Heritage H-150P

The features for this guitar as outlined by other reviewers...poplar body, mahogany neck, rosewood board..schaller pickups, schaller bridge/saddle, grover tuners. The guitars is black with cream binding and was made in '94. I bought it used earlier this year....didn't know it was Poplar ..just fell in love with the sound. Tonally its not dissimilar to a poplar Parker Fly Deluxe I used to own ...same tonal pallette but the larger body mass seems to add more substance ("beef"??)to the tone. Like another reviewer had I known it was poplar up front I may have moved away from it on the bench,,.....but that would have been a very bad decision. Controls are standard LP type. The guitar came with a Gibson like case which says the Heritage rather than the Gibson . This is a well made guitar and after 8 years of what would appear to be solid use everything is still in very good order including all finished surfaces.

I play mainly acoustic blues and country type stuff so this guitar is for the odd occassion when a let it rip is required to clear the head and relax the nerves. It is perfect for Blues in virtually any style and makes a pretty good fist of a plain ole rock and roll guitar. A look at some of the signature names on Heritages roster should give you a clue in this regard. The poplar body in IMHO gives this guitar a pretty good tonal range...I play through an ORANGE valve Amp which gives a pretty good blues impression. As another reviewer noted the tones this guitar delivers I think are exceptional and as a result the PArker and a PRS Custom 24 with 10 top and birds have now gone to more greatful owners and I have some cash and more space for more toys!!

Being 8 years old now I have to say this is one well made and well finished guitar which would apear to stand up to the rigours of regular use ...and perhaps not so careful use at that. Guitar was beautifully set up when I got it and remains so

I think this guitar would well and truly cope with regular gig use..but I would ever gig without a back up.

After 8 years plus it is still beautiful in all regards except for the odd nick and scratch from careless ness by the previous onwer(s).

No idea never dealt with them oter than to look at the web site

I have been playing about 30 years. I am mainly an acoustic player having only got into electric in the last 7 or 8 years. I have been through about 8 electrics looking for the "right" one/.....I think this might be it! If it were stolen I would try to get another but Heritage aren't respresented in Oz so that could be tricky. Other curretn Guitars are a Fender Tommy Emmanuel Signature Telecaster, a Marton 00-16DBR, a Baby Taylor, A Liberty Tree TAylor which I should get just before Christmas...come on down Santa!!! and an OM size guitar made by one of Australia's premier Luthiers Scott Wise.

I think the 150P is as nice an LP as I've played whether it came dressed as an Epiphone or with a Gibson badge or a PRS single cut..I think I have truly lucked out with this one.

Left handed version, bought used.. Made 1n 1995 (serial # started with 'L'. Standard feautres of a Les Paul, but made with poplar, thus much lighter. Not sure what type of pick ups. The dealer couln't really tell me much about it. Grover tuners. Came with a nice hardhell case.

I play mostly rock, blues and it suits me perfectly. I play through a Marshall AVT 150. Great full, chunky sound. Since I picked up this guitar, I have hardly touched my Epi Les Paul, What a difference!

The guitar was set up perfectly, didn't have to adjust a thing. The finish I must admit wasn't the greatest. Not a super glossy finish like a Gibson. I think they skimped a bit on the painting process, but hey, it doesn't affect the sound, right?

Haven't played with it live, but it feels solid and I would think it would stand up.

Before I bought the guitar, I took down the serial # and e-mailed Heritage to try to give me more info on the guitar, since the store didn't know much about it. They replied back, asking if I could send a photo. Hello????? Shouldn't the serial # be enough? I was not impressed.

I have been playing for over 15 years. Also have a Mex Strat, Epiphone Les Paul and a Yamaha RGX421. This is by far the best guitar I have owned so far. It's the only one I play now. It has that sound I have been looking for. Sure I could drop $3000.00 on a Gibson, but why bother now?

1991 Solid 'Les-Paul' style body made in Kalamazoo, MI, USA just like every other Heritage guitar. All of the features one would expect from a Les Paul done just slightly better, with one exception: the body is made of POPLAR ("The Balm of Gilead") wood. More on this later. Someone switched the pickups to Duncans (I was told they are Pearly Gates). Contrary to the previous reviewer's opinion, I feel that the Schaller tailpiece is a great choice and adds an air of class to the guitar in addition to holding the strings just as well if not better than an ABR.

New frets look medium-jumbo and feel very nice on the consummately comfortable (a blend of '59 rounded,'60 Slim Taper and something modern), straight mahogany neck with its very, very dark rosewood fingerboard and real mother-of-pearl dot inlays. Grover Tuners, and no, that tuner is not crooked- that's the way it fits on the nice, lengthy and simply adorned headstock. Plastic nut came stock...looks like mine had been replaced and I wish they would have done it in graphite but, well, at least it's the same as what Heritage shipped it with.

