Heritage H-535

Made in 2001, USA Kalamazoo, Michigan. Made by the REAL Vintage Gibson guitar makers. 22 frets CURLY laminated body guitar, with almond burst finish, HRW pups, and factory Bigsby. The action on this guitar is beyond reproach, butter slick and LOW! Maple box with mahogany neck. Simple dot inlay. These guitars do not have Indian rosewood on the neck. It is the much closer grained Brazilian stuff,which makes for a more stable fret holding surface, and a smoother playing guitar. The hand work can be visible if you look very closely, the attention to detail sticks out like a sore thumb.

The pups are infinitely adjustable. No noise. Period. You can dial in any type of sound you want. I like everything so far. Only dislike ( which I found quickly ) was a burr on the high e tuner peg, which caused broken first strings. Gently smoothed with 400 sand paper. Heck, ain't nobody perfect..Customer service is the greatest. When you call, a real person ( involved with building these guitars ) will answer the phone. They will take the time that is necessary to make you an informed person on their guitar line. Very informative. No secretaries, no shipping department, simple hand bending and fitting of fine woods to make an individual instrument. No cnc machines, just super fine craftsmanship, hand applied real lacquer finishes, and no inflated prices. The two I have ordered have been beyond competition, at half the price of the big G!!!!!

Finish 10 Adjustments 10 Only downside was a small burr on the E tuner, causing easily broken string.

built like a mid 60"s gibson, will play it anywhere without backup. Rendal Wall does the wiring, and it is set up to last thru an earthquake.

Super fast, informative, Since they are a self maintained warranty station, I am sure their service will be top grade. They don't wimp around with your concerns....

Been playing for 29 years, don't want to list my other gear. I would replace this in a heartbeat. Chose this because it is AMERICAN made, and the quality was top notch, with a real world price.

This 335 type, is different from Gibson several ways: the body is much thinner (more comfortable and probably lighter), stop tailpiece is heavier with swiveling inserts that grip the strings and allow you to load stings from the top, and the bridge has roller pieces that allow to to adjust string spacing, a feature that I like. The two humbucking pickups are probably Schaller on this particular guitar since it is an '88 model. One piece maple top, solid sides, all are pretty figured. Grover tuners, rosewood fingerboard, medium frets, great shaped mahogany one piece neck, etc.

This guitar is a player. I just sold a pristine '85 Gibson custom shop 335 natural that was not as good a guitar as this one. It had the widest jumbo frets that needed crowning. It also was very heavy and I didn't like the neck shape--it was really tiring to play. This Heritage plays as they say "like butter". It sounds great, the pickups are probably adequate for jazz, they have "the sound" when you play those Wes Montgomery octaves. I will probably try some other pickups to get a little more punch. I have owned 5 or 6 Gibson 335's, one 345 (I bought new in '76), I even bought a new Les Paul Signature (a 335 variation). Of all these, totally the Heritage is a better guitar.

This guitar has a "2" stamped on back which means that it is a second.
If there was a flaw, I can't find it. I am curious why this guitar was considered a second. Hardware is great on this 14 year old. Six inches away, I see very minute straight line cracks in the finish on the lower bout where the edge binding joins the body. Other than that the finish compares to my PRS McCarty which is to say, outstanding. This guitar had some awful and completely dead big flat-wound strings on it and it played terribly. I almost turned it down because of the way it sounded and played. I put some 10's through 46 on it, adjusted the action and intonated the bridge and it made it a different guitar. It probably was originally set up for 10's. For the wide variety of music that I play, this guage is the best overall. It has an outstanding neck shape--not to thin and not to big, that is comfortable to play four hour gigs.

Solid as a rock--but I don't recommend that anyone who plays professionally to not have a backup ax.

Never had to deal with this company, but I have heard that they actually will listen and respond.

I have been playing for 45 years and still am playing in two bands, a MOR band and a blues/rock band. I buy and sell guitars for profit, but I also use them as tools. I have owned hundreds but have used probably 10 as performance instruments: '57 Strat and several other Strats, 330, 335,345 model Gibsons, several Les Pauls (one for 25 years), currently a PRS McCarty and the Heritage 535. I think that I can use almost any brand that is set up properly and has good (to my ears) pickups. Some inspire me to play better-- both the PRS and the Heritage do this. This Heritage sounds more like a good 335 than 90% of the 335's I have had. But it's basically your ear and what you think sounds right for you In 1955, when I was 11 I was inspired by a cheap Kalamazoo acoustic. Whatever flops your mop, go for it. Try out as many as you can before you buy, and remember, they don't sound the same on the job as they do in the store. One more thing: these guitar will be a LOT cheaper than a comparable Gibson.

Typical 335 Features. Upgraded Duncan 59s (highly recomended) Antique Natural finish over maple with little flame. Bound neck and body, mahogony neck and standerd Grover tuners. Simple dot inlays on the neck. This is a strange category, with guitars what you see is what you get. I also got a really nice leather Gibson case in the deal (all for $999) it's very plush with a blanket that covers the whole guitar. Why are these cases always hot pink on the inside????

I play blues, classic Rock as well as some original pop rock stuff. This guitar just sings no matter what I play. I really bought it for Blues playing but I've been really surprised at how good this guitar sounds when the distortion is cranked. There is no problem with unwanted feedback, but it's always there if you want it just face the amp and lean into it a little. The Duncans sound SO MUCH BETTER than the stock Heritage pick ups. I have a 140 with standard pickups and loved it until i got the 535. Chord deffinition is really clear regardless of distortion levels. The clean sounds are just gorgous. I can't stop playing this guitar. I play through a 10 year old Peavy Classic 50. That's it. No effects necesary. I feel like I've spent the last 10 years breaking in my amp for this guitar. The neck pick-up is really creamy and warm, not at all muddy. The bridge pick-up is sharp and clear with out being thin or britlle sounding. The tone controls are very usable and create a ton of usable sounds right down to all out Jazz tones.

My guitar was set up by the local shop for my playing style. The action was set a little high with a set of 11 gauge strings. I play hard so this is how I like it. The binding and finish are flawless. My only gripe is that on all of the Heritage guitars I looked at, you could see sanding marks on the fingerboard and it looked like it could use some oil. I oiled the neck and it looks a lot nicer, but I was a little disapointed with the finish

I use this guitar Live and it's fine. I never play woth out a back up because I bend strings a lot and often break them. The finish seems really durable, but that's not a concern really. I've never payed any special attention to the finish on my guitars and they all still look great. This guitar is more sensitive to temp changes then my solid guitars, so I am more careful with it. But that's the nature of the Hollow Beast.

I didn't deal with Heritage for this guitar, I bought it from Robbies Music Barn in NJ. I'd give Robbies a 10. I did have issues with my older Heritage 140 and found them to be really awful. They botched a fret job, lost my guitar for months and wouldn't return my calls. By the time I got it back it had lost it's original tail piece and had extra strap buttons rolling around in the case. Plus the fret job had to be done again, it was just awful. My 140 has never been the same. I think that Heritage buildes great guitars, after that you're on your own.

Affter playing every thin line hollow body I could find (Hamer, Guild, Gibson, Epiphone, and Heritage) this guitar was by far the best sounding, best playing guitar I came across for less than $3000. The only guitars that came close to it's price were not American Made, were poorly put together and didn't sound as good. I played some older Gibsons that were of the same quality, but they were 3 to 4 thousand dollars and not as pretty. The newer Gibsons just didn't sound as good. I'm a big fan of Heritage. Why do Fender and Gibsons cost so much?? It's all advertising and bullsh*t. If you don't mind playing a guitar that not everybody will recognize you can do much better with something like a Heritage. The Hamers were also really nice, but their tone wasn't classic enough for what I was looking for. They would have been my second choice.

Features typical of this type of guitar, nothing fancy

Sounds OK,This is objective

Finish is always good.Action is terrible on ANY Guitar when new.All heritages need a fret leveling, crowning and polish,nut work to play right. this is subjective as to the players preferences of strings and action.This work is automatic so cant deduct from it

This is up to the owner, a little bit of care is all it needs

Heritage as well as ED Roman are easy to deal with and want you to be happy. If you are an Asshole like the guys who bitch to the dealer then expect it in return

If you are stupid enough to buy one somewhere else, just send me the extra hundreds your flushing

I'd give this guitar a "10" on features myself, because it has everything I want, but I wanted to be fair to "fully equipped guitars". This is, I think, a brand new 2001 model (it's at least a 2000). I bought it new, anyhow. The neck and headstock are very plain (simply dots and a Heritage logo). The body, however, has a very spectacular bookmatched flame maple top and back (with a strip of mahogany sandwiched inbetween, with some nice binding to boot). It's one of the darker sunburst finishes that they made, but not too dark. I wish I could get one exactly like this every time.

It has the stock schaller pickups and also the VIP (Variphase) system, and though I love the sound of out of phase pickups on occasion, I don't like this phase sound (very thin and a severe volume drop). However, they are handy because it also has a coil-tap function, which I use frequently. In fact, I'm thinking of getting two-way switches put in instead of the 3-way ones that are here (one for each pickup). The reasoning is that so I can more easily activate the taps live (on the 3-ways, you have to be careful not to go from single to phase if you're trying to activate the humbucker mode; HB mode is center, coil-split mode is up, phase is down).

