Heritage Eagle Classic

Made in 2004. Solid spruce carved top, beautifully figured solid maple back and sides as well as the pickguard. The long scale neck is a five-piece mix of flamed maple and mahogany. Large headstock with fancy grover imperial tuners, one-ply binding and a crappy decal for a logo. The fretboard is ebony with optional dot markers.
Two humbuckers, standard knob configuration. Antique Natural finish. A descendant of the L-5 family of jazz boxes.

Sounds big and mellow, especially good with a 4-10 Bassman. I also play it through an Ampeg gv-15, Fender Blues Junior and Mesa Blue Angel. Although I am a tube head I was very impressed playing it through a small fender solid state. Obviously a jazz dream, but it really works well for blues and Chuck Berry style rock. If you want instant balls-out tone, crank one of these through a small tube amp. Of course it will feed back like a squealing pig, but once you figure out how to control that you can sustain notes for days.

After reading all of the glowing reviews in this area, I must be a victim of bad luck. This is my second guitar from the folks at Heritage. The first, a 535, was apparantly made by poorly trained, glue-sniffing, retarded monkeys. But that is a different story that has yet to end. (Two-plus years after it began). Let's talk about the Eagle Classic they made for me. The guitar is no doubt gorgeous. The flamed maple, arched top and back, gold hardware and over-all design are fantastic. The orange-peel finish on the upper bouts is pretty damned amateurish however. Yes, after all the work they put into making this instrument, the laquer on the top has a very distinct texture to it. Quality control? Final inspection? Never heard of it.
The bridge, which naturally didn't fit the contour of the body, had a gouge under it that was so deep it exposed the bare wood. Also under the bridge base was a black line. Why? The genious who mis-fit the base left enough of the rosewood dust on it that it imbedded itself in the finish. Which must also mean that the finish wasn't completely dry when they put the bridge on. This imbedded line was rough enough to be read by a blind guy, who by the way, must be who finishes guitars at Heritage. Now how about those frets...
Considering my last experience with Heritage fret jobs, these weren't that bad. THEY HAD NOT BEEN POLISHED, but only two or three were buzzing. People say that final set up should be done by a real luthier or at least by the music store, but why would a company ship a guitar without polishing the frets? Here is another curious thing;
have you ever played a guitar and had the high E string slip off the egde of the fret? Kind of hard to deal with if you use any vibrato.
I had to have the thing re-fretted two weeks after I bought it just so I could play the damned thing. The problem is that the frets only extend as far as the binding on the neck. There is about 3/32" of wasted space on either side of the fret. Sure, it makes a nice smooth neck, but who cares if the strings keep falling off the end of the fret? An extra $250 to get that fixed.

It seems solid and stable. Humidity hasn't caused much of a problem and it stays tuned.

If you call Heritage, they are very nice and seem to care. If you send something back to them for a repair you could end up sending it back two or three times. You may not see your guitar for nine months or more because they don't have enough people to get the job done. (Believe me, I've been waiting on my 535 for over nine monthes now). It sounds to me like there must be a whole lot of warranty work showing up in Kalamazoo. These guys might mean well, but they seem to have trouble delivering on the promise.

The overall Heritage experience has been a total wash. I love my Eagle Classic but there are too many details that are missed by Heritage. Finish and fret problems seem easy enough to rectify. Why not get some quality control? Most people who go for the Heritage product are swayed by the whole made in the USA at the former home of gibson thing. Why not try and live up to the expectation?
As far as buying from Ed Roman is concerned, be very careful. I was sent the wrong guitar because they apparantly do not keep records of what you bought. Some of the guitars on the web site are not standard models. And if you ask about something, you might get a real eye-opening response. For example, when I inquired over the telephone about the features of the guitar I was interested in, Ed gave me false information regarding inlays and binding. He even claimed that all the Heritage headstocks had an inlaid logo, scoffing at the idea that they used decals. Think of him as a used car salesman. With a plaid suit.

Made in Kalamazoo. Pretty much the same as the one the guy reviewed before me. Spruce top, figured maple back and sides and figured maple pickguard. Nice binding all over, fretboard ebony with no inlays...pretty badass! Hardware is gold-plated and all that. Almond sunburst finish. 2 humbuckers, Gibson classic '57's.

It's a jazz guitar, so it has a real meaty, warm sound. Through a polytone amp, it sounds clear and very rich. It has a spruce top, and I think that makes this sound much richer and mellower than maple. It sounds great through a clean MESA/boogie as well, very resonant and acoustically, it's great! I have actually played rock with it thru a boogie with overdrive and while it's not a rock guitar, you can pull of a very warm saturation. That's the treat of playing a loud hollowbody like this. Some might disagree, but when you play a distorted hollowbody, you can really FEEL the boom when you hit the strings.

It was setup for huge Stevie Ray Vaughn size strings, but not in the factory. The guitar looks awesome and the hardwear and materials are high quality.

It seems solid, given that it's an archtop, and it definitely seems very reliable. The only thing is that gold-plated hardware will eventually wear off.

This is actually my uncle's guitar but I always play it when I get the chance. he's a jazz guy, I'm more of a rock guy, but I love it anyway. I think it's an awesome guitar for the price. I know this guitar was pretty expensive, but compared to a Gibson...well, this is better by a helluva lot! You get an awesome guitar for the price.

Made in Kalamazoo Mich. in 1998, the Eagle Classic has a solid spruce top, flamey Maple back and sides, and is a Florentine cutaway with 2 humbucker pickups. I think it's the cheapest Heritage archtop with a spruce top.
The bridge is ebony (not a tune-o-matic). All the hardware is standard Heritage issue. The finish is Almond Sunburst.
Case is included.

I play jazz, and this guitar sounds great. I find the maple tops on Heritage too bright; the spruce top really delivers a rich timbre and that great 50's smoky jazz sound. Since there are two pickups, you can get a fair amount of variety in the tone, but obviously this is not for everyone.
The guitar really projects when unplugged, too!

I had to take the guitar back twice to fix a buzz at the 14th fret, but once that was fixed everything was fine. The pickups weren't all that well set, but again, that was easy to fix. I had to replace the roundwound .10's with flatwound .13's--again, no big deal.
I found no other flaws; the workmanship is suberb on this, and in my opinion, most Heritage models. They use high-quality paint/finish and expensive hardware. No corners cut that I could see.

All the materials are first-rate; this guitar can definitely take a pounding (given that it's an archtop).

1 year warranty. The shop I bought this guitar from fixed the fret buzz without complaint.

Been playing for too many years to mention here :) I would re-buy this guitar in a second. I think it's a good choice for guitarists who want a real jazz sound (read: a spruce top) for not too much money. The Eagle Classic is a big step up in sound quality from the basic Eagle series; to me, it's worth the extra $$.
Kudos to Heritage for great quality at a low price!