Academy Custom, any owners out there?

[Heritage4]

Was wondering if there are any Academy Custom owners out there. What are your impressions of the guitar? How would you compare it to the Prospect or the 535 or 555? Let me know please. Thanks.

Heritage4

[Dick Seacup]

I've never heard of an Academy Custom.  What are the specs?

[Thundersteel]

Link to the Academy Custom:

 

http://www.heritageguitar.com/models/AcademyCustomASB.htm

[Dick Seacup]

Hrmm, still can't answer the OPs questions, but...I prefer pointy cutaways on single-cuts.  Round ones like that look funny; remind me of that Musicvox (I think that was the brand) thing with the bulbous, protruding horn.

[Thundersteel]

Yeah, that cutaway looks kind of funky to me, too!

[GuitArtMan]

Glad I'm not the only one who found that one kinda fugly.

[Heritage4]

But beauty is the eye of the beholder.  ;D I dunno, I just kind of got hooked on its looks for some reason, thought it would look cool in black with creme binding and exposed creme pickups. I believe it has the the same set up as a Prospect where the block doesn't attach to the back and hence gives it a more hollow resonance. Also figured that with a single cut away the upper bout would give it more mid-bass response. Maybe I'm just crazy but those are my thoughts.  :

[Thundersteel]

The important thing is, that just as long as YOU like it, then that's all that matters.

[wingnut1]

Heritage4, Thundersteel is right.  Just because others of us here can't appreciate the looks of the guitar, it doesn't mean that you shouldn't.  It's probably just a matter of not seeing guitars with this design over the years.  We are certainly used to guitars that have two ears like the ES335 or the H535, but not guitars that have only one ear.  As you point out it has some structural differences that make it unique as well.  Give us a review when you get one, I'd be very interested.

[soybean]

I know about the Academy and happy to share with you. I owned 4 of them, sold one recently on eBay, so it's down to 3 keepers. This is a great guitar, even tho' the cutaway is a little strange looking. Funny enough, when you're holding the guitar in a horizontal playing position the cutaway looks fine. Anyway, it's sort of like a Prospect with a single cutaway, but the neck attaches at the 17th fret instead of the 19th. This seems to make it more comfortable to hold and play. It does have the "floating block" like the Prospect and the Roy Clark, which is a wonderful Heritage innovation. (If Heritage had any kind of marketing plan, this would be famous by now.)

 

The sound has more character than a Prospect. I've used the Academy on many live gigs where the music will cover lots of styles. It's very versatile. Some of the Academys came with the VIP wiring. There seem to be two eras of Academy. The early ones were made of thinner wood and sounded more acoustic. The later ones had thicker body wood, sound more solid but still resonate. There were some regular, non-"custom" Academys as well, but they must be pretty rare. I've only ever seen one. It was the same guitar without the gold parts and muti-binding, etc.

[Gitfiddler]

The Heritage Academy Custom was the very first Heritage I'd ever seen or played.  It belonged to a good friend (and great guitarist!) who named it 'Pluto' since it reminded him of Mickey's dog. 

 

But man, he could play the $@*#! out of Pluto.

 

Are you listening, Rob?  8)