Members JoshuaLogan Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 I'm thinking about getting a heritage guitar off a forumite on here, but I've never played one before. I've heard they easily compete with gibsons quality-wise, and often times are much better. do they have good resale value? (incase I didn't like it...) are they nice guitars overall? just share your personal opinions and experience with them... trying to decide if I should go for this guitar or not... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrMunky Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 If you're talking about buying a used one, you should take a look at prices on eBay and get a feel for what your particular model sells for used. Prices of used Heritages have slowly increased over the last few years. As for their resale price compared to their new price - it's not bad. There's a long wait for custom order Heritages and they manufacture less than 10 guitars total a day, so there aren't a lot of them out there. They are truly excellent guitars. You might know the story that Gibson used to manufacture their guitars in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1984 they moved to Nashville. A lot of the workers in Kalamazoo had families in Michigan, didn't want to lose their jobs or move to Nashville, so a bunch of them bought the plant and equipment and continued manufacturing guitars there in Kalamazoo. The quality is top notch. They manufacture far fewer guitars than Gibson, so they are able to be more selective about the woods they use, spend more time on detail work, etc. I have three heritage guitars; 2 in my possession, and one at Heritage being re-necked. The Heritage guys are not real experts in PR or anything; over they years they've come up with some odd model designs that never really found their niche. I tend to think familiar designs, such as the H-150CM and H-535, H-575 and H-550 are the best, as well as their eagle series archtops. Also, there are a few things to consider. First, a lot of Heritages come factory equipped with a schaller roller bridge and stop tailpiece. This is a solid piece of hardware, but you lose a bit of sustain and definition compared with the gibson style tune-o-matic. If this one has the roller bridge, you might want to consider replacing it. Second, the stock pickups are Schallers. These are ok, but kind of blah. They generally don't feed back or anything, but there's a lot of potential for improvement if you upgrade the pickups. Some heritages are factory equipped with Seymour Duncans, or, even better, the proprietary "HRW" pickups from heritage. A Heritage equipped with either of these is a thing of beauty. What model are you looking at? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vigor&kandor Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 Heritage=Gibson's with higher quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JoshuaLogan Posted February 4, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 If you're talking about buying a used one, you should take a look at prices on eBay and get a feel for what your particular model sells for used. Prices of used Heritages have slowly increased over the last few years. As for their resale price compared to their new price - it's not bad. There's a long wait for custom order Heritages and they manufacture less than 10 guitars total a day, so there aren't a lot of them out there. They are truly excellent guitars. You might know the story that Gibson used to manufacture their guitars in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1984 they moved to Nashville. A lot of the workers in Kalamazoo had families in Michigan, didn't want to lose their jobs or move to Nashville, so a bunch of them bought the plant and equipment and continued manufacturing guitars there in Kalamazoo. The quality is top notch. They manufacture far fewer guitars than Gibson, so they are able to be more selective about the woods they use, spend more time on detail work, etc. I have three heritage guitars; 2 in my possession, and one at Heritage being re-necked. The Heritage guys are not real experts in PR or anything; over they years they've come up with some odd model designs that never really found their niche. I tend to think familiar designs, such as the H-150CM and H-535, H-575 and H-550 are the best, as well as their eagle series archtops. Also, there are a few things to consider. First, a lot of Heritages come factory equipped with a schaller roller bridge and stop tailpiece. This is a solid piece of hardware, but you lose a bit of sustain and definition compared with the gibson style tune-o-matic. If this one has the roller bridge, you might want to consider replacing it. Second, the stock pickups are Schallers. These are ok, but kind of blah. They generally don't feed back or anything, but there's a lot of potential for improvement if you upgrade the pickups. Some heritages are factory equipped with Seymour Duncans, or, even better, the proprietary "HRW" pickups from heritage. A Heritage equipped with either of these is a thing of beauty. What model are you looking at? Thanks for the detailed reply. The one I'm looking at is the one similar to the les paul doublecuts. It has aftermarket lawrence pickups, but it does have that bridge which I'm kinda worried about... I heard those weren't so great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrMunky Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 Lawrence pickups are solid. The bridge isn't awful. Besides, its a real easy fix to swap the bridge when you change strings. I don't think you even need a screwdriver (I might be wrong, but even if so its super easy). You can get a solid tune-o-matic bridge from Allparts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BBTweed Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 Heritage=Gibson's with higher quality. +1. They are easier to play and they look better IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members PFDarkside Posted February 4, 2007 Members Share Posted February 4, 2007 The 535 I played was a top notch guitar. I just didn't have that kind of money at the time for any guitar, Heritage, Gibson, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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