Played some guitars

[skyboltone]

Greetings Lads
I just got back from my local Heritage and Gibson dealer where I got a chance to compare some guitars. All of the Heritage guitars were equipped with Shaller equipment and pickups with Grover tuners. The shops owner James Casella orders them that way; a good choice I think

I played three Heritage H-535s and a their little Millenium archtop. I also played a '59 reissue Gibson ES-335. This guitar had the reissue ABR-1 and stop tail with ? ('57 classics?) pickups.

What a revelation. The Heritage neck was a bit wider than the Gibson and the edges were a bit sharper than I expected. I would not have thought that I would like that but it turns out with my Ham hands I can play more accurately on the Heritage neck than I could on the Gibbo. The Shaller pickups were amazing! Incredible bite when attacked hard with a wonderful creamy brightness when picked with less energy. The Gibbo was altogether less bright and biting with a smoother, less edgy attack. Nice but I preferred the Shaller. I really hadn't expected either one of those conclusions at all. I'm not enough of an expert to tell if the PUs where set up the same/same but it appeared that the distances were the same.

The Millennium was a cute little cuddler. Really woody! The block of the H-535/ES-335 extends from the neck joint down beyond the stop tail while the Millennium starts just aft of the PUs and extends beyond the stop tail. What a difference in tone. Same basic neck/pickups/setup but way more woody and acoustic sound. Its about the size (a little bigger) than a Les Paul only completely hollow (i.e. not chambered).

All the Heritage guitars and the Gibson had top notch construction and workmanship, beautiful well figured faces and delightful setups. The binding on the Heritage is a little wider and stands out just a little more, or seems more "apparent" on the Guitar. The Gibbo had a more "Straight Laced" traditional look.

I played everybody through the same Fender Deluxe Reverb blackface reissue, ($795!). I found it hard to distinguish the tone of the Deluxe as different from my memory of the blackfaces of my misspent youth. A bargain amp at the price in my view.

Great fun!

Dan

[Icetech]

And if you had to lay down your own hard earned cash and had to live with one of them?? which??

[skyboltone]

The H-535. I love the wider neck though I will probably have a tech increase the radius of the fretboard edge ever so slightly. I was not prepared to be that impressed with the Shaller pickups. I need to play a 335 type with Lollars or Frailins though. A recent review of the Collings I-35 with Lollars kind of impressed me. Funny thing is though, have you ever read a bad review in a guitar mag? Like, "this guitar is a real dog. Avoid it like the plague". Know what I mean?

Anyway, I'm going to sell off a couple of guitars and get one.

Dan

[philmanatee]

I play an 87 dot reissue and the stock pickups were too muddy and had too much microphonic feedback. I talked to Jason Lollar on the phone, when I told him what guitar I had he told me he had done about 1,000 gigs on his 86 dot reissue! He said the pickups would give me more highs and minimal microphonics. He was on the money, I play my 335 through my express clone and it is a very rich sound. I use the bright switch more than I do with my sg. His imperials are a vast improvement over the 86 stock units. I haven't tried one with 57 classics, that's what my sg has and I really love those in that guitar. Phil