y2kc Posted April 13 Posted April 13 To bring back some classics? How about the H-357, Stat and H-140? It gets a little boring seeing the same shapes coming out of Kalamazoo. This is just my personal opinion but I feel that if you have seen one of these current H-150's, you have seen them all. They say that variety is the spice of life. Please Heritage, bring back some spice. y2kc
skydog52 Posted April 14 Posted April 14 H-357 is a stretch. I would like to see them get the Custom Shop going. I have a lot of ideas for a build.
davesultra Posted April 14 Posted April 14 H-357 is pretty labor intensive (IIRC). If they made them, I’m sure they’d cost a pretty penny. I wouldn’t mind the return of the H-157 though.
PunkKitty Posted April 14 Posted April 14 The 357 is Marv's baby. IMO, they should ask Marv for his blessing before bringing it back as a matter of respect. I'd like to see the 157 and the 150LW come back.
zguitar71 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 How about the 137? That should come back and have a Jr version too, single and double cut. For something completely different there could be a set neck guitar that covers the Tele thing. Long scale, similar pickups and controls and woods but a 3x3 headstock and maybe a 10 degree angle.
rwinking Posted April 15 Posted April 15 I have one of the tele things you are talking about, Christopher. It is the Leon Rhodes signature model....set neck, tele body with three pick ups, pelham blue, and it is cool as shit. I am a fan of the strat type models too as I have (one of each) the 160 and 162. My all time fave is still my H-170.
zguitar71 Posted April 15 Posted April 15 I had no idea they ever made a guitar like that! I googled it, it a really cool guitar. It’s time to bring it back.
y2kc Posted April 16 Author Posted April 16 I agree ,the 137 seems to be a no brainer. Yes to a tele style set neck. possible with the same headstock as a 357. The Heritage "custom shop" of old was a beautiful thing. You knew who you were dealing with and they were up for shenanigans. I have a Heritage that Marv helped me with. It stands out. y2kc
TalismanRich Posted April 16 Posted April 16 I agree with bringing back the 157 and also the 555. It doesn't require any significant tooling differences, compared to doing something like the Stat or 127. Binding, inlays and gold hardware are the major differences. Sometimes I regret not going for an H-150LW, although my Millie does fill the bill pretty well. Harmony has the Silhouette and Jupiter guitars which more similar to a Fender style than a 150 or 535. I was surprised they did away with the 137, as I think it was a good "entry level" Heritage, although the price wasn't exactly cheap. I don't know the reasoning for discontinuing it, unless it didn't have the profit margin that a 150 has. I would think it had a lot less labor involved with not having all the binding and carving. The 357 will be a stretch. Watching Marv show all the parts that went into making the body, with the neck through center section and the wings means that there is significant effort involved. There may also be some restrictions with the Gibson agreements. I guess the question is "if they build it, will it sell?"
y2kc Posted April 18 Author Posted April 18 This is Heritage Guitars. Why can't they do whatever they want? They did decades ago running on a shoestring budget. Why with the backing of big money and modern building technics can't they make more guitars? The H-357 is not rocket science. The H-137 is a really great instrument and the jazz boxes that made Heritage famous are missed by some Kalamazoo guitar enthusiasts. Just wondering if it is time for Heritage guitars to go back to some of the practices that brought them to many players attention in the first place. Seriously, I already have enough Les Paul shaped guitars and they are only as good as I am a player. Come on Heritage, make something new! y2kc
TalismanRich Posted April 18 Posted April 18 I don't know about going back to the old business model. It may have something to do with actually making a profit (silly concept, I know). I'm not privy to the financial status of the old company, but I had heard several times that things were indeed often on a "shoestring budget". There were times that I wondered if the owners even paid themselves. It seemed to be more a labor of love. This isn't Jim and Marv building a few guitars. I'm sure that they make a lot more guitars today than they did 15 years ago. Sweetwater alone has 65 guitars listed. CME has 22 listed. Jay Wolfe has 25. That's just 3 dealers. You didn't really see those numbers years ago. Have you visited the factory? The "big money" helped pay for a new dust collection system that makes the place safer, a humidity and temperature control system, a new spray booth where you don't really have to worry about dust contaminating your fresh lacquer, the Plek machine and more. The old factory, while quaint, was really pretty scary from a EHS standpoint. Lots of dust and wood laying around. The spray booth upstairs was open air, so dirt and dust was floating around. It was also quite dangerous, with nitrocellulose coating the entire booth. That stuff is a lot more flammable than some people realize. The business will need to pay for that upgraded equipment. It wasn't free! To their credit, Heritage is still making archtops (the 575 and Eagle Classic). Try to get a new archtop from Gibson. The last one listed was the Chuck Berry ES 350, but it's discontinued. There are a few dozen people making teles and strats. Fender, G&L, Suhr, LSR, PRS, and ton of low cost import versions.
davesultra Posted April 18 Posted April 18 3 minutes ago, davesultra said: I agree with Rich, but damn it still makes me miss the old days!
y2kc Posted April 19 Author Posted April 19 You guys are right. It is a different time now. Just dreaming.
bolero Posted April 19 Posted April 19 " Riding in a Stutz Bearcat, Jim: You know, those were different times..."
HANGAR18 Posted April 19 Posted April 19 I reached out to the factory to ask if they would make a Parson Street model. As you can probably guess... hard NO. Not sure I still want one anymore.
mars_hall Posted April 19 Posted April 19 1 hour ago, HANGAR18 said: I reached out to the factory to ask if they would make a Parson Street model. As you can probably guess... hard NO. Not sure I still want one anymore. Yeah... they are kind of plain... 😜
TalismanRich Posted April 19 Posted April 19 If I remember correctly, when they were relocating to the other part of the building, didn't they toss a lot of the old patterns out? Someone had a bunch of Heritage stuff like that on Reverb or Ebay or something. That was a few years back so maybe I'm not remembering it correctly. Does anyone else recall that episode? If that happened, then making new Stats or Parsons Street guitars would truly be a custom build, from sketching it out on the wood plank and putting it on the band saw to shaping the curves of the headstock. It would probably be easier to get and independent builder to make a copy. Granted it wouldn't be a "Heritage" but if you were really hooked on getting a particular style guitar, that would be one way to do it. Probably wouldn't be cheap tho!
TalismanRich Posted April 19 Posted April 19 42 minutes ago, mars_hall said: Yeah... they are kind of plain... 😜 That thing really cries out for a Floyd Rose! 😁
HANGAR18 Posted April 20 Posted April 20 I tried really hard to buy a H-110 from a guy in Baltimore selling one last week but it seems that someone else got to it before me.
HANGAR18 Posted April 20 Posted April 20 2 hours ago, bolero said: That was me As long as it wasn't Brent. hahahaha
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