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School me on Heritage guitars

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I'm definitely interested in Heritage. Which models do you like the most?

I know very little about them.


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The most popular models are the H150 and the H535, which are basically les Pauls and 335s, but with a different shaped headstock (and ever so slightly different body).
You also have the 157 and 555 version of those, which are the equivalent of the les paul custom and 355 models from Gibson.

Those are the most popular models. I think the coolest models are the 110 and 155, which are solid and hollow respectively and are Heritage's own designs. The 155 especially looks really cool.

But for starters a 150 would be feel the most familiar and be one of the cheaper options "to try" :)
 
Heritage also has a complete line of high-end jazz boxes, as well--take a look at the hollow body product page.

They also offer custom shop services to let you specify the features and "bling" you want. Naturally, custom orders take a few months to fill.

You can read about the history of the company on their site HERE, on Wikipedia, or THIS ARTICLE in Premier Guitar a couple of years back.
 
As an outsider, I see Heritage as all the great things you miss or would like to see come from Gibson, but with much more consistent quality and better prices.
 
I wonder if I can find one at NAMM? I'm going there again this January.

They are far and few between here in Winterland (also known as Canada).

In the past Heritage has had displays of their guitars at NAMM, so I think there's a very good chance you'll find them there.

The H 535 (similar to Gibson 335) is their flagship model. The 150 is like the les paul. And as mentioned above, high-end jazz boxes. This is the link which gives descriptions of all the different models: http://www.heritageguitar.com/indexf.html

The thing is, the guitars are hand made, with very good quality, but the cost will be about $1,000 cheaper than the mass-produced G-brand guitars. The finishes are absolutely gorgeous, and I believe, a lot of love goes into those guitars. They will also custom-make any guitar you want. Once you see them in person, you will see what I mean.
 
In a more basic sense, Heritage Guitars are built in the original Gibson factory in Kalamazoo using a lot of the original equipment and owned/operated by the same people who built Gibsons from the 50's to 80's after Gibson relocated to Nashville. The Heritage is based upon original Gibson designs with some different twists to make them different. Plus there are some unique designs they've added over the years. You get old school, handcrafted instruments for less then what Gibson sells their mass produced stuff today... How's that for an answer? ;)
 
Do they take part at NAMM?
In the meantime, you can come visit HeritageGuitarTalk forum. Everybody is posting pics of their axes at the moment, so you can see what the fuss is about :)
 
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