The Future Heritage of Heritage Guitars

[Polo]

15 hours ago, pegleg32 said:

 

Just awesome...that's a perfect pair of Kzoo classics!!! 

 

[skydog52]

David Paul video and guitar.

 

[skydog52]

David Paul video and guitar.

 

[skydog52]

Henry Johnson lesson and guitar.

 

[Conneazoo]

On 11/12/2019 at 4:23 PM, ElNumero said:

Yup, and plan on paying EVEN more for that PRS. 

True. It'll be worth every penny.

[stormymonday]

what size is Heritage Guitars?  Annual sales?  Number of employees?

[ElNumero]

On 12/24/2019 at 12:14 PM, stormymonday said:

what size is Heritage Guitars?  Annual sales?  Number of employees?

Nobody has access to data on annual sales except Heritage. Number of employees? I would guess around 20-25 if that. Unless something has changed, their output is about 7 to 10 guitars per day. A few years ago, I remember one of the owners saying that 60% of their sales were international. 

[Genericmusic]

On 12/24/2019 at 12:14 PM, stormymonday said:

what size is Heritage Guitars?  Annual sales?  Number of employees?

I'm not sure how old the information but this is from the BBB BBB File Opened:	6/7/2002
Years in Business:	36
Business Started:	1/1/1984
Business Incorporated:	1/1/1985 in MI
Type of Entity:	Corporation
Number of Employees:	25

Business Management; Mr. Bill Paige, Secretary/Treasurer

Customer Contact Mr. Darrick Dowdy, General Manager

Heritage Guitar generates $257.5K in revenue

[DetroitBlues]

5 hours ago, Genericmusic said:

I'm not sure how old the information but this is from the BBB BBB File Opened:	6/7/2002
Years in Business:	36
Business Started:	1/1/1984
Business Incorporated:	1/1/1985 in MI
Type of Entity:	Corporation
Number of Employees:	25

Business Management; Mr. Bill Paige, Secretary/Treasurer

Customer Contact Mr. Darrick Dowdy, General Manager

Heritage Guitar generates $257.5K in revenue

I think Darrick left a couple years ago.

[bolero]

On 11/14/2019 at 4:11 PM, skydog52 said:

David Paul video and guitar.

 

 

 

you know, I would have liked this video a lot more, if they had fired up that big PIPE ORGAN in the background, rather than dubbing in those cheesy synth keyboard sounds

( is there a keyboard player in there? )

GREAT guitar playing though, and that blue Heritage looks cool as hell!

ps dig the harmonica solo too!!

 

[tsp17]

On 11/8/2019 at 7:51 PM, deytookerjaabs said:

Stories make the world great. 

 

Americans don't appreciate much, really, we tend to throw everyone under the bus with trashy pseudo logic when it suits a frame of mind because we're programmed that way from elementary school. I'd like to think I'm smart enough to grasp the scope of the matter that when certain good things die off it's not always for the better or for "progress." In many cases, it's a clear downgrade. 

I remember, 15 years ago, haunting two leftover Jazz/Music clubs on Chicago's south side for the weekly jams. The New Apartment & Velvet Lounge. They were a time warp. Running the jams were cats in their 60's, 70's, & 80's. Guys who had memories & experience from the days when the south side of Chicago was a mecca for live Jazz & Blues. Even better, they all played on the south side circuit back in the glory years and had friends/family who performed going back to the turn of the century! Most the players didn't become famous but they could all play their ass off, the right way, with a heavy swing & exciting dynamics that kept a crowd interested. 

Just being there late night watching the people's attitudes, the casual excitement of it all, the older folks tending the bar, the local clowns BSing. Watching some guy drive his beat up day job construction van to the curb, hopping out and walking in with a spring in his step two drumsticks in his back pocket. He gets up on the kit after the next break and just kills it, really really kills it with excitement & chops & emotion and after 30 minutes of pouring sweat he go gets a beer then chills at the bar. Music in the blood, in the community. 

And, to know that's about all that was left of something much bigger and of incredible importance. Everyone knows the story, the next generations preferred their stadium rockers, the players preferred impressing themselves more than anything, the interstates moved in and split up maxwell street while demolishing rows of clubs/homes, then the kids just wanted to rap & the schools stop teaching music and in the end the demand was small, local. 

So, eventually the "South Loop" started to be a thing so as prices/demand changed for the properties one club closed down & the other moved to a new location then became a DJ club. 

