Who has bought a New Heritage guitar from a dealer in the last 10 years?

[yoslate]

9 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

 

 

 

Daniel is such a tone hound...!  All three positions on this are just delicious!  Chain?  Recording details, my friend?  C'mon...share some intimate details of this affair.  The voyeurs here won't admit to it, but they love to just...listen.  This was fun, man!  Thanks.

[deytookerjaabs]

One time, sort of but not really. Surprised to see all these issues posted, except for file/scrape on fret edge binding lol, been out the game too long. 

 

Probably 4 years ago or so in my quest for the right ES, an H535 "Brand New" from someone who had a few new Heritages listed online. Anyways, make a $100 off offer, no counter offer, just a rude message back with an offer cancel, seriously. I'm thinking "why list with offers in the first place?"

After a few weeks, it's still my favorite online (because we all know how that is) model so I take the plunge and just buy it anyways.

I send the guy a message "hey, do you mind detuning the strings a bit before shipping and can you shoot me a ups/fedex tracking # when you ship? thanks!" Reason being, I was in Chicago at the time and USPS in my district was shady as hell, screwing things up left and right. 

5 days go by, no response, I come home one night and by some miracle the box is sitting in the stairwell of our apartment complex, beat to hell but there by the grace of a good person as there's no access into the building and anything left outside...well, it's the city thus I always made sure to know what day a guitar would arrive. The guy sent it USPS too, the box wasn't even a guitar box and was oversized on all sides with the case flopping around in it, it was not detuned either when I opened it up.

Luckily, the guitar looked great but I straight up played a few notes then packed it back up in a different case with bubble wrap etc and sent it back along with a message to the seller about right of return. I was just so pissed off with the guy's pawn shop service and should have learned my lesson after making the initial offer. I ate the return shipping too. 

[deytookerjaabs]

10 minutes ago, yoslate said:

Daniel is such a tone hound...!  All three positions on this are just delicious!  Chain?  Recording details, my friend?  C'mon...share some intimate details of this affair.  The voyeurs here won't admit to it, but they love to just...listen.  This was fun, man!  Thanks.

 

Not sure if this is @rockabilly69 same fiddle as he's had a few H150's but every time I look for a Heritage on the TGP his media album comes up but he posted a description a few years back about the mods to one of his H150's:

Just thought some people might like to hear the mods in my new Heritage H150. This guitar really responded to the changes!!!
Mods...
Pickups - Seymour Duncan Peter Green Custom Shop with non reversed magnet. (original pickups were Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates)
Bridge - Faber locking ABR with raw brass saddles with new german steel nashville style body inserts and brass thumbwheels. (originally came with Tonepros Nashville bridge)
Tailpiece - TonePros lightweight aluminum tailpiece and RS Guitarworks steel studs. (originally came with the heavier Tonepros tailpiece and studs)
With the mods the guitar is alive and ringing like a bell through crunchy amps. It went from my worst of three Les Paul style guitars to the best!
(other guitars are a 60 historic reissue LP, and another heavily modded Heritage H150)
Recorded with a 18 watt marshall variant made by my friend Paul Blandford, guitar plugged straight in.

Actually I used to feel the same way about the headstock, the pickguard and the lower horn, but now I love these things, and I own a killer historic 60 reissue which I also love. The fact is I paid about $2200 dollars for a brand new H150 that only really needed very small mods to get it where I wanted it, and to make it comparable with any historic Gibson I've ever heard. The biggest mod was the Peter Green pickups which cost $300. IMHO these pickups sound better than ANY burstbucker I've ever heard, and I've heard hundreds! The stock Pearly Gates pickups actually sounded quite good too, but they were just a little hot for my taste. And I think the Faber locking ABR with the Faber inserts (german steel), are fantastic. They aren't historically correct but I love the tone transfer and the solid feel of the bridge. I mod Gibson guitars to make them happen too, so I think the Heritage may be the best guitar deal out there for a LP style guitar.

 

 

I didn't even know SD made a "Peter Green" set. 

[rockabilly69]

9 hours ago, LittleLeroy said:

Great sounding axe!  You're not using a pick, are you?  Which VOX ?

no pick (I rarely use one), just a cheap Vox AC15C1 that I picked up for a gig in New York while I was visiting. That picture of the amp is from the gig:) I sold it soon as I got home to Utah and bought the handwired version, which although very good sounding for what it is, is less versatile than the cheaper PCB board Vox.

[rockabilly69]

2 hours ago, deytookerjaabs said:

 

2 hours ago, deytookerjaabs said:

The biggest mod was the Peter Green pickups which cost $300. IMHO these pickups sound better than ANY burstbucker I've ever heard, and I've heard hundreds! The stock Pearly Gates pickups actually sounded quite good too, but they were just a little hot for my taste. And I think the Faber locking ABR with the Faber inserts (german steel), are fantastic. They aren't historically correct but I love the tone transfer and the solid feel of the bridge. I mod Gibson guitars to make them happen too, so I think the Heritage may be the best guitar deal out there for a LP style guitar.

