Why did you buy a Heritage?

[slider313]

I owned a '73 G LP deluxe in '86-'87, and it was a clunker. Sandwich body, three piece top, mini hums that sounded ok. I felt the overall quality was poor. I always love the LP and the ones being made even in'87 were more than on the heavy side.

A shop I used to go to had recently become a dealer for Heritage. He showed me the H140CM which was lighter than a G LP due to "thinlining" of less mahogany on the back. I loved the idea of the craftsman being the owners/operators and the fact they had so many years in at that factory.

I didn't care for the dot inlay,unbound headstock and neck and the logo "decal" on the stock model. I asked if I could custom order it with pearl blocks and pearl headstock inlay and binding on the neck and headstock. The dealer said they would do any guitar on a one on one basis. So I paid the upcharge for the work and asked for a "nice flame top" to compliment the extra work. I wasn't charged extra for the top. It's been my main guitar ever since !!!http://photobucket.com/albums/b376/slider313/f2a36cf5.jpg[/img]

[sweet-tooth]

Absolutely gorgeous guitar What year was it made?

[Gitfiddler]

Absolutely gorgeous guitar What year was it made?

 

I second that!! :o

[slider313]

Thanks ST and GF. I ordered it late in '87 and received it early in '88. The serial # starts with E so that makes it an '88. It will be 20 years old next year.

As we speak, I'm having it refretted with stainless steel frets. It had one G&P about 12 years ago and could have used another. The frets were o.k. but everytime I would play a guitar with nice new frets, I would wish this guitar would play as nice. Can't wait to get it back!!!

[redrider]

Mine was the first electric guitar that I bought for myself.  I had a couple of acoustics before but wanted a good quality electric.  Mind you I knew absolutely nothing about electric guitars or pickups.  I could not even tell you which guitars were used on some of my favorite recording.  I was starting at zip.  I started to read a bunch and thought I knew what was what with out really knowing a thing about tone or the differences in sound that pick ups made.  I knew that single coils were suppose to be noisy, humbuckers were suppose to be quiet and P-90's looked old.  HA I was so uneducated then.  I made up my mind that I had to have a Les Paul, so I started looking and checking prices.  I was rather distressed to see the prices of the "G" word products and would not even consider a Fender product.  Oh I was such a silly boy!  One day I was reading some other discussion board, one focused on the Les Paul, when they mentioned Heritage.  I read the story, checked out the product line and started gassing so bad I thought I would explode.

 

I truly wanted an Millenium DC and started looking around on the net, as there is nothing close to a Heritage dealer anywhere near my home town.  It appears that they are as rare as hen's teeth.  I found Jay Wolfe's web page and made a contact.  Jay did not have the Millenium I was looking for but he sent me a picture of one and I was just overcome by my desire to have one I bought it, and a Heritage Lobo 20 amplifier from him.  The guitar is more beautiful in person than it was in the pictures.  To this day I think it is still a sight to behold.  A couple years have gone by and I have actually learned something about electric guitars.  I have come to appreciate the differences in body, pickup and wood type.  Enough so that I found another guitar company that was an offshoot of the larger, better known parent company, one that makes better products than their better known child.  That company would be G&L.  The problem with knowledge in this case is an ever increasing amount of gas.  Give me your semi-hollow, your P-90, your tired and huddled teles. 

 

I still want a Millenium DC and it is my desire that with management changes they may become just a bit more common.  If not I have dibs on the first one that makes it to the market place. 8) ;D ;D 8)

[uk575guy]

I bought an all maple 575 Cutom with Seth Lovers.  I do love the guitar and think its the best archtop I have ever owned and I have a few very good archtops. 

 

I first bought my H575 because it offered much better specs at a lower price than the alternatives in the same price range.

[DFB140]

I played one at a local dealer.That's all it took 8)

[CrustHunter]

Well I was scouring the internet and in particular for a Les Paul and in my ignorance I was only looking for the G-word models and I kept seeing The Heritage more and more so I duly checked out this new name on Harmony Centrals user reviews and hey man these things were rated 10 10 10 10 and another 10 whilst the Gs were 8 7 6 5 7 3 and the verbals were not always complimentary either.

