Double NGD - Heritage

[cobrahead1030]

I've been on the lookout for a 335 for a while now. I've always been impressed with the Heritage 535 series when I played them, and I've been keeping an eye on Dave's guitar shop pretty regularly. When I saw this sunburst pop up for $1650, I jumped on it. Sold as 'used' but as best I can tell it's a new 'scratch & dent' type deal. It was absolutely immaculate, not even a finger smudge on the hardware.

It arrived looking so much better than the website photos suggested! Setup on this one was pretty great right out of the box, all I did was raise the action & adjust the pickup height. This is the absolute rock & roll machine I was looking for. It's easily on par with most of the Gibsons I've played that were twice the price. The stock SD 59 pickups aren't my favorite, but they're certainly usable and don't hold it back form sounding great. I'll likely swap them at some point, maybe for some Wolfetones. The HSC is also very nice; quality interior, latches, handle, the whole deal.

Also on my radar has been a nice gig-worthy Les Paul. I'd been hoping to find a nice used Standard or Traditional, but haven't had any luck. Not a week after my 535 arrived, did I find this lemon burst H150 on the same website for $1600. I couldn't help but pull the trigger on this one as well. The only blemish I could find was the barely visible clear coat checking by the knobs, which was clearly stated on the site.

Dammit, this top just screams for days! It's the perfect amount of flame for my liking, and the color just pops beautifully. The pick guard didn't last long. Again, much better than the website photos suggested. It has the SD 59's just like the semi-hollow. I've already got some replacement pickups on hand for this, but I'm going to let the Duncans float for a while. The setup on this one is good, certainly quite playable, but not as spot on as the 535. There's just a tiny bit of string buzz that a simple truss rod tweak can't quite remedy, so I'll be taking this one to my guy for a proper setup. Overall, I'm very happy with it, and it definitely punches well above the price point.

I'll record some clips to A/B them in the near future, as they both have a fun factor of 10 & the same pickups. Here's a photo dump in the meantime.

 

[fek]

Woah! Very nice! I have been on a 335 hunt myself and the Heritage looks awesome. Almost have to at that price.

 

[rsm]

2 x HNGD & Enjoy!

 

[Mike Oxhuge]

God damn dude, you knocked it out of the park on those deals. Killer looking axes!

 

[Beyond Black]

Ohhhhh, that’s a dirty, dirty lemon.
Beautiful guitars!

 

[VonBonfire]

$1650 for a lightly used USA semi hollow is a helluva deal. I paid almost that much for my Edwards!

 

[cobrahead1030]

Late night jam with the Mesa Badlander & Suhr IR rig.

 

[Jccobb2]

that H150 is hot!!!

 

[angelspade]

Incredibly high quality instruments in my experience...BIG CONGRATS

 

[VonBonfire]

Late night jam with the Mesa Badlander & Suhr IR rig.

You can't really go wrong with a good ES or an LP!

 

[cobrahead1030]

Little update. There’s been two little things that bug me about both of these guitars…

The pots feel cheap & loose.

The necks are sticky as can be.

It’s getting into summertime in the southeast & it’s very humid here. I’m used to nitro finish necks getting a little sticky, but these are next level. They’ve gotten better with some play time & keeping them wiped down, but I may have to find a way to address that in the future.

I bought a used Emerson LP wiring harness a few months ago, anticipating getting a lower end LP type guitar. I went ahead & dropped in today, and wow what a difference!

I can’t say it’s noticeable with everything on 10, but the taper of all the controls is vastly better & more usable tones are easy to find. Both tone controls are pretty subtle from
2-10, then all the highs roll off hard from 0-2. I like that because all the good lead sounds o like kind of sit between 4-8.

The volume roll off is fairly even from 0-10, just a lot more consistent across the range. They feel a lot more solid under the fingers as well.

The stock pots are stamped CTS. These Emerson harnesses are a bit steep at $150, but the quality is top notch. This is also an older one, the new ones have some components that are supposedly better but I’m not sure what the exact differences are.

 

[Gitfiddler]

both look and sound great. any tuning issues with those?

 

[metalmaniac93]

Congrats!!!! Love my Heritage 150CM!!!! Got it in 1999/2000. Great guitars!!!!

 

[VonBonfire]

These Emerson harnesses are a bit steep at $150, but the quality is top notch.

For $150 they should come with a small gold nugget.

 

[japetus]

I am so jealous. Killer guitars!!! Damn.

 

[skoora]

Played a Cherry Red H535 recently that was pretty nice but once again, small ass frets. I don’t know what the fuck it is with makers on classic style instruments in the last 5-6 years but enough is enough. The guitar was a decent price too until you factor in the $400 you’re going to immediately spend to make it actually playable.

 

[VonBonfire]

Played a Cherry Red H535 recently that was pretty nice but once again, small ass frets. I don’t know what the fuck it is with makers on classic style instruments in the last 5-6 years but enough is enough. The guitar was a decent price too until you factor in the $400 you’re going to immediately spend to make it actually playable.

You can't play a guitar with small frets?

 

[skoora]

You can't play a guitar with small frets?

Chords are OK but any single note and double stops etc suck ass, especially when you lose the grip on the string as you’re trying to maintain the pitch you want. It’s not as bad as when I used to play out, as it’s 10 times worse when you’re sweating on stage trying to grab those bends.
Actually some chords suck too when you’re trying to use vibrato and can’t keep it uniform or lose a clean fretting position because you’re getting too much fretboard vs. the fret.

 

[Music&Chaos]

Little update. There’s been two little things that bug me about both of these guitars…

The pots feel cheap & loose.

The necks are sticky as can be.

It’s getting into summertime in the southeast & it’s very humid here. I’m used to nitro finish necks getting a little sticky, but these are next level. They’ve gotten better with some play time & keeping them wiped down, but I may have to find a way to address that in the future.

I bought a used Emerson LP wiring harness a few months ago, anticipating getting a lower end LP type guitar. I went ahead & dropped in today, and wow what a difference!

I can’t say it’s noticeable with everything on 10, but the taper of all the controls is vastly better & more usable tones are easy to find. Both tone controls are pretty subtle from
2-10, then all the highs roll off hard from 0-2. I like that because all the good lead sounds o like kind of sit between 4-8.

The volume roll off is fairly even from 0-10, just a lot more consistent across the range. They feel a lot more solid under the fingers as well.

The stock pots are stamped CTS. These Emerson harnesses are a bit steep at $150, but the quality is top notch. This is also an older one, the new ones have some components that are supposedly better but I’m not sure what the exact differences are.

View attachment 449826View attachment 449827View attachment 449828View attachment 449829

Oh you notice a difference, even with everything on 10. I have swapped those into several guitars across my bench. PIO caps and 50s wiring replacing mallory mustards and modern will sound and feel more alive overall.

 

[cobrahead1030]

both look and sound great. any tuning issues with those?

No, it’s probably the headstock design, but I don’t notice the slippery G/B string issue that Gibsons often have.

For $150 they should come with a small gold nugget.

My least favorite part about this harness swap, is that it’s such an improvement, now I want to put one in the semi-hollow & that’s a job I really dread doing

Played a Cherry Red H535 recently that was pretty nice but once again, small ass frets. I don’t know what the fuck it is with makers on classic style instruments in the last 5-6 years but enough is enough. The guitar was a decent price too until you factor in the $400 you’re going to immediately spend to make it actually playable.

I can see that, these are on the smaller end of what I’d consider comfortable. They suit the guitars well enough, if I have these long enough to see a refret I’ll probably go with something bigger.