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Heritage Owners Club

A bird flew into my guitar room yesterday…


brentrocks

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Posted

Thank you David for the heads up on this!!!

I drove to Detroit yesterday to pick up this bad boy!

Still working on setup and maintenance.  I’ll have more pics later today.  
 

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Posted
51 minutes ago, DetroitBlues said:

How in the world did you find one in my backyard?

I little birdie told me

Posted

A little birdie told there was a H357 at MOTOR CITY GUITARS.  

The FIREBIRD that Heritage built!!!   The H357!!

This one is a 1993, (post lawsuit) NON REVERSE headstock.  

Marv Lamb started building 357’s around 1989 or 1988, I believe. Originally, the 357, had a reverse head stock, just like a Gibson Firebird. At the same time the 150 also had a body design that was exactly like a Gibson Les Paul. In 1991, Gibson threatened to sue Heritage over the 150 body design, and the 357.  So Heritage changed the body design on the 150 to its current state, and started making the 357‘s with a non-reverse head stock. 

I can’t recall ever seeing another H357 with a non-reverse head stock, I’m sure there are others out there, but I just don’t ever remember seeing one. There are many more of them out there with reverse headstocks than there are non-reversed headstocks. 

 A couple things that make this particular  357 unique and different, are the fact that it actually has  Firebird pick ups in it! The vast majority of the H357’s had humbuckers in them. The second run of 357’s that Marv did just before he retired, had a wide variety of pick up, variations, mainly because they were all custom ordered for the most part.  The other thing that really sets this one a part is the gold finish! I have never seen another H357 finished in gold. Maybe someone else out there has? 

Just like with all of the other H357’s that Marv built, this one is neck thru construction.   The neck is a medium C carve.  It has an Ebony fretboard with pearl dots. Schaller tuners.  Seymour Duncan pickups.  I swapped out the original bridge and tail piece with Nashville style hardware. And the original owner swapped out the knobs and one potentiometer.

Overall, the guitar is an excellent condition for 30 years old! There are no cracks, no brakes, no repairs. There really isn’t any major wear to speak of. It was obviously very well taken care of.  The frets are in great shape.  It sets up and plays great! 
 

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Posted

As gorgeous and unique a specimen as one could find...and only you could find one, Brent!  A stunner!  Congrats!

Posted

Damn Brent, didn’t know you were in the neighborhood. Should’ve given me a shout & we could have had a beer or 9.

BTW-Nice find!!!

Posted

From right under my nose. Nice find Brent. Enjoy!

Posted

I love everything about it!!! WOW!!!  I have never really got into the 357s until this one.

(except, and this is just me, I hate Nashville bridges.  What was the other bridge that you replaced, the original bridge, what was it?)

Posted
2 hours ago, DetroitBlues said:

oh, and DIBS!

I was going to say dibbs but I don't think I could afford one of these. (...Says the guy with 17 guitars in his collection.)

Posted
7 minutes ago, HANGAR18 said:

I was going to say dibbs but I don't think I could afford one of these. (...Says the guy with 17 guitars in his collection.)

And the guy calling Dibs is making his own Marvbird...

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