brentrocks Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 Im so fortunate to have a friend like Pete Moreno in Kalamazoo! He's 76 years old and has been repairing/building guitars all his life! He goes down to Heritage every week to collect their scrap to burn in his shop's wood burner. One Thursday a couple months ago, before the big shakedown at the Heritage Factory, he arrives to find dozens of bodies and necks setting on the dock, next to his weekly load of fire wood. Pete asked one of the management, "what are all these parts doing out here?" Pete was told that the owners wanted to get these old parts out of here!!! Pete asked how much? He was told...GET IT OUT OF HERE!!!! FREE!!! Among the necks and bodies, there were a few 85-95% completed guitars....painted, buffed, drilled...ready for final setup, filing, etc. Pete showed me the stuff he brought back and i was dumbfounded! Rare bodies from the 80s and 90s....a virtual museum of heritage history. One of the almost completed guitars was a Heritage Millennium DC. It had a red tag on it from the factory that said "new lacquer test". There is a long nitro check that extends from the bass side F hole, various dents and scratches from being shuffled around the factory....but the guitar was 100% painted/buffed/drilled.....ready for final setup!!! I asked pete if it was for sale.....he said, "i don't know...i might keep it for myself" I came back to his shop a few weeks later....it was still there. I slapped some cash on the table and he accepted!!! I also paid him to do all the final setup, cut the nut, install electronics, etc. Theres no serial number...because it never made it to final setup. It turned out GREAT!!!!! I had him install a vintage set of Seymour Duncan 59s, along with CTS 500 k pots with Russian PIO .022 caps. I went with locking Grovers and Lightweight Gibson historic bridge and tailpiece. This guitar produces a very warm, fat tone! Think...LES PAUL meets 335!!! It has a nice full 50s style neck with an ebony fretboard...mother of pearl block inlays. Its a semi sold....kinda like a semi hollow. The Millennium series was designed by Jim Derlou. Its a mahogany core, routed and topped with a solid carved maple top and a flat maple back....(see pics) Heritage's most innovative model!!!! Its light, tonefull and just a killer guitar!!!!! IMG_6830 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr IMG_6831 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr IMG_6832 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr IMG_6833 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr IMG_6841 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr post-194-0-16792100-1493423636 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr
deytookerjaabs Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 Wow, congrats!! The tuxedo look is killer. Any old H150 stuff in the pile? Sometime in the future I could see an H150 and me getting together..again.
davesultra Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 Looks awesome Brent, I love Black guitars. Can I call a preemptive DIBS?!?!?!
brentrocks Posted March 25, 2018 Author Posted March 25, 2018 29 minutes ago, davesultra said: Looks awesome Brent, I love Black guitars. Can I call a preemptive DIBS?!?!?! You sure can. But. I don’t see this one going anywhere anytime soon
bolero Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 WOW!!!! and what a great story too......millenium doublecut rescue!
PunkKitty Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 Beautiful. A very nice save. I like that one a lot.
Gitfiddler Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 Well done, Brent!! I really like your hardware and electronics choices.
FredZepp Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 An amazing story behind that one. And it's very nice, not old stock there as it has the newer logo. Looks like a fine playing instrument I wonder if we may see some other things show up from this Heritage dump eventually? Some cool old stuff from the 80s and 90s would be fun too.
pro-fusion Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 That's simply an amazing story, and a great score! Unbelievable that they were simply going to trash that. BTW, I notice that you put the front strap pin on the upper bout rather than just behind the heel. Does it balance okay like that? I'd think you would have some neck dive.
brentrocks Posted March 25, 2018 Author Posted March 25, 2018 I’m not a big fan of neck heel position strap buttons. I drilled it there because there were no strap button holes in the guitar yet. It does balance ok. It’s a little neck heavy because the body is so light and it’s a pretty beefy 50s neck.
bolero Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 I agree on the neck heel.....prefer upper bout myself, when possible
LittleLeroy Posted March 25, 2018 Posted March 25, 2018 Congrats Brent! Nice to hear of something good coming out of the takeover! Yes, you are fortunate to have Pete Moreno as a friend.
guycalleddave Posted March 26, 2018 Posted March 26, 2018 Gorgeous, fat necked, black dc, it's my dream Heritage. Enjoy her.
DetroitBlues Posted March 26, 2018 Posted March 26, 2018 So, should we start calling Pete to see what he has in stock now?
tulk1 Posted March 26, 2018 Posted March 26, 2018 What an amazing rescue story, yep. On the other hand, a very disturbing story on why it needed to be rescued. And a "da*n, wished I'd been there thing, too. Hmmm, wonder if there were any banjo parts?? (hint hint).
les paulverizer Posted March 26, 2018 Posted March 26, 2018 Obviously massive congratulations on your new guitar @brentrocks it looks (and I'm 1000% positive it sounds) killer! On the other hand it's a little disturbing to hear about the new owners's course of action; it can mean a lot of things, and some of them not very nice.... (I mean, who in their right mind would ever throw away a masterpiece...?) Oh well, only time can tell and they might manage to actually make Heritage flourish the way it absolutely deserves while avoiding fixing' what's not broken(!), nevertheless I'm more than happy to own a "pre-change of ownership" H150; I definitely know I got the real thing! Again, congratulations!
LittleLeroy Posted March 26, 2018 Posted March 26, 2018 5 hours ago, DetroitBlues said: So, should we start calling Pete to see what he has in stock now? made me LOL!
Buckyrock Posted March 26, 2018 Posted March 26, 2018 Brent - do you think the factory will stop giving Pete "firewood" to prevent such guitars from escaping the factory?
brentrocks Posted March 27, 2018 Author Posted March 27, 2018 1 hour ago, Buckyrock said: Brent - do you think the factory will stop giving Pete "firewood" to prevent such guitars from escaping the factory? This was an isolated incident. Before the new management took over. Not related to the whole firewood deal.
brentrocks Posted March 27, 2018 Author Posted March 27, 2018 Thanks for all the positive feedback guys n gals!! i had some joker on TGP accuse me of selling factory seconds as #1 Guitars, after posting this story. Lol. Cork sniffer central. Lol
LK155 Posted March 27, 2018 Posted March 27, 2018 Brent, that's a great story. Warmed the cockles of my heart.
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