It also has the stock schaller bridge and tailpiece, which I like the tailpiece, but not the bridge (roller saddles, they're okay, but they make it feel like I'm hurting the guitar a little when I make a wild bend - I know I'm not, but still). I still love the way the guitar plays and feels, but I think eventually this bridge will be replaced by a Gibson tune-o-matic. I had roller saddles on a Gretsch I used to own, and those were pretty problematic - BUT, I think it says something about this guitar when I didn't notice that the bridge had roller saddles. In fact, I didn't notice them until I changed strings.

My style runs the gamut from rock, blues, jazz, and certain aspects of everything else. This guitar comes alive, and can cover just about anything I want to do. It helps that three of my main influences (Eric Johnson, Larry Carlton, Robben Ford) regularly use a 335, or 335-style guitar. I've played this guitar through all manner of amps, Matchless, Carr, Bruno, old Fender, etc. There isn't an amp I've hit this with that hasn't performed superbly (well, one that wasn't going to sound bad anyway). Let me also say that even though I'm using the stock Schaller pickups that come with most unspecified orders, they still sound spectacular. I'd probably be dissapointed with them if they were in a solidbody, but then again, I don't really know. Just hit a note on this guitar and it'll sing, through just about anything. Using the neck pickup (full humbucker) through a Fender Super Reverb, it almost sounds like an archtop (and I've played Heritage jazz guitars too - and they're all jazz, love it). And on most of the lead on the album I'm finishing up, I played it through a Carr Hammerhead, which you really ought to hear on tape. And live, I've never had a problem with feedback, even with a super burning lead sound (well, unless you leaned over to the amp, and forgot to turn the guitar volume down). But, on the plus side, you get lots of optional, CONTROLABLE feedback. Gotta love that!

Well, the finish is top notch, the action is second to none when setup right, BUT... I had nut problems with this guitar, which lended to fretted-out notes on a couple of spots, so I had to get that worked on. Now it's been fixed a while with no problems, really, except that, at a couple of different spots, it keeps acting like it wants to fret out (it's getting somewhat sitar-like around the 15th fret on the A string). I may have to eventually have this thing worked on AGAIN, which kills me, because there's a couple of guys in town that work on these and are GOOD, they just take for freakin ever to work on them (or rather, when they get to your guitar). I was hoping I could find another Heritage before it started to maybe mess up again, so if it was in the shop anymore I'd have a backup, but oh well. I just get withdrawals while this is in the shop. I can't imagine it's a fret problem because I just got the guitar new THIS YEAR. So, I give it a seven here simply over the psychological stress of having this guitar in the shop for what is (unfortunately) usually months at a time, which kills me, because it only takes a few days at most to correct these problems.

It seems like a sturdy enough guitar, but I try to never play anything without a backup (because you never know, and the show must go on). I try to have backups for guitars and amps live. And since it's semi-hollow, it's especially susceptible to weather conditions, so take precautions.

The shop where I bought it has been pretty helpful, even though they're in Iowa and I'm in Dallas (got it at the Dallas Guitar Show this past March). There just aren't any dealers for Heritage guitars here in Dallas, which is one of the biggest crimes of society. There are a few listed in the area on the Heritage page, but most are out of business. The few that weren't, when you get there, it's "Oh, we don't have any in stock - but you can order one." Hell, I can order one from the factory, and NOT have to go through a middle man. But the trick is, with guitars, I really need to actually PLAY them before I buy, ESPECIALLY middle to high end stuff like Heritage, because, like any other guitar, you have to find THE ONE, which you then can bend and twist the fabric of the sound matrix and create your own sonic reality... I'd be very embarassed, and feeling somewhat chagrined, if I spend boucoups of bucks on a special order, and the only thing wrong is that it just don't resonate and feel right. But, I've never dealt with Heritage directly, so I can't really give a rating here.

Oh, and did you notice that this guitar was bought for less than half of what you'd pay for a new dot-neck 335 from Gibson. It's about 1/3 or less of what you'd pay for one with this kind of flame top and back. And I'd rather have this guitar. Actually, I'd rather have a Heritage in just about any instance over a newer Gibson. I've been playing for 11 years, and owned more guitars over the years than I really care to think about. I've got four pieces right now that I really love; this Heritage, A custom G&L ASAT (w/Strat-style single in the middle and 5-way switch, ala Nashville Tele, except better), A Fender Flame (or, pre-Robben Ford model), and a Strings & Things Custom / St. Blues Strat-like axe w/Duncan Pearly Gates in the bridge. These, and about three different amps I like to use live (want to try using them as a two-amp rig, with the other for backup). I just can't say enough about Heritage guitars in general. So I guess I better stop there.

My 535 is standard, with no upgrades. Standard pickups and bridge (which are the most common changes). I got what I paid for, though. Coil taps, vari-phase, transducer, etc. are options, but when I found this guitar, I didn't think about those things. This was just the right guitar.

Tone controls are well-voiced. I play second guitar in a blues band with two saxes. I'm able to keep out of the horns' way, as well as the other guitar and bass, mostly by using my tone controls. Usually, I can just dime the neck pickup volume and tone to jump out enough to solo.

The sound on this guitar is perfect. I played about a dozen of these throughout Michigan, and I never had any problems with noisy pickups or switches. Nor have any of the other guys in town -- I live and play in Kalamazoo, and nearly every player in town either has one Heritage or soon will, except for the guys who have the other guitar made here in town, those great old Gibsons.

It sounds just like a ES-335. In fact, it sounds more like a 335 than the new Gibsons. I get a nice dark jazzy neck/tone-down sound that works great with a little amp tremolo for comping behind a soloist. Then for solos, simply turning up the volume and tone lets the guitar sing and the notes ring. Great sustain, easy-to-control feedback.

It is the quintessential 335-type sound.

The guitar is a factory second, bought here in Kalamazoo at a independent retailer. The finish has a slight flaw on the top right below the neck joint. I knew it when I bought it and didn't care.

Otherwise, the finish is spectacular. There is a section of the top that isn't flamed as muc has the rest of the top, but my arm covers it when I play. This isn't a collector's guitar, it's for playing.

Set-up is good. I was trained to do my own set-ups by a friend who works over at the Heritage factory. He showed me how the factory does set-ups, and that's my starting point for set-ups.

I'm not sure what I'll do about the bridge. It's fine, but only fine. I do break my first string more often on this guitar than my Strat, so there might be an issue there.

The fit and construction is solid. There is, however, a section on the side where the binding seems to be separating a touch form the side. I need to get over to the factory and talk to someone about that.

I play this guitar 3-5 nights a week. The guitar is solid. I bring a Strat, but only as a back-up for broken strings, or for some funk-type stuff. The 535 does the funk, but a Strat is better.

Another reviewer mentioned concerns about strap-buttons. I didn't understand that. I have trouble getting my strap off the buttons, so I just leave it on.

The tuners are solid. The only retuning I do is a result of temperature change. Once it's set, it's set for the gig.

I'm lucky. If I have a problem I can drive over to the factory, or to any of the 4 or 5 former Gibson builders who have shops in town, and ask my questions. In fact, most of my work isn't done by Heritage, it's done by an area guy who used to build Gibsons.

The word around town, though is that support is good.

I've been playing since I was a kid, but only seriously for about ten years. I also play an '89 Strat. I play through a '94 Fender Blues Deluxe, a '72 Bassman 20, and a Fender Vibro Champ (80?). The 535 just sings through each of these amps. For effects, I use Danelectro stuff -- an overdrive, a tremolo, and a 7-band EQ.

When I was first looking for a thinline, I played Gibsons, Guilds, Epiphones, everything I could find. When I had pretty much decided on a Heritage, I played about 12-15 of them -- Detroit, Lansing, Saginaw, Grand Rapids. When I picked this one up, it was different. I knew it was the guitar I'd buy. I ran home to get my amp, and Picked it up the next day. I played it at the Kalamazoo BluesFest three days later.

My band runs a jam session. When die-hard Gibson guys come in and pick it up, the most common comment is that it feels like an old Gibson. When I played the new 335's I thought that they were near unplayable. Now I'm spoiled. I might buy and old 335 someday, but I'll never buy one of those new ones.

