Where to buy NEW heritage h150

[MartyGrass]

Actually 225 Parsons St. has changed a lot.  There was 70 years of change compressed into the last few years.  Has the soul changed?  Yes.  The results are less personal but with better precision.  Heritage is a better factory that makes a good commercial product efficiently.  That's not a bad thing at all and is more secure for its employees.

The old school approach is still there but to a smaller degree.  Progress is inevitable for survival.

 

[fuzzylogic8250]

My personal favorite Heritage dealer is Jay Wolfe in Florida.   He loves these guitars and has his own private collection.

[rooster]

On 10/22/2020 at 10:42 AM, Gitfiddler said:

As usual, words of wisdom from MartyGrass!

I will add one more thought.  Seek out and buy a custom Heritage...new if one can afford it...used if one can find one.  The used market is wonky these days, but great deals are out there.  Many of the former custom ordered guitars have features that would cost a small fortune if ordered from the new Heritage Guitar Company. 

My #1 is a black-and-tan that I ordered from the factory. Is it completely unique in outfitting? Not really, just a great black-and-tan that I am extremely happy with. Played about 250 gigs with it, hope to re-form the old band and play more when bars re-open. I really enjoy my Heritage guitars. All 3 of the H-150s are completely different, and if you get the right pickups that go with the wood the guitar is built from, you'd have a hard time finding anything better.

rooster.

[rooster]

17 hours ago, fuzzylogic8250 said:

My personal favorite Heritage dealer is Jay Wolfe in Florida.   He loves these guitars and has his own private collection.

Agreed. I got my Goldtop from him. It was an extremely dark sounding guitar (not muddy, just dark), but I put a pair of L-495 pickups from Bill and Becky Lawrence in (their P-90 noiseless creations, don't confuse them with "Bill Lawrence USA", which are extremely mundane), and it is one of the great blues/rock guitars I've ever played.

rooster.

[Falber]

Hey. If you’re in the NY area try THE MUSIC ZOO!!!  Great store and they have quite a few Heritage guitars.  I got a great deal on a H535. 

[rockabilly69]

On 10/22/2020 at 6:16 AM, MartyGrass said:

I harken back to the spirit of the origin of Heritage guitars.  Four guys broke off from the Gibbons corporate establishment and decided to use what Gibbons left behind to make old school, hand built guitars.  That was a decision to swim against the current.  They had financial problems and difficulties with the administrative parts of the business, yet they survived for decades.  A large part of what they did was "custom work", meaning it was normal to configure a neck, finished, and adornments to what the customer or dealer wanted.  The guitars were built one at a time with tags on them as to how it would be built.

Dealers were not chains.  They had shops or even sold out of their home.

Now it's different.  The business model of Heritage is approaching other larger guitar manufacturers.  Not only are the guitars generally consistent in a product line, but the retail sales is shifting to a network, high quantity model.  The result is that the "little guys" are squeezed out of custom orders (the players), the art of the build (the craftsmen), and the sales (small sellers).

The good news is that these efforts create consistency and tend to eliminate low performers.  The bad news is that the soul of Heritage is more commercialized.

It's your money and your choice.  I recommend though that we try to buy from the members of the forum.

 

I like when soul is combined with precision. In other words put your heart, soul, and brains into what you do. They don't have to be exclusive! That's how I approach my musical career, in both playing and recording. Although I love vintage music made on vintage instruments, I'm not afraid of technology that will help me grow in all facets of my career. And new ways of recording, and new equipment for live play make my life easier, and now it's easier to focus on the music which I still put my soul into!

It's romantic to wax poetically about how they were built one at a time, but that means nothing if the quality is slipshod. In the last few years of the old guard, I saw more and more flaws in the setup of new guitars than I could count. All three of my H150s had sloppy nut slots, and bad fretwork. I replaced the nuts on all three, and dressed the frets on all those guitars. I also had some less than perfect soldering work done on two of them, which I also addressed, I sold one, kept two, and in time, after I swapped all the hardware and pickups on both, I wound up with two great guitars that can easily hang with any Les Paul, and that's basically what they are. I didn't really bitch that much about the flaws at first. because I bought my first two used, and the prices were much lower than Gibbons custom shop guitars I was comparing them to. But then when I bought my last H150, for about $2200 (which you could buy a used custom shop Gibbons for), those flaws were hard to live with. So it was time for someone to come in and straighten out those quality issues so that Heritage could charge more for a quality product. The take over was kind of harsh, but, in the last year, I have played three new Heritages, and one was aged, and frankly, they were great. I was blown away, especially by the aged one, and I typically HATE relics! I know a lot of people had very good personally relations with old guard, but if they stayed on the track they were on, they wouldn't have lasted much longer. If the new guard stays on the track they are on, I think their future will be bright. If some of the old guard, trained the new guard, there's still some soul in the building, but with new energy to move it forward. And maybe if the company can show a profit, they can set-up a special custom shop to knock out some of those beautiful custom instruments, and upscale arch-tops that many of you guys love. Hell Edwin Wilson knows a bit about guitars and he's in the building! But I feel the core models are really good right now, the distribution seems better, and the guitars are competitively priced enough to steal some business away from the other big three. Soon as my gigs start getting back to normal, I'm most likely going to buy a new H535!

[DetroitBlues]

I agree with Daniel.

The factory is not the same.  

But the knowledge and experience from the people who taught the 1st Gen employees stayed on to pass that knowledge to the current generation.

So the soul isn't lost, just evolved.

Plus, I've compared my 137 HOC LE (which IS as Custom Shop build) to a Gibbons Custom Shop SG.  They both feel absolutely perfect.  The feel, the quality, the consistency.... Just amazing.

