Heritage Pickups, Bridge, Tail piece.

[thorn]

Heritage seems to like Schaller parts around the body. What have been the typical pieces over the years? Just wondering if there was a pattern to changes over the years too so one can look and say this is from this year / decade, etc. I know you can custom order anything. But what was typical off the rack? I see some PU rings with two-a-side adjustment screws and some without too.

 

 

[MartyGrass]

Heritage had a contract with Schaller for many years. Then Schaller became unreliable and couldn't keep Heritage stocked. They shifted to Gotoh, Seymour Duncan, Grover, and others.

 

There was nothing wrong with the design or quality of Schallers. Of course everyone has opinions on what's best.

[thorn]

Heritage had a contract with Schaller for many years. Then Schaller became unreliable and couldn't keep Heritage stocked. They shifted to Gotoh, Seymour Duncan, Grover, and others.

 

There was nothing wrong with the design or quality of Schallers. Of course everyone has opinions on what's best.

 

Hamer always had a thing with SD and typically would install '59s in just about everything. Some were 59 / JB set. Just wondering if Heritage had a "typical" set they installed as "stock".

[davesultra]

Hamer always had a thing with SD and typically would install '59s in just about everything. Some were 59 / JB set. Just wondering if Heritage had a "typical" set they installed as "stock".

I believe that the Schaller pickups were called the Golden '50s or something like that.

[TalismanRich]

Schaller stuff was used for about 20 years. My 87 H140 had it, and my 2003 H157 had it.

 

For years, the stock pickup in an Heritage was the Schaller Golden 50. They come with 3 screw holes per leg, so you can use them with a standard 2 hole ring, or a 4 hole ring, which prevents the pickup from rocking. Its a PAF style pickup, usually 7.5 kOhms with Alnico 5 magnet, wax potted.

 

 

The stock bridge was the Schaller STM which has rollers that allow string alignment. Most of the time it was paired with the SH tailpiece.

 

 

I don't have any problems with roller bridges, but I find the tailpiece a bit of a pain for changing strings. You have to develop a technique so that the string doesn't keep popping out before it gets tightened. The slip through tailpieces are much easier to work with.

 

I think the SD 59 is the standard off the shelf item now, although there are a lot with Seth Lovers in them, especially special runs. I'm not sure which bridge and TP they are using now, I think its mostly TonePros.

 

It was always weird to me that the first thing that people used to complain about was the Schaller hardware. They wanted to rip it off and replace it with TonePros and Seymore Duncan. Now that it comes with TonePros and SD, they want to take that off and replace it. Does everyone think that OEM means junk and it has to be aftermarket to be good?

[peterbright]

"Does everyone think that OEM means junk and it has to be aftermarket to be good?" I'm sure that some do...or they just have decided what they like best.

[rockabilly69]

 

Now that it comes with TonePros and SD, they want to take that off and replace it. Does everyone think that OEM means junk and it has to be aftermarket to be good?

 

A direct answer... In the case of Schaller, and Tonepros hardware, I think Schaller hardware, besides looking rather odd to me, IMNSHO had design flaws that I couldn't live with. Their roller bridges rob sustain, and the tailpieces are a pain to deal with. As for Tonepros, I don't like the way they are constructed, especially the ABR bridges. Those setscrews are a joke, and the pot metal doesn't work for me. I also don't like any variation of the Nashville style bridge they use because of the cheap inserts that go into the body, I would rather have the bridge post screwed directly and deep into the wood, and sometimes with Nashvilles, due to the size of the bridge, front to back, you can't get the tailpiece in the sweet spot because the string hits the back of the bridge when you try to crank the tailpiece down low.

 

The Seymour Duncan pickups on the other are actually pretty good, and may or may not work with the guitar. But that is just the way pickups are. My first Heritage had a particularly good set of Seymour Duncan Seth Lovers that really worked well. The neck pickup was one of the best I've ever heard. It was instant Dicky Betts! My second Heritage I bought without pickups so I installed a set of Zhangbucker custom pure handwound PAF style pickups based on his Jimmy Page models. Those pickups sound great. The Pearly Gates set that came in my newest H150 were just too bright for me, so I swapped them out for something on the slightly microphonic side which really brought that guitar to life!

 

I pretty much tailor every guitar that I buy to the way I like, and then leave it there. I have a pretty good ear for what I like, so pickups selecetion isn't that much of an ordeal, and for the hardware, I think the Faber locking stuff works for what I do and generally sounds close enough for the vintage tones I chase. This isn't just a Heritage thing for me, I did more to my new Gibson Firebird than I did to my Heritages!