A lot of history died and at no point did anyone anywhere look at that little corner of the globe and say "hey man, this is important, we need some of this to still be around." It's ALL gone now aside from a few self funded corner museums. 

 

Heritage? Phhh. It was all that was left of the golden years of the American Archtop and arguably the American Electric. I mean that in the very direct sense of a true lineage. Many of the people there had family building instruments in Kalamazoo going back to the 30's, the town used to have a Gibson reunion every year etc. Stromberg, Epiphone, D'Angelico, and others all dead, bought, sold, shuttered, moved, outsourced etc. Well, the other names at least having zero tradition beyond someone buying the name & making a buck off it using the old logos/brand. And if ya ask the guys making the new buck they're always gonna tell ya things are better than ever, funny how that works. 

At the same time you can go to other places on the globe and see people/families doing certain traditions the way they always have going back centuries. And, with a market just big enough to stay afloat while no one in the tradition scours the investors in hopes to go flatulate with their mouths on the latest episode of "Shark Tank." "We make the best bread in all the land, let's sell our name and cash out!" 

So, what were we talking about? Oh, perfect fit and finish. Excuse me while I go Alibaba.com and buy that $150 single cut which will technically arrive with a perfect fit and finish because it's made without all them stupid old fashioned methods. Remember folks, brush your teeth with Colgate brand toothpaste, it whitens your pearls like no other! Also, don't forget to tune into the news at nine: there was a house fire in the hood, something in broccoli is good for your heart and let's insinuate that some folks aren't worthy of being treated like humans. 

 

great post.

[Gitterman]

On 11/7/2019 at 5:26 PM, bolero said:

well said!! hear, hear

Agreed

[Gitterman]

On 11/10/2019 at 7:09 PM, deytookerjaabs said:

 

I don't think you're recognizing the scope here. 

 

Walk into any guitar store in the world or just your local guitar center. Take a look around and count how much of the stuff on the walls is based off of (with tiny changes for, ahem, legal purposes) and/or directly using shapes/designs/parts/etc developed right in the main building on Parsons street? We're talking millions of guitars made and a huge portion of their history lies right there in lil' ole Kalamazoo. Even the "modern" stuff is just tweaks on Kalamazoo stuff. Thus, given the immense impact Parsons street had on the guitar world it's wonderful that the building and people of whom some were multiple generations involved had still been there, in some fashion, working in the tradition many many years later the right way. 

I don't know a lot about India beyond a trip to the local restaurant so as to what world changing things developed there that branched out which compares to Kalamazoo as such I've no clue. 

I don't think I'm romanticizing the blunt facts of the matter. However, we can certainly quibble of the materialist approach of "who gives a **** an axe is an axe" which I understand that side of it too. 

But, damn, seriously, the impact of Parsons street and the people in Kalamazoo to the guitar world can't be overstated at any level of hyperbole. 

 

 

Oh well. 

Good pont

[yoslate]

On 11/8/2019 at 7:51 PM, deytookerjaabs said:

Stories make the world great. 

 

Americans don't appreciate much, really, we tend to throw everyone under the bus with trashy pseudo logic when it suits a frame of mind because we're programmed that way from elementary school. I'd like to think I'm smart enough to grasp the scope of the matter that when certain good things die off it's not always for the better or for "progress." In many cases, it's a clear downgrade. 

I remember, 15 years ago, haunting two leftover Jazz/Music clubs on Chicago's south side for the weekly jams. The New Apartment & Velvet Lounge. They were a time warp. Running the jams were cats in their 60's, 70's, & 80's. Guys who had memories & experience from the days when the south side of Chicago was a mecca for live Jazz & Blues. Even better, they all played on the south side circuit back in the glory years and had friends/family who performed going back to the turn of the century! Most the players didn't become famous but they could all play their ass off, the right way, with a heavy swing & exciting dynamics that kept a crowd interested. 

Just being there late night watching the people's attitudes, the casual excitement of it all, the older folks tending the bar, the local clowns BSing. Watching some guy drive his beat up day job construction van to the curb, hopping out and walking in with a spring in his step two drumsticks in his back pocket. He gets up on the kit after the next break and just kills it, really really kills it with excitement & chops & emotion and after 30 minutes of pouring sweat he go gets a beer then chills at the bar. Music in the blood, in the community. 

