FredZepp Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Short story... I bought it off of ebay, a Black H-157 w/ Sheptone pu's, and it showed up with a broken toggle switch...caused by the fit in the case. I dropped it off to the local music store and the guy replaces the toggle. But there's problems with it still, and he says it's because the wiring would barely reach and he needs to replace that. Then he sees the contol cavity and says he will not do any work on that part, too much unusual stuff in there. ( It's 4 push-pull pots... coil split , coil split, out of phase, and series wiring.) He finishes the wiring and it's good , but I don't think that all features are working right. So they bring in their pro, who can fix anything. I'm there when he's picking it up... but he won't take it... until he finds some schematics that show him how this works. So he researches and I do also, and I tell him that it does the same things that the Jimmy Page model does and get him schematics for that. He calls me when done and says there are a couple of resistors and capacitors that aren't on the schematic, but he found the problem. And checked all of the solders. It should be fixed. He asks, " Would you be able to tell by the sound?' "Yes" " Well then , let me play it next to the phone... this is with the vol. pot pulled , then not, etc." So we do this over the phone, sounds good. Sooooo.... I just picked it up yesterday.. Awesome.. So many combinations, the pu's out of phase with a single coil and a humbucker, bridge single coil only, etc. The pick-ups are excellent. Sheptone PAF Tribute. Kind of like a hotter Seth Lover. Open , Airy, but with nice vintage style grit when turned up. It does the most awesome pinch harmonics. Like the Seth's and other non-potted pu's, you have to control the feedback . if you run a really high gain input, but excellent tone. Apparently , in their showroom , they have a real '59 PAF that you can compare it to. It's a really nice pic-up with some personality.
Kuz Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Wow, it does all the above mentioned tones & splits, WITHOUT all the crazy flippin' mini-toggles. I'm impressed.
pro-fusion Posted October 23, 2009 Posted October 23, 2009 Nice! I actually like my Heritages to have simpler controls, even though I like the switchability on other guitars. But aren't 157 Black Beauties just the most beautiful damned guitars on Earth?? Not that I'm biased or anything...
FredZepp Posted October 23, 2009 Author Posted October 23, 2009 Nice! I actually like my Heritages to have simpler controls, even though I like the switchability on other guitars. But aren't 157 Black Beauties just the most beautiful damned guitars on Earth?? Not that I'm biased or anything... Well, I almost just left it alone , because it would function the same as stock. But I just had to get it up to speed. It's funny , sometimes you have to look to see which pots are pulled..... how is it configured at that moment. But it's easy to just smack them all down and you know it functions as normal....just with nice pu's. It's a guitar from the Dark Side ... with some hidden abilities.
FredZepp Posted October 23, 2009 Author Posted October 23, 2009 Should be called "Black Stealth Beauty" I was thinking Darth Heritage...
Gitfiddler Posted October 24, 2009 Posted October 24, 2009 Congrats on getting your 157 back...and with all of those tonal options, you may never buy another...Oh never mind. Enjoy Darth!
FredZepp Posted October 29, 2009 Author Posted October 29, 2009 ...sweet... Thanks , I am very happy and.... curious to see the Custom Shop quilt top H157 that is mentioned in your signature... Have we seen a pic of this one..? If you can.... Post us a pic... sounds nice..
Scooter Posted October 29, 2009 Posted October 29, 2009 Nice, FZ. It's a beaut. Glad you got it all up to snuff.
FredZepp Posted October 30, 2009 Author Posted October 30, 2009 Thanks for all the kind comments... I just polished it up the other day and the finish is incredible for a 15 year old guitar. It just goes to show that a guitar doesn't need incredible flames to look and sound good. (Although it probably is a nice flame top under that finish... knowing how Heritage is about those things....)
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.