The case I got with it was an 80's Gibson deal which fit one of my other guitars much better...good thing I had a deluxe Gibson LP case lying around, which fit the 150 perfectly.

Overall, it is a plain, simple and strightforward what-a-Les Paul- should-be all wrapped up in a Fiesta Red finish (yes, I agree that the gold was indeed a waste of $$$) that Leo Fender would have been proud of and topped off with creme binding. A player's guitar, nothing more, nothing less.

The first striking thing about this instrument is its poplar body. When I decided to trade a less desireable (in my opinion) guitar for it, I would probably not have done it if I had known it was poplar. This, however, would also have been a very prejudicial misjudgement on my part, based on the common consumer opinion that poplar is 1) a lesser grade wood largely because it is cheaper and in greater supply than mahogany, and 2) that any Les Paul worth its salt is made of mahogany and only mahogany.

I am quite glad that I didn't know and that I decided to go ahead with the trade, because this guitar simply has one of the best tones I have ever heard. There is nothing out there that quite sounds like it, if you listen close, and if you listen causally, I defy you to tell me the difference between it and a '59 LP. It is slightly brighter than mahogany tends to be, but it sustains like crazy and is capable of being just as mellow and even more raunchy. I am also the proud owner of a mahogany Guild Starfire II, and it is a tough call between it and the Heritage in the sustain department. The Guild, incidentally, outsustained everything with Gibson on the headstock (solid, hollow or semi) at the store where I purchased it.

I don't know what my Heritage sounded like before the pickup swap, so I guess it's somewhat unfair to say as far as raw tone goes, but one thing that I feel needs to be emphasized is that Heritage did not make the wrong choice when they decided to build a poplar bodied 150. I don't know why they didn't do it in 1952...(smirk). Resistance to termites, perhaps? But when's the last time YOUR guitar was attacked by termites?? Anyway, the point is that even though it may have been a cheaper model and may not be as collectible as mahogany guitars, the poplar 150 is at least a comparable, if not a superior, instrument.

It can fit any bill you can think to throw at it, from Blue note to country to death-rock with the right pickups. The role in my aresenal it will mostly be used for is a sort of jazz/blues-influenced 'Stonesy psychedelic 70's-esque punk... if that makes sense to anyone out there, and if not hopefully gives a picture of the range it is capable of. It is not an acoustic guitar, but fits just about any electric sound you want in the 24&3/4" scale flavor.

It is hum-free (of course), full, rich, warm and with just the right edge of brightness to make the strat people do a double-take. It can't do everything, and I'd like to be more critical and give it a 9, but the 7 the previous reviewer gave it is just too dismal. I'm giving it a 10 to bump it up to an overall rating more worthy of its true quality(ies).

Although I have no idea how it arrived from the factory, It's action was right where I want it to be 10 years after. Not too low, not too high. The workmanship is spectacular, flawlessly percieved after 10 years of obvious neglect and the scratches and dings that there are are borne well by the thick, thick finish. They probably wanted to conceal the fact that it was poplar from the general buying public to get people to play it, because once you play it you're hooked. Smooth as all get out. Notes roll and drip from it and you don't want to put it down. The chrome hardware doesn't even hint at oxidation and the tuners are Gover Rotomatics--enough said. Everything is fitted up well; I don't even think the most critical player would have reason to complain in this department. My only complaints are these: that the guy (and I know it was a guy) who had it before me left cracked pickup rings on it and had it strung with .009's. Yuk. This one demands .011's and no less (already taken care of), and I'm certainly going to invest in a set of pickup rings. Oh well. I wish I could have played it from the factory, but Heritage doesn't even make the 150P any more.

It has already withstood 10 years of obvious neglect tinged with abuse, and it will stand another 50. I will niether neglect nor abuse it, so I will have to put it in my will. Which brings me to another issue--this thing is a KEEPER. More on that later. Gigging without backup will be no problem, but I'm going to be careful because, as mentioned earlier, they don't make these any more and if it were lost or stolen could not be replaced, and no string is immortal.

Never dealt with Heritage.

