Heritage H-516

Honey Amber Lefty in exellent condition. Hardware cleaned up nice with some Brasso. Quality Shaller H/B with 2 screws per side to keep the P/U from tilting out of place. Grovers with good feel, stays in tune well with H solid tailpiece.....really nice!!

Sound is REALLY fine. Play through Music Man 70's 50 Watt w/ 12" Speaker. It is a combo with trans pre amp and 6L6 output tubes. Sounds incredible with the 16 in. body and sommth sustain. I find it sounds alot better unplugged than an ES-175. The guitar is resonant and the p/u work great. A variety of sounds can be made from blending the front/back Pickups and I am well pleased. Could'nt ask for more.

Tight all around. The Shalled bridge is locked on to the body and producews a nice sustain without thinness. I have no problem with the finish, it is top notch and feels really good. I think the craftsmanship of this guitar is as good or better than alot of Gibsons at way less of a cost. The body style if PERFECT for comfortable plaging with a slight decrease in depth 23/4 in. and 16" lower bout. THink G. Benson and take it from there...

Seems solid and would not worry about the top colapsing or changing shape because it is laminated and will hold up well.

Not used

This is just what I was looking for, and will not part with it. It is really a fine instrument with a great feel and I was very suprised in a pleasent way ( for once).

Honey Amber finish with some flame purchased from e-bay (nice guy ) for tele trade and cash (to me). Good solid instrument with nice appointments. Grovers and harp were tarnished but cleaned up nicly with some Noxon Metal Polish. Good Humbuckers with a full sound and resonant body. I play lefty and so is the guitar, and it is nice that they have a good selection for the Southern Paw.Laminated top, SOLID sides maple neck and small flat frets. Stays in tune and straight after 7 years. Excellent

Sounds resonant and livley unpluged. I held and played a ES-175 (righty) and strummed a few notes/chords on a new model,and it sounded like ass (just being honest, and this was only one instrument). I am extremly pleased with the tone and feel of this guitar and it is all that I could ask for from a jazz box at any price! Tone caps are the only weakness but it is not even worth the mention. Fantastic, the search is over and I still have cash left over to blow.....

Good all around and an excellent body size. I do not think that the bigger body would be as comfortable as this. Thee neck is medium and just fine. Could use some binding but se' la' vi'

No issues ans two screws on each side of the H/B makes tilting and loosening of the p?U a thing of the past. Brigge is a a rock.

N/A

The best bang for your jazz buck ever!!!!

2002 H516. Two shaller pickups, Antique Sunburst. Very standard model
I do like the design of this guitar, which is what made me want it. It's 16" laminated guitar.
I will give this a 10 because I think it is a nicely designed archtop.

It sounded nice, like a an ES175. It was nothing exceptional, but a typical jazz tone.

This was a disaster. When I took this guitar from it's case, I was astounded by the weight of it! It was really heavy, particularly at the neck heel. It was hard to believe.
The action was horrendous, played terribly stiff. It was neck heavy, with extermely stiff action. For a 24.75 archtop, the action should have been easy. Of course, the bridge was not seated well.
I returned this guitar, as it was truly a tank.

All Heritage guitars are good for gigging. Has this been a useable instrument I would certainly play it live.

They are nice, and helpful guys.

I own several other Heritages and really like them and use them live. This guitar, however, just felt cheap and poorly made. Honestly, I love Heritage, but this was junk and should have never left the factory.

Forget the factory...Heritage still hasn't figured that part out yet. But after a skilled setup guy was through with it, I couldn't believe it. I have 22 other guitars (L5, Super Eagles (2), Golden Eagle, Eagle Classic, Epi's, Gibson Howard Roberts, HR Fusion II, H535, h157, the usual strats, teles and on and on. But This is the only guitar I will play, period. The only thing I did to it was buy a new Schaller bridge to replace the Schaller bridge that was on it. The original apparently had the barrells grooved for slinkies and I use 12s. This change made it perfect. The only drawback is since I play it all the time, and everywhere, it has picked some dings and scratches. Well, I ain't gonna sell it anyway.

I told you I won't play anything else.

I have not dealt directly with the company.