The next guitar will probably be a custom Heritage 555, with all the bells and whistles. It would be nice to have some options on the gig. But I can't imagine recording a blues-burner solo on another guitar. This sounds like it's supposed to sound.

mines an 89'so its a good example of heritage's earlier work. i cant complain at all...i mean, this guitar is just great. its got a beautiful natural finish, grover tuners, schaller p/u, schaller tailpiece and roller bridge. however, when i got the guitar home, i put on a gibson bridge and stop tailpiece. i think the schaller bridge setup is a big waste of tone. this one has a mahogany neck also. i have seen and played some with maple necks, but i prefer mahogany.

i play in a jazz/fusion quartet, and this guitar has a great sound for what i do. i can get tone anywhere from grant green, to john scofield. i usually use a little boogie studio .22, through a pro co. rat. this axe also never makes any kind of noise (other than when you are givin it some love!) you know...never experienced any kind of controls crackling or anything..im planning on changing the pick ups...the schallers just arent cutting it. but, they dont sound bad at all...i just have a particular sound in mind.

i got the guitar used, but it played pretty damn good when i picked it up. this ones got flame to the max too...top and back are beautiful. the guitar does have a headstock flaw...it seems to be a tiny bit unevenwhere it arches out above the nut, but you can only notice by lookin closely. but then again, that just goes to show that its a hand made instrument.

i play out every weekend, but i usually take this guitar somewhere everyday. weather it be to a gig, a jam session, or just anywhere...the hardware it sturdy, good chrome, the finish seems to be thin, but i like that, it will age nicely, and the guitar has a great "natural" sound. i have brought this guitar to gigs with no back up axe, and never, ever has it failed me. this is probably the best and most favorite guitar ive ever owned. very dependable.

i called heritage once to find out the year on it...a real live human actually answered the phone! i couldnt believe it!i was actually so suprised, i forgot for a second why i had called them. i gave him just the first number of the serial # and he was like "oh, thats an 89' and if im not mistaken, its a natural one?" i was in awe. good company, great, kind people. i plan on buying many more heritage guitars.

ive been playing for 9 years, and recently graduated from berklee college of music, in boston, ma. besides my 535, i own a h-575(like a es 175). i love both of my heritage guitars, and have a deep personal relationship with them. if they were lost or stolen, i would buy one exactly like it.

2001 standard H-535 semi-hollow body. Georgeous 3 tone bust with some of the nicest coloration I've ever seen in a burst. I picked this on out of a few at Wolfe guitars (great to deal with!!) in Jupiter, Florida and all of them showed eye popping tone.Mine came with a Gibson tune-o-matic bridge only because I am used to them but on second may have prefered the Schaller setup due to the sharp angle comming off the tune-o-matic to the stop bar. As expected, the tuners are Schaller as well as the pickups. The Schaller "Golden 50's" pickupshave been updated according to Heritage specs and this was a plsant sprise. I was fully expecting to upgrade to my favorite pickup (Duncan's) but playing both type of pickups in different 535's, I felt is was not needed especially at the price of the base model. Guitar comes wth HSC.

Quite rich with good punch and attack. Nice-n-airy with an edge. Guiter is dead quiet. Neck pickup is sustaining and full sounding. Bridge is rocking with nice clarity and cut without being harsh. Very balanced with tone to spare. That is the bottom line.

The guitar is flawed but in a good way as it shows evidence of lots of handwork. You can visably see where the binding was scraped after finishing. You can clearly point out a binding flaw or two in the cutaway...again, more evidence of handwork that gives the instrument alot of character. If you want a cookie cutter but an import.

The finish and coloration are breathtaking. My burst goes from a very dark red to a rich cherry to the amber middle section. The dark vintage burst, amber, cherry and burnt amber 535's I looked over and played were superb too. The selection of maple looks "vintage" i.e. just enough figuring to make the guitar look attractive and interesting. Body binding is THICK! Fretwork and the quality of rosewoo is superb. Nice touches include vintage amber Les Paul knobs, and bound maple pickguard.

Action: I had to do alot of work to make this closer to my preferences. First, I had to raise the stop bar to clear the tune-o-matic. Next, the truss rod had to be adjusted and bridge raised. It took a while to dial out the buzz. Action is still a bit high but plays like it is lower than it is. The neck angle may be a 1 or two degrees too steep to get the action any lower. I also filed the nut slots a bit on the bass strings to prevent tune creaking and settle 'em into their slots a bit more. These are things that personalized the guitar to my preferences and took an hour or two while watching T.V.

Looks good!

Been plaing about 15 years. I appreciate quality instruments and workmanship and the tone that is the byproduct. I recently bought my dream guitar in a 2001 '58 Les Paul Historic and I also own Customshop Fenders, Musicman Axis, guild D-55 etc. Probably owned over 50 guitars over the years and I have a good indication of what is good and what's not. The heritage 535 guitars are consistant tone wise and it is not hard to find the "good one" and most of them are just that and better. Although I am not primarly a "semi hollow" player, it is easy to learn to be at these prices without sacrificing quality or tone. While the alnico-2 Schaller PAF style pickups are not the best humbuckers I've ever owned, they are pretty good and indeed much better than expected and voiced VERY well to this guitar. The Duncans sound great as expected. Good job and probably not a better deal at this price.

Props to Wolfe Guitars for great customer service and selection as Jay Wolfe is the nation's largest volume Heritage dealer. He operates a website with lots of pictures and vey competive pricing.

2001 Model, Seymour Duncan pickups, Tune-O-Matic bridge, pretty close to a Gibson 335, comes with a HSC included in the price

The sound is what really makes this guitar stand above all others I've played. I love the rich, full sound of the neck pickup, and the aggressive sound of the bridge pickup. A very versatile guitar.

The action from the factory just needed a very minor setup to be perfect. The cord jack was a little loose. Well finished frets. Perfect finish and fit except for the minor looseness of the cord jack.

This is a professional quality instrument and I'm sure it will last for a long time with just a little care.

I called Heritage before I bought my guitar and talked to the guy that that designed their new pickup and he was very helpful and friendly.

If my guitar was stolen I'd buy another just like it. I have never owned a semi-solidbody before and thought it might be to big, but it is actually very comfortable, standing or sitting down. Heritage makes some beautiful sunburst finishes, mine is Antique Sunburst.

Mine is a 1998 made in Kalamazoo and in antique natural. All-maple construction, except the neck, which is mahogany with a rosewood board.
Mine has the Duncan pickups.
It is the usual 335 thing, but better finished than any Gibson 335 I have seen for quite a while. Can with Hard Case.
The finaish was beautiful..no pings anywhere (it was made to order, may make a difference). The set up was great...may be due to Elderly instruments, I told them what type of strings and gauge and it arrived just so...GREAT people to deal with).

Sound is fantastic now and will be even better as it ages. The sound is slighlty brighter than I was expecting, but there is a lot of variation available. Very quiet electrically, and good detail for a humbucker guitar. Sounds good when played soft, too.

Absolutely perfect.
When Elderly got it, the pickup covers had tiny scratches, so they sent them back and fitted new "We weren't about to let you get it in anything other than perfect condition").
The antique maple finish is so georgeous!

No problems so far, except a minor bit of noise on one of the volume pots. (Thanks goodness for switchcleaner). This thing is built to last the distance.

See above. I did ring them to thank them for it and ask a question. They were just wonderful.

The only problem with it is that it is so nice, I hate to play it, since I'd hate to put a ding in it! I might not buy another semi if it was lost, but if I did, this would be it.It plays like butter and is my most playable guitarand I 've owned a few (30 years a player).
The big body size is a bit disconcerting at first, but you get used to it. It does feel like a real guitar! It is also built like a real guitar, not one of those mass-produced ones 9we all own em and play em, but they aren't the same). A top class instrument, made possible by people who want their product to be their advertisement.

Typical 335 setup, 2 humbuckers, schaller hardware, grover tuners. The body is thinner than a Gibson 335. Litely flamed maple top, back and sides. Beautiful matching wood pickguard. The wood boosts the rating here.

I must have bought a bad one. I play jazz mostly, but also blues, and funk. I really wish I could say that I like the tone that this guitar but I can't. I did not order this guitar custom so I'm not certain what the pu's are. I'm assuming they're the standard schaller ones that are common. The rhythm pu was muddy and lacked clarity and the lead was too bright to compliment the other pickup.
I thought about installing gibson '57 classics but decided it wasn't worth it. I really wish they used better pickups in their stock models...oh well.

The guitar was made pretty well. I'm dissappointed in the finish work on the headstock and body binding. But otherwise everything was nice. The headstock veneer was obviously only black paint instead of the more typical ebony or rosewood, and the logo was painted on!?!. I know this may be trivial, but it seemed odd for a guitar that claims to be competing with a Gibson! When I got the guitar home I noticed that the lamination over the binding was already flaking off near the lower bout. I really wasn't impressed with the harware either. I found the rolling saddles became more a nusance than anything.

The set up of the guitar was less than perfect. When the action was lowered to a reasonable height, strings would "fret out" in random places all over the reck. Neck adjustments and new stings (12's) still did nothing to make the guitar play better. I also could not get the guitar to intonate correctly. Chords would sound ok in 7th position, but if you tried the same thing in third it would send a chill up your spine.

After a month I decided that I wanted nothing more to do with the guitar and sold it. I ended up buying an '85 Gibson 335 that puts this guitar to shame in every category. Better pu's, hardware and detail.

On the plus side, the guitar seemed to be made of very nice figured maple. The guitar had a antique natural finish and was a joy to look at.

Sold it after a month and Bought a Gibson.

