jazzbo Posted November 4, 2017 Posted November 4, 2017 I am curious about the history of these awesome guitars.. Anything anyone can tell me..how did this guitar come about ? how many of these were made, ? The earlier SAE's seem different from the Millenium.. its not just a hollowed out solid body. its built more like an archtop...I think its a maple top that make is sing a little brighter.. It seems very unique, more like a semi hollow Les Paul, or is it a chambered 150DC ? Was there a G word equivalent, ? I saw one advertised as being like a Gibson L5a .but I think those were bigger bodies....Can the history keepers on this forum unleash their wisdom..
kidsmoke Posted November 6, 2017 Posted November 6, 2017 this comes up every 6 months or so...so I know there are searchable threads on the forum...but not sure of the keywords at the moment, so we can regurgitate. The design is Jim Duerloo's. He of Gibson lineage, the key designer of the Guild S-100, and a founder/original owner of Heritage Guitars. How's that for provenance? It's not an LW solid LP (overly routed solid body), it's not an ES (Electric-Spanish) or traditional semi-acoustic electric (a rim, top and back fashioned together with some sort of center/floating blocks (ES335 - H535), OR neck and heel blocks (ES330 - H530) to hold them together. It's this: A solid milled body, providing anchor to the neck joint, tail piece hardware, and land for the solid top and back to be glued. It also allows for a variety of shapes. Single venetian cutaway as you see here, Double cutaway, and even single and double Florentine cutaway. Add a carved top and back with or without F-holes (seen them from maple and even spruce), a neck (single/3 piece/5 piece), tuners p'ups and hardware, and you have a masterpiece. Others can confirm, may be wrong, but I believe the name 'millennium' was due to it's intended release on or around the year 2000. It continues as an offering, now commonly known as a H155. That's what I know. Ok kids. Now bury him with pics of all that I just described. Pressure? Maestro? Skydog52? Leroy?
Yooper Posted November 6, 2017 Posted November 6, 2017 Yes, that ringing voice of North woods maple, (often harvested by scruffy Yoopers in da UP of Michigan, eh?) This custom 155 has an Ultra Maple top and bottom. Maple goodness throughout. It brightens up my 5f1 and 5e3 nicely and cuts like a Les Paul/Tele hybrid through a Deluxe Reverb and Mesa DC5. The neck pickup still has some nice semi-hollow jazz warmth as well. Fralin Pure PAF humbuckers; Dadario Planet Wave locking and auto trim tuners; CTS 500k pots with Sozo Blue .022 caps, mahogany neck with ebony fretboard and mop split block inlays.
ElNumero Posted November 6, 2017 Posted November 6, 2017 I daresay I would like to purchase that from you Yooper. The scruffy Northwoodsmen are beckoning you to sell it to me!
ElNumero Posted November 6, 2017 Posted November 6, 2017 2 hours ago, kidsmoke said: this comes up every 6 months or so...so I know there are searchable threads on the forum...but not sure of the keywords at the moment, so we can regurgitate. The design is Jim Duerloo's. He of Gibson lineage, the key designer of the Guild S-100, and a founder/original owner of Heritage Guitars. How's that for provenance? It's not an LW solid LP (overly routed solid body), it's not an ES (Electric-Spanish) or traditional semi-acoustic electric (a rim, top and back fashioned together with some sort of center/floating blocks (ES335 - H535), OR neck and heel blocks (ES330 - H530) to hold them together. It's this: A solid milled body, providing anchor to the neck joint, tail piece hardware, and land for the solid top and back to be glued. It also allows for a variety of shapes. Single venetian cutaway as you see here, Double cutaway, and even single and double Florentine cutaway. Add a carved top and back with or without F-holes (seen them from maple and even spruce), a neck (single/3 piece/5 piece), tuners p'ups and hardware, and you have a masterpiece. Others can confirm, may be wrong, but I believe the name 'millennium' was due to it's intended release on or around the year 2000. It continues as an offering, now commonly known as a H155. That's what I know. Ok kids. Now bury him with pics of all that I just described. Pressure? Maestro? Skydog52? Leroy? That was a GREAT explanation Kip, you are very knowledgeable!
Yooper Posted November 7, 2017 Posted November 7, 2017 2 hours ago, ElNumero said: I daresay I would like to purchase that from you Yooper. The scruffy Northwoodsmen are beckoning you to sell it to me! You'll have to get in line and be prepared to wait a long time. One scruffy Northwoodsman is well bonded to his particular neck of the woods.
ElNumero Posted November 7, 2017 Posted November 7, 2017 15 minutes ago, Yooper said: You'll have to get in line and be prepared to wait a long time. One scruffy Northwoodsman is well bonded to his particular neck of the woods. Not to mention you probably wield a Paul Bunyan type axe and are prepared to defend that guitar with your life!
jazzbo Posted November 7, 2017 Author Posted November 7, 2017 Thanks much, I had no idea about this awesome provenance...I see why these guitars are so unique.. they have a wonderful punch and tightness.. and awesome necks.. You can see mine below, with the original ROLLS box mixer ! I remember hearing that very few of these were made with this kind of v-block markers tp://www.imagemusafir.com/Music/The-Guitars-1
jazzbo Posted November 7, 2017 Author Posted November 7, 2017 Cant seem to search the forum for other posts on SAE.. drawing a blank..
skydog52 Posted November 7, 2017 Posted November 7, 2017 And to confuse some more. SAE Model. https://reverb.com/item/1097089-heritage-sae-custom-1992-green-burst https://reverb.com/item/6702822-heritage-sae-custom-1995-violin-burst https://www.pinterest.com/pin/160863017910430536/
jazzbo Posted November 7, 2017 Author Posted November 7, 2017 Thank you Skydog.. It looks like these SAE guitars were mostly built to spec, hence custom, ..is it time for show us your SAE ?
tulk1 Posted November 7, 2017 Posted November 7, 2017 The original Millie SAE was a completely different beast that most of whats been posted. I had one. A couple more have come up, but not very often. The archtop (and back) Millie was an experiment on creating the Millennium guitar. It was a laminate hollow body with a piezo bridge. Could have been been LRBaggs, maybe Graphtec, maybe even Schaller which was Heritage's hardware of choice at the time. Basically a Millie with acoustic capability. Altho' I would venture to say it wasn't that good of an acoustic tone. Not even thru an acoustic amp or direct to PA. The guitar itself tho', was an awesome example of Heritage innovation. A smaller hollow body that fit SO well. Much like the Prospect is to the 535. Eventually this idea was dropped in favor of the current body style, as in carved top, flat back. Really, not even the same guitar just the same name. If you can find an original Millie SAE I'd say get it. And don't be stupid (like the someone writing this post) and let it go. They are rare and quite the instrument.
bolero Posted November 8, 2017 Posted November 8, 2017 here are a couple pics of the first production model Millennium SAE laminate top, like a 535/335: it has an arched top & back: upgraded pups from the stock schallers, and changed to a more traditional bridge & tailpiece. still have the piezo saddles though I had it listed for sale for a while, but may end up keeping it it is a killer guitar, and pretty neat to have the 1st production model
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