So I did a little digging to find this glorious history, now I am not a label person so the name on the headstock was not really that important especially as it seemed from HC reviews that this hitherto unknown (to me) guitar stood head and shoulders above its more expensive "rival" and so I bit the bullet and bought a 2004 H150CM Ultra from a guy in the states via ebay for very little money.

When the thing arrived it was in need of a good fettlle (it was quite grimy) and some basic adjustments but hey man WOW WOW and yet WOW again awesome in every respect the most beautiful flamed Antique Sunburst top and the sound with those HRW pups just to die for.

I have since bought a new Cherry Red H535 from that great man in Jupiter. Jay Wolfe another treasure, man and guitar!

When funds allow it will be yet another The Heritage for me!

[Fretlesswonder]

The sound, The build quality, They just feel so alive in your hands, and that is something I have not

felt in any other guitar in a very long time. And the fact that I am from Michigan and Heritage is a

Michigan made item, didn't hurt either !

[Dick Seacup]

The sound, The build quality, They just feel so alive in your hands, and that is something I have not

felt in any other guitar in a very long time. And the fact that I am from Michigan and Heritage is a

Michigan made item, didn't hurt either !

 

Another Michigander!  W00T! 

[AnH555]

Thanks for the welcome, Thundersteel. I bought a Heritage because I think they make  great guitars at a price no competitor can match.

Here's an example of the craftmanship they are capable of.

iwish.jpg

iwish.jpg_thumb

[JohnCovach]

I've got three Heritages, all of which I bought used.  There's a blond 575 Custom I got from Dave's, a 155 I got from Jay, and a 576 I found through an internet ad.  They're all modified with new pickups and bridges; two have new tailpieces.

 

I like these guitars because they feel like the 60s and 70s Gibsons I grew up with.  I actually have no gripe with Gibson (I have 4) except that those guitars are overpriced, even used.  Ever since ebay and online dealing became popular, older Gibsons are all priced as if they were vintage, and even finding a bargain on a newer one has become difficult.  You used to be able to find deals on used gear by watching the local shops, but those days are mostly gone now.

 

So with a used Heritage, you get a great guitar at a reasonable price.  They usually need a little TLC to get them playing right, but after that they're superb.  It also helps that I am a native Michigander, so I'm proud of these guitars made in Kalamazoo (shame on Gibson for leaving the state).

[Robbie G]

Hi! I'm new here and would like to tell my "little Heritage story" here:

 

I always wanted to have a "real" Gibson Les Paul Standard. But at the time I finally wanted to spend my money on a Gibson LP Standard, some people said to me to look at Heritage also; they heard some good news about the instruments from Kalamazoo! I contacted the dealer here in the Netherlands (Europe) and picked up a righthanded H150. Since I'm a lefthanded player I couldn't  play it like I would but I was impressed by the craftmanship which I was not able to notice by the Gibson lefthanded models I played previously on. 1-0 for Heritage! The final knockout came with the price;  A Gibson LP Standard LH 50/60 neck in Lightburst would cost me no less than $4k... At Heritage, I was able to choose several upgrades to configure the instrument of my dreams for less than $2.6k. Allthough LH instruments have to be custom ordered here in Europe, I felt it was a good thing to do and it was worth the 6 months wait! Some other people said to me that a Heritage would not keep it's value compared to a Gibson but how can I loose the value of money that I didn't spend? I saved $1.4 k and feel I have beautiful and personalized guitar that is only limited by my own playing limitations. Playing for more than 30 years now but still learning and enjoying (Heritage) guitar playing every day! Let's Rock! ;D

[PacerX]

Another Michigander!  W00T! 

 

#3 checking in here.

 

I heard the Heritage story, then I decided that I would spend some quality time with the next one I saw at a store.

 

So, up there on the wall at a store in Saginaw was a used black H-150 from the mid 1990's.

 

It had the stock Schaller pickups in it, and the action needed some work (the neck needed some truss rod attention).  Furthermore, the nut had obviously been replaced at some point and the string spacing at the bridge was out of kilter (the rollers were not positioned such that the strings were correctly aligned with the pole pieces).

