MartyGrass Posted November 7, 2021 Posted November 7, 2021 This one belong to Rhoadsscholar. He got it in trade at a guitar store in the Detroit area. I held on to it for months while he had Pete Moreno do some changes on the bridge and while Rhoads was traveling heavily. The he got it back. As most of you know he unexpected became sick and passed away last year, about 18 months ago. When the guitar was visiting me I really had no interest in another Golden Eagle. Cherry is not a traditional finish and to many in the jazz world is a bit on the bold side. But I carelessly bonded to it because I loved the amplified sound and its playability. Bob's (Rhoads') kids generously let me get back some of the guitars Bob and I had swapped back and forth for years. One is a H-525, another is a H-150 that I had very heavily modded before a traded it to Bob, and the final one is the Golden Eagle. Bob's son Jason will be selling a few dozen guitars in the estate pretty soon. I will post the details with pics on HOC. You can work with Jason directly on this. As an aside, Jason and Jeremy are Bob's twin boys. Bob got each of them H-157s made within a day of their birth. I saw Jason's recently. It's white with black binding. Now it's beautifully yellowish. The cherry Golden Eagle has parallel bracing and a HRW. There is some playwear but not as much as I'd expect with 22 years. A previous owner put a Schaller bridge on a Heritage eagle base but did a bad job. The studs were too deep and made impressions under the base. These were just deep enough to wear through the nitro but not damage the wood. Also, it looks like someone darkened the ebony on the base and that dye leached into the nitro under the base. Pete Moreno shortened the studs and put nitro under the base to protect the wood. Fortunately none of that shows. Today I put a TOM on a different base. It also works well and seems to increase the sustain a little. The pics I have are indoor due to Michigan weather. They don't show the maple and spruce figuring well. Red is also a hard color to capture authentically with cheap photo equipment. I am one who believes that many guitarists hear things I honestly can't. This is what I can tell on this guitar. Acoustically it sounds like a thicker bodied Golden Eagle. Electrically it does sounds special. That could be the luck of the wood. But it may be the HRW, the parallel bracing, the Ren Wall 4 point mount, the single vs double pickup, or some combo. I now have two single pickup archtops with HRWs that really sound similar in that they have a little sparkle on frequency spectrum. Look forward to the listing of Bob's guitars. Jason is reliable, honest, and a good communicator.
ElChoad Posted November 8, 2021 Posted November 8, 2021 It's nice that you got this back. It's too bad about the circumstances.
HANGAR18 Posted November 8, 2021 Posted November 8, 2021 2 hours ago, MartyGrass said: This one belong to Rhoadsscholar. He got it in trade at a guitar store in the Detroit area. I held on to it for months while he had Pete Moreno do some changes on the bridge and while Rhoads was traveling heavily. The he got it back. As most of you know he unexpected became sick and passed away last year, about 18 months ago. When the guitar was visiting me I really had no interest in another Golden Eagle. Cherry is not a traditional finish and to many in the jazz world is a bit on the bold side. But I carelessly bonded to it because I loved the amplified sound and its playability. Bob's (Rhoads') kids generously let me get back some of the guitars Bob and I had swapped back and forth for years. One is a H-525, another is a H-150 that I had very heavily modded before a traded it to Bob, and the final one is the Golden Eagle. Bob's son Jason will be selling a few dozen guitars in the estate pretty soon. I will post the details with pics on HOC. You can work with Jason directly on this. As an aside, Jason and Jeremy are Bob's twin boys. Bob got each of them H-157s made within a day of their birth. I saw Jason's recently. It's white with black binding. Now it's beautifully yellowish. The cherry Golden Eagle has parallel bracing and a HRW. There is some playwear but not as much as I'd expect with 22 years. A previous owner put a Schaller bridge on a Heritage eagle base but did a bad job. The studs were too deep and made impressions under the base. These were just deep enough to wear through the nitro but not damage the wood. Also, it looks like someone darkened the ebony on the base and that dye leached into the nitro under the base. Pete Moreno shortened the studs and put nitro under the base to protect the wood. Fortunately none of that shows. Today I put a TOM on a different base. It also works well and seems to increase the sustain a little. The pics I have are indoor due to Michigan weather. They don't show the maple and spruce figuring well. Red is also a hard color to capture authentically with cheap photo equipment. I am one who believes that many guitarists hear things I honestly can't. This is what I can tell on this guitar. Acoustically it sounds like a thicker bodied Golden Eagle. Electrically it does sounds special. That could be the luck of the wood. But it may be the HRW, the parallel bracing, the Ren Wall 4 point mount, the single vs double pickup, or some combo. I now have two single pickup archtops with HRWs that really sound similar in that they have a little sparkle on frequency spectrum. Look forward to the listing of Bob's guitars. Jason is reliable, honest, and a good communicator. Well, I LOVE that color!
DetroitBlues Posted November 8, 2021 Posted November 8, 2021 Congratulations! I had one of Bob's old guitars once via Brent. 1996 Les Paul Standard in Tobacco Burst. Nice plaintop, another I should have kept. Sold it for peanuts. What ever happened to that huge red guitar Bob had with the Roland synth built in it and had the factory employees signed the back under the clearcoat? As big as Bob was, that one looked proportionally correct on his 6'7" frame.
skydog52 Posted November 8, 2021 Posted November 8, 2021 Bob was a Great Guy. He is missed. I'm glad you where able to get this one. I'm sure He would be pleased. Beautiful and special piece of Heritage craft. Here is a picture of Him at a Pre PSP at the Steiner Ranch playing the crazy figured Millennium.
