LittleLeroy Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 14 hours ago, skydog52 said: Loving this Pete Farmer Creation! Looks perfect 4 shredding! Nice to have all that real estate below the bridge visible. A real stunner. Love to see the back.
Gianluca Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 19 hours ago, TalismanRich said: What surprised me the most is that they only brought one true archtop to the show. In previous years, they had many more of the big hollow body guitars than the "bread and butter" 150s and 535s. It seemed that Marv and Jim have a real love for making those guitars. agreed, only one and not even calling it by name I hope they will not end up being another revenues/trend driven guitar company don't get me wrong please, but ....yeah I have that feeling and looks like pre-acquisition Heritages are starting to get in higher demand (at least here in Italy) and thus higher market value
brentrocks Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 20 hours ago, TalismanRich said: What surprised me the most is that they only brought one true archtop to the show. Because that is the ONLY arch top that is going to be in production. The way i understand it, there will only be 5-7 models available in production TOTAL. 535, 137, 150, Eagle classic, 155.... No custom orders.....or if you do a custom order, its gonna be REALLY EXPENSIVE. Streamlined, cookie cutter production. Listen closely to pete in the video...how he words it....
DetroitBlues Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 It makes sense what they are doing. People want custom, then we should be paying near the cost of the big boys for custom products. We have to face the facts, its not a good ol' boys shop anymore. Its a true business who's owners are concerned about the bottom line and ROI's. That being said, the quality of products coming out will be better on average than what we've seen before. As long as they continue to support the dealers and the customers, I think it is in a step in the right direction from a business perspective. From our side deal bargaining power that is factory direct, yep its going to hurt.
Gianluca Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 ROI is important. The business has rules. But building relic'd guitars or, as it's clear, guitar models seen in the video and stop building the hollow bodies line(keeping only one?).....to me means loosing the heritage. Means feeding a market which is consumer oriented and I'm afraid it's clear what is the kind of consumer they're looking at. Not saying all 'consumer oriented' businesses are wrong, and I understand if they found revenues from the hollow bodies being just a small fraction of the entire balance from all guitar models in production. Sorry, but again, I do not believe they're doing right, especially in the (not so)long term. Hope not, just my feelings in freedom of speech.
Gitfiddler Posted January 29, 2018 Posted January 29, 2018 In business, sometimes you have to shrink in order to grow. Let's give the new guys the benefit of the doubt that they have, and are implementing a strategic and cogent business plan.
LittleLeroy Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 6 minutes ago, Gitfiddler said: In business, sometimes you have to shrink in order to grow. Let's give the new guys the benefit of the doubt that they have, and are implementing a strategic and cogent business plan. I only quote Gitfiddler as a jumping off point. I don't disagree. But some observations... Lean and Mean? Well, maybe.... In the fist vid posted Mr. Farmer talks about the "standard line" and then the custom work Heritage is known for. In the next vid Mr. Howard shows us - briefly - the "aged" guitars, which one would think are also "custom" made rather than "cookie cutter". I wouldn't think Mr. Farmer would be very satisfied to work where there was no custom stuff being made. And with PRS and Gibson asking in the 10s of thousands for Limited Editions and Private Stock, etc. one would think Heritage would want to attract some of that market. Also, I am somewhat puzzled by Mr. Farmer talking about getting stock the to dealers more efficiently. I wasn't aware there was an issue where the non-customized models were concerned. Is the push going to be to a foreign market and have the dealers been signed up and are orders pending? The new tag line, "The world's finest American-made musical instruments." is also puzzling. This does not sound like a native English speaker's syntax! Did you get the email from heritageguitar.com: "Fresh look at Heritage.com, and hello from NAMM"? Written by a native English speaker? Try "heritage.com" in your browser. I do think they have a ways to go.
holyroller Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 Because that is the ONLY arch top that is going to be in production. The way i understand it, there will only be 5-7 models available in production TOTAL. 535, 137, 150, Eagle classic, 155.... No custom orders.....or if you do a custom order, its gonna be REALLY EXPENSIVE. Streamlined, cookie cutter production. Listen closely to pete in the video...how he words it....I thought the same thing . Production line models , then there’s the custom line?? I thought there everyday guitar is custom.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
abcpeterson Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 Did they do away with the new style headstock logo? Unless I completely missed it, I didn't see it in any of the videos.
