Heritage 535/555 vs. Gibson 335

[brentrocks]

Here are some more reasons that make a Heritage better...

 

[Flat]

No words to add to the points made above...but I can contribute a little more 535porn...this one in Old Style Burst, with Duncans.

 

[FredZepp]

Great Pics , Brent !!!

 

 

and nice 535 there , Flat..... OSB is quite nice and that flame looks great.

[hiro]

Beautiful 535's !

 

Well the nuts and bolts are:

 

The Colonel's going to have to play them and find out which one touches him more.

 

That said, if I was mail ordering my guitar, I'd feel alot better with a Heritage than a Gibson.

Heritage you know where it comes from, who's its made, and great people here that can help you with it if anything issues arise. Cheaper and quality is much higher.

 

Gibson, you can face high prices, lower quality, have to visit several of the popular Gibson forums for help, and the forum help is sketchy, and you'll get DAFS N00b, greater chance your guitar will get stolen at a gig, and you don't know which factory it comes from.

 

 

 

The detailed:

 

Gibson's alot like Fender, you have good ratio of some shoddy made, crap sounding guitars. Smaller companies that actually care about making something good than feeding their market line, like Heritage or G&L, has a higher ratio of good / great / excellent / uber than to an average or 'something is off'

 

 

Lets see . . . I was interested in a G&L (telecaster style), tried out G&L's ASATs and Fender Telecasters. Then I found out Gibson necks were excellent and more to my liking.

 

I saw the price of a Gibson Les Paul. I saw the price of a Heritage H150. I noticed the H150 was built better than the current Gibsons. I noticed the H150's tone just had something more than the Gibsons.

 

I walked out with a H150.

 

 

 

I learned the history of Heritage. And look at Gibson across the guitar forums. The general consensus for Gibson is way overpriced for what you get. Gibson has long since moved into a 'brand name' only. And they've lost touch with guitar players. Most posts refer to Gibson dusk tiger line. Lowrider chrome meets video game controller neon plastic lights and natural wood finish.

 

 

Gibson has higher prices but don't offer anything on value over a Heritage, and lower quality, you're witnessing the classic case of market branding. And they are CnC and some are made outside the US. Heritage is the original people that made Gibson into a brand name. Then Gibson saw the bottom line, and realized they were working too hard, making something too good, and pricing it way too low.

[tulk1]

Personally, I like the term "less expensive" than "cheaper".

[bbjonz]

Well, I'm going to find out. I'm on my second 535 and like it just fine, but I've never owned a 335. One popped up on TGP last week and I wound up buying it. Hadn't planned on doing so but the price on the 335 was very good, enough so that I felt comfortable buying it just to check it out. The 335 is on its way, but here are two shots. They look almost identical. The 535 is a '98, the 335 an '02.

 

Joe

 

 

I have a friend at work who we'll call Colonel SR (retired military) who has been playing guitar a long time, he is wanting to get a new Gibby 335 through Musician's Friend or a dealer like that. As an owner of a 555, I told him about the HOC site and he has had a chance to see it, I showed him one of the recent posts about the history of Heritage at the beginning, some of the guitar porn, and the marketplace section here.

 

Enablers: You know who you are! Please post reasons/advantages/features/benefits why Colonel SR should get a 535 or 555 instead of a 335 Gibby...

 

Bring it and thanks!

[Orangepicker]

Great analogy, I wonder how they would take that over on the LP or other G brand forums!!

And when you play a Heritage you will play better, sound better and look better as well!

[FredZepp]

And when you play a Heritage you will play better, sound better and look better as well!

Nice pic ... that looks like a reallllllly nice combination...

[Orangepicker]

Nice pic ... that looks like a reallllllly nice combination...

Thank You, you know when they got this one built Rendal said that guitar is ugly, why did you want all the cream parts on that? I love it! The paint on this one is not the Heritage gold top color, this was gold top paint from Guitar Reranch. It comes in spray cans and caused so much trouble I doubt the Heritage will do that for anyone again.

[TalismanRich]

Well, I'm going to find out. I'm on my second 535 and like it just fine, but I've never owned a 335. One popped up on TGP last week and I wound up buying it. Hadn't planned on doing so but the price on the 335 was very good, enough so that I felt comfortable buying it just to check it out. The 335 is on its way, but here are two shots. They look almost identical. The 535 is a '98, the 335 an '02.

 

Joe

 

One other advantage (to me) is the jack being on the rim rather than ruining the look of all that wonderful maple.

[jmc7581]

No words to add to the points made above...but I can contribute a little more 535porn...this one in Old Style Burst, with Duncans.

 

Ooo, that one is REALLY pretty. Not that the others aren't, but this one speaks to me. And I'll admit I'm shallow - I like the look of the G-style pickguard there.

[Kuz]

One other advantage (to me) is the jack being on the rim rather than ruining the look of all that wonderful maple.

 

+1 gazillion, here, here to the input jack on the rim!!!!

[212Mavguy]

A HUGE thanks to fellow HOC members who contributed to this thread! Day before yesterday I told the Colonel that there were 2 pages of replies to the original post, he was genuinely surprised to hear that. Am pretty sure that by now he has taken time to view the thread. It will be fun to speak with him about it next time I go to work. Right now I have a day off but am staying off the slopes due to a very painful jawbone infection as well as having a root canal procedure yesterday afternoon.

 

Again, thanks to all for your generosity in sharing, the time each of you took doing so, and the willingness to help. Amazing in a very good way! Peace.