In Defense of Heritage 2.0

[jaywolfe]

11 hours ago, bolero said:

Heritage switching from Schaller hardware and pickups to Seymour Duncan and tonepros was one of the the best things they did, to improve things

IMO the Schaller stuff was holding them back, and turning off a lot of players

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This is factual. I recall displaying Heritages at many Guitar shows late 80's, early 90's with the Schaller stuff and hearing experienced players state they would not buy them with that stuff. Okay, I did have to endure the headstock digs too. Didn't take long for me to call Kal. and make the minor changes to Nashville style Schaller bridge & Duncans. Seymour Duncan bought his H150 bout that time and did some experimenting with a scope. He told me that just changing the bridge from the roller one to the NV one improved sustain on his scope 22%. That's nothing to sneeze at. I remember visiting Duncan's NAMM booth (always so busy) and seeing him with his Jeff beck Tele and his beautiful H150. He was always very complimentary of it, after changing the bridge, stop bar & of course pickups. He actually featured his 150 on the cover of his catalog for a few years. I was proud to have introduced Seymour to Heritage and lending him & Dickie Betts a couple of them for a show at a dallas Gtr. show. Betts was complimentary also. There are setup issues with the roller bridge as well, but the sustain advantage alone is enough to warrant change. I have specified the roller bridge when getting a Bigsby, but that's another story.

11 hours ago, bolero said:

 

 

 

[ElNumero]

23 hours ago, jaywolfe said:

Oh yes, there is a small group of players that like those pickups BUT the majority prefer other pickups. (I was expecting this post)

Aesthetically,  I didn't care for the Schaller hardware, although I still have the original roller bridge and notched tailpiece on my H574. I did change out the bridge and tailpiece on the 01 150 that I bought from JW, but kept the pups, I still like them! But I agree with Bolero, it was a good move for them to move away from that platform. 

[Millennium Maestro]

Since this topic has gone off thread, Shaller makes good stuff, them Germans make great stuff and yes visually they are outside the norm but I tend to look at overall pictures, +/-'s and how things do their jobs. 

With shaller pickups, they work well but an amp eq tweak is required, I prefer Duncan BUT I have a very specific taste within the Duncan product line.

Shaller bridges are great at adjust-ability, Great break angle, low profile.... BUT too many small parts that can fail and too much  maintenance is required compare to Nashville styles.

Shaller tailpieces are wonderful for guitar tweakers, loosen the strings and swap pups, thoroughly clean, replace pup rings... They never let the strings contact the bridge.

Overall I have felt the finish is much better and lasts longer on Shaller!      Half dozen This/ Half dozen that.
 

 

[skydog52]

Back on thread. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Jay I'm glad you are enjoying success with the new Heritage. Selling 12 guitars in one week is easy to look at through

rose colored glasses. 

For most of the smaller dealers we where cast aside like we didn't exist. 

I have long threads of e-mails where I couldn't even get a return reply on orders already place with down payments in 

place and questions I wanted answered before I made an informed decision before I committed to them.

Just another view to consider.

[deytookerjaabs]

Supro guitars are Harmonony guitars. There's already Supro/Eastwood/Danelectro/Silvertone in the same biz thus that's probably why the new harmony guitars look like hipster warmoth builds rather than reissues of old models. I mean, it's cool if you dig it, but it's got nothing to do with the legacy of Parson's street other than "'MERICA!" meanwhile the "legacy" instruments aren't being built in the old digs. I just seems backwards to me, that's all, and yes I concur that it's all taking place on earth, in reality, in this here universe, in michigan, through all kinds of weather with work done by american humans who drink H2O at times and use the restroom when needed. Yet, in their day Harmony were the pariah of domestic cost cutting magazine order quality only to be out done by early Japan imports in the 60's. I say that as someone who owns a Silvertone and a Danelectro, I dig budget builds at the right price.

 

I'm sure management is more hip to the trends than I. Perhaps they throw in a free sixer of some craft "IPA" and an overdrive pedal covered in heiroglyphic print with the latest Harmony fiddles. Meanwhile a company like Vox actually came up with some hip new designs, good wood, great machined aluminum bridge, fantastic versatile hum free pickups, nice tuners, and all together great builds at really good prices.....and the guitars tanked! Yet, we can convince any old goober a Les Paul special with the "finest cuts of mahogany" is worth forking out 4K+, marketing is everything I suppose. 

[PunkKitty]

Supro Guitars are NOT Harmony Guitars. That may have been true in the 1960's, but in 2018 they are two separate companies.

[Spectrum13]

56 minutes ago, deytookerjaabs said:

". I just seems backwards to me, that's all, and yes I concur that it's all taking place on earth, in reality, in this here universe, in michigan, through all kinds of weather with work done by american humans who drink H2O at times and use the restroom when needed.

I see your point from here in cyberspace where electrons don't need h20 or bathrooms and guitars do not exist.

[FredZepp]

Of course, there is a whole lot of square footage at 225 Parsons.. the old building makes up about 1/4 of the available space.   

Over the years they have made many things , as a wood shop, to keep everyone busy.   They made wood childrens toys or even parts for conversion vans and waterbeds at different points when those were popular.   

I find the new Harmony models really interesting.. but price point will play a big role in that. 

But there is still so much yet to be seen of their big plans for Parsons Street.  I do expect the old plant to really be something to see when they are done.... 

[deytookerjaabs]

1 hour ago, PunkKitty said:

Supro Guitars are NOT Harmony Guitars. That may have been true in the 1960's, but in 2018 they are two separate companies.

 

 

That was the point, someone asked why they didn't just make them reissues of the old Harmony's...there already are a bunch of Sears reissue guitars. The old Harmony guitars were often re-badged makes of the same model, like chevy/pontiac etc. 

 

I guess we could pool in and buy the "Kay" name then make our own!

[HANGAR18]

19 hours ago, bolero said:

Heritage switching from Schaller hardware and pickups to Seymour Duncan and tonepros was one of the the best things they did, to improve things

IMO the Schaller stuff was holding them back, and turning off a lot of players

those pups and hardware were the first things to go, when I would get a new gtr

 

 

I agree.

[davesultra]

I could never get past those ugly-@ss Schaller humbucker rings with the extra holes in them. I’d always swap those out even if we’re going to keep the Schaller pickups in. To me they just made the guitar look sloppy.

[DetroitBlues]

1 hour ago, davesultra said:

I could never get past those ugly-@ss Schaller humbucker rings with the extra holes in them. I’d always swap those out even if we’re going to keep the Schaller pickups in. To me they just made the guitar look sloppy.

I think those wold be good pickup rings for SG’s

[ElNumero]

21 hours ago, davesultra said:

I could never get past those ugly-@ss Schaller humbucker rings with the extra holes in them. I’d always swap those out even if we’re going to keep the Schaller pickups in. To me they just made the guitar look sloppy.

Two screws instead of one. But no extra holes. 

[zguitar71]

I personally could care less if other brands are made in the factory, if they help keep Heritage in business then so be it. 

I absolutely feel that Heritage is going in the right direction. If they want to compete with PRS or Collings or Gibson they must have higher standards then what I have seen on the 4 I have owned in my time.

Updating and modernization is part of the history at 225 Parsons, it gave the world great guitars like the L5 and the the humbucker.  

 

[bolero]

yeah, but most people are still chasing 1959!!

 

[jaywolfe]

10 hours ago, bolero said:

yeah, but most people are still chasing 1959!!

 

Well, mostly those of us north of 60 yrs. of age. The younger players never heard of 1959 & could care less, and they are the future of the business. There are exceptions of course, but by & large they have moved on.