LittleLeroy Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 5 hours ago, abcpeterson said: Did they do away with the new style headstock logo? Unless I completely missed it, I didn't see it in any of the videos. Good catch! I'm so used to seeing the original logo, I had forgotten about them using a different one.
ElNumero Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 18 hours ago, brentrocks said: Because that is the ONLY arch top that is going to be in production. The way i understand it, there will only be 5-7 models available in production TOTAL. 535, 137, 150, Eagle classic, 155.... No custom orders.....or if you do a custom order, its gonna be REALLY EXPENSIVE. Streamlined, cookie cutter production. Listen closely to pete in the video...how he words it.... Maybe I do regret selling my 575 and 525 models years ago.
abcpeterson Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 If they're stopping production of the Prospect, maybe I need to re-think selling mine...
Gitfiddler Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 Fortunately, there is a healthy supply of high quality Heritage archtops on the used market.
Gianluca Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 18 hours ago, Gitfiddler said: In business, sometimes you have to shrink in order to grow. Let's give the new guys the benefit of the doubt that they have, and are implementing a strategic and cogent business plan. shrink and replacing are two different things :-)
houndhome Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 All a good reason to hang on to my H575,Golden Eagle and Super Eagle!
CJTopes Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 I was a little late to the party but I think the golden age of Heritage guitars is over. I'm not knocking there present quality or that the company is worse off. IMO the affordable custom order was what attracted a lot of buyers. ( me included) I was thinking about selling my CS-336 for a custom Millie DC but thats not going to happen anymore.
Millennium Maestro Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 I wish I had official news for you guys, I don't. Bandlab officially takes over marketing Feb 1 so I expect that day to determine what the beginning of corporate changes brought on by Bandlab. I have told sellers for years to keep their gear... I absolutely would not change my mind. There is a fact the golden era of Heritage was the first 30 years and they will never be built the same... There are a ton of models that have been discontinued throughout the years and a corporate business platform is to promote what sells, built them as efficiently as possible and sell them in volume. Once again I expect my business model will need to be modified, Custom shop is still not available and eager ears are open for information on the production changes anticipated from Bandlab, my sole contact for manufacturing.
LittleLeroy Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 3 hours ago, Gitfiddler said: Fortunately, there is a healthy supply of high quality Heritage archtops on the used market. That are likely to get more and more expensive, too.
Millennium Maestro Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 10 minutes ago, CJTopes said: I was a little late to the party but I think the golden age of Heritage guitars is over. I'm not knocking there present quality or that the company is worse off. IMO the affordable custom order was what attracted a lot of buyers. ( me included) I was thinking about selling my CS-336 for a custom Millie DC but thats not going to happen anymore. Once again I will state for the record... The out the door product has never been better for fit and finish, guitars have never been built faster either. Earning the big dog reputation with Buyers, Artists, Dealers and Luthiers alike is not an easy task and work will have to be done on all fronts. Bandlabs new AVP, Head of Channel Sales Globally(former Gibson/Taylor Exec.) should bring experience to the table.
CJTopes Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 20 minutes ago, Millennium Maestro said: I wish I had official news for you guys, I don't. Bandlab officially takes over marketing Feb 1 so I expect that day to determine what the beginning of corporate changes brought on by Bandlab. I have told sellers for years to keep their gear... I absolutely would not change my mind. You told me that about my Millie DC.. Glad I took your advice. .
skydog52 Posted January 30, 2018 Author Posted January 30, 2018 All the guitars I have received lately have been the finest fit and finish they have had. They where fine before but they spend a lot more time on the final steps as far as set up and quality control is concerned. Which they should! I have received a few generic e-mails about the changes that are coming. Nothing definitive. I will pass it on when we hear some definite news. Keep enjoying what you have until then. After that buy as many as you can! ; )
ElNumero Posted January 30, 2018 Posted January 30, 2018 I see their website is in transition and no longer lists the models (coming soon). It will be sad if they no longer offer their archtops in the production model line.
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