MartyGrass Posted November 8, 2021 Author Posted November 8, 2021 Bob's Millie is well documented in HOC. I believe it is currently for sale here. Bob owned it a couple of times, as did I and a friend in New York. Bob put Lollar Imperials in it and removed the Skatterbranes. It's a great guitar. The massive orange guitar that Bob owned was called a H-550. This is an 18" thin hollowbody, thin as in 1.75" deep. It is an orange burst with a neck Seth Lover and a Midi bridge pickup. The flame is beautiful. There are no fretboard inlays. The guy who had it made also had a Roy Clark with no inlays. He was a New York studio musician he used both guitar for his recordings. He retired around 2002 or 2004. I bought both of them. The H-550 had over a dozen Heritage employee and owner signatures under the nitro on the back. I sold the orange guitar to someone on the HOC who lived in Washington DC (DC Ron if I recall). Bob traded something for that guitar years later. He sold it after a few years. I sold the Roy Clark on eBay long ago. Bob had a H-170 made with a goldtop. His son Jason took this video so long ago. Bob would never let this one go. Now Jason won't. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p93KrwIa-zE By coincidence I got an almost identical guitar that only after receiving it I found out it was a lightweight. I eventually sold it to PunkKitty. That one should have been a keeper.
MartyGrass Posted November 8, 2021 Author Posted November 8, 2021 Here's the goldtop Roy Clark and the H-170LW, both of which got away long ago.
bolero Posted November 12, 2021 Posted November 12, 2021 RIP Bob, he was a great guy. And that is a gorgeous guitar. Congratulations
Gitfiddler Posted November 12, 2021 Posted November 12, 2021 Something about that Goldtop Roy Clark keeps me coming back for another look. Wow! Bob had awesome taste in guitars. RIP.
High Flying Bird Posted November 12, 2021 Posted November 12, 2021 On 11/8/2021 at 5:37 AM, skydog52 said: Bob was a Great Guy. He is missed. I'm glad you where able to get this one. I'm sure He would be pleased. Beautiful and special piece of Heritage craft. Here is a picture of Him at a Pre PSP at the Steiner Ranch playing the crazy figured Millennium. That is a crew behind him for sure.
rockabilly69 Posted November 18, 2021 Posted November 18, 2021 On 11/7/2021 at 4:20 PM, MartyGrass said: This one belong to Rhoadsscholar. He got it in trade at a guitar store in the Detroit area. I held on to it for months while he had Pete Moreno do some changes on the bridge and while Rhoads was traveling heavily. The he got it back. As most of you know he unexpected became sick and passed away last year, about 18 months ago. When the guitar was visiting me I really had no interest in another Golden Eagle. Cherry is not a traditional finish and to many in the jazz world is a bit on the bold side. But I carelessly bonded to it because I loved the amplified sound and its playability. Bob's (Rhoads') kids generously let me get back some of the guitars Bob and I had swapped back and forth for years. One is a H-525, another is a H-150 that I had very heavily modded before a traded it to Bob, and the final one is the Golden Eagle. Bob's son Jason will be selling a few dozen guitars in the estate pretty soon. I will post the details with pics on HOC. You can work with Jason directly on this. As an aside, Jason and Jeremy are Bob's twin boys. Bob got each of them H-157s made within a day of their birth. I saw Jason's recently. It's white with black binding. Now it's beautifully yellowish. The cherry Golden Eagle has parallel bracing and a HRW. There is some playwear but not as much as I'd expect with 22 years. A previous owner put a Schaller bridge on a Heritage eagle base but did a bad job. The studs were too deep and made impressions under the base. These were just deep enough to wear through the nitro but not damage the wood. Also, it looks like someone darkened the ebony on the base and that dye leached into the nitro under the base. Pete Moreno shortened the studs and put nitro under the base to protect the wood. Fortunately none of that shows. Today I put a TOM on a different base. It also works well and seems to increase the sustain a little. The pics I have are indoor due to Michigan weather. They don't show the maple and spruce figuring well. Red is also a hard color to capture authentically with cheap photo equipment. I am one who believes that many guitarists hear things I honestly can't. This is what I can tell on this guitar. Acoustically it sounds like a thicker bodied Golden Eagle. Electrically it does sounds special. That could be the luck of the wood. But it may be the HRW, the parallel bracing, the Ren Wall 4 point mount, the single vs double pickup, or some combo. I now have two single pickup archtops with HRWs that really sound similar in that they have a little sparkle on frequency spectrum. Look forward to the listing of Bob's guitars. Jason is reliable, honest, and a good communicator. That is a really nice looking guitar. I’d love to play that through my 1964 deluxe reverb. I could probably get lost in that sound for quite a long time ?
RJLII Posted November 23, 2021 Posted November 23, 2021 The red Eagle looks like the one Vince Lewis brought to PSP a few years ago. I think it was PSPIV or PSPV. He played a few tunes with it through my Carr Rambler in the Henderson family barn.
MartyGrass Posted November 23, 2021 Author Posted November 23, 2021 He played very thin strings on that as I recall. It's possible it's the same one. There were at least several cherry ones made in that time period though.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huecpcJURbE
pressure Posted November 23, 2021 Posted November 23, 2021 That was Fab. Mr. Vince Lewis on guitar with tbonesullivan on bass and NoNameBand on drums. Good times.
MartyGrass Posted November 23, 2021 Author Posted November 23, 2021 2 hours ago, MartyGrass said: He played very thin strings on that as I recall. It's possible it's the same one. There were at least several cherry ones made in that time period though.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huecpcJURbE Actually it's not possible. The pots are in different places.
RJLII Posted November 26, 2021 Posted November 26, 2021 On 11/23/2021 at 9:44 AM, MartyGrass said: Actually it's not possible. The pots are in different places. Good catch.
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