sounded great. That's because he's a killer builder and Pine IS a good tone wood. If you have a target sound/feel your'e shooting for, certain wood combos work (for you) I've built LP Junior style guitars with Mahogany neck, Western maple cap, walnut back cap, with Spruce sandwiched in the middle. All woods I got on the cheap, but It was nice sounding.. Sometimes you have to chalk it up to PFM!

[Ned]

I am two for three - the Sweet 16 acoustically is as full and loud with the richest overtones as I could imagine and the 575 rings like a bell. The Academy is fine plugged in and is very easy to play, but her voice rises and falls with the amp, if you know what I mean. I love playing acoustically so much that I am probably letting go of my minty bone-stock 1968 Twin Reverb.

 

(The 16 is figured quite a bit like Mark's and so it is probably a tap tuned priemium wood package. Lance suspects it is true of the 575 and I would guess he's right, the fundamental really jumps out).

 

225 mojo, and some skilled hands. That goes for you too Mr. Blower.

[rjsanders]

i've played dozens, had/have 3 magical ones. one i still have is the first Millennium DC. it has HRWs. the other two were a goldtop H-157 and a natural finish H-137. both had Lollar P-90s. "had to" sell them during period of unemployment. i'm still in touch with their new owners...

 

it all starts with the wood, but everything affects everything else re sounds and playability, imho

[Billgelder]

“Each piece of wood has its own resonant frequency,” James Deurloo

From A Look at Heritage Guitar- Founded By Former Gibson Employees

http://axvault.com/2012/11/12/7074/#sthash.i3DYSVs9.dpuf

 

[rockabilly69]

It is, and always has been, about how good the wood is. If the wooden chassis is not resonate acoustically, then no pickup will make it magical. It is about the wood.

 

and then you have to microphonic pickups to "hear" the wood!!!

[buzzy]

I'm glad each guitar is different.

Conditions, perspectives, emotions, songs are different.

I'm different today as compared to yesterday.

 

Every guitar has a voice; you just need to coax it into conversation.

Give me a guitar that resonates evenly at each pitch, dead or alive. Or not, if that's what's called for.

 

Fade to the scene in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life where the waiter has finished his soliloquy.

[yoslate]

Every guitar has a voice; you just need to coax it into conversation.

 

 

+10

[TalismanRich]

A magic guitar???? I don't know. I was feeling the 535 was it, but then I strap on the 140 and lordy, it cranks. The Mille sometimes doesn't get much play, but at PSP, I pulled that thing out of the case and it was doing everything I wanted. Then I sit down and pick on the 525 and its a different kind of magic. I just wish my 157 was lighter, I would play it more!

 

It is possible for guitars to have good and bad days, just like people? Who knows. In any case, its nice to have several magic tricks to play.

[AP515]

Well, it's not the Seth's. They add more mojo for sure, but I swapped the 59's in and the Seth's out. The tone was different, but still had that signature beauty that I found when I strung it up the first time. The 59's have a more powerful edge to them where the Seth's are more creamy (if that describes it), but that bloom was there for both. I agree that the wood is part of the mystery, but do you believe that the guitar that was made out of the 2 feet of plank right after (or before) this one was another magic guitar? I suspect it is more than that.

 

I bought a Tusq nut and new strings. I'll put it together for the final time tomorrow. The Seth's are going in with the new nut and strings. Then she's a keeper for sure. I actually prefer the neck shape on the other one, but with tone like this I'll be happy.