mjstich88 Posted June 16, 2016 Posted June 16, 2016 Hello everyone. I am new here. I just ordered my custom H530 through a local Heritage dealer here in Milwaukee WI. I really can't wait to get the guitar once it's finished. I have a question that I forgot to ask about while getting the order ready. This is not a big deal but I was wondering what kind of electronics Heritage puts into their guitars. I ordered a H530 with lollar P90s. Lollar recommends 500k pots and some people swear by 50's wiring. If the guitar plays and sounds like the stock H530 I tried out then it really doesn't matter. I'm just curious as to what Heritage puts into their guitars. I trust their quality but I have heard of people upgrading the electronics. I also tried to search on this site for and answer and I couldn't find anything other than upgrades people have made. Any input in welcome.
Millennium Maestro Posted June 16, 2016 Posted June 16, 2016 If your dealer cannot assist you, I would recommend calling Bill at the factory. 269-385-5721 Opinion, I have no issues with stock Heritage wiring. Some swear by 50's and I use modern(Heritage original) no complaints here. My great buddy Steiner states a good rewire kit installed correctly is like taking a blanket off and amp. You're gonna love the 530! Enjoy
TalismanRich Posted June 16, 2016 Posted June 16, 2016 The 50s wiring seems to be more of a concern with Humbuckers, not P90s. They are different animals in terms of electrical characteristics which changes the way they interact with the pots and caps in the circult. You might check around and see if a change in the tone control from 500 to 250, or a change in mfd value might do a better job. I've heard about some folks doing that. FWIW, I've got a 525 with the Lollars and standard wiring and I haven't had a issue with treble roll off on that. On my 535 and 157, I added a Kinman style treble bleed. The Milli and 140 both have Duncans and are standard wiring.
High Flying Bird Posted June 16, 2016 Posted June 16, 2016 It will sound great no matter which way they handle it. Congrats!
rmcgrath Posted June 17, 2016 Posted June 17, 2016 About 2.5 years ago I purchased a used 2006 H-150 with Lollar P-90s and stock wiring. I love the sound and tone I get from it with 3 exceptions. First when I roll off the volume it sounds like you are also rolling off the tone. This is a very common problem with many if not most guitars. Second, the high E string was weak compared to the other strings. I tried raising the pole piece but it only slightly helped. Third, the neck p/u was a little darker than I liked. My stock wiring had 500k volume pots, 250k tone pots and .022 uF capacitors. The pots did not have manufacturer markings that I could see. Your 2016 H-530 may be different. I researched wiring options, capacitor values, etc. for LP style guitars and specifically related to P-90s. I would think that the same options would apply to the H-530 but I can’t personally verify it. Anyway… So I put in 500k Emerson Pro CTS pots for both volume and tone. I tried the modern wiring, 50’s wiring, .022 uF capacitors made of mylar, polyester and paper-in-oil (pio), .015 uF capacitor in the neck position, I tried switching the p/u lead wire to the output pot lug and p/u toggle switch lead wire to the input pot lug (allows the volume pots to work independently of each other in the middle position) and lastly put parallel treble bleeds on both volume pots (1 nF/150 ohm resistor, 1 nF/220 ohm resistor, .82 nF/150 ohm resistor). I also put in a Switchcraft toggle switch, output jack and vintage style shielded push back wire. I trust an audio spectrum analyzer to tell me the frequency response. Not my ears or anyone else’s but I don’t own one sooooo to my ears (very subjective) through my rig this is what I found. I initially tested the guitar directly into a Marshall JTM 45 clone through at 4x12 with 25 watt greenbacks, using a Fulltone 15’ cord. Surprisingly the modern wiring seemed to have slightly clearer highs than the 50’s wiring. With humbuckers most people seem to like the 50s wiring although I’ve read somewhere that when using an audio spectrum analyzer that the modern wiring actually has a better high frequency response. Who knows. Now when I switched the p/u lead wire to the output lug and the toggle switch to the input lug so the volume pots work independently of each other in the middle position, the 50’s wiring seemed to have a clearer high frequency response. I went with this configuration. I tried a .022 uF and .015 uF cap in the neck position. I went with the .015 uF because the highs only slightly rolled off from 10 down to 4. Again, I like a brighter neck p/u. Went with the .022 uF in the bridge. I initially thought the pio cap (set of .015uf &.022uf/400v K40Y-9 - Vintage Russian, $12.69) was slightly warmer while maintaining the highs and then another time the orange drop polyester cap sounded better. Basically, there was not a significant difference that I could hear (subjective) between the 3 caps, including the cheap mylar. I went with the pio cap because it fit nicely and looked cool. Lastly, I tried the 3 parallel treble bleeds mentioned above. I didn’t try a series or Kinman treble bleed. The 1 nF cap./150 ohm resistor seemed to maintain the highs the best from 10 down to 3, although at 9 & 8 the high rolled off slightly and then cleared back up from 7 to 3 or so. All 3 treble bleeds made a big difference maintaining highs when rolling off the volume. You would have to be deaf not to notice a difference, it was that significant, at least through my rig. The overall summary is that the upgraded pots, vintage style wire (22ga) and switchcraft toggle switch/output jack really helped bring out the high frequency that was missing on the high E string, brightened the neck p/u and add overall clarity. The treble bleed is a nice addition. When I run through my full rig (guitar/15 ft. Fulltone cable/pedal board with George L cables and all true bypass pedals/Fulltone True-Path ABY/two 20 ft Magomi cables to Marshall JTM 45 and a Fender ’65 Twin Reverb Reissue) I experienced the same results as the guitar directly to the amp. Side note: the buffer on the Fulltone True-Path ABY really helps bring out the high frequencies that the true bypass pedals running through 20 ft. cables kill due to the high capacitance. Whatever makes you want to pick up the guitar more is a good upgrade. A2 Guitars – Guitar Electronics Part 1: Potentiometer Values. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8dp9clGe-I Treble bleed. Very interesting but at least read the Nov 19, 2010 at 5:20pm post on the first page. http://guitarnuts2.proboards.com/thread/5317/treble-bleed-circuit
Gtwibs Posted June 17, 2016 Posted June 17, 2016 I'm really enjoying the sound of the lollars in the H530 i recently acquired. I'll be very interested to hear what you think when yours comes in.
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