And, to know that's about all that was left of something much bigger and of incredible importance. Everyone knows the story, the next generations preferred their stadium rockers, the players preferred impressing themselves more than anything, the interstates moved in and split up maxwell street while demolishing rows of clubs/homes, then the kids just wanted to rap & the schools stop teaching music and in the end the demand was small, local. 

So, eventually the "South Loop" started to be a thing so as prices/demand changed for the properties one club closed down & the other moved to a new location then became a DJ club. 

A lot of history died and at no point did anyone anywhere look at that little corner of the globe and say "hey man, this is important, we need some of this to still be around." It's ALL gone now aside from a few self funded corner museums. 

 

Heritage? Phhh. It was all that was left of the golden years of the American Archtop and arguably the American Electric. I mean that in the very direct sense of a true lineage. Many of the people there had family building instruments in Kalamazoo going back to the 30's, the town used to have a Gibson reunion every year etc. Stromberg, Epiphone, D'Angelico, and others all dead, bought, sold, shuttered, moved, outsourced etc. Well, the other names at least having zero tradition beyond someone buying the name & making a buck off it using the old logos/brand. And if ya ask the guys making the new buck they're always gonna tell ya things are better than ever, funny how that works. 

At the same time you can go to other places on the globe and see people/families doing certain traditions the way they always have going back centuries. And, with a market just big enough to stay afloat while no one in the tradition scours the investors in hopes to go flatulate with their mouths on the latest episode of "Shark Tank." "We make the best bread in all the land, let's sell our name and cash out!" 

So, what were we talking about? Oh, perfect fit and finish. Excuse me while I go Alibaba.com and buy that $150 single cut which will technically arrive with a perfect fit and finish because it's made without all them stupid old fashioned methods. Remember folks, brush your teeth with Colgate brand toothpaste, it whitens your pearls like no other! Also, don't forget to tune into the news at nine: there was a house fire in the hood, something in broccoli is good for your heart and let's insinuate that some folks aren't worthy of being treated like humans. 

 

How'd I miss this one?  That's rhetorical, actually, but did miss seeing it from November, until now, and I'm usually pretty diligent in keeping up, though not here nearly as often as in years past.  Always have appreciated a well-penned post, though, and have tried to contribute a couple over thirteen years on the HOC.  Now, don't always agree with deytook'.  In fact, often haven't, but I don't think we've ever actually clanged swords here, as I haven't had the inclination for that sort of thing lately...as I lose altitude, descending into the thicker air of decrepitude.  But I must say, this is one of the best posts I've ever read here!  This is old-school HOC, as we were - often - years ago, and are only occasionally now.  There is still a handful of guys and gals here whose posts I always read, who are always on target and worth reading, but not with the frequency of yore.  But this post, in focus, aim, composition, tone, its narrative...its point...all of it.  I really dug this read!     

[LK155]

"...as I lose altitude, descending into the thicker air of decrepitude."

Welcome, 'Slate.  Where's my inhaler?

[yoslate]

1 hour ago, LK155 said:

Welcome, 'Slate.  Where's my inhaler?

Oh...yeah, that's why I came into this room!

[ElNumero]

On 1/17/2020 at 4:39 PM, yoslate said:

How'd I miss this one?  That's rhetorical, actually, but did miss seeing it from November, until now, and I'm usually pretty diligent in keeping up, though not here nearly as often as in years past.  Always have appreciated a well-penned post, though, and have tried to contribute a couple over thirteen years on the HOC.  Now, don't always agree with deytook'.  In fact, often haven't, but I don't think we've ever actually clanged swords here, as I haven't had the inclination for that sort of thing lately...as I lose altitude, descending into the thicker air of decrepitude.  But I must say, this is one of the best posts I've ever read here!  This is old-school HOC, as we were - often - years ago, and are only occasionally now.  There is still a handful of guys and gals here whose posts I always read, who are always on target and worth reading, but not with the frequency of yore.  But this post, in focus, aim, composition, tone, its narrative...its point...all of it.  I really dug this read!     

So you would have given him an "A" on his dissertation?

[yoslate]

2 hours ago, ElNumero said:

So you would have given him an "A" on his dissertation?

He doesn't need my "grade" anymore than I need to give him one, Will.

[yoslate]

3 hours ago, yoslate said:

He doesn't need my "grade" anymore than I need to give him one, Will.

Edit: "...any more...."  Sheesh!