I have been playing for over eleven years. I play professionally doing gigs and studio work. If I had to do it over again I'd go straight for a Gibson or an '80's Ibanez Artist as-200.

I am sure that Heritage makes fine guitars and please DO NOT take my review as a endorsement to NOT BUY Heritage. I bought the guitar new, in a music store with less than ideal buying conditions, so I didn't get a real feeling for the guitar while in the store. Just remember, even the best companies put out a clunker every once and a while, be sure to keep your eyes and ears open!

It is a slightly modified version of a Gibson ES 335. I think most know the story. If not see features in other reviews below.

The sound is what you should expect from this guitar design. Im sure pickup type and hardware choices make small differences, but we are talking small. I love the sound.Yes , it sounds like most es 335 model guitars, better acoustic sound ( must mean something) than most Gibsons I played.

Action was not great when it arrived. I purchased it a couple of years ago from Ed Roman. I agree with the other review about the way he was treated by this man. I would not buy anything again from him. He must buy a ton of guitars from Heritage because he is getting away with stuff no other dealer would. Heritage should be carefull with this man.My Heritage was sold as new but I also believe my Guitar was a second. Although not marked that way, it had many small dings and imperfections. It came with NO paperwork, company info or even a real receipt!! When I called and asked about this, Ed was nasty about the whole deal. Who was I to ask for a receipt!! Didn't I trust him? No one had ever done that in his many years in business!! YEAH RIGHT ED!!
I knew I was on my own. WARNING ..stay away.... or go and see and playthe guitar you want. Good Luck
Other than a few flaws ( which does not affect tone or action at all) the guitar is built very well. Better than many Gibsons I looked at (they also had many flaws)and felt better while playing. I have playrd the guitar alot over the last 3 or four years and it seems time is good to it. All the little fret and finish concerns have faded away. My advise would be to play one and not buy buy mail order.Yes, the maple tops are much prettier than Gibsons. Solid maple ssides ( although no one ever mentions this guitar is slightly tthinner than Gibsons!)

The guitar has been very reliable. The neck relief needs more tweaking time to time than any of my solid bodys but given the way semi hollow bodies are constructed this can't be that unusual. It does response nicely to relief adjustments however. I have giged with it regularly the last 3 or 4 years with no problems. I do however take care of it.

When I first received the guitar from Roman ( see above for that story) I called and Heritage was very helpful and friendly on the phone. You actually get to talk to someone who is involved with the making of the guitar. Try that at Gibson!! They sent me a bracket for the pick guard ( I didn't have the heart to drill a hole in the middle of the guitar body!) and it came quickly. I have had no other problems but I would not hesitate to call them for any questions. I like that!!

I have been playing professionally for over 22 years. I have played all styles (from Bluegrass to Jazz)although the H 535 has mostly played the blues the last couple of years.Make no mistake this is a very versatile guitar. I would look again at Heritage guitars, but this time I would hold one in my hands before buying.I have no reason not to think this one will be with me for a long time.

Custom built 2001, at Heritage in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Came with deluxe hard-shell case. Basically your standard setup, but with a few custom features. Semi-hollow body (Gibson E-335 style). Laminated maple top and back, solid maple sides. Excellent binding. Trapezoid inlay on neck, Almond Sunburst finish with matching pick guard. One of the most beautiful color guitars I have seen. I highly recommend it. 2 volume, 2 tone controls. Schaller bridge and stop-tail piece. Special Heritage HRW pickups. Grover tuners I believe. I called Heritage to ask about what pickups were available and the guy at Heritage told me about these ones he just designed. They are incredible, and very versatile. I'll go more into them later. Heritage is so easy to deal with. I called a few times to ask some questions before I ordered it, and they gave me nothing but honest answers. Much better than any other company, I've ever dealt with. They will custom make a guitar just about any way you want it, at very little extra charge.

This guitar has tone, tone, and more tone. Excellent on both the high and low ends. I play through a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb reissue with a Ibanez Turbo Tubescreamer for a little distortion, and occasionally a Vox Wah. This guitar has excellent sustain. The Heritage HRW pickups are incredible. Both are passive, covered humbuckers. I tried a couple other Heritages before I bought this one with Seymore Duncans, and the sounded good, but took a chance on these after I talked to the guy who invented them. It was great, you can actually call Heritage and talk to the luthiers who make the guitars. They are a pretty new invention by a guy at Heritage, and they are great. There is no noise at all. They can go from very hot to a nice mellow jazz sound. Which suits me perfectly. I play mostly acid jazz genre, funk, blues. (Grant Green, Greyboy Allstars, James Brown, Melvin Sparks). Starting to dip into more traditional jazz now and this guitar has what it takes to do it all. Only thing its not really good for is heavy metal or punk. But then, if that's what you want to play you shouldn't have bought this guitar. Besides, it sounds too good to just bang on with the distortion turned up.

Well, I'm not sure how the factory set up was. I custom ordered it from Wallace Reed Music in Atl, Ga. Excellent store, gave me a great deal, and a helluva nice guy. By the time I got to the store to pick it up and started playing, the action was great. I don't think the guy at the store wanted to part with it. I thought it would take a little while to adjust to the larger body (my other guitar is a Les Paul), but it didn't. It played easliy from the beginning. Now for the finish. Almond Sunburst with a matching pick guard. Its sort of a beautiful dark orange sunburst, that brings out the tiger stripes of the wood grain excellent. You can see the color on Heriatge's web site, but it doesn't do it justice. Up close its amazing. By far the best color I've seen. Binding is perfect, I can't find anything wrong with it and I've looked evrywhere

This guitar should withstand live playing easily. I've only had it a few months but the finish loks like it will last a lifetime. Everything about the guitar seems to built solid. But of course, its a semi-hollow body, so you don't want to slam it into your amp, or do a lot of jumping around on stage. But if you treat it well, I don't see any reason why it would last. Only problem I had was that one of the volume knobs became lose after about a month. I sent Heritage an email, they asked for my address and sent me a replacement the very next day. No hassels or anything. How about that.

I've never dealt with a company and received better customer service. Like I said earlier, I talked with the guys who built this guitar and the pickups, and they treated me with the utmost respect, and gave me honest answers. There are not a lot of musical instrument companies you can even get to answer the phone. It only has a one-year warranty, but that's as good as most companies. Even Gibson with the "lifetime warranty" covers very little repairs. And, I feel confident that even if something goes wrong after a year, they would be more than willing to repair the guitar at a minimal cost.

I've been playing for about 9 years. Took some jazz classes in college and now that I'm out of school, I play about 1-2 hours a day after work. Only thing I wanted that I didn't get on this guitar was a split block inlay but it was about twice as much as the trapezoid inlay. I also own a '95 Les Paul and an acoustic Alvarez 25th anniversary edition, and this is the one a reach for everytime. Its as good as any guitar I've ever played. I looked at other semi-hollows, before I got this one. Gibson 335, Guild, and a few others. Mush better than any of the Guilds or others for just a little more money. I would go as far as to say that it better than the 335 or 336. Defintely made with more care. Remember, the guys who built this guitar are the same guys who built those vintage Gibson's that are so sought after today. Only I got this one for about a $1000.00 less. defintely the best value you can find for a guitar. Hand made, custom built, to quality gutiars at a fraction of the price. I know that sounds like a commercial, but its the truth.

1999 left handed semi hollowbody 335 style guitar. 2 Schaller humbucking pick-ups,tune-o-matic bridge.

Perfect!

Great once I had it set up. Ed Roman failed to do this regardless of what he promises on his website.

Seems fine.

Here is where my beef comes in. I purchase this guitar from Ed Roman in December of 1999.When ordering from him I specified a couple of things I wanted extra, first I wanted a Gibson Tune-O-Matic bridge and stop tailpiece instead of the stock Schaller,and second I paid for a Gibson case instead of his generic case. I had looked at both and felt that the Gibson case gave much better protection. The first thing I noticed upon receiving the guitar was that it was in one of his cheap Canadian cases that he keeps harping about that are so good. Then I noticed the binding on the neck up aroung the 2nd and 3rd fret was cracked and it looked like there was cracks in the finish around the back of the neck. I immediately contacted Ed Roman himself and told him of the problem. He then asked me if the box it came in was damaged to which I told haim No, he then told me to put some dents in the box so UPS would have to accept liability for the damage. I said no way and that I just wanted to send it back to him for an exchange. He said he couldn't do that because he didn't have any more of these in stock.
I also noticed several small nicks in the guitar as well as marks on the dise of the headstock from the rubber hangers that are used to hang instruments up in a music store, I also did not receive any of the documentation with the guitar such as hang tags or warranty cards of even a receipt. When I called him back about this one of his morons at his shop told me they don't give receipts out because of tax purposes (YEAH RIGHT!). This led me to believe that I had been sold a used instrument instead of a new one, mind you that I could not prove that but the facts of this sale were very suspect. After about 3 weeks of trying to deal with him I went straght to Heritage and told them my story. They said they would handle it and within 30 minutes I got a call from Ed roman stating that if I shipped the guitar to Heritage he would then arrange to have another one shipped to me the way that I ordered it. thanks god everything was finally worked out, but I just wanted to warn everyone out there to please be careful about dealing with this man, once he has your money he could care less about you or your problems, he treated me as if I was some ignorant kid who had just picked up a guitar for the first time. I am 45 and have been playing and making a living at it for the past 25 years and I don't need him or his idiot staff to tell me about guitars. When I received the 2nd guitar the bridge saddles on it weren't even notched for the strings and his tech told me that they are never notched , then I told him that I have owned over a dozen Les Pauls with the same bridge and everyone of them has been notched.These guys are complete assholes, so if you want to do busines with some one who will take your money and lie to you about everything they do then go right ahead but dont't say you weren't warned! I just want to make it clear that Heritage makes a wonderful instrument, in fact I plan on ordering another one from them direct in the near future, but please save yourself alot of pain and suffering and do not deal with Ed Roman, he is nothing but trouble. P.S. It turned out that the whole neck was cracked in half on the original guitar and not just finish cracks.