 

 

 

I didn't even know SD made a "Peter Green" set. 

 

I got hipped to the Duncan Peter Green set by Les Paul forum member "Roadrunner" who posted some clips that I really liked. I especially liked his neck pickup tone which is something I fight with in all of my Les Paul style guitars To get them you have to talk to MJ in the custom shop as they aren't listed on the Duncan website. They are unpotted, and slightly microphonic, which is what like, They typically come with the neck pickup magnet reversed but I didn't want that and figured I could do that myself if I was chasing the Peter Green tone. I just wanted a low output, unpotted picup with slightly unbalanced coils, and that's what I got. It's pretty much what Gibson did when they introduced their Custombucker pickups. 

[Spectrum13]

-Purchased four new from dealers in the last ten years. Three were customs. On the customs I was sending parts direct to Kzoo like bridges, pots  caps and tuners. Each build was better than the previous as I was able to explore variations on existing models and get to communicate with Ren and Marv to obtain status and photos. Can't imagine any better experience than going to a PSP working on a dream build with Bill, Jim and Marv, picking the timber and neck and details then a few months latter picking up the finished product in Jupiter. the day it was delivered I was on my way to South Florida to visit family so the timing was perfect too.

 

[rockabilly69]

2 hours ago, yoslate said:

Daniel is such a tone hound...!  All three positions on this are just delicious!  Chain?  Recording details, my friend?  C'mon...share some intimate details of this affair.  The voyeurs here won't admit to it, but they love to just...listen.  This was fun, man!  Thanks.

You'll laugh at this Yos but this recording was done with the cheap internal mic of my 1st generation ipad, and recorded with the Auria app. The clip was just to test my ipad for possible recording. The reason the clip sounds so distant/reverby is because the internal mic would clip if I got it too close:)

[rockabilly69]

2 hours ago, deytookerjaabs said:

One time, sort of but not really. Surprised to see all these issues posted, except for file/scrape on fret edge binding lol, been out the game too long. 

 

Probably 4 years ago or so in my quest for the right ES, an H535 "Brand New" from someone who had a few new Heritages listed online. Anyways, make a $100 off offer, no counter offer, just a rude message back with an offer cancel, seriously. I'm thinking "why list with offers in the first place?"

After a few weeks, it's still my favorite online (because we all know how that is) model so I take the plunge and just buy it anyways.

I send the guy a message "hey, do you mind detuning the strings a bit before shipping and can you shoot me a ups/fedex tracking # when you ship? thanks!" Reason being, I was in Chicago at the time and USPS in my district was shady as hell, screwing things up left and right. 

5 days go by, no response, I come home one night and by some miracle the box is sitting in the stairwell of our apartment complex, beat to hell but there by the grace of a good person as there's no access into the building and anything left outside...well, it's the city thus I always made sure to know what day a guitar would arrive. The guy sent it USPS too, the box wasn't even a guitar box and was oversized on all sides with the case flopping around in it, it was not detuned either when I opened it up.

Luckily, the guitar looked great but I straight up played a few notes then packed it back up in a different case with bubble wrap etc and sent it back along with a message to the seller about right of return. I was just so pissed off with the guy's pawn shop service and should have learned my lesson after making the initial offer. I ate the return shipping too. 

When I bought my 1960 Musicmaster guitar it arrived with just some cardboard taped around the case. The cases on these guitars are thin to begin with so I was quite worried. When I opened to the case the guitar had NO strings on it! I saw that in the ebay ad, but I thought he was doing that just for pics:) When I put a set of strings on it, the guitar fretted out all over the neck. But I just waited a few hours and funny enough the neck sorted itself out under tension. I haven't touched it since, and the neck hasn't moved. Later I contacted the seller and he told the guitar hadn't had strings on it for about 20 years:)

 

 

[mjstich88]

I placed my order for a custom H-530 in summer of 2016 and had it by fall of 2016. I went through Wades Guitar shop in Milwaukee. Before I took the guitar home, Wade's did a set up on the guitar. It didn't need much. It's been nearly two years since I've had it and I still am very happy with the quality.

[deytookerjaabs]

4 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

I got hipped to the Duncan Peter Green set by Les Paul forum member "Roadrunner" who posted some clips that I really liked. I especially liked his neck pickup tone which is something I fight with in all of my Les Paul style guitars To get them you have to talk to MJ in the custom shop as they aren't listed on the Duncan website. They are unpotted, and slightly microphonic, which is what like, They typically come with the neck pickup magnet reversed but I didn't want that and figured I could do that myself if I was chasing the Peter Green tone. I just wanted a low output, unpotted picup with slightly unbalanced coils, and that's what I got. It's pretty much what Gibson did when they introduced their Custombucker pickups. 

 

Besides the pickups, it sounds like that guitar has what I call "spank," I dunno what it is but some lester types got it, some don't. 

[Vanschoyck]

Here's an idea for increasing the sales value of any guitar: put it in Mr. Weldon's hands and let people hear him play it.  

