Hypothetical Heritage Reissue - What's Your Choice?

[Genericmusic]

[myoldfriend]

8 hours ago, LK155 said:

Only if they landed on a bunch of accordions.

 

I would have gone with bagpipes, but ok..

[DetroitBlues]

On 8/20/2022 at 8:56 PM, TalismanRich said:

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.

With the Custom Core, they wouldn’t need the Millie.  If they are sticking to the core model philosophy, then more traditional models should be used.  Say the 157 with all the bling.  Make it flame maple top and back.

[HANGAR18]

9 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

With the Custom Core, they wouldn’t need the Millie.  If they are sticking to the core model philosophy, then more traditional models should be used.  Say the 157 with all the bling.  Make it flame maple top and back.

The H157 (as you know) is the Heritage equivalent of the "Gibson Les Paul Custom" and for the life of me I have no idea why in the world they don't currently offer that model.

[DetroitBlues]

45 minutes ago, HANGAR18 said:

The H157 (as you know) is the Heritage equivalent of the "Gibson Les Paul Custom" and for the life of me I have no idea why in the world they don't currently offer that model.

Me either.  But I'm thinking more like a Supreme than a LPC. 

[MartyGrass]

Heritage Millennium Eagle 2000

 

[MartyGrass]

[skydog52]

Academy Custom

 

[DetroitBlues]

Basically a single-cut prospect?  Sort of like the Roy Clarke was a single-cut 535 right?

[Gitfiddler]

With prices rising on all currently offered Heritage models, shouldn't any of our proposed hypotheticals also include a suggested price?

The more basic model suggestions should be less than current prices, but some of the more upscale suggestions could cost much more than the already high prices. 

Current List Prices:

H-150:  $2,599

H-530:  $3,199

H-535:  $3,199

H-575:  $4,499

Eagle Classic:  $5,299

 

[skydog52]

Just now, DetroitBlues said:

Basically a single-cut prospect?  Sort of like the Roy Clarke was a single-cut 535 right?

Yes a single cut Prospect.  Marv and Jim came up with that. When I had mine made Jim supervised the build.

Those models are named after streets in Kalamazoo.

[Spectrum13]

Just now, skydog52 said:

Yes a single cut Prospect.  Marv and Jim came up with that. When I had mine made Jim supervised the build.

Those models are named after streets in Kalamazoo.

What, no Henderson? What about a Brently? That would be rich.

[skydog52]

9 minutes ago, Spectrum13 said:

What, no Henderson? What about a Brently? That would be rich.

No guitars but there is this.

Bed & Breakfast Kalamazoo | Special Events Venue | Henderson Castle

[DetroitBlues]

2 hours ago, skydog52 said:

No guitars but there is this.

Bed & Breakfast Kalamazoo | Special Events Venue | Henderson Castle

If my wife was into B&B, I'd be all over this.

[houndhome]

I always regreted dropping the Golden and Super Eagles,they always seemed to me to be the epitamy

of Heritage quality.

[Jaguarguy]

On 8/18/2022 at 2:53 PM, brentrocks said:

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

Sellers remorse on this one?? 

[bolero]

On 8/21/2022 at 1:08 PM, LK155 said:

Only if they landed on a bunch of accordions.

 

Haha!

[TalismanRich]

On 8/22/2022 at 7:35 AM, HANGAR18 said:

The H157 (as you know) is the Heritage equivalent of the "Gibson Les Paul Custom" and for the life of me I have no idea why in the world they don't currently offer that model.

I'm thinking that they are limiting the amount of binding that needs to be done.   The inlays wouldn't be any different to do, gold hardware is a minor premium (maybe $50?), ebony might be another $20 for the fretboard,  and even the headstock inlay isn't much of an issue.   However, the triple layer binding is more work, and you have to add binding to both the front and back, plus the headstock.  The headstock binding is probably the most difficult part.   All that adds time for the extra routing, gluing and wrapping. 

Still,  I like the extra appointments.   That's why my first Heritage was a 157.    I sometimes kick myself for not grabbing a 555 as well, but my 535 does just fine. 

[HANGAR18]

9 hours ago, TalismanRich said:

I'm thinking that they are limiting the amount of binding that needs to be done.   The inlays wouldn't be any different to do, gold hardware is a minor premium (maybe $50?), ebony might be another $20 for the fretboard,  and even the headstock inlay isn't much of an issue.   However, the triple layer binding is more work, and you have to add binding to both the front and back, plus the headstock.  The headstock binding is probably the most difficult part.   All that adds time for the extra routing, gluing and wrapping. 

Still,  I like the extra appointments.   That's why my first Heritage was a 157.    I sometimes kick myself for not grabbing a 555 as well, but my 535 does just fine. 

Well, from that perspective, building guitars are difficult to build, so why build them at all? hahaha

I guess I'm not entirely objective on this because the H157's were the first Heritage guitars that I ever fell in love with. Having been a guy who could only afford Schecter and Epiphone guitars, I had always dreamed of owning a Gibson Les Paul Custom. But it wasn't just the discovery of the Heritage H157 model which I believed could get me a guitar like that which was more affordable than the actual Gibson model but it was that I knew they were much better made than the Gibsons and (as silly as it may sound) the hand made wood "finger rests" totally hooked me.

In my opinion today, those wooden finger rests represent a day and time where Heritage was trying to be BETTER then Gibson while today with their current plastic pick guards I feel like their goal is to be "as good as a Gibson" and mimic everything Gibson strives to do. Which is better is a debate for a different thread as I am only speaking about what I feel each company's motivation is/was then and now. I like present day Heritage guitars but I would really love to seem them try to outdo Gibson by returning to their Heritage and building guitars with matching wooden finger rests and real Mother of Pearl inlay. ...and 7 layer binding.

[brentrocks]

On 8/22/2022 at 11:14 PM, Jaguarguy said:

Sellers remorse on this one?? 

Oh wow.  I had forgotten about that one.  That’s an awesome one off 170!!!

[bolero]

Agree 100% with HANGAR on the wooden pickguards. It set the brand apart & was classy.

[houndhome]

For those missing the H170 model there is one (and a H516) in the Gardiner-Houlgate auction in 

Bath (UK) on Sept, 7th, lots 124 and 443 if I remember correctly,but can be seen on G-H's website

[big bob]

The newfiepoo . 

[TalismanRich]

6 hours ago, bolero said:

Agree 100% with HANGAR on the wooden pickguards. It set the brand apart & was classy.

Here's another vote for the wooden pickguards.   They were classy, and since I tend to drag my ring and little finger on the pickguard, the plastic ones often generate static, which eventually shows up as noise.  The wood ones NEVER did that.    It's bad enough that I keep a drier sheet in the case of a couple of guitars that seem to be especially bad about the static generation. 

[ElNumero]

On 8/18/2022 at 11:43 AM, DetroitBlues said:

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?

I’d buy one!