These are truly great guitars and I can't imagine playing anything else.

I custom ordered my guitar with a trapeze tailpiece and a piezo pickup underneath the bridge. The output is stereo, with the piezo on the right and electric pickups on the left. The humbuckers are the same as the reviews that have come before mine. I have two volume knobs (one for the electric pickups and one for the piezo) and a tone knob for the electric pickups. I would definately like individual volume for the two electric pickups. This is not a big deal because I am getting the two volume knobs rewired to the two electric pickups and running the accoustic pickup through a volume pedal.

I love this set-up! Definately one of the more unique set-ups out there. Unbelievable versatility! When blending the electric and acoustic pickups I can get a big arch top sound. Cut out the accoustic and I get that classic, 335 sound. Give me volume control for each humbucker and this category gets a 10.

Really beautiful. I play nearly everything (jazz, blues, rock, rockabilly, even some harder rock) and I can get nearly any desired tone out of the guitar. Great versatility.

I custom made my guitar with blick inlays on the fretboard, a great deep brown sunburst and a pickguard to match. I think it is the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen. Of course that is why I ordered it that way. The action and fit are great but I think that has more to do with the set-up the store I bought it from employed. Rumor has it that these come with a terrible set-up from the factory. Make sure you have the store you bought it from set it up properly!

Since Bluenote did such a good job, my 535 rates a 10 on the setup.

I haven't road tested it that much, but it seems to be very solidly built. I have an American Standard Tele that is my real war horse. Would definately not want to put my Heritage through the same wear. Too beautiful!

I would say the one problem with Heritage is that their Guitars take a little too long to arrive. Mine was supposed to take 8-9 months and it took 10. While one month shouldn't be that big of a deal, the anticipation was tortuous! I really would have appreciated updates on where my guitar was in the process.

Heritage seems like an engineering centric company without as much focus on the actual customer. That kind of environment makes fantastic guitars but not the best customer relations. In the end, I would want this to be the worst part of the experience. Afterall, the guitar lasts a lifetime and my contact with the company only lasted a couple of months.

I have been playing for about 9 years and have had all sorts of guitars. I custom picked this one to appease my sonic as well as aesthetic tastes. I could not be happier. Other than the minor volume problem--which is easily fixable--this is a perfect guitar.

I compared this to the Gibson 335 and the Gibson paled in comparison and was much more money! God forbid if it were stolen, I would get another one in an instant. In fact, I am contemplating another, larger Heritage. Really great guitars from a great company.

I got this guitar in 1996. I bought it mostly because of its versatility. Two humbuckers, 22 frets and classic Gibson 335 style. The quality of the material and workmanship is fantastic. Maple front, back and sides, mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard. Beautiful antique sunburst finish. No fancy features, just straight forward great guitar function.

I play mostly blues rock, and the guitar has proven to be a dream for it. I can even dial in that singing Santana sustain. BB King and classic rock are right there at my fingertips. Very quiet because of the humbuckers. I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, and that blues sound is so easy to nail.

I don't know how the action was when it arrived from the factory. Fortunately, the music store where I buy all my stuff goes over the whole guitar while I'm there, and they always set it up perfectly. There were no flaws in this guitar, binding was clean, the finished shined, and the hardware glinted. The wooden pickguard was the same color as the guitar back then, and even had the same antique burst finish. This guitar has always looked so good that I baby it to no end.

This guitar could withstand the most grueling roadwear, but I've never put it through those paces. Being as it looks so good, I hardly take it out of the house, let alone gigi with it for fear of getting it stolen or damaged. I suppose that if I was making more money, I wouldn't worry about it so much. IMHO, I would rather play live with a Gibson than my Heritage, simply because the finish on the Heritage is just that much prettier. The strap buttons were solid, but I replaced them with Schaller straplocks just to be safe. I have played with it at practice, but am seriously considering a Heritage H-150CM to gig with, because of the size of the H-150, but also the quality of Heritage. Since I baby my H-535, I'm pretty certain that it will outlive me, and I am only in my 20's.

I've never dealt with the company as far as service goes. I've never had to. From what other people have said though, they seem very down to earth, and I certainly don't mind dealing with people like that.

Compared with other semi-hollow bodies out there, I would definitely rate the H-535 among the highest. I tried quite a few before deciding on the Heritage. What you are getting is Gibson quality from when Gibson instruments were quality instruments for more than half the price. Sure, it's a little more expensive than other guitars made by Washburn and Ibanez, but the fit and finish of the Heritage is just that much better to be worth the investment.

Made in 1997 or 1998 in USA. The top and back are laminated maple, and I think the rims are solid. Nice mahogany neck, with a light-colored rosewood fingerboard and fairly fat frets. "Antique Natural" finish with nice grain. The wooden pickguard is a nice touch. I'm not crazy about the (Schaller?) bridge--there's something a little off in the radius. Chrome Schaller tuners, good hardshell case.

The sounds is its strongest feature--great for a clean jazz sound, and great for a bluesy overdrive sound. Good high end--clear and sharp but not harsh. Great on the attack. Sounds best, I think, with both pickups engaged and the volumes turned all the way up. Great sustain. I play through either a recent Fender Blues Junior or a 1970 Ampeg Gemini 12. The Ampeg sounds better but it's heavy and I'm getting lazy. I don't use much in the way of effects--reverb or delay and some compression. Easy to record. I bought this guitar because of how it sounded.

Terrible setup from the factory. The bridge is wacky--it's radius doesn't seem to match the radius of the fingerboard, and I can't get the action where I want it without buzzes. The trussrod seems to be about right, so I may need some expert help here. So it's playable but not optimal. The finish is excellent. Beautiful wood, well matched. But the action and feel are disappointing.

The pickup selector switch has done some screwy things--cutting out at band times, etc. Usually just flipping it back and forth straightens this out. Also, the tuners (Schallers, I think) slip a little. Tightening doesn't seem to help. The finish is great, though. I've used it at a couple of gigs and did a lot of tuning. Not quite ready to trust this thing entirely.

I've been playing over 30 years, and I've owned more than a few guitars, including a Guild Artist Award, a Gibson ES Artist, a Taylor 314, a Yairi acoustic, a Standel 430 semi-hollow electric, a Yamaha electric classical, etc. I would say the Heritage sounds a lot better than the Gibson (not really a good comparison because the Gibson had active EQ and other gizmos), but the feel is not nearly as good. I'm sure it can be improved, but it's not as straightforward as simply adjusting the bridge or the neck. But the sound is worth it--and it looks incredible.

Played through my Mesa Boogie Nomad 55 (on vintage gain Ch.) I can get a tone that is part Santana(his tone on "SuperNatural") Duane Allman, and Jimmy Herring, it is bizzat. Plus I can closely emulate most other classic rock textures. W/ clean, you can go from Jazz, to country. The 535 also sounds great with my 65' BF Princeton Reverb.

Like any other set neck guitar, you will have to tweak the truss rod here and there, certainly more often in the winter. Actually I havent touched the truss rod once this summer and the neck still feels great. If you can, learn how to make this adjustment yourself, it's not a costly repair, but it's more satisfying, and less time consuming to do it yourself. If you need a guide, by the Guitar Player Repair guide by Dan Erlewine, it is an excellent soure for repairs, it covers basically everything.

This is just a follow up to a previous review. I bought the guitar in Oct. '99, it is now Aug. '00, the only complaint I have is about the input jack. The placement is much better than an ES-335, its on the side of the guitar, just like a Les Paul, PRS, etc. But there is no metal Plate under the nut, the nut keeps coming loose, and if you tighten it too much, it will very slighly crack the wood, not a huge flaw. But a flaw all the same. You just have to be careful. Otherwise the Heritage, no matter what model you get, is an outstanding value. Better than a Gibson, and half the price, I cannot stress that enough, but you make the call.

