Small Issues I've encountered w/ H535 & Prospect Models

[bluescounselor]

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I have had a H535 (bought used) and now I have the Prospect (NOS) which I'm very pleased with. When I took them to my luthier (Mike Lull/Bellevue, WA), who does all of my set-ups, he found that in both instances the frets were not glued in well from the factory and the Prospect actually had a bit of a "twist" in the neck.  Mike set it up beautifully, re-gluing the frets w/ stronger glue, replacing the factory nut, running it through his state of the art PLEK machine and intonating (a cool $400 for all...youch).  It was worth it, however because it is truly a different guitar now and it is my main player on stage.

[brentrocks]

:this_thread_is_useless_withou

 

that is the thing w/ necks, you never know what they will do.  i'm glad you got them fixed up just right

[yoslate]

Ouch, indeed, counselor!  But, if you'd been hanging around here for a while, you'd have seen a number of threads, addressing your very issues.  Some of us have come to understand your experience as part of the "charm" of dealing with things which come from Parsons Street...if that makes you feel any better.  Your issues are not the order of the day, but neither are they uncommon.  There was a time when Parsons Street had some real quality control issues.  But ultimately the solution you found often yields a really terrific instrument.  Hope yours just gets better with age and being played!  

[Kuz]

I spent over $200 (3 setups) to get my PRS David Grissom Trem to stay in tune and I VERY rarely need to take the Heritage to my Tech.

 

Now, that is not saying I don't spend a bunch of time setting the Heritages up at home when I first get them, but I can set them up by MYSELF.

 

The PRS, Strat, and Tele, I could not get right myself and they had to fix the issue.

 

Sorry about your time and expense. And I realize real issues at Heritage do happen.

 

I don't know if it is the case with your tech, but mine seems to have every excuse in the book for me to bring my guitars in to him. If I can get low action, no fret buzz, and great tone by myself, then he doesn't need my $65.

[bolero]

I've got a 535 & a prospect, I have had no issues at all with them

 

 

I also work on all my own gtrs...this is a great intro/summary book by dan erlewine, that addresses 99% of what you need to know get your own gtrs playing the way you want:

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Guitar-Player-Repair...e/dp/0879302917

[GuitArtMan]

My issues:

535 Antique Natural - Dead fret at the 15th fret and nut was somewhat high.  I couldn't even bend the D up to an E without it comepletey fretting out.  Other then that the frets were fine.

H-137 - Teribly low nut with exceesive buzzing off the D, A and low E strings, even with excessive relief in the neck.  Frets were decent with some minor rattle here and there.

535 Dark Almond Burst - Teribly high nut.  Was someone setting this up for slide?!?  The nut was ridiculously high imho.  Frets were ok.

All of these were, eh hem, PLEKed.  All three of them went to Michael Tuttle of bestfets.com and came back playing 100% better.  As always YMMV.

[Mikenov]

nuts... that to me is the #1  issue I see with heritage instruments. I have owned four of them and none of them had a nut that kept in tune. I put bone nuts on three of them. Never had a tuning issue again. Bird can testify about that with cherry. Plus it improved the tone and sustain. So, that is an upgrade I don't mind springing for. But I would say that is an area that they should focus on improving. I still do love their instruments so I am not willing to throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak.

[GuitArtMan]

nuts... that to me is the #1  issue I see with heritage instruments. I have owned four of them and none of them had a nut that kept in tune. I put bone nuts on three of them. Never had a tuning issue again. Bird can testify about that with cherry. Plus it improved the tone and sustain. So, that is an upgrade I don't mind springing for. But I would say that is an area that they should focus on improving. I still do love their instruments so I am not willing to throw the baby out with the bath water so to speak.

Yep, bone nuts is where it's at for me as well.  The Antique Natural is a 335 special so it had a bone nut from the factory.  I had Michael put bone nuts on the 137 and 335 Dark Almond Burst.

[Bluzman54]

I also own a 2008 Prospect and H-535.  I purchased both new from Wolfe in the last 6 months and they were perfectly setup......of all the guitars I own, these two are the ones I have a problem putting down.  They are simply a true pleasure to play and the tone is incredible.

 

I hope the luthier got the "kinks" out of the guitar for you......as you will really enjoy it.

 

Play well and always have fun doing so......

 

Jim C

[fxdx99]

I have 3 (02 535, 05 150, 08 555) and have had no issues of any kind.  I've changed the pickups on all 3 and setup for 11s as they all came w/10s, but no tuning, intonation, nut, fret, etc problems.

[JeffB]

I only buy guitars I can get to play and spend time with. Ive never had issues with any.

Only time Ive needed any work done to the frets is when Ive worn them out and they needed refretting.

Ive never had any quality issues with any brand. Quite often read these sorts of posts and wonder how things could go so bad.

Glad you got yours sorted out and enjoying it now.

[Spectrum13]

Given that we all have an individual "ideal" string height at the nut, it makes sense for the factory to leave some room. A dealer might offer setups or make sure it plays well for customers. I suspect this all depends on the store.

 

  150 (used) string spacing was off. Replaced with bone

  137 (new)  g-string too low so it got shimmed. Planned bone replacement when two or three years old.

  155 (new) Factory bone nut. Inlayed and cut high. Filed to taste.

 

  I expect #4 will need some nut work but I would only be upset if the bone nut needs a shim.

 

         

[GuitArtMan]

Given that we all have an individual "ideal" string height at the nut, it makes sense for the factory to leave some room.

You know I hear people make this argument all the time and frankly I just don't buy it.  The nut should be high enough that you don't get buzzing off of the nut and no higher.  Well maybe a little higher to allow for wear.  There's just no logical reason to make the nut any higher.  Maybe if you're playing slide you might want a higher nut, but that's a special case.  If you have high action at the nut, it doesn't matter how you andjust the bridge, the action will always feel high and stiff.  The ideal height woould the height of a fret, but this may not be practical due to wear. 

[Spectrum13]

just so it will ping when you tap it down. But if you go up to 11s or 12s and the nut was set for 10s, you will need to widen the slots. 

[bolero]

well, I have never bought a guitar that I didn't need to tweak to suit my playing style....everyone has different preferences & if a mfr set them up to work with only one string guage & the guy who does the setup likes it, a lot of customers probably wouldn't

 

 

as far as nut height, I always feel they err on the side of caution & leave it a bit high....every gibson I ever bought was like this, I use 10's or 11's & always have to cut the saddles a bit deeper. and tweak the truss rod a bit, and adjust the bridge.

 

 

whenever I buy a guitar I always assume it needs a setup....if you buy it thru a shop they should be able to do that for you. if not you're on your own, or you bring it to a tech

 

 

my .02c