JRL Posted February 27, 2019 Posted February 27, 2019 My new (2106, mint condition, rarely played) 535 showed up last week. The guitar was beautiful in looks and terrible in playability. The string slots in the nut were cut unevenly spaced and of different depths, the bridge saddles were slotted unevenly as well, and I couldn't get clear notes without quite a bit of relief and/or jacking the bridge up. Today, I took the guitar to a repairman. After a new nut, fret level, and setup it plays like a dream. I have 3 Heritage guitars, all from 2015-2017 and all three of them have needed new nuts due to uneven spacing that was obvious to the eye, and two of them have needed bridge saddles re-slotted evenly. I'm not sure how any of these guitar ever got out of the factory (I bought 2 used and picked the other up factory direct) but with the repairs/new, properly slotted and cut nuts these guitars are unbelievable! I was totally against the "new changes" and PLEK machine but in hindsight that machine is probably the best thing they ever did. Again, I love these guitars!
zguitar71 Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 My 2011 Goldtop had some very poor final work that should not have made it out of the shop. In the end I did much of the same work you did and the guitar is my favorite. It is part of the reason Heritage has not ever been able to compete with the bigger companies, not that they have not had there own problems too. I’ve owned 3 Heritages over the years and all three needed the final touches redone. Heritage makes killer guitars they just have had a hard time with the setup for some reason.
Vanschoyck Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 Same for me, my favorite guitar, a 575 spruce top, (pre-changes at the factory) had to have the nut and the bridge redone the same way. I also had it plek'd. "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you like the play?"
rockabilly69 Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 I remember when I brought up how bad the nuts were cut, I got a little blowback, but it's a fact many of them left the factory with very badly cut nuts and a terrible setup. That's why I like the direction the new guys are going in, with the higher quality control, but the new prices are skyrocketing and the days of the cheap used H150s are just about behind us! Like others here have stated, once the bad stuff was corrected on the older ones, you wound up with a pretty nice guitar. I've kept two of the three H150s that I bought, and only parted with the first one because it was a 10 pounder! Here's the 10 pounder that I sold (it was a good sounder)...
pressure Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 I Pleked every Heritage, Fender CustomShop and Hamer that I had, they needed it. The newest Heritage (Millie SuperLight) that I just got in January, was perfect.
HANGAR18 Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 8 hours ago, rockabilly69 said: I remember when I brought up how bad the nuts were cut, I got a little blowback, but it's a fact many of them left the factory with very badly cut nuts and a terrible setup. That's why I like the direction the new guys are going in, with the higher quality control, but the new prices are skyrocketing and the days of the cheap used H150s are just about behind us! I'm with you on this... It seems that a funny thing happens around here sometimes which goes something like this... Someone presents factually correct information or an unbiased critical analysis of the fit & finish of the nuts and frets of a lot of Heritage guitars (even to include video documentation of the before & after PLEK scans for example) showing them to be consistently "out of tolerance" and then someone else gets all bent out of shape because they interpret it as a personal attack against the people who made the guitar, the brand, and the white marble pedestal that their mind has placed the brand name upon. They then lash out at you by saying "Hey man, you can't say that about <insert names here> because I drank beer and ate BBQ with them and they are nice people!" [Sidetrack... Now that I think about it, it seems this illogical practice is also rampant in the real world too. People get way too wrapped up about whether someone is a nice person or not instead of thinking "is this person doing a good job or not". What do the stats say or what does their record show? On the job, I don't care if someone is an a-hole or not so much as I care about whether they can get the job done or not. There is this one dentist for example I keep going back to for root canals. He comes off as an asshole but he does the best work, so I keep going back. And now back to the subject] I think that during this new direction of Heritage guitars, their greatest improvement is in how they are using a PLEK machine and fixing what used to be the Achilles Heel of Heritage guitars. There may be other things that the new company is doing which I'm not crazy about, but to me, perfecting the nut and frets problem is HUGE and I say WELL DONE!!!
HANGAR18 Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 14 hours ago, JRL said: My new (2106, mint condition, rarely played) 535 showed up last week. The guitar was beautiful in looks and terrible in playability. The string slots in the nut were cut unevenly spaced and of different depths, the bridge saddles were slotted unevenly as well, and I couldn't get clear notes without quite a bit of relief and/or jacking the bridge up. Today, I took the guitar to a repairman. After a new nut, fret level, and setup it plays like a dream. I have 3 Heritage guitars, all from 2015-2017 and all three of them have needed new nuts due to uneven spacing that was obvious to the eye, and two of them have needed bridge saddles re-slotted evenly. I'm not sure how any of these guitar ever got out of the factory (I bought 2 used and picked the other up factory direct) but with the repairs/new, properly slotted and cut nuts these guitars are unbelievable! I was totally against the "new changes" and PLEK machine but in hindsight that machine is probably the best thing they ever did. Again, I love these guitars! Got pictures?