This is the 335 style Heritage, with a Schaller adjustable bridge and stop tail with top loading strings. This one has a nice, one piece (!) maple top, back and sides with nice flame (though not an upgrade) with a standard sunburst (tobacco?) finish. Has Schaller humbucking pickups, 24 3/4" scale mahogany neck (with sunburst even at the heel/body joint) with rosewood fingerboard, dot position markers, some kind of synthetic nut material. The only real difference from a Gibson is the position of the output jack on the rim (side) rather than on top of the guitar...a position that makes more sense to me, anyway (yeah, harder to see and get to, but out of the way!). Grover tuners. All hardware is nickel (?) chrome finish. This guitar is everything a 335 style "blues/rock" guitar should be!!

This guitar works great for blues, rock, jazz, and "contemporary accompaniment" (which I do in church with a praise band & singers), even fingerstyle under some circumstances! I use it mostly with a Peavey Delta Blues (w/ 15" speaker), occasionally supplimenting it with a Boss GE-7 pedal to add treble and reduce bass, but it balances out nicely with a Fender amp; Fenders offering a little more treble than some others. My Peavey Transtube Express (w/ 12" speaker) can do an incredible Free "All Right Now" rock guitar sound with this thing...just found that one after owning it for a year! Played that for 1/2 an hour just out of shear enjoyment!
With the two humbuckers the sound it thick, obviously...not meant for the str*t tones...but if you dig Freddie King, Clapton ("From the Cradle") or even Carlos, this thing is great! If I want to go over the top, I use a Boss DS-1 distortion pedal or (my favorite) a Danelectro Daddy-O (the yellow one with 3-band eq).
I've read some complaints about the pickups, however, for standard issue, they work/ sound fine,with a good variety of tones...use your volume/tone knobs, fingers, the GE-7, etc. to find some new sounds...
For some the size of the body may seem ungainly, but I'm 6'2" and also appreciate that it's not as heavy as a Les Paul (since I'm also 42!!)...the hollowbody gives the tone more "air" and variety than a Les Paul; I've always thought they had a limited tonal range (personal preference there).

Since the guitar came from the dealer (Southpaw Guitar; thanks, Jimmy Duncan!), I'm not sure if they did any set-up on it after the factory: like another reviewer here, I've played for over 25 years, and don't expect a "perfect" set-up from the factory; I always expect (and want) to do my own set-up with MY choice of string gauges, etc.
BUT, right out of the case the guitar played well, with 10-46 strings on it...I usually keep 11-49/50 on this one (sometimes I even use a wound G; around 18-20 gauge); it just gives it more round full tone,and I like to work at bending those wires!!
I've adjusted the pickups a little; no big deal. You have to watch the rollers on the bridge when you change strings...sometimes they move and you have to recenter them above the strings, just a quirk of that spacing option on the bridge; I DO like the top loading tailpiece, too~ nice and easy to change strings.
Fit and finish all over this guitar are excellent!! Very nice woods for a standard production model at this price, even the side maple had flame in it; no poor fit or finish anywhere. I would like the nut to be bone or ivory: may do that mod myself, since I've done several on my Warmoth necks. The strap buttons are larger than on some electrics, and since I don't jump around when I play, they hold onto a thick leather strap quite nicely. The input jack tends to loosen from time to time; that's the only minus I've noticed.
I might have the frets redressed someday to get them "like butter," but they're great right out of the case; actually I kind of like a little "character" between fret and string when doing that Freddie King thing!!

I don't play in bars or other dangerous environments (unless you consider playing before God Almighty on Sunday morning hazardous; we probably all should!) But the guitar is as sturdy as any hollowbody. The neck joint seems very stable, all the hardware is put on properly and seems very durable.
The finish seems to be plenty durable without being paintbrush thick; just right.
I live dangerously all the time; I take almost any of my guitars to a "gig" without a backup, but I'm a pretty light player, don't break strings, and since I'm not playing professionally, I'm not worried about stopping the show and losing the paycheck! This guitar seems very dependable...it's not like a British/Italian sports car you have to baby all the time...more like a Mazda, Toyota or Honda.

I believe the warranty is for one year. I haven't dealt directly with the company, but I know they're very responsive to left-handed players needs, so I rate them excellent on that factor alone! That's customer service, IMHO!!

As I said above, been playing for over 25 years. Have several other electric guitars that I've built from Warmoth and Carvin parts (all very nice), a borrowed left-handed '74 Les Paul Custom, a 20 year old lefty Ibanez all-laminate acoustic, a Larrivee OM mahogany body, and a lefty Pimentel Rosewood/Cedar Classical.
The only thing I would change about this guitar is the finish color (to the Almond sunburst), but I love the woods, so I'm satisfied. If it were lost or stolen I'd get another one in the other finish, and maybe add a coil tap for a little more tonal variety.
My favorite feature on this thing is the TONE and playability... and at such an incredible price when compared with Gibsons: the only Gibsons I've seen that are comparable list for $3500 and up!!That's shameful!! I much prefer the tone on this one to the Les Paul Custom that my (obviously very good) friend is letting me borrow...I've hardly had that one out of its case, because I can play this one instread.
I went to Southpaw in Houston last January (flew from Omaha) and played as many guitars in the store as I could for 2 days...PRS, Rickenbacher, Guild, Gretsch, Gibson, G&L (a different animal, but nice)...it was my wife's Christmas present to me; with one stipulation: I couldn't buy another guitar!! Well, I didn't need to, because this one keeps me satisfied! (Although that custom blue Heritage 535 was gorgeous! Check out the website to see it: www.southpaw.net). This guitar is a lifetime keeper. How lucky can you get!?!

This guitar was made in '99 at the old Gibson factory in Kalamazoo MI. This guitar is the traditional ES-335 style(more so than the 335's Gibson makes today) 22 frets, laminate maple top and back, however with solid curly maple sides(unlike Gibson) 3-way pickup selector, two volume and tone controls for 2 humbuckers. My Heritage came with two Duncan 59' pickups which are passive. Body as I said was maple(thin-line semi hollow), the neck is one piece mahogany. The finish is natural(which is no extra charge, unlike Gibson) with a nice flame. It has a schaller stop tail and tune o matic bridge with roller saddles(they do slighly inhibit sustain, not to worry there is still oodles of sustain/feedback to go around. The saddles do make adjusting distance between strings much easier) Grover tuners are standard on all Heritage guitars. The neck is a 60's taper style, ooh its soooo good. Hard shell case is included. I'll give it an 8 for features because they're all stardard features, Heritage however will customize a guitar to pretty much whatever tickles your fancy.

The sound is absolutley beautiful. I can't wait to hear this guitar in 30 years. I cannot think of any style this guitar could not play. Jazz, blues and rock are its specialties, but country could be played and I guess even metal, but metal with tone mind you. I play through a Mesa/Boogie Nomad 55 which is probably one of the most versatile amps out there, so this extends my range even more. The sound is generally rich and full, but you can make it shriek if you like that kind of sound. One cool discovery I've made, is certain notes will feed back just when fretted, they don't need to be picked, when this happens, I can cover the f-hole with my hand and the feed back fades away, when hover my hand over it, I can make this sort of warbling sound like when you dial the tone control up and down, I just thought is was kind of neat. The only thing i dont like, but accept is that I can't reach down to the volume pot(s) with my pinky while I'm picking inorder to do volume swells. That's one of the thing I liked about my strat, but I think the tone of the heritage will compensate.

Heritage is sort of notorious for not having the action set up properly, mine was just a tad low so it buzzed on the lowest frets. The pickups needed to be lowered, but that is based from personal preference. The only other problem I had was that some how the bracket that secures the pickguard was not ship with the guitar. My dealer called Heritage up and asked them to send one, a week later it was there. Other wise the actual guitar itself is flawless, very solid. You must keep in mind that the luthiers at Heritage started their careers with Gibson back in the 50's, these guys were building the guitars that are classics today and are so heavily sought after. The method of making Heritage guitars is no exception to the method of building vintage Gibsons. They bought the original tools from Gibson and get their wood supplies from the same source from way back when. Heritage seems committed to making guitars they they used to be...hand-crafted one at a time.

Man I just got done with my spiel about how great these guitar are they're damn fine instruments. I probably would not gig without a backup just because if you break a string or something, it's much more convient just to grab another guitar, the music must go on man. But if I had to, I would be confident with just the Heritage, I have a pretty light touch anyways. As long as youre not dropping the damn thing on the floor, it will hold up just fine.

I've talked Heritage once, just to ask them what type of Duncan pickups were in the guitar('59) They were quite friendly and asked me where I was from. It was a limited coversation, but I got the info I needed. The Warranty is for one year, I'd really like to put some Lindy Fralin Pickups in this Hog, but I will wait until the warranty expires before I modify it at all.

I also have 50th anniversy Strat, that's my true blues guitar. A blackface Fender Princeton Reverb, and Daneletros and a Line 6 amp are on their way. If it were stolen/broken, I might compare another H-535 to a PRS hollowbody quite intensively, but the Heritage is less than half the price, the quality is just as good if not better, and the 535 is just a little more versatile. Sure I would go with Heritage again. I love the fact that this guitar has great tone, and that it's beautiful, and that's it is mine. I did compare the Heritage with a PRS McCarty which is a great guitar, but I liked the versatiliy of a semi hollow body. I don't think I mention how well it plays, but it is like butter. Well it always makes me chuckle to think that my Heritage is actually closer to a vintage Gibson than the guitars Gibson makes today, however the heritage is half the price. Wow what I great idea, making a higher quality product, and selling it for a lower price, why hasn't anyone else thought of that?

This guitar was a custom order completed in January '99. It is a semi-hollow body (think Gibson 335). The guitar is beautifully finished in Heritages Almond (Ice Tea) Sunburst. Like a 335 it has two humbucking pcikups, two volume and two tone controls. The tuners are Grover and the bridge and tailpiece are Schaller. I had some upgrades done to my guitar including: select flame maple - the standard Heritage is beautifull this is stunning. Trapeziod inlays ala Les Paul standard. Bound peg head and F holes. Deeper neck profile. Duncan Seth Lover pickups.

The sound is gorgeous. The guitar is very resonant and almost sounds like and accoustic when not plugged in and of course really comes alive when pluged in. The sustain is is great, as good as if not better than my Les Paul. The neck pickup is full and warm without being muddy. The bridge pickup is bright and crisp and punchy without being peircing. The middle position is magic - just blend the two volumes to yeild a million sublte variations. Middle postion into my '66 Super Reverb on 3 equalls the ryhthm tone of doom. It soounds equally as killer through my '69 Marshall small box 50 head.

Out of the box the neck was dead straight. I had to loosen the truss rod about 1/4 turn to add some relief to the neck. Also, like Gibson, Heritage files the tops of the frets flat. I had mine crowned and polished to round them out a bit and this improved the playability immensly. The finish is simply gorgeous. If you've never seen Heritages Almond Sunburst, well it's their best finish by far imho. It really shows of the grain of the wood beautifully. I give this category an 8 because of the neck relief and fret crowning/polishing.

There are still plenty of old '50s and '60s Gibson 335 around, I don't see any reason whay this guitar shouldn't last at least as long as it was made in the orginal Gibson factory buy original Gibson employees. This finish is nitro and so will continue to dry with age. This may lead to some checking, but this should be minimal if the guitar is well cared for (and it is). I can't wait for the finish to yellow a little.

You can call Heritage directly and speak with the president Bill Paige. I custom ordered mine from Heritages largest dealer, Jay Wolfe. Both Jay and Heritage were very pleasent to deal with.

I've been playing guitar for over 25 years. I've onwed Les Pauls, Melody Makers, Strats, Teles, PRS Custom, Anderson Classic, Suhr Classic. This is currently my main electric guitar. The tone and playabilty are just superb. The only thing wrong with this guitar is it doesn't say Gibson on the peg head. Much more guitar for much less $ than the current Gibson offerings imho.

1998 model, USA made 335 style, dual humbuckers, bound rosewood board, Grover tuners, 3 way selector switch, 2 volume and 2 tone controls. Nice vintage orange color, laminated bound maple top and back, medium large frets. Schaller bridge and tailpiece. Pretty basic stuff.

Easy to get a workable clean sound, a little harder to obtain a fat, sustained blues tone, but its certainly there, just requires careful EQing, and the right P/U splitting volume/tone combination. Quite a variety of clean sounds are in this guitar, but higher gain/overdrive playing results mostly in feedback. This guitar has quite a bit of bass response and somewhat thick mids, so you need to be able to EQ this out if its bothersome. Overall a great warm sustained tone, but requires some work to obtain, both with the amp EQ, and guitar setup (more on setup below).

Fit & finish are quite good overall, the only significant flaw is a thin 1/2 inch split in the top under the tailpiece by the stud hole. Not too visible with the tailpiece in place, I only hope it stays small. Action as delivered was poor, with much buzzing on lower frets on the low E string, and some dead spots up the neck. I assume the neck flattened somewhat during shipping with the strings loosened. The action was a little stiff with the stock 10-46 strings, and the acoustic tone was a little cold as well, so I stepped up a string guage to 11-49, tuned down a half step, backed the truss rod off a quarter turn, raised the bridge a tad, set the intonation, and the guitar came to life. Hate to lose satndard tuning, but the guitar really was too stiff for comfortable bending even a whole tone at standard pitch, and the heavier strings have helped the tone.

Overall quite high quality build with good materials, although the finish is a little soft, so you need to be careful with belts, etc. Its a set neck semi-hollow so don't expect it to endure a lot of abuse or rough handling, but with reasonable care it should give many many years of service. Heavy chrome on bridge and tailpiece should resist corrosion, the pickup covers look a little thin in the finish though, so I'm expecting some premature aging from them. Nice deep strap buttons.

The guys at Heritage enjoy a good reputation for service, and the people at Murch Music have been great as well, so I feel well covered for support if needed.

I've been playing for 25 or so years, and have the usual amount of gear that accumulates over that period of time. I bought this guitar without playing it, as there is no local stocking Heritage dealer. Have played a number of 335 type guitars, and this one compares favorably. Reconize the guitars strenghts and limitations, work within them, and it should keep you smiling.

Here is the tale (Setting for review) ... I was in the market for a 335 (or nice clone) as I have been a big BB King fan (tone and player's style) for some time. I tried out a BUNCH of Gibson 335's and they were nice, had the tone but just did not seem worth the price compared to the competition (Epi, Washburn, Samick and others). I was about to go in one of several ways ... perhaps abandon the quest for the 335 like guitar outright. I tried every clone I could fine (I never did encounter the Ibenez) Epi, Samick, DeArmond, Washburn, etc. Of those I tested the Washburn was the best, it seemed to me, better sounding pickups (I would have changed them anyway) and better fretwire (Taller that is) than the others. The quality of the various brands were comparable and reasonably consistent ... reasonably. I was considering abandoning the quest entirely for a Hamer 25th Ann. Artist (still may one day).
Then I stumbled into the Heritage line ... I had not really heard of them before. New stock 335 clone (535) was ~$1200 to the door with hardshell. As it is a Gibson 335 for all practical purposes (or better) I will not re-tell the factory history here www.heritageguitar.com/). I played one with the stock Shaller's into a Bassman RI and very impressed ... ordered it and after a little bout with poison ivy have been enjoying it (and setting it up).
Materials, Construction (9.5 due to fretwork, 10 otherwise) & Playability Issues (Setup was not great 8 ... 10 after I set it up):
It is a set neck 24 3/4 inch scale semi-hollow. One piece solid mahogany neck (I don't know what the nut material is). It has the maple laminate top and back (like the 335) with a maple (I believe) center block. Unlike the 335's the 535 has SOLID maple sides. Cream binding on body and neck but not headstock. It is identical in dimensions to a 335 except for the headstock shape (duh) and the angle back is vintage 335 not modern 335 in spec's. It has a rosewood fretboard with dot inlays. Unlike the 335 (plastic) it has a bound flame maple pickguard. It uses the Shaller stoptail setup (roller adjustable for intonation and string spread) with Grover tuners. It has a single action truss rod (at least that is what it appears to have). It has the golden colored (same as Gibson's) plastic high hat knobs I think look cheesy on any guitar (I will have to change those!). Two tone and two volume controls and 3 way switch. Heritage can be ordered with ANY S Duncan pickups (new LP-like models come with SD 59's stock now I think) and a variety of wiring setups from the factory (phase changes, splitting, varitone type circuits etc.) for a VERY reasonable fee.

Somedays 10 others 6:
The Shaller pickups have been criticized most consistently for not being clean enough on the low end. Personally, I can't decide what I think about them. They have a more Seth Lover tone to them ... brighter than my Classic 57/57+ (500K pots but a .05 cap so they are darker than many 57's). Some days I love them other days I do not find them so attractive (not sure why yet). I did have to lower them substantially, and found that for me a raise in the string pole pieces for the G and D strings (most with some slight elevations on B and A) corrected almost all my early concerns. Or, a boost the mids some on the eq also seems to bring it in line. I do find I tend to have the tone knob on 10 a lot with these though and that should tell me something. They do not seem to muddy any faster than the Gibsons when clean, but do seem to do so faster when chorus or reverb are used during rhythm work (yeah I know your not supposed to do that). I like a jazzy-midrange feel and would probably go to a SD Jazz in the neck and JB in the bridge if I were to change them ... but so far I have not found it enough that I have found it necessary (I may play with cap changes before I go all out for pickup changing though as it would be a lot easier on 335 styled guitars).