I've been playing almost 14 years and have owned many more guitars than that number. There have only been 4 so far which have absolutely tripped my trigger, and this is number four. Kind of nice that the guitar carries such a stigma because of its body wood...everyone will lump it in with Squier, Lotus, etc., but those who have played one will know it deserves its place next to vintage Les Pauls in the guitar archive. It is a player's instrument, and sort of a player's 'secret' that the most rave review probably won't let out of the bag. I hope that Heritage did not succumb to the bean-counter mentality when they discontinued the 150P, as G&L did when they stopped using Leo's 3-bolt neck joint and started using 'swimming-pool' routes for their pickups...but that is neither here nor there. Heritage made a fabulous, player-oriented piece of poplar, one that I would put up against any vintage Les Paul (we won't even get into the modern Gibsons...). Dollar per dollar if you can find one of these it's the best value I know of in a 24&3/4, humbucker style guitar, foriegn or domestic. It just so happens that this one is domestic... my only regret is that I would not have chosen it had I known what it was made of.

The heritage H-150 series is a quality Les Paul type guitar. Indeed Heritage kalamazoo, is the original gibson locaiton, founded by some gibson employees back in 1984 I believe it was.

The year can readily be determined on Heritage guitars by starting with 1984 and Letter 'A'. Each subsequent year, increase the letter.
1985 would be a 'B' numbered guitar.
This H150P is a 1995.

I was initially disappointed. I thought all heritage LP guitars were mahagony bodies. Take care. the 'P' sufix H150s are "hardwood" (I suspect popular hence the letter P). But I have to say, my prejudice was unfounded. tonality is quite good and sustain even with the excellent schaller roller "tune-o-matic" bridge is superb. Contrary to what a well known dealer in very fine custom guitars has to say. However, he is entirely right in the very strange choice of the schaller stop piece. It is ungainly and ugly. I have a replacement on order.

This particular guitar is the "gold" option. the entire guitar is covered in gold metalic paint. A $100 option. SAVE YOUR MONEY.

Mahagony neck. Grover tuners, Schaller roller tune-o-matic, schaller stop, Schaller humbuckers, lesser quality rosewood fingerboard, but functional.

Correctly wired, unlike some wiring diagrams available from otherwise great web sites. That is the volume pot is in series and before the RCL circuit presented by the coils in the pickups, the tone capacitor, and the tone pots. this way, changing volume does not inherently change tone. duh... Thank you heritage, someone was paying attention.

My music style is anywhere from blues rock, to stage band clarity.

I must admit, this non-mahogony bodied heritage sounds wonderful. I have cheated, I collect humbuckers, and have placed a Gibson 490R in the neck and a Dimarzio Air Norton in the bridge. I tell you, the Schallers weren't bad. I just am experimenting with the sound. I do like the tone of this guitar, and confess, it is not as muddy sounding as often occurs in a classic dual humbucking mahagony set neck guitar. I'd rate it a 9 if it had Seymour Duncan 59's in it like the H150 cm's do.

This has to be the worst paint job I have seen on a guitar. The grain of the hardwood can be detected. It's as if no sealer were used. This does not seem possible for a heritage product, but the H150P seems to be the "lesser" brother, and indeed lists for $1000 instead of the $1300 a H150cm commands. But it is hard to imagine a $100 option on a $1000 guitar being so poor. It's like you can see what appears to be brush strokes in the metalic gold. I hate the plastic bound body. bind the neck if you must, but keep the plastic edge off the guitar.

What is important, is fitted well, however, one of the grovers was crooked in relation to the others.

I don't like the plastic nut. lets go with brass or better yet, graphite, but white plastic doesn't work on this guitar.

And let's get rid of that cheezy pick guard entirely.

This guitar was played heavily. It is gold hardware, and whomever had it sweated up a storm, and there were salt corrosive on stop, bridge, and gold humbucker covers. Most came out except the stop, which is the hugely ugly schaller, and is being replaced anyway. All others polished out.

the cheap ($100 gold paint option) has worn thin from Acid Sweat Man's arm. A good Gold top, with several coats of clear would never have done this.

The reliability must be good. This guitar was worked hard and literally put up wet many times. And it still cleaned up nicely. Using Mothers auto polish also gave new life to the paint and gold hardware.

I still wish I had know this guitar was a H-150P and not a H-150CM. I didn't know there was a P model. I thought the deal was too good to be true, and alas it was. But, I still have a superior American grade guitar.

I have to admit, I like this guitar. I like the people who make it. And if they made a less expensive model and used a popular body, in a Les Paul, well... I guess I can forgive them. It works.

the Heritage H150 and the Hamer Americans are probably the last best good guitars still afordable that are american made.

If this had been a H150CM with Seymour Duncan's, it would have cost me $800 used, and would have been rated a 9. All it would need is the pickguard removed, and the stop changed out to a more conventional ABR-1 styled stop.