DetroitBlues Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 I've been avoiding the discussion about setup, poor nut cutting, etc. I'm very fortunate to actually purchase a new Heritage. 2016 535. But unlike many, I picked my directly up at the Factory. There were a few issues with it which I had them fix before it left the factory. Nothing serious, just a few details they overlooked in the final setup. Thankfully, mine was built by Pete Farmer, so most of the quality issues many have seen on their guitars didn't happen to me. All of my other Heritages I either have or had over the years were second hand and had a lot of work over the years.
TalismanRich Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 Of my 5 Heritages, the 2003 157 (my first) had an issue with the high E string being too close to the edge. I've heard that to be a common complaint. I had that fixed along with a full setup. After that it played (and still plays) great. The H140 and H535 are still factory stock with only me doing minor adjustments. The H535 could probably use a setup and some fret dressing, but its now 14 years old, so that's not unusual. The H140 still plays great after 32 years, fret wear and all. The H525 was originally bought by Kuz, and I think he had that guitar Pleked. I don't know what they did but it plays super. I might be more tolerant than some about setup, but I don't like buzzing frets and high action. That was one of the things that impressed me about my Melancon. The fretwork and setup were outstanding. Gerard does exceptional work. It changed my mind about playing a tele style. The Fender teles that I had played didn't really do it for me.
JRL Posted February 28, 2019 Author Posted February 28, 2019 I have no pictures from before these issues were fixed. I certainly wish I would have taken a few though.
TalismanRich Posted February 28, 2019 Posted February 28, 2019 We just want to see some nice pics of the guitar!
HANGAR18 Posted March 1, 2019 Posted March 1, 2019 6 hours ago, TalismanRich said: We just want to see some nice pics of the guitar! Yea, what he said.
JRL Posted March 1, 2019 Author Posted March 1, 2019 Right on! I'm not sure how to post pictures, as I'm not too good with a computer aside from checking my e-mail and various guitar related websites, but I'll try to get on that ASAP!
ElNumero Posted March 1, 2019 Posted March 1, 2019 On 2/28/2019 at 11:26 AM, TalismanRich said: Of my 5 Heritages, the 2003 157 (my first) had an issue with the high E string being too close to the edge. I've heard that to be a common complaint. I had that fixed along with a full setup. After that it played (and still plays) great. The H140 and H535 are still factory stock with only me doing minor adjustments. The H535 could probably use a setup and some fret dressing, but its now 14 years old, so that's not unusual. The H140 still plays great after 32 years, fret wear and all. The H525 was originally bought by Kuz, and I think he had that guitar Pleked. I don't know what they did but it plays super. I might be more tolerant than some about setup, but I don't like buzzing frets and high action. That was one of the things that impressed me about my Melancon. The fretwork and setup were outstanding. Gerard does exceptional work. It changed my mind about playing a tele style. The Fender teles that I had played didn't really do it for me. You just have to learn to bend the high E string upwards towards the B string and add a little vibrato, that's all, problem solved!
gnappi Posted March 2, 2019 Posted March 2, 2019 No pics? That's like having a baby and not showing off your wife and new family addition :-) Have fun with your new 535.
TalismanRich Posted March 2, 2019 Posted March 2, 2019 On 3/1/2019 at 6:47 AM, JRL said: Right on! I'm not sure how to post pictures, as I'm not too good with a computer aside from checking my e-mail and various guitar related websites, but I'll try to get on that ASAP! Attachments are limited to 1.5 megs, so you probably will need to resize any photos from your camera or phone. Once you get your pic on your computer, you can resize it using Irfanview. Its a great little image program for quick and dirty edits, cropping etc. https://www.irfanview.com/ Save it in a reasonable size (800x600 is fine) and then drag the file into your post. PRESTO! 16 hours ago, ElNumero said: You just have to learn to bend the high E string upwards towards the B string and add a little vibrato, that's all, problem solved! gee... if only I had thought of that, I could have wasted that money on booze!
JRL Posted March 2, 2019 Author Posted March 2, 2019 I think I have it figured out...….I hope this works
Gitfiddler Posted March 2, 2019 Posted March 2, 2019 Beautiful 535 you've got there. It looks a little Carlton-esque. Play it in good health.
JRL Posted March 3, 2019 Author Posted March 3, 2019 It's rosewood. It came out much darker in the pictures
Genericmusic Posted March 5, 2019 Posted March 5, 2019 On 3/2/2019 at 1:00 PM, JRL said: I think I have it figured out...….I hope this works
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