I have been playing for 45 years. I use a Polytone Mega Brute with an Alesis Microverb ambiance box. At a gig a week ago, my chair legs slipped the back of the bandstand and the 516 hit hard. It didn't break the headstock like I thought it might have. Hat it broken, I would have panicked looking for another.

And just imagine, I bought this guitar as a lark because I have had one or more of just about every Heritage jazz box. I didn't expect it to be an epiphany.

Bought this new 516 jazz guitar. This model is new to the Heritage line. My guitar was built in 2001 and is transparent black. It has a nice flame top and back which you can see through the color. It is a single round cutaway with maple top, sides and back and is single white bound. It has two Shaller humbucks with a shaller roller bridge and a nickel Heritage tailpiece which has a big H on it. It has two volume and two tone controls. The input jack is on the end pin instead of the rim. Some old gibson's had this feature. I use a right-angle jack on this guitar.
The neck is also maple and the headstock and fingerboard are unbound. The fingerbrd is a very nice rosewood with pearl dots. The neck joins the body at the 14th fret and the guitar has 20 frets. The frets seem to be medium jumbo and they are easy to play. The tuners are Grover Rotomatics and the work fine. I like the shape of the neck, not to wide and has a nice shape for me.
The body is narrower than you'd fine on most jazz guitars. I think that it is 2-3/4" and is like some Gretches and is 16" across the lower bout.

The sound is very resonate for a plywood guitar. I practice with it around the house without plugging in. Plugged into my Polytone amps, it has a very nice jazz tone without having to search for it. I am playing some light jazz tunes and soft country-folk songs and it works well.
I didn't really like the Shaller pickup in the bridge. It sounded too bright when I opened up the tone control. I have since changed the rhythm picup to a Gibson PAF I had in my drawer. I also lowered the pickup to where the top of the pickup is 1/4" above the plastic surround. It has less output but is less prone to feedback. The PAF is warmer but there goes my warranty. This guitar has a nice tone and people have commented on it's nice sound.

Action was terrible out of the store althought the repairman said he fixed it right. What a bozo! I tighten the trussrod and lowered the bridge to where I liked it. I also changed the strings to Elixer, 10-46, and now it plays like silk.
Those thumb screws are hard to turn if the tension on the strings are too tight. Also the roller bridge can be adjusted if you want to change the spacing between the strings. I thought about using an all wood bridge but will stay with this stock bridge for awhile.

This guitar is solid and I have used it without a backup. I don't bang it around or use "big" power chords on it. I play it like it has designed for, a jazz guitar. The hardware is very high quality and will last yrs. Oh, a thing I forgot to mention. The left strap button is located on the backside of the guitar opposite the neck. When I use it this way the guitar seems to be neck-heavy. I just use a strap around behind the nut like in the old style guitars. This balances the guitar better and looks real retro-nerd.. Other than that, the strap button location and rhythm pickup, all is satisfactory.

No contact with the factory. I might have voided my warranty when I changed the pickup but who cares. At least the guitar sounds like I want it to.

I've been playing for 40 yrs and have owned so many guitars I don't want to recall. I sold a Gibson 175 to buy this new Heritage. The 516 is an entry model but still has all the features I wanted. I actually like the dots on the fingerbrd, I'm sick at seeing all the pearl stuff they use. I've owned a Sweet 16 but sold it many yrs ago. I've recently also had a 575 but I didn't like the square neck it had although it being a solid wood guitar, was more resonant. This "cheap" Heritage has a better neck and I like the sound better. I wish I could have bought this for less money but I just liked the color.

My H-516 is newly built in 2001, in the old Gibson factory of Kalamazoo, Michigan. It has 20 frets, laminated top, 2 volume and 2 tone knobs, selector switch, 2 chrome plated humbucking pickups, 24 3/4" rosewood neck, mother of pearl block inlays, black finish, single cutaway hollow-body, and it came with a case.

I play strictly jazz, and this axe does it. It's got perfect, bassy jazz tone which I like, and it feels good. Even without a tube amp, I get a nice warm and bassy tone that I like for jazz. Also it is very clean sound.

The guitar was set up perfectly at the factory.

Oh yah, this guitar will stand any live playing. I can depend on this axe. It is well built and cared for.

Great jazz guitar. Sounds awesome.