 

Figuring all the above was not really a big deal (i.e. I could fix those things if it sounded and felt right), I plugged it in and started playing.

 

 

 

Oh my...

It sang and roared.  It was chunky and full sounding and felt better to the left hand than a typical baseball bat necked Les Paul.

 

A transaction quickly occurred after that.

 

So then I brought it home, and my evil plans for it went forward.

First was a trip to Charlie Coen for a setup, a new bone nut and fret dress.

Calls rang out to Motor City guitar for a JB and a Jazz pickup, and Grover for a set of locking tuners.

 

And now, that black H-150 is my "go-to" rhythm guitar for anything in Drop D or standard tuning, and does more than it's fair share of lead work.

[ThinLizzy]

Sorry about bringing up this old post, but seeing as I'm new here, I've been going back through all the old pages and...

 

I first heard about Heritage Guitars when I bought Gary Moore's After The War CD.  Did some research and found out the story.  Being from Michigan, knowing that my guitar was built here means a lot to me - especially during these economic struggles.  But more importantly, I love the fact that my guitar was built by hand.  It is not perfect.  The headstock is not perfectly symmetrical, nor is the heel, but it looks great, feels great and sounds great.  To me, those things identify MY guitar.  CNC may be nice for pumping out hundreds of guitars at a time, but I don't think that was ever the idea at Heritage - and I'm glad.

[LH575]

They just feel good.  I love the way my 157 and 555 play.

[fxdx99]

Huh - wow, Tsteel - this is one old thread.  Nice find, TLiz.  Think the HOC was only a few weeks old when this was kicked off.  Interesting read both for the content and the HOC names.

 

I first learned of Heritage around Y2K from Elderly - they carried them and had a small section in their catalog.  From Michigan originally so like that they were made there and the (now imfamous) story of the 'heritage' of The Heritage was very cool.  Think it was a 535 in the Elderly pic in the catalog and it looked really good... kind of a old fashioned looking burst that gave it a vintage look.  Played a few 535s locally, although inventory was slim.  Thru the net, found Wolfe with his expansive inventory selection and ended up buying a new 02 from Wolfe (new price less than what used are now going for...).  Now have an 06 150 and 08 555 as well (and guessing these won't be the last...).

[Dick Seacup]

Think the HOC was only a few weeks old when this was kicked off.  Interesting read both for the content and the HOC names.

 

It was early days indeed. I wonder where some of the members who were on in the first month or so made off to.  It has been interesting watching the community evolve and develop.

[Thundersteel]

I see a lot of the early posters haven't been around for awhile.

 

But that's OK--I'm still here!

 

Let's hear some more stories of how you found the "Holy Grail!"

[Dick Seacup]

I see a lot of the early posters haven't been around for awhile.

 

But that's OK--I'm still here!

 

Let's hear some more stories of how you found the "Holy Grail!"

 

Dammit, your post count is catching up to mine again, Old Timer!  ;D

 

Yeah, keep the stories coming!

[Thundersteel]

Dammit, your post count is catching up to mine again, Old Timer!

 

Yeah, but you've got me on the Karma points. No big deal, though--it's all in fun!

[Dick Seacup]

+1 for The Old Timers Club!  I just realized that your "Charter Member" logo disappeared. Must be due to the moderator status, eh?

[JohnCovach]

Is it possible to get nostalgic about a thread on a forum?  If so, I think I got a twinge of that feeling reading this again.  And I can't get the sound of Barbara Streisand singing "The Way We Were" out of my head. 

[Thundersteel]

I just realized that your "Charter Member" logo disappeared. Must be due to the moderator status, eh?

 

I never noticed that before. Maybe I lost my member status after I posted the tube top photo on another thread? 

 

And thanx for the Karma...+1 to you as well!

[yoslate]

And I can't get the sound of Barbara Streisand singing "The Way We Were" out of my head. 

 

 

              John, Rx: Take two Bloomfields, and call me in the morning!     :wink: