Heritage Golden Eagle

My Golden Eagle was lying around here for about a year with minimul playing until lately in favor of acoustic guitars. Finally got a Fender DSP amp, and WOW what an instrument. It is a Maple finished guitar and after having it set up by the local luthier, a world recognized guy, moving the bridge to where it should have been, adjusting the neck, it is truly a wonderful instruement. The Singele HRW pickup seems to have everything one would want.

I play a lot of old country, some jazz, some blues, and this guitar is really great at that sound. I use it primarily with a Fender DSP amp It is very quiet, and I ususllyhave the pickup volume se to about 10 or so., There is a lot ovolume variety, and the sound I would escribe as mellow to sharp. Only dislikes are the nitrous cellulite(SP?) finish, seems maybe a bit too thin and may wear too easily too soon.

The guitar came with an acceptable set up, but after taking it to the local luthier for a setup, it is truly wonderful! Why don't they do it at the factory? Bridge had to be moved, neck adjusted. No flaws, as far as I can tell.

With the exception of the finish, the guitar is built like a tank. It looks and feels like it will last several lifetimes!

Excellent on the phone, no cause to send the in warrant instrument in yet!

I have been playing for about 40 years or so, and have several Taylor and Guiold Acoustic guitars, this one is in a seperate league! I would devinately purchase another one! I liike everything about it! I may have wished it had dual hum buckers in it, but no big deal

all you truly need for Jazz
it is super nice one #3 floating pickup.
custom ebony johnny smith pickguard with vol,& tone mounted,
25 1/2 scale, 1 11/16'ths width,cupid's bow at treble end of board,
5 pc. flamed maple neck,Grover Imperial tuners,very deluxe blinding
&inlays.Eagle on back of head stock with reg #327 1992.
the guitar has its onwn its just got it for Jazz
old school for sure

NICE FULL Sings out
Its a Dream to Play.
God Makes wonderful things
I give Praise to his name
that I'm Blessed to own this
wonderful sounding Guitar.
I thank him for everyday
that I get up in the morning
and play this Guitar praise the Good Lord.

Action, Fit & Finish
All Good has it own DNA
its only one like this.

Its made to last many life times.
it will last its all about how you take care of your
things.

Jay Wolfe Knows all about Heritage Guitars
when he says its good take his word.
when every i call him i always get him
on the phone and helps me with all my
wants with heritage he can make it all work out.
called Heritage they where great to talk to
i truly feel good about getting this guitar.
I was getting a old 1962 L5 but I got this one.

When you buy a Guitar
its not just the sale its the after sale.
if it would to be stolen or lost I would be sad man.
all I can say is Praise the lord
thank you thank you my Jesus

My Golden Eagle was one of the early ones, #50, made in 1986. It was all original except for the replaced frets, which was a top notch job. Beautiful honey antique finish. Incredible workmanship as good as anything out there. Neck was what I would call the perfect combination, fat enough to feel like it had substance and contour perfectly for comfort, much like my old L7. Body was also porportioned right, not feather lite but also not guild heavy.

I play jazz and classical and this guitar is all jazz. I have heard that they fixed the floating pickups on the newer ones, but the stock heritage that came with mine, was by far the worst pickup on a high quality guitar I have ever heard. Actually, I let the guitar go because of the sound. Tried numerous pickups and altho they all sounded better, they all sounded a bit thin for a fullsize jazz archtop. Acoustically, it is a fun, resonant guitar but I could never get a good sound electrically.

No complaints here, they know how to build a quality guitar.

Built like a tank, just the right combination of strength and lightness. The tailpieces however are cheap imported junk and mine broke. You have to buy the whole piece instead of parts. Like I mentioned, the early pickups are worthless. The tuners are gaudy but work pretty good.

Heritage is a small company trying to deal with the public at large. They are decent, nice people and will talk to you one on one.
That said, not sure they are any better than anyone else for backing up their product. They weren't any help with the tailpiece.

I loved the guitar, but the sound never really let me gig with it. In the end, I couldn't afford to have two grand into a guitar I liked to play on the couch at home. If I was one of those evil, hoarding collectors, I would still have it, but I am not, and it is gone.

2004 Golden Eagle Florentine, custom ordered.
Sharp cut. Single mounted humbucker, Duncan Seth Lover. Bone nut, 25" scale, 2.5" body depth. Heritage allows custom orders at very little upcharge so this guitar was ordered to give me what I consider the perfect electric archtop guitar.

I'll give a 10 here because the guitar's design is an improvement on an early 60's Les CES (ok, I am a little biased but I love that look!)

Heritage improves the design by making the guitar depth more comfortable while retaining the lush sound.

Style is Jazz, be-bop, blues. The GE is essentially an L5 styled instrument, and with mounted humbuckers has a good sound for electric jazz guitar music/styles.
The guitar sounds good acoustically, as an added bonus. Amplified, it has the sound we associated with classic 1960's jazz guitar recordings. This one's acoustic character comes through when amplified and has a bright sound with good note seperation.
Tone and volume rolled off slightly will soften the guitars sound.
Overall, very nice, and VERY useful.

This is where Heritage slips pretty consistently. They are not alone in poor fret work and fingerboards, as I've found many instrument makers don't take the time to do it right. However, Heritage is much better than they were.

This guitar has a nice straight neck, but is a little stiff to play. Fact is, that many of the frets are not seated well. I pretty much expect it. The guitar is off for a re-fret.

The bridge base on this guitar fits the top nicely, but it's because I called Heritage before it was shipped and told them about the problems I find with their instruments.
The bridge saddle needs to be filed and arched properly. Heritage still thinks that you can take a bridge out of a box, stick it on the top and tune it up. Whatever!

As usual, the finish/stain is beautiful. They do great finishes and the nitro is applied very thinly, and really beautifully. It has a vintage feel, which is very pleasing.
The neck profile is bigger than any Heritage that I've owned, and it's really nice!!

I'd love to give a higher rating in this category, but the frets and bridges are simply never done well. Neither are Gibsons, and many Fender custom shop guitars.
I totally accept it because the guitar is an exceptionally nice instrument.

I've played a dozen jazz gigs in the last year or so, all were done with a Heritage H535. This guitar goes to my next jazz gig, no doubt. The neck appears quite solid, and the top is braced quite heavily but still has a nice acoustic tone. (How about that !)
The guitar is VERY well made.

I called Bill Paige and told him that their frets, nut, bridge work are NEVER good. Sorry, but it's the truth. He's heard it from other people, but I think there is only so much time they can spend finishing the guitars. He was polite and promised that he would alert the builder to concentrate on the bridge.
They did as I asked them, and carved the bridge base properly.

I am VERY happy to have this instrument. I've had to sell much gear over the years for financial reasons and wanted to find one archtop that I would love. So, I ordered it from Heritage and hoped for the best.
I tell the truth about the poor frets, fingerboards and bridges. Some people don't want to hear it, but it's the truth and widely known.
Honestly, Gibson couldn't make a guitar this nice. Really, their archtops are not very good quality and the Heritage guitar is a better instrument that a new Gibson archtop. (Les Pauls are another issue!! Although those need refrets as well). I've owned them both.
Try to order a sharp cutway, single pickup L5 in Ice Tea finish with a comfortable body depth of 2.5 inches. from Gibson. The price would be $10,000 plus and the quality wouldn't be as good. Custome orders from Heritage are typical and encouraged.

The price of this guitar is so reasonable, of course remember that the back and top are not tap tuned either. Still $3200 for a Sharp cutaway L5 style archtop????? Also, the sharp cutaway on this guitar is done beautifully. It is a sexy looking guitar.

This GE Floerntine is very high quality and a joy to play and own.
I am very happy to have it. Simply, it's a nice instrument.

The guitar was made in 2002 in Kalamazoo, MI by the craftsmen from the old Gibson days in the same buildings where they produced the L-5's, etc. It has 22 frets. It has a solid spruce top and solid maple sides and back. It has a floating pickup attached to the pickguard with a volume control on the pickguard. The pickup in the type three, which is the newer version of the jazz pickup. It has higher output than the ones offered as standard equipment a few years ago. Passive electronics. Neck is 5 piece maple, ebony board with beautiful cloud pearl inlays. The finish is vintage sunburst, which has a antique look to it. This guitar has a 1930-1950's vibe to it. Bridge is ebony with Grover Imperial rotomatics for tuners.The scale is 25 1/2 with an 1 11/16" width. The neck has a nice thin feel to it. Not "chunky" at all. It came with a Heritage hard case.

This is a true archtop guitar designed for jazz. I bought it for that purpose and couldn't be more pleased. I'm playing it through one of my Holland LOBO amps. I have 20 and 50 watt LOBOs. The guitat is not noisy. Great full sound, rich, lush overtones, chimey sound, full of life. There isn't a lot of variety here, just a great woody guitar sound. I love the voice of this guitar. With the pickup on 10, it is bright, but warms up considerably when you back the volume off to 7. I'll keep it on 7 unless I need to cut through on a solo.

The guitar was not set up to my liking from the factory. I had my luthier dress the frets to remove a few high spots in the upper register, remove the nubs from the sides of the frets from the binding, contour the base of the bridge to properly fit the face of the guitar, curve the top of the bridge to 10" radius to correctly match the neck radius, install a new bone nut (the one supplied on the guitar was Corian), and level the pickguard with the high E string by installing a small felt tipped foot for support. This may seem like a lot of work, but I have this kind of work done to all of my guitars. (Exception has been some PRS guitars.)
The wood is beautiful. The neck has incredible flame in the maple that almost distracts your eye when you play. THe sides are highly flamed, as well. The grain in the spruce top is tight and straight. The back has good flame, well matched. I would consider that the guitar had no real flaws. The fit and finish were excellent and it is very well built.
After the setup, the guitar is incredible.

This guitar is absolutely top shelf. I plan to keep it forever. It is solid as they come. No backup needed.

The Heritage factory has excellent support as does Jay Wolfe, my Heritage dealer. This is the third Heritage I've gotten from Jay and they seem to get better and better. No problems here. Thanks Jay for the great service and selection of guitars. I was going to order one but Jay told me he probably had what I would want in stock. He was right for the third time.

I've been playing 37 years. I've owned a Gibson 1947 L-7, a 60's Howard Rpoberts Epiphone, a 60's one pickup ES-175, a 70's blond L-5, etc. I currently do not own a Gibson. I like Heritage guitars much better and find them to be a far better value and of higher quality.
This was one of the 2003 January NAMM show guitars at the Heritage booth in Calif. Jay bought it from them at the show and I was fortunate enough to get it from him recently. I've wanted a Golden Eagle for a few years and I've been waiting for the right one to come along. For me, this is that guitar. It is a standard offering, no tap tuning or upgrade woods, but I like it better than any other one I've seen or played. I'd replace it with another like it, if necessary. I love the response the guitar has. My '47 L-7 was a non-cut with a Johnny Smith pickup on the neck. It was amazing, but this is a better guitar. If you like this kind of instrument, you owe it to yourself to check one of these out.

1999 Golden eagle. 17" archtop with carved spruce top and maple sides & carved maple back. The single pickup is mounted on the top, with the Heritage pickup replaced with a Bartolini before I bought it. Volume and tone mounted on the top below the F-hole. The neck is not fat, rather slim, with med-jumbo frets. I like the neck. Natural finish. Ebony bridge. The pickguard is the typical Heritage wood pickguard, but, thankfully, it is the traditional Gibson shape and not the hideous Hertiage shape.

Sounds very nice. The Bartolini pickup does not have adjustable pole-pieces, but it is not too far out of balance, just a little too much volume on the B string. I can live with it. The guitar sounds fine unplugged. The pickup and controls don't affect the accoustic performance that much. I play it through a Clarus 1R with a Raezer's Edge twin 8 cabinet, which make about any guitar sound great.

Slop. I am the third owner and the 10th and 15th frets were way high. I leveled and recrowned the frets and it now play pretty well. The nut slots were carved nearly a full 1/16" higher than optimum and the nut was unfinished. It nearly cut my hand it was so sharp, so I filed the slots, lowered, shaped, and rounded the nut. The bridge was not fitted to the body very well, so I got a Stew-Mac jig and fixed that. The acoustic sound cleaned up a little after the bridge was fitted.

If you look at the workmanship you can find several minor flaws. Nothing major. To me, the workmanship is so-so. That's why Heritage archtops are mid-line archtops. The set-up from the factory was below standard. A well-known jazz player joking told me that he believes they drink at the factory. He wasn't serious; he was merely commenting on their less-than-satisfactory attention to detail. I agree. They produce nice instruments which require a lot of fine-tuning before they're ready to perform at their best.

It will hold up fine. The hardware is good. Tuners are Grovers and they are fine.

No idea.

Been playing thirty years. Various Tele's and things. My other archtop is a Korean Epiphone Emperor Regent, which makes an adequate backup for the Heritage in case of disaster. If this guitar was stolen I'd probably get a Hofner Jazzica or splurge and get a Gibson Wes Montgomery. I might get another Golden Eagle if I found it at the right price. I'd never buy a new one unless it was greatly discounted.

The guitar was made by Heritage in Gibson's former plant in Kalamazoo. It's an archtop with all solid woods - maple on the back and sides and nice close-grained spruce for the top. The Golden Eagle has a three-piece maple neck with mahogany strips. Twenty frets, 25 1/2 scale. Lots of inlays, multiple binding, purfling, etc. - the guitar looks very classy. The back is bookmatched although the flame is not so spectacular. Neither is the neck. The fingerboard and bridge are made of ebony. The guitar came stock with a Heritage pickup mounted on a pointy maple pickguard that also held a volume pot. The frets are rather large and high compared to my Gibson L4 CES. The guitar came with a study case which unfortunately seems to be made for an 18" guitar - the Golden Eagle measures 17" inch across the lower bout. Also, the guitar seems to have a cross between parallel and cross bracing - the braces come very close together at the neck and spread out quite far toward the tailpiece. Heritage should include tone control as a stock feature. The original pickup was a piece of shit.

My description of the sound is based on the mods described below. Acoustically, the Golden Eagle is simply great. Rich mids, full botom, mellow highs. The acoustic volume is not great but, higher than my Gibson L4. It's sufficient for Freddy Green-style comping in quiet situations. With the new pickup the electric sound is nothing short of amazing. It's rich and fat, yet it cuts through. In the shop I compared this guitar with a Gibson L5 Wes Montgomery and several other Heritages. These was no comparison with the Gibson which had a strange compressed sound in the upper register and sounded muddy. Besides, it costs more than twice as much. The other Heritages sounded nice but had a very thin neck. I like beefy necks and the Golden Eagle I bought was the only one with a substantial neck. I should also mention that unlike my Gibson which has a very fast response, notes played on this guitar seem to come out very slightly delayed. As they resonate they bloom into a very full and rich sound. This is a feature found in good upright bases.

This is my second Heritage. I previously owned a 575 (like ES 175 but all solid woods). Both guitars seem to suffer from lacking quality control. My Golden Eagle had a rather serious problem with the fingerboard and frets. Actually, I had to have the guitar refretted right off the bat. The frets ends had these small plastic nibs, like on a Gibson. On my guitar the frets were beveled already before reaching the nibs and both E strings were easily falling off the fingerboard. I had new frets installed that extend as far as the end of the fingerboard and this has enlarged the playing surface somewhat. What's more, the technician told me that when he removed the frets he found out that even the purfling was slightly beveled (!!) and he had to file down the entire fingerboard and round off the sides. As a result the fingerboard has a slighly smaller radius - he couldn't go too deep because he was afraid that he may file through the inlays. Anyway, after the job the guitar plays great and the strings are no longer falling off. The bridge base was not properly fitted and the saddle was not compensated (I made a compensated saddle). The original Heritage pickup is a complete piece of shit. Harsh, trebly, microphonic, etc. After a bit of research I decided to go for a Kent Armstrong floating pickup with adjustable polepieces. I believe that this pickup was designed for Canadian luthier Linda Manzer. Actually, I got this pickup directly from Kent. I live in Prague, Czech Republic where it's a bit difficult to purchase gear and parts. I called Kent at his home in New England. We had a nice chat and he actually sent me the pickup along with a new volume pot the next day before I even had a chance to send him a cheque. What a nice guy! His pickup is superb too. It sounds mellow, rich, round and full. Surprisingly I get little feedback with this guitar, only at very high volumes. I also had a new pickguard made. The original was made of maple and the shape did not seem to fit the guitar very well. My new pickguard is more traditionally shaped and is made of ebony which provides a nice contrast with the natural color of the guitar. I also added tone control. I should mention that although overall the guitar seems to be very well made, there are few spots on teh top where the finish was either damaged and repaired or improperly applied in the beginning or maybe both. Another little thing, the guitar came with a terrible looking piece of plastic in the tailpiece - thanfully it was easy to remove which I did immediately.

