MartyGrass Posted April 16 Posted April 16 About 10 years ago I bought this guitar from someone in Ohio. He wasn't a player, but a friend of his recommended he invest in a couple of new guitars at a guitar show in Cincinatti, if I recall right. This is a Heritage Johnny Smith with an 18" body. I'd like to tell you a good reason I sold it the next year. I think it was a matter of money. I'm not sure. I sold it to a great guy and a forum member. Later he bought a couple of other Heritages from me. Fortunately for me, he agreed to sell the HJS back. There were two 18" HJS made AFAIK. Both were in Cincinatti. Don Dean, of Scotty Moore and Elvis fame, ended up with one. That one is a natural and is 3 1/4" deep. The incoming is the traditional 3" deep. The natural finish one was owned by a friend of mine who had the Floating #3 pickup rebuilt by Kent Armstrong, making it a little hotter. You can hear a difference. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsM3VeXzpVw This is the incoming sister of the natural. It's a rose natural and has the standard Floating #3, which to me sounds warmer. I'm excited!
pressure Posted April 16 Posted April 16 Heritage made quite a few custom versions of their standard guitars. I met a guy at one of the PSPs that had 2 Heritage Johnny Smiths that were 16" wide.
Gitfiddler Posted April 16 Posted April 16 Congratulations, Mark. Rose-Natural is my all time favorite shade for HJS archtops.
MartyGrass Posted April 18 Author Posted April 18 The guitar and case survived intact. It came with a lot of documentation from 9 years ago that the guy I sold it to obtained. The guy I got it from obtained it from Don Dean, the king of 18" archtops (sorta). Heritage noted that they did only make two of these guitars. Both were made exactly the way they built them at Gibson except the size. I forgot how low the action will go without buzzing. It's very impressive. I put TI 12s Jazz. The guitar is pretty loud and sounds great. There is a signed label by Johnny Smith, and there is a second label handwritten saying it is an 18" Johnny Smith and is signed by the four original Heritage Company orders. I included some quick photos to show the impressive woods. The grain is tighter in the middle and widens at the side. So I had to research as to whether the opinion that tight grain is more responsive. The Heritage old timers and Aaron Cowles said it's a myth. A review of the Internet opinions by good luthiers say no tonal differences, probably because thickness and carving dwarfs any grain tightness factor. Anyway, I'm happy.
pressure Posted April 19 Posted April 19 When I took my Johnny Smith back to Heritage, Ren looked at the Spruce tops grain, which was slightly wide, he said "don't worry it will still sound good". Up to then I hadn't worried or even been aware of the effect grain width could have on the sound. I always listen to Ren. Ha.
LonelyLefty Posted April 23 Posted April 23 Never get tired of looking at these beautiful maple guitars. And that neck! Wow. Thanks for posting the photos.
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.