Hypothetical Heritage Reissue - What's Your Choice?

[DetroitBlues]

After reading Brent's Old-School Heritage simplicity thread about his single pickup VIP-1 and the H147 thread, has me thinking about discontinued models.

If I was to choose a Heritage to reissue, what would it be?

The 357 is an obvious choice.

But there were so many cool guitars.  H101, H110, H120, H125, H127, H140, H147, H150P, HFT-445, HFT-480, H204DD, VIP, Parsons Street, STAT...  I could keep the list going with hollow and semi-hollow body guitars.

But if I was to reissue a single model, I'd say it have to be the guitar that started them all.

The H140.

Thinner body and upper bout, sharp cutaway, unbound dot-inlaid rosewood fretboard, bound flame maple capped mahogany body.

That was a unique model that was different from the traditional solid body guitar 225 Parsons used to make before Heritage was around.  Seemed like improvements for fretting access to the upper frets with a thin body and sharp cutaway. A thinner body that kept the sustain but dropped the weight to ease aching shoulders.  A no thrills fretboard that makes for a players guitar when the frets wear down for easy fret replacement. The Schaller bridge and tailpiece with allowed for more fine adjustments to string spacing and closer to the body strings for increased sustain .

These are all subjective thoughts of course..

Obviously the guitar will not come back since the templates are long gone.

These days reissues take on different liberties on what qualifies as a "reissue".  Heritage couldn't bring back an exact model of the H140 as the tooling is long gone.  Closest thing would just to make a H150 with a thin body and a H137 neck.  

Still, the H140 may not be the flagship of Heritage, but it's at the core of what started the company almost 40 years ago...

What's your choice and why?

[Doug]

I am a little surprised they don't make 555's anymore as well as the Millie.

[Spectrum13]

They made a silver burst 147 anniversary about 15 years ago and they still had the templet when they built my 147 in 2013, I kind of pre-voted on the 140 thing. 

I would champion a reissue of the prospect as a slightly smaller 535 falls in line with their slimmed down current production.

[DetroitBlues]

8 minutes ago, Spectrum13 said:

They made a silver burst 147 anniversary about 15 years ago and they still had the templet when they built my 147 in 2013, I kind of pre-voted on the 140 thing. 

I would champion a reissue of the prospect as a slightly smaller 535 falls in line with their slimmed down current production.

I think about 2 or 3 years ago, all those templates were sold off in Reverb..

[Gitfiddler]

The amazing H-525 model needs to return.

[brentrocks]

My vote is for the H170 with the sharp horns like the ones in the mid 80s

[kbp810]

My vote would be the H110; was the H110 they used to have on display that made me want to go with vintage wine burst on the 157. But also walked away from that kind of wanting a 110 as well. 
 

hft-480 would be great too. 

[DetroitBlues]

32 minutes ago, brentrocks said:

My vote is for the H170 with the sharp horns like the ones in the mid 80s

The 1st Gen with a unbound dot neck?  I remember playing an '86 KBP810 used to have... (BTW, should that screen name be changed to KBP989?)

[rockabilly69]

I'd like a short scale H550

[myoldfriend]

Would love to see a re-release of the H-475 (image courtesy of @High Flying Bird in another thread)!  Why?  Because who has the coin for a Gibbons Style O and well, it wouldn't be a Heritage..  I seem to recall reading somewhere that H acoustic bodies were outsourced, though..?

 

[PunkKitty]

I was chatting with Mike Ortiz recently. They carry the H-155 Millie as part of their custom line and will build them. I'd like to see either the H-158 or H-155 in standard production. I also like the H-150LW and H-170LW. I still regret selling the super chunky neck H-170LW GT that was my first Heritage. I'd like to find it eventually.   

[HANGAR18]

I recently discovered a Rockler's woodworking store in my area and I"m now wondering if I could make my own reproduction of a Parson's Street model.

[High Flying Bird]

3 hours ago, myoldfriend said:

I seem to recall reading somewhere that H acoustic bodies were outsourced, though..?

Some of their early acoustics were out sourced.  I can't remember the name of the company though.  It seems like they were from Canada. 

[kbp810]

55 minutes ago, High Flying Bird said:

Some of their early acoustics were out sourced.  I can't remember the name of the company though.  It seems like they were from Canada. 

I believe it was Larrivee that made them; or I think they supplied the bodies and Heritage added the neck? 

[High Flying Bird]

4 hours ago, kbp810 said:

I believe it was Larrivee that made them; or I think they supplied the bodies and Heritage added the neck? 

That is correct.  Marv said they got unfinished bodies from Larrivee.  Heritage would make the necks, install them and finish the guitar.  I couldn't tell you the years they did this. 

Tell Tracy I said, "hey." 

[bolero]

I think the original maple necked 555's were cool, and it made them different from the 535.

 

 

[skydog52]

Make all the models when they took over available. Open up that Custom Shop!

[DetroitBlues]

18 minutes ago, skydog52 said:

Make all the models when they took over available. Open up that Custom Shop!

Hopefully they will.  The bespoke program is there, but I have no idea how anyone can use it.  We've seen some fabulous custom pieces over the past years, but I don't know what the secret sauce is to get an order in.

I saw this one last year when I picked up my H137.  It's now on Reverb for $4600.

[skydog52]

45 minutes ago, DetroitBlues said:

Hopefully they will.  The bespoke program is there, but I have no idea how anyone can use it.  We've seen some fabulous custom pieces over the past years, but I don't know what the secret sauce is to get an order in.

 

Bespoke is on their website and I have made several attempts to no avail. They keep telling me it's coming soon ........ for awhile.

[TalismanRich]

I agree that the H140 would be a great addition to the standard line, especially with the H137 not being in the standard line anymore.   But they are the "low end" of the price range and maybe they can't command the pricing that Heritage wants.  

The Millennium, with or without F holes is a great instrument, and unique to Heritage.   It also is on the upscale side price wise, so if they want to stay in the upper bracket,  that fills the bill.   It's comfortable, sounds great and if properly promoted, could be a good seller.   Soundwise, it sits somewhere between the solid H150 and the semi H535, so it's great for people who want some of that semi vibe without the bigger body, or who want a 150 size without the heft.

[rwinking]

As you can see, I own a few Heritages. My favorite is my C serial number H-170 from the mid 80s. Nothing really fancy but it is as good a guitar as I have ever played. My neighbor across the street also has a newer more ornate H-170 and it is also a great guitar.

I would also put in a vote for the H-140. Again, I have one from the  80s and it is way cool. They just don't build guitars like that any more. And they should.....

[bolero]

It would also be cool if they made some banjos. They had a skid full of old banjo bodies a few years ago. They could do a limited run & use up the parts: folk musicians who are into old mastertones etc might be a good market. 

[TalismanRich]

I'll bet those banjo bodies hit the bin when they moved to the back building.

[rwinking]

1 hour ago, TalismanRich said:

I'll bet those banjo bodies hit the bin when they moved to the back building.

Definition of perfect pitch….

[LK155]

5 minutes ago, rwinking said:

Definition of perfect pitch….

Only if they landed on a bunch of accordions.