This is an acoustic archtop and it will need lots of TLC. The instrument has to be kept in optimal humidity and handled gently. The finish is nitrocellulose lacquer and although it is easy to repair it is quite soft and can be damaged easily. However, for what it is the guitar seems very solid and durable.

Heritage has good customer support. I've called them on several occasions and I always had the impression that I was talking to real people. This is not the case with a lot of other companies which seem to employ robots or people who like to act as robots. The warranty is one year I belive.

I've been playing for 30 years. I have a music degree and worked for many years as a professional musician (not anymore). This is the best guitar I have owned so far. I don't know if there is anything much better than this. What I love about the Golden Eagle is the sound, playability and looks. I wish it had very slightly wider fingerboard at the nut - I'm talking about several tenths of a milimeter. Also, if I could choose I would probably go for a built-in pickup. But this Kent Armstrong PU sounds so good that I don't know. In teh future I may sell this instrument and buy something else in the future, however, I don't know what I'd get. Probably a custom-built guitar, but these are very expensive and I'd be worried to take one out of the house. Despite the flaws the guitar had I'm now very happy with it. I also kind of like ownining a guitar made by such an agreeable company - the people at Heritage are very down to earth and friendly. This is simply a great guitar at an affordable price.

Third Golden Eagle built by Heritage in 2000, it was delivered to The Guitar Shop in Washington, D.C. (Steve Spellman, proprietor extraordinare). Solid top, back etc. Won't recount construction techniques that are in other reviews for this guitar -- Wood and grain has unique characteristics and endearing flaws (wormholes) -- beautiful!!

Play with Roland JC-120 and Boss Analog Delay - full rich sound that is incomparable to any jazz instrument I have played (to include ES 175; L-5, and my own Heritage H-575). Amk in the process of shopping for one of the Minibrute series; I just can't decide which one

Set-up was excellent; no complaints

Too new - no opinion

Have dealt with Heritage before -- outstanding, personalized service

When compared with its Gibson counterparts, it is an outstanding value for the serious musician -- Been playing since I was a kid, and currently own a Gibson Chet Atkins, Heritage 575; Custom Heritage Les Paul with Stag Mag push-pulls; Heritage Les Paul Junior; DeArmond X-155; Guild G-37; and "borrowed" Gibson 335 and Gibson Les Paul (the owner is going through a divorce!!)

I custom ordered the guitar in December 1999 and received it in April '00. I ordered it with split block inlays, a single routed humbucker, and a Johnny smith style pickguard. Roughly in a nutshell, it looks like a Gibson L5 Wes Montgomery model, except the Gibson has a tune-a-matic bridge. I chose to stay with the ebony bridge to maintain as much of the woody acoustic properties as possible, knowing the tune-a-matic provides more versatility in adjustments. However, you can always add this later. The rest of the features are stock from Heritage (see Heritage web site for details) and also comes with a nice hardshell case. The great thing is, Heritage did not charge me for my custom configuration.

The sound is what I consider the quintessential straight ahead jazz tone. The routed humbucker provides a fatter richer and louder sound than the floating pick-up set-up. It also reduces feedback. The overall sound is woody and full. From the factory, the guitar appeared to exhibit a slight irritating glare on the high E string. This is something I was a bit leary of on new guitars. However, lowering the pick-up and raising the poles on the 2nd through 6th strings allowed me to re-balance the sound and guitar then sounded as good as some of the best vintage Gibson L5s I've heard. I am currently playing through an Evans GH200 head with a Rich Raezer Stealth 12 200 watt cabinet. My quest for the ultimate jazz tone has finally been fulfilled.