[rockabilly69]

17 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

I agree with Daniel.

The factory is not the same.  

But the knowledge and experience from the people who taught the 1st Gen employees stayed on to pass that knowledge to the current generation.

So the soul isn't lost, just evolved.

Plus, I've compared my 137 HOC LE (which IS as Custom Shop build) to a Gibbons Custom Shop SG.  They both feel absolutely perfect.  The feel, the quality, the consistency.... Just amazing.

The time spent knocking those LE models looks like it paid off. They look great. It sucks to be low on funds right now for guitar purchases, if not, I would have joined in on that party! And I really like that you put that pickguard on yours, it really looks good!

I would love to compare one of those LEs against this guitar, I know one thing I prefer single cutaways, but I still love this CS SG...

 

 

[DetroitBlues]

6 hours ago, rockabilly69 said:

The time spent knocking those LE models looks like it paid off. They look great. It sucks to be low on funds right now for guitar purchases, if not, I would have joined in on that party! And I really like that you put that pickguard on yours, it really looks good!

I would love to compare one of those LEs against this guitar, I know one thing I prefer single cutaways, but I still love this CS SG...

 

Its funny you say that...

I've been comparing my H-137 HOC LE with a 2000 Gibbons Custom Shop SG Special Reissue.

 

 

 

[loudtubeamps]

DetroitBlues Posted Saturday at 11:46 AM

 

........ But is the soul of Heritage gone?  Not a chance.  It lives and breathes at 225 Parsons Street, Kalamazoo.  The processes in making guitars hasn't changed.  Tools have not changed.  The spirit, the soul, of Heritage is still there, thriving more than ever.  Has it evolved?  Yes, only constant in life is change.  Heritage has changed, for better or worse depending on your view, but all of it was necessary for the soul to remain alive."

I wish there was a like button at the bottom of this post, nicely said...alot of passion there.

[MartyGrass]

It's hard to argue about a corporate soul.  Look at the threads from a few years ago though.  There was a lot of discontent about the changes.

Their process is more efficient, therefore it is different.

I used to be able to walk in with one of my Heritages and have a repair done or something changed on it.  No more.  The atmosphere is quite different.

The cost of custom changes is much higher.  It is as if it's a big deal to specify white vs cream binding.

They are using some of the same machines but some different.  The entire layout of the production area is 21st century, not 19th.

I suppose that I could argue that when Fender bought out Guild, the Guild soul was intact at the new factory.  Who could prove me wrong?

My personal belief is that the old Heritage made some great guitars.  There were also some problem guitars.  Some of those can be attributed to someone who had an alcohol problem.  Some were likely due to personnel turnover from the low wages they were paid.

I have more confidence in 2020 buying a Heritage from a large retailed sight unseen than 15 years ago.  That's a good thing nowadays.  I still try to only buy from people I personally know and trust, no matter the brand.

Back to souls.  When Gibbons moved to Nashville, it left it's soul in Kalamazoo.  That's a scientific fact.

 

 

[rockabilly69]

7 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

Its funny you say that...

I've been comparing my H-137 HOC LE with a 2000 Gibbons Custom Shop SG Special Reissue.

 

 

 

That's a sweet looking SG, are the Grovers stock?

[DetroitBlues]

1 hour ago, rockabilly69 said:

That's a sweet looking SG, are the Grovers stock?

100% stock.  

[Rob2020]

I'm new around here, but I'm reading up.  Can someone explain, is it considered rude to use the word "Gibbons" (and thus the use of "Gibbon")?

[Rob2020]

So the board's software prevents that word?!

[Rob2020]

To address the OP, I just got a very good deal on a 530 from CME

[Dick Seacup]

7 minutes ago, Rob2020 said:

So the board's software prevents that word?!

It makes more sense once you learn our esteemed @Administrator  is nothing more than a jumped up monkey playing a guitar. Top secret footage for proof:

edit: they're might be a comma missing up there, but I'm not going to fix it. And you can't make me, Rob!

[Rob2020]

thank you, sir

[Dick Seacup]

Just now, Rob2020 said:

thank you, sir

Just to clarify, "You can't make me, Rob!" did not refer to you but rather to the other Rob. Don't want you to take offense where none was intended.

[Rob2020]

I actually hadn't noticed that but I will store for future reference

[Gitfiddler]

14 minutes ago, Dick Seacup said:

 

 

And notice, Mr. Admin is a lefty and a Strat player!  That means he can't be in his right mind.

If you must post about the former occupant of 225 Parsons Street, just use a hyphen as a work-a-round.  Gib-son.

It drives Mr. Admin nuts whenever he see's that, so use it as often as you like. 

[Dick Seacup]

4 hours ago, Gitfiddler said:

It drives Mr. Admin more nuts than he already is whenever he see's that, so use it as often as you like. 

FIFY!

[TalismanRich]

If you ever talk to original workers from Parsons Street,   some will say they worked at  G I B S O N'S!  They always seem to add the possessive.

[MartyGrass]

14 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

If you ever talk to original workers from Parsons Street,   some will say they worked at  G I B S O N'S!  They always seem to add the possessive.

That's Michigan talk.  We don't say we shop at Meijer, it's Meijer's.  There's Walgreen's and McDonald's.

Unfortunately the rest of the world is erasing our culture by Michigan-shaming us.  Jeez O Pete!!!  For cripes sake!!!

If anyone wants to learn more about how to speak Michigander style, here's an intro.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qnl76RMo1-o

 

[Rob2020]

Gib-son.

Gib-son.

Gib-son.

OK, I think I have it now.  Thanks.