14 Heritage Guitar Workers off the job as company heads in n

  • Thread starter Thread starter muudrock
  • Start date Start date
I can't say whether it's good or bad. Sometimes companies get fat and need an overhaul. It's not like Heritage were making stellar guitars doing it the way they were. When I shopped for my 535 I played quite a few and they all needed fretwork except the one I bought (which had been PLEK'd and refretted straight from factory). The 150 I had was like 12# or more, ridiculously heavy. The Schaller hardware wasn't that great and the stock pickups were often Schallers (although many came with Duncans).

In short, imo the guitars never lived up to the 'made in original Kalamazoo factory by original workers' hype.
 
Most of them were doing it for just over minimum wage and no health benefits?

It would be hard to keep employees motivated to do a good job or learn more, when they know there is no opportunity to advance in any way, shape, or form. Idk how much a typical guitar builder makes but I really hope it’s a lot more than that based off the amount a hand made guitar is sold for..
 
I know it's a slightly different skill level or skill set, but I'm sure a lot of those employees would be qualified to do independent repairs and set ups. My local tech has to be billing close to $1k per day, he's open six days a week and has about a six week wait. Granted, he's been doing it forever and his reputation is golden. But I went to other local guys before I found him, so there's plenty of work to go around. I do a lot of my own repairs and setups, but when something is beyond my abilities, I'm happy to pay a pro who does it every day. It's amazing how some problem I can't make heads or tail of is such an easy fix for someone who does it several times every day for 20 years.
 
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