SouthpawGuy Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 A rare find indeed .... I seem to truly have had the luck of the Irish this last few months, well at least as far as guitars are concerned ! This is a C# serial Heritage Stat from 1986 in lefty. Kudos again to my partner in crime, Brent, for his assistance in getting the guitar and his excellent pics. http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010117.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010114.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010116.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010130.jpg[/img] This is a strange beast. It has the Kahler and twin humbuckers, any Stats I've seen have been HSS configuration. It also has the older single VIP system, but with two volumes and tones like the 170, the Heritage site says a single master and tone applied to that setup. The burst also looks like a typical 150 or 157 teardrop shape on a strat stlye body, unusual indeed ! The pickups and /or covers and surrounds have been changed out at some stage, I've been persuaded , :wink:, that P-Rails might be the way to go in this one ...
SouthpawGuy Posted December 23, 2008 Author Posted December 23, 2008 more pics .... hot off the press ! http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010113.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010119.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010121.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010128.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010126.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010129.jpg[/img] http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010122.jpg[/img]
tulk1 Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Wow!! That is one nice piece of Heritage history right there. Odd beast that it is.
High Flying Bird Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 What a gorgeous finish! Great find.
chico Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Interesting. Nice guitar, nice find. I would leave the pickups alone. My stat has 2 single coils and 1 humbucker http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll185/H...rrent=Stat9.jpg
chico Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll185/H...rrent=Stat7.jpg looks like my Stat was made at about the same time yours was. congrats. make sure to get photos of it on the photobucket page
brentrocks Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 What does the control cover say? there was no sticker
tulk1 Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Are those pups installed reversed? http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010119.jpg[/img]
JeffB Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Wow thats cool. Whats the access to the upper frets like with that set neck?
OldCrow Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Wow the lefties are reeling them in this time of year. Congrats man!
brentrocks Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Wow thats cool.Whats the access to the upper frets like with that set neck? it not too bad...it feels really funky holding it left handed
cosmikdebriis Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Are those pups installed reversed? http://i254.photobucket.com/albums/hh98/SouthpawGuy/Heritage%20Stat/P1010119.jpg[/img] Yes... Both of em... Very strange indeed. I can't imagine they came out of the factory that way. I'd guess someone has been "playing around" ??? From an Electrical point of view I'm not sure what difference it makes as there are two coils inside the pickup body and it's just the "other" one in the right place. The only real difference I can imagine is that the adjustment screws are now in the wrong place. Whether that matters or not depends on whether any adjustment was ever applied I suppose. On the other hand... If, as I understand it, the VIP system splits the coils then it really does matter which coil becomes "active" when the system only uses one of the coils. However ( ;D). To confuse matters further... Some systems don't just cut (or more accurately earth/ground) one of the coils. They put them in "series" in an attempt to maintain output to a similar level as in full humbucker mode. If it were mine I'd have to pull the pups, check the make, check the wiring configuration for that make and then check it against Heritages design. Unfortunately, not being "sure" it's correct would bother me too much to just live with it. :police: If someone does know of a reason it's that way then I'd love to know because it's certainly got me stumped Looks like a nice guitar and certainly deserves to be "right" (if you'll pardon the pun) ;D For anyone wanting to know more... Try the following link. (It also has a very nice pic of Paul Kossoff on it who just happens to be my guitar hero :wink:) http://users.sa.chariot.net.au/~gmarts/pickups.htm It's written by an Australian so you may need to invert your screen to read it ;D
shook494 Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 That Stat is my favorite one I've seen yet!! Awesome score man!
mars_hall Posted December 23, 2008 Posted December 23, 2008 Great looking guitar. Due to the rounded edges, I would say it looks more like a VIP2. All Stats I can recall seeing have the hockey stick head. Then again, the description of a VIP says bolt-on neck. My two cents
SouthpawGuy Posted December 23, 2008 Author Posted December 23, 2008 tulk, cosmik, mars_hall .... The seller did say that the pickup covers were add ons, and the two mounting screws / pickup would seem to indicate Duncans. I emailed Heritage asking about the pickup wiring and switches etc. and included a couple of pics of the "beast". Ren himself responded to my mail, and he suggested the pickups were Duncans and to pull them to see what model they are. I didn't directly ask him if it was a Stat and he didn't say it wasn't, ( if you follow me). I also checked out the Heritage site and briefly thought that it might be a VIP2, but as you say the headstock is the wrong shape, plus the set neck does not match that model. Also any of the Heritage "strat" types on the site only have a single volume and tone control. A strange beast indeed.
cod65 Posted December 24, 2008 Posted December 24, 2008 wow, I am green with envy. that neck looks great. love that finish!!!!!! I'm glad nobody felt compelled to string it righty!. You have 2 in the mail Southpaw? holy toledo. I bought a righty 80s G&L today for cheap. I dunno why . I should be saving my money for more lefties!
jacques Posted December 25, 2008 Posted December 25, 2008 Well Paul, that guitar looks VERY much like a VIP2 as Mark already suggested. But indeed the neck on my VIP2 is bolt on. And look at the way the original Schallers were mounted! Also in some kind of a reversed way, but on my guitar they other way round... Heritage surely tried out all kinds of combinations in that second half of the Eighties. I you go to my site http://www.jacquesguitars.com/Heritage_VIP2.html you can also notice that that strange almost black backside is the same as on my VIP2. Anyway, the real difference between a STAT and a VIP2 would be (apart from the glued in neck of the STAT) that the STAT has a mahogany-maple sandwiched body, whereas the VIP2 is all maple (and therefore more bright and heavier). And why shouldn't there be Schallers in your STAT? Do I see two screws on the pick up mounting rings? If so the pickups would be Schallers. Then you probably want to replace them, since they can be unpleasantly harsh and give too much feedback at higher volumes. My experience with the SSH configuration Schallers (like on my162) is 200% positive, but the humbuckers (like I had on my former 127 and on the VIP2) didn't do well. I replaced them with Duncan Alnico II pros - not because I love Slash so much, but because they where recommended to warm up the all maple brightness of the VIP2. Those P-rails would look very tempting to me if I were in your shoes, but I have no idea what they would do in a strat-type guitar (and, yes, how much strat is there in a STAT with it's sandwiched body?) P1080630.jpg P1080630.jpg_thumb P1080631.jpg P1080631.jpg_thumb
jacques Posted December 25, 2008 Posted December 25, 2008 It also has the older single VIP system, but with two volumes and tones like the 170, the Heritage site says a single master and tone applied to that setup. With the older VIP system you do have two separate volumes but one tone for both pickups. The fourth knob is for variable phase. It does give you a million tone possibilities, but I never seem to get used to it. Maybe if it is one's only guitar, but not when you like to pick up a different one every once in a while.ß
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