BRENTrocks
Well-known member
It’s like I’m the friggin Luke Skywalker of SW Michigan guitar deals and the Force is STRONG with me….
So I’m sitting on the couch, spinning some vinyl and my good friend texts me a link……”he brent just saw this on FB Marketplace…”
It’s a link to a 1985 Heritage STAT!!! For an incredibly low price.
First thoughts…”too good to be true, probably has a headstock break, it doesn’t have strings on it must be f**ked up”
So I check the seller’s profile….its the mother of a lady I know quite well!! So I call the daughter and she’s like “yeah mom’s selling a bunch of my dad’s stuff since he’s been gone over 3 years now”. So she contacts her mom and arranges for me to go look at the guitar.
Nice lady… we had a nice talk. She brings out this big ol heritage case that was all rusty on one end, from standing up in a musty basement for probably the last 15+ years. I open the case to find the treasure. No breaks. No cracks. No repairs. Not even a #2 stamp. BUT. The pots were froze. The switches were froze. The Kahler had lots of corrosion. Frets had green s**t on them. But I was up for the challenge!!!!!
I couldn’t sleep last night, anticipating working on this Kalamazoo classic this morning!!!
My biggest task was to get the Kahler tremolo back in working order. I had doused it with Deoxot before going to bed. That did a good job of cleaning and loosening the stuck and corroded parts.
I broke the ground wire that went from the trem to the pots last night, so I had to soldier a new one on before re installing the Kahler.
Got the tuners, locking nut and trem re installed and then it was time for strings!!!
After installing the strings, adjusting the truss rod and saddles, I noticed the A and D strings buzzing a little bit on the first fret. The nut slots were a little too deep but I didn’t have the ambition this morning to make a new nut for it
. It’s playable.
Then the real test. Using the Kahler.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Kahler holds tune very well!!! Even after divebombs, the tuning stability is very good.
This guitar is all factory original, so it’s loaded with Schaller pickups. The bridge pickup is very hot. Very bright. Borderline ice picky (depending on the pedal you’re using). The neck pickup is also very hot. But maintains a warm tone, not nearly as bright. The pots were corroded a bit. I was able to loosen them up quite a bit with Deoxit, but they do not move as freely as I would like. There’s no scratch though. I want to try to keep this guitar all stock, so I’ll probably just leave them alone.
The neck is surprisingly chunky. It’s still a medium C but not as thin as many of the Heritage guitars from this era.
It weights 8 lbs 14 ozs.
Overall, it’s a great player. Very comfortable to play. If this was going to be my #1 I would invest in some taller frets and a new bone nut. It’s not a necessity, just preference. I am very happy with the outcome of my work I put into it to make it playable again and am glad that it’s no longer sitting in a basement rotting away. This is far too nice of a guitar, that is so early in Heritage history, to let waste away!!!
So I’m sitting on the couch, spinning some vinyl and my good friend texts me a link……”he brent just saw this on FB Marketplace…”
It’s a link to a 1985 Heritage STAT!!! For an incredibly low price.
First thoughts…”too good to be true, probably has a headstock break, it doesn’t have strings on it must be f**ked up”
So I check the seller’s profile….its the mother of a lady I know quite well!! So I call the daughter and she’s like “yeah mom’s selling a bunch of my dad’s stuff since he’s been gone over 3 years now”. So she contacts her mom and arranges for me to go look at the guitar.
Nice lady… we had a nice talk. She brings out this big ol heritage case that was all rusty on one end, from standing up in a musty basement for probably the last 15+ years. I open the case to find the treasure. No breaks. No cracks. No repairs. Not even a #2 stamp. BUT. The pots were froze. The switches were froze. The Kahler had lots of corrosion. Frets had green s**t on them. But I was up for the challenge!!!!!
I couldn’t sleep last night, anticipating working on this Kalamazoo classic this morning!!!
My biggest task was to get the Kahler tremolo back in working order. I had doused it with Deoxot before going to bed. That did a good job of cleaning and loosening the stuck and corroded parts.
I broke the ground wire that went from the trem to the pots last night, so I had to soldier a new one on before re installing the Kahler.
Got the tuners, locking nut and trem re installed and then it was time for strings!!!
After installing the strings, adjusting the truss rod and saddles, I noticed the A and D strings buzzing a little bit on the first fret. The nut slots were a little too deep but I didn’t have the ambition this morning to make a new nut for it
. It’s playable. Then the real test. Using the Kahler.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Kahler holds tune very well!!! Even after divebombs, the tuning stability is very good.
This guitar is all factory original, so it’s loaded with Schaller pickups. The bridge pickup is very hot. Very bright. Borderline ice picky (depending on the pedal you’re using). The neck pickup is also very hot. But maintains a warm tone, not nearly as bright. The pots were corroded a bit. I was able to loosen them up quite a bit with Deoxit, but they do not move as freely as I would like. There’s no scratch though. I want to try to keep this guitar all stock, so I’ll probably just leave them alone.
The neck is surprisingly chunky. It’s still a medium C but not as thin as many of the Heritage guitars from this era.
It weights 8 lbs 14 ozs.
Overall, it’s a great player. Very comfortable to play. If this was going to be my #1 I would invest in some taller frets and a new bone nut. It’s not a necessity, just preference. I am very happy with the outcome of my work I put into it to make it playable again and am glad that it’s no longer sitting in a basement rotting away. This is far too nice of a guitar, that is so early in Heritage history, to let waste away!!!
