Archtops specs

[Philapete]

Is anyone aware of a comprehensive listing and comparison of the specs (weight,bout dimensions, nut width, scale, build characters it’s such as laminated or solid etc) of the various Heritage archtops?

[TalismanRich]

You should be able to find copies of the various brochures in threads here on HOC.   The brochures often had specs for the guitars, like thickness, scale, etc.  

It would be something like this:   Heritage Catalogs

[Philapete]

Thanks

[skydog52]

You can cruise around this and find some specs.

Wayback Machine (archive.org)

[Philapete]

Can they make the way back machine any more complicated?

[MartyGrass]

21 hours ago, Philapete said:

Is anyone aware of a comprehensive listing and comparison of the specs (weight,bout dimensions, nut width, scale, build characters it’s such as laminated or solid etc) of the various Heritage archtops?

That would be the work of a PhD dissertation.

[skydog52]

[TalismanRich]

Try this instead:

Heritage Models

[skydog52]

Or this

 

 

Guitars - Heritage Guitar (archive.org)

[Gitfiddler]

1 hour ago, skydog52 said:

Or this

 

 

Guitars - Heritage Guitar (archive.org)

This is a great resource...even though the Millennium series is absent.

[skydog52]

1 hour ago, Gitfiddler said:

This is a great resource...even though the Millennium series is absent.

The specs are there. No pictures though. 

[Philapete]

Thanks guys exactly what I was looking for. Has anyone ever A/B’d the Sweet 16 and the 525 and 575? 

[Gitfiddler]

3 hours ago, Philapete said:

Thanks guys exactly what I was looking for. Has anyone ever A/B’d the Sweet 16 and the 525 and 575? 

I've owned each of these models over the years and find each to be unique in how they sound, feel and play.

The Sweet 16 is the only one of the three that has a 25.5 scale, but is all solid carved wood like the 24.75 scale H575. 

The H525 is more 'old school' like its former Gibson ES-225, but the neck joint is more secure than the Gibson.  I call it 'modern vintage' since it feels like an old soul is inside of it.  Of the three the 525 is the most versatile, since its thin laminate body sounds great with jazz, pop, funk and Country/Western.  It can do anything asked of it.

[Philapete]

Thanks gitfiddler. Thanks to rich and skydog I think I understand the structural differences among the three. As a practical matter how is the 525 different than the sweet 16? Is the 25 lighter than the 16? I find the 16 to be pretty tame acoustically, plugged in a different story. What about the 25? It looks like 525 are pretty scarce as well .

[Gitfiddler]

@Philapete...These Rich Severson demos might help answer your questions better than I could.

Sweet 16:

 

H525:

 

 

[Philapete]

Thanks git. Assuming all things being equal (strings. Pick, amp, volume etc. ) they sound drastically different to me. The 16 has a much warmer fuller sound, almost woody definitely the classic jazz box persona and the 25 is brighter and shimmering. IMHO he seemed much more comfortable with the 16 maybe because it was for sale. But this answered my questions generally. Thanks again. 

[Philapete]

Btw there is also a YouTube of seversen playing a 575. He also seems very comfortable playing that .

[skydog52]

I agree with Gitfiddler on the H-525 as being a versatile instrument.

It just fits me best physically and musically. Plus I love P-90s!

[TalismanRich]

I'm partial to the 525.   I prefer the sound to that of the 575, especially unplugged.  

[MartyGrass]

Since were are giving opinions, I've got a few also.

The H-525 is a very nice, durable model.  It's got enough depth to sound decent unplugged when practicing alone.  The sound board support helps reduce feedback.  The trade offs compared to the H-530 are a consideration.  But the H-525 has the more awesome factor in appearance.

I had a H-575 with P-90s.  That was a fine instrument but had more feedback issues.  The acoustic sound was nicer, but that's not the target of such an instrument.

There is an option for those who don't like the hum of the P-90s.  First, there is the Hum Debugger.  Second, there are many hum-free P-90s out there.  Third, Use both pickups but put the bridge one as low as possible and lower the screws to reduce any bridge string signal while taking advantage of the reverse winding of the two pickups.