[yoslate]

7 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

You'll laugh at this Yos but this recording was done with the cheap internal mic of my 1st generation ipad, and recorded with the Auria app. The clip was just to test my ipad for possible recording. The reason the clip sounds so distant/reverby is because the internal mic would clip if I got it too close:)

You bastid!!  And I am laughing, but not at what you think!  I have a recording sort of like that, somewhere.  Put a new harness in a Strat and just wanted to listen.  Strat into my Micro-Cube with the little Zoom just across the room.   Sounds ridiculous!  But multiple instruments...yes, an entirely different story! 

[buzzy]

Two new from a dealer

an H150 from Jay

an H157 from Jay

 

Good experiences; pretty happy with the guitars; I wouldn't mind another new (champagne taste on a beer budget).

[bolero]

8 hours ago, Vanschoyck said:

Here's an idea for increasing the sales value of any guitar: put it in Mr. Weldon's hands and let people hear him play it.  

hahaha....I agree, everything Rockabilly does sounds F'n great!!

[rockabilly69]

8 hours ago, Vanschoyck said:

Here's an idea for increasing the sales value of any guitar: put it in Mr. Weldon's hands and let people hear him play it.  

 

9 minutes ago, bolero said:

hahaha....I agree, everything Rockabilly does sounds F'n great!!

you guys haven't heard all the clams I've hit along the way, but I appreciate the compliments:)

 

6 hours ago, yoslate said:

You bastid!!  And I am laughing, but not at what you think!  I have a recording sort of like that, somewhere.  Put a new harness in a Strat and just wanted to listen.  Strat into my Micro-Cube with the little Zoom just across the room.   Sounds ridiculous!  But multiple instruments...yes, an entirely different story! 

That's ol' bastid to you:) What is the old quote from the great audio engineer/producer Joe Meek? "if it sounds good, it is good" or in the words of Michael Keaton in the movie Mr Mom, "220 - 221 whatever it takes".

[rockabilly69]

10 hours ago, deytookerjaabs said:

 

Besides the pickups, it sounds like that guitar has what I call "spank," I dunno what it is but some lester types got it, some don't. 

microphonic pickups + good piece of resonant wood = Spank     

[myoldfriend]

16 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

I got hipped to the Duncan Peter Green set by Les Paul forum member "Roadrunner" who posted some clips that I really liked. I especially liked his neck pickup tone which is something I fight with in all of my Les Paul style guitars To get them you have to talk to MJ in the custom shop as they aren't listed on the Duncan website. They are unpotted, and slightly microphonic, which is what like, They typically come with the neck pickup magnet reversed but I didn't want that and figured I could do that myself if I was chasing the Peter Green tone. I just wanted a low output, unpotted picup with slightly unbalanced coils, and that's what I got. It's pretty much what Gibson did when they introduced their Custombucker pickups. 

+1 for the SD 'Greenie' pups!  Could not be happier with mine (zebra w/ reversed magnet) in my 11+ lbs VSB.  They used to be available on the SD website..

[davesultra]

Would be curious to find out, how these compare to the Throbak PG set?

[pressure]

I have had 3 custom Heritage guitars made since 2011 all purchased thru The Music Gallery in Highland Park Illinois. Frank at The Music Gallery was very easy to work with and I wouldn't mind doing another Custom Heritage guitar with them. But the most memorable, funnest part, was getting phone calls on Tuesday from Ren about the guitars being made and being able to work with Marv, Jim, J.P. and Bill.

Heritage Spruce Millie AC serial number, March 5th 2011.

Heritage Spruce H170 AE serial number, July 28th 2014.

Heritage Spruce Prospect AF serial number,  September 2nd 2015.

[Steiner]

You really like to spruce up your instruments!

 

[pressure]

Yes, yes I do. I've also got a Fender Custom Shop Master Built Spruce Stratocaster and it's Fab too.

[yoslate]

1 hour ago, Steiner said:

You really like to spruce up your instruments!

 

He's always pined for spruce.  Had to go out on a limb to order those guitars.   And Richard isn't one for playing loud when soft would do.

[Vanschoyck]

29 minutes ago, yoslate said:

He's always pined for spruce.  Had to go out on a limb to order those guitars.   And Richard isn't one for playing loud when soft would do.

Oy vey.

[Gitfiddler]

3 hours ago, pressure said:

I have had 3 custom Heritage guitars made since 2011 all purchased thru The Music Gallery in Highland Park Illinois. Frank at The Music Gallery was very easy to work with and I wouldn't mind doing another Custom Heritage guitar with them. But the most memorable, funnest part, was getting phone calls on Tuesday from Ren about the guitars being made and being able to work with Marv, Jim, J.P. and Bill.

Heritage Spruce Millie AC serial number, March 5th 2011.

Heritage Spruce H170 AE serial number, July 28th 2014.

Heritage Spruce Prospect AF serial number,  September 2nd 2015.

Of all the (AMAZING!) custom Heritages in this thread, I really want to try one of Richard's Spruce topped beauties...especially the Prospect. 

[pressure]

It will be at PSP this August. See you there Tim.