Early Heritage Pickups

[MartyGrass]

Just out of curiosity, I searched for reviews on Schaller's humbuckers from back in the day.  Specifically I looked for the German made ones.  I looked at non-HOC posts.

There were several threads in the Seymour Duncan Forum on these.  The comments were largely favorable, even glowing.  This does not prove anything except some people liked them a lot.  Here's an example.

https://forum.seymourduncan.com/forum/the-pickup-lounge/114718-schaller-golden-50s-humbuckers

My guess is that Heritage had some deal going to use Schaller hardware and pickups, which makes sense from a business perspective in an emerging company.  Even back in the earlier years the Heritage founders would defend their choice.  Specifically, the four original owners and Ren said Schallers were good pickups.  Ren told me that the bridge and tailpiece were very well engineered.

Yesterday I spent the afternoon with a pickup engineer and luthier who knows Heritage well.  He has been designing pickups for decades.  He did not disparage the Schaller pickups Heritage used.  It's refreshing to get his perspective.  Not that many would be surprised though.  To paraphrase, whatever a skilled pickup designer makes, someone will call junk.

He likes Seymour Duncan's quality and says Paul Reed Smith is very fussy about his pickups.  He also has respect for Fralin and Lollar.  Lastly, he commented that he's sad to see such harsh criticisms for new winders on pickup creators forums.  A budding designer shows his new ideas and their sounds and will receive harsh criticism from some, not encouragement to keep going.  It sounds like the same sort of stuff that happens on various guitar forums also about pickup opinions.  For example, I recently looked for reviews on Phat Cats.  It seems that hate motivates posting more than praise.

I've heard good reviews about the 225 hots on the H-555 from a person I don't think is over critical in nature.

The big picture I get about Heritage is that it has morphed from the origins we all know well to a different company which is more refined and that has a R&D process that's pretty sophisticated.  I have my older Heritages that I cherish.  I've also have handled the new ones and understand the changes.  I'm optimistic about the company.

There's a reason Gibson moved to Tennessee from Kalamazoo.  I don't fully understand why, but it certainly had something to do with cost reduction or profit ratio.  Now Heritage can make a guitar consistently as good as Gibson for less money.  Some will differ in which is better, but that's soft opinion.  Kuz, for example, gave an excellent and detailed review of two LP style guitars made by each.  Neither seemed shabby and there was a significant price difference.  That's remarkable.

I posted recently about a H-535 I got built just a few years ago.  It is as good as any I've seen and better than some.  It has PRS pickups in it.  They sound good.  Would I pay twice as much for them and replace the harness?  No.  But I don't think I would get a better sound out of any other setup.  I also got a 2019 ES-345.  The pickups were replaced with Phat Cats.  Various forums contained hate reviews of these pickups as well as a little praise.  People are nuts. They sound like single coils, hotter than stock Fenders.  I have the T-types to put back in it but won't do that, at least for now.

I'm done rambling.  The bottom line for me is that Heritage is in a great place as a quality electric guitar producer and innovator.  I have not always felt that way but have always respected the original owners and what they could do.  Heritage is not the same without the internal soap operas, which were a source of interesting drama.

Here are pics of my 2002 Ultra that just had a bone nut put in and frets leveled.

 

[Heritage1970]

Beautiful guitar!

Here's it's Sister- a 2005 Ultra.

Thanks for posting- great read! As you mention, I think Heritage started off using Schaller as Gibson was using Schaller hardware, etc in the late 70's/early 80's. So when Heritage opened, I'm sure it was easy to just stick with things that were already being used. I have never had a problem with Schaller pickups. I know so many do, but they've always worked just fine for me. And at the end of the day, it's all opinion. One person thinks Schallers sound terrible, then the next person has found their dream tone. There really is no "one sound fits all" in the guitar world, and thank God for that! 

[pressure]

Not everything is an upgrade, sometimes it's just a change.

[MartyGrass]

3 hours ago, Heritage1970 said:

Beautiful guitar!

Here's it's Sister- a 2005 Ultra.

Thanks for posting- great read! As you mention, I think Heritage started off using Schaller as Gibson was using Schaller hardware, etc in the late 70's/early 80's. So when Heritage opened, I'm sure it was easy to just stick with things that were already being used. I have never had a problem with Schaller pickups. I know so many do, but they've always worked just fine for me. And at the end of the day, it's all opinion. One person thinks Schallers sound terrible, then the next person has found their dream tone. There really is no "one sound fits all" in the guitar world, and thank God for that! 

Yours is stunning.

[Heritage1970]

2 hours ago, MartyGrass said:

Yours is stunning.

Yours too! Great to see these two in pictures one after the other- love the look of these Ultras!

[bolero]

Yeah beauties both!

Re: pickups I always use my own judgement & experience, preferences. Everything I use is because I've tried it and liked it. I largely ignore " the madding crowd" and they are mad, especially guitar players. I prefer to follow my own muse.

Pickups are easy to change.