The workmanship on this guitar is about as good as it gets, especially for the money. My only complaint was the factory set-up was terrible. For a company that can provide such great workmanship and features for the money, they seemed to have missed the boat in the set-up department. The guitar buzzed terribly between the 1st and 5th frets. I brought it to a local set-up guy that does great work. When I got it back, restrung with Thomastik flatwound 12s and adjusted the pickup, as described above, the sound and playability was great. I pan to restring the guitar with 13s next. The action is now so good, even heavier strings will not be a problem.

No problem so far.

No need for customer support so far. I had quite a few verbal conversations with Bill Paige (one of the owners) while the guitar was being built. He was always very cordial and answered all my questions.

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and currently own 10 guitars (Gibsons, Fenders, Heritage, Ibanez and Yamaha). I've always been leary of buying guitars unseen and unplayed. However, a friend of mine had several Heritage guitars and each one was very consistent in playability and great sound. They tended to sound warmer than their Gibson counterparts, regardless if they were a Les Paul, 335 or jazz box. I actually bought a Heritage CM150 Les Paul used on the internet and was very pleased with how smooth the sound was. This gave me the confidence to order a new Golden Eagle.

I can only imagine how much better the guitar will sound as it ages. Even new, this guitar sounds fantastic. Plugged in, the acoustic woody nuances are retained. It's dark, full and very open sounding at the same time. The tone is blistering, bubbly and doesn't sound muffled or thin in any way, unless you roll the tone all the way down. Even with the tone set at 10, I can get a very nice full jazz tone.

My choice in sounds are Blues (SRV,Albert King etc), Jazz Fusion (Carlton, Scott Henderson etc)and Straight-ahead Bebop(Joe Pass, Jimmy Bruno etc). I have to say, the Heritage Golden Eagle nails the Bebop sound as well as many guitars costing a lot more. Regardless of price, the "quintessential" jazz tone is captured with the Heritage Golden Eagle. I will definitely buy this guitar or any other Heritage product again.

New (2000) Golden Eagle, made in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Guitar is a true hollow-body archall solid wood with spruce top, and flamed, curly maple sides, back, and neck (five piece). Neck, headstock, and body all triple-bound. 25 1/2 inch scale. Curly maple pick guard. Single, floating pickup, with volume control. Grover Imperial tuners, ebony fret board with cloud inlays, ebony bridge with mop inlay, gold hardware. 17 inch body, single cutaway, almond sunburst finish. Nice hardshell case.

I play mostly jazz, some blues. The tone is fantastic. Very warm and full, with woody overtones. The guitar is acoustically very responsive and sounds good both unplugged and amplified (I use an Evans JE200 amp). The guitar is very quite, but as with all electric-archtops does feed back at higher volumes. Obviously, a guitar of this type does not produce a variety of tones. It is pretty much a single purpose instrument, but it performs that purposes exquisitely.

The set-up from the factory was fine, low and fast. I replaced the standard 11gauge strings with 12 gauge and made a slight adjustment to the neck relief to accommodate the additional tension. No problem. The fit of the guitar is excellent from top to bottom. The top and back are book matched very well, no complaints here. I can detect no flaws in the fit or finish or in the hardware.

I have just had this instrument a short while, so I cannot comment on reliability and durability. However, hardware, materials, finish all appear to be top quality.

The guitar comes with a one-year warranty. Customer support is great. This guitar is replacement for a Golden Eagle I purchased from a dealer (sight unseen) that had a sagged top. The dealer obviously did not inspect the guitar before shipping it to me, which he should have done. I talked with Bill Paige, the President of Heritage, and once they inspected the guitar, they replaced it with no questions asked. You can't beat that. Very nice and helpful folks.

I have been playing for 30 years. The Golden Eagle is one of several guitars I own. For the money I think Heritage guitars are the best thing going. Tone, playability, craftsmanship, and finish are outstanding. Add excellent service on the part of the company, and Heritage guitars are one of the few good deals left in an American made instrument in my opinion. If the Golden Eagle were lost I would definitely replace it. I plan to collect several more Heritage models.