Appearance (9.9... pickguard perfect and it would have been a 10+):
I ordered mine with an Almond Sunburst and chrome hardware. It is gorgeous! It is far more flamed than a standard 335 from Gibson. Much prettier than any standard issue 335 I have seen to date.
The construction quality (10) Factory Setup (6)
Quality seems better than most of the 335's I looked at, and worse than none I found. There are a couple of places on binding of the pickguard that there was some sloppy finish work. No orange peel on the guitar, and there were no flaws anywhere else.
Fretwork is the one area I am VERY hard to please. I have never encountered a production guitar (and not a lot of customs) that I have like the fretwork on ... well, two exceptions ... Carvin and Hamer USA. Folks who build guitars could learn from these folks ... esp. Carvin (yes Carvin has spoiled-sold me in this area). The 535 fretwork was pretty good. Better than Gibsons (and I like Gibsons), but there are a couple of places where the fretwork could have been a little better. A couple of very slightly high frets, and not a perfect (but pretty good) job with the fretwork (crown and polish). After playing it a while I find that, with my wild vibratos and sloppy double stop slides on the high E and B strings, I occasionally slide the high E off the edge of the fretboard. I reset the width at the bridge some as it was easy, and it helped but I still find myself dropping of the edge now and again (but I do with any 335). Speaking of setup issues, the setup from the factory was not great ... OK but not great. The action was fairly high and there was a great deal of unneeded relief. I took out some of the relief and lowered the action (5/64 on low E and 1/16 on high E). This gives a touch of fret buzz when I play aggressively in a couple of places (slightly higher frets but no so much I am ready to do a fret level at this point!).
In reading the reviews of the Heritage line there were 2 areas where there was criticism ... the Shaller roller adjustable Tune-O-Matic and the Shaller Golden 50's pickups. The roller adjustable has been criticized for it having more moving parts and therefore reducing sustain over the traditional adjustable. If it does (I am sure it must ... at least in theory) it is not enough that I can tell it comparing them side by side to one another. Even then they are a simple matter of switching them (~$40 stew mac) if you wanted to do so.

It is as sound as any of the semi-hollow guitars I have tried. AS it has a lac. finish and not poly it is a little more easily damaged, but it is the "desired" finsih sothe extra care is worth it.
Hardware seems great. Stap buttons were solid and durable, though I put Shaller locking ones one (I install either Shaller or Dulops on all guitars).
I would not gig without a backup ... not cool planning at all. But, I would trust it as much as ANY guitar I have owned.

Never spoke with HEritage directly. I spoke with my dealer and he was great.

Review In A Nutshell (By a Nut) ...
Things I love ...
1.) 335 tone, feel (playability) and construction. 2.) Appearance and Finish 3.) Price
Things I liked (but not loved) ...
1.) Fretwork 2.) Shaller pickups
Things I didn't like ...
1.) Setup 2.) Gold high hat speed knobs for tone and volume.
Final Comments ....
I see no reason (other than name appeal) to spend the money on a 335 from Gibson with the 535's out there. I am looking at their Jazz boxes, and LP styled guitars now. Great guitar company. I feel they are an improved Gibson by the old Gibson pro's.

Made in Kalamazoo, MI, by the orininal Gibson employees of the fifties, using the original building and machinery of the old Gibson factory. Semi-hollow body, 335-style guitar, set-neck, beautifully flamed one-piece maple top and back in a 3-tone sunburst nitrocellulouse finish("sunset burst", according to the Heritage color guide), gorgeous wooden pickguard in same sunburst finish, unique trapezoidal headstock with "The Heritage" logo silk-screened on, rosewood fretboard,dot markers, c-shaped slim taper neck a'la post '60 Gibson, chrome non-locking grover tuners, chrome upgraded gibson-style hardware(more on this later), 2 passive chrome humbuckers of unknown origin, cloth-covered wire, unbound f-holes, basic gibson control layout--2 volume, 2 tone, 3-way toggle switch, basically a classic, vintage-looking and sounding instrument with minor refinements/improvements. I give it a 10 'cause this is all any good guitar player needs. Oh yeah.....it's left-handed.

My only amp is a 1970 small box 4-input 50 watt Marshall going into a re-issue cab with 4 greenbacks. I don't like effects. I like pure tone. The only pedals I use are a Vox wah and a TS-9. I play chicago blues, blues/rock, 60's psych, pop, brit-rock, folk, a little jazz(still learning), basically anything that tickles my fancy. And for all those styles, my Heritage will perform time and again. This is an amazing sounding guitar, and contrary to other posts, the stock pick-ups are up to par with any P.A.F. type humbucker that I've heard. The neck pu is smooth and full, not muddy, while the bridge screams in the creamiest way. Maybe the pups were upgraded before I purchased the guitar...I don't know. Anyway, clean, you'll get Wes Montgomery. Overdriven, you'll get Cream-era Clapton. Distorted, you'll get Zeppelin. You won't come close, you'll NAIL these sounds. Of course, it's not the most versatile guitar--you're not going to get single-coil sounds, but you'll get FAAAAAAAAT tone.

As I mentioned earlier everything about this axe is superb. The 10's were set up beautifully by Southpaw, is where I got this thing. The only quibble is a hairline that is the result of the two pieces of wood not properly sanded under the headstock veneer. But, that's really scrutinizing. Knowing Heritage's reputation for top quality, they should have been more careful. Because of that I'll give it a....

Well, it's a semi-hollow guitar, so don't expect to walk away playing in tune after you ram it head-first into your stack. But take care of it, and it'll take care of you.

Haven't dealt with them, but reading the other posts, I'm sure I won't have a problem if anything goes wrong. It comes with a one year warranty.

Being a lefty in a righty world, it's damn near impoosible to find a high-quality guitar at a reasonable price. Heritage is the only company that can measure up. They hand build each axe, which is a piece of mind, in my opinion. WAY better than a Gibson--I own a Historic '57 gold-top and a '98 SG. I'd buy this guitar again in a second. For half the price of a Gibson at twice the quality, why wouldn't I?

I ordered this guitar (new) from a local dealer in the Virginia. I believe this guitar was made in January 99. For those unfamilar, the H535 is your standard dual cutaway, semi-hollow electric guitar. Essentially the H535 is a copy of a Gibson ES-335, with a few minor variations. For those unfamiliar, the H535 features dual Schaller humbuckers, non-locking Grover or Schaller tuners (I can't remember), & what I belive is a tune-o-matic bridge (Heritage's version). The scale length is short, 24 3/4, but certainly not unbearable. I think the frets are jumbo. The purchase also included a really nice hard shell case from Heritage.

The sound from this guitar is fantastic. To my ears, it's extremely rich & full. The sustain is fantastic. Very balanced as well. I'm primarily interested in jazz, & think this guitar is setup nicely for that. I currently play through a Fender HR Deluxe (& my guitar instructors' Polytone Mini-Brute). I have little difficulty getting a warm & thick jazz tone (& I'm still using the stock light strings). It's simply a matter of rolling off some tone (& lots of bass on the amp). I don't think think this guitar is limited to jazz exclusively. It could be used for just about any genre of music, especially blues. Use the three pickup selector switch & you should be able to get just about any tone. Be assured that none of them will be thin or harsh. Unfortunately, when using the neck HB, the bass can be a little heavy times & I'm not entirely sure where to attribute this. Maybe someone else can tell me if this is a normal characteristic of a semihollow guitar or a HR Deluxe?

I spent the extra $$ & got the non-standard amber finish. The amber body & cream colored binding is stunning to say the least. The finish seems flawless. No blemishes discovered yet. The action seems a bit lower than my Strat, which makes it considerably easier to play. Keep in mind that if you currently play a different style guitar (ie. Strat or Tele), it may take a little longer to get used to the H535's wider body. I do have at least one complaint about this guitar. Currently, I've got a buzz on the second fret on the A,G, & B strings. I'm hopping that it's simply a matter of redressing a fret or two. I'd like to think that the fret problem happened in the midst of shipping from the factory. As a result of the fret problem, I'm giving the H535 a lower rating for this category. I'll post a follow-up concerning the fret problem in the very near future.

I think the H535 is a pretty solid guitar. All the essential components seem to be of high quality. This one reason why I elected not to go with an Epiphone Sheraton. Hopefully, this H535 will be around for quite sometime. I don't think any of the chrome covered material will wear prematurely. Obviously, I can't really answer this since I've only had the guitar in my possesion litle over a week. I wouldn't gig with this guitar. Not that it's fragile; I'd hate to see anything damage the phenomenal finish. I think under normal circumstances, the guitar would hold up nicely. I initially thought about getting strap locks, but will hold off for right now. The buttons seem to do an adequate job of holding the strap. I don't gig & as a result don't concern myself with having a backup. If anything happened to this guitar, I would lie, cheat, or steal to get another one.

I'm a bit perturbed at the dealer I ordered this guitar from. There are a lot of things Heritage will do to customize a guitar. Unfortunately, I wasn't made aware of them until well after I ordered the guitar. Basically, I was interested in a thicker neck, & a different color pickguard (similar to that of a Gibson ES335). When I spoke to both the factory & dealer inquiring about a thicker neck for my H535, I was basically told it was too late. At that point the guitar had already been assembled. The custom pickguard I ordered, is yet to arrive. Had I been willing to wait a couple of additional months, I probably could've requested the factory start another guitar for me; unfortunately patience has never been a virtue. Still, it would've been nice to know about the custom stuff well in advance. As for the fret problem, I will probably take the guitar to a local shop for assessment. I'd hate to ship the guitar back to the factory for what I suspect/hope is a very minor problem. The bottom line: I'm quite impressed at Heritage's quality products, but would probably seek out another Heritage dealer if I ever ordered a guitar from them in the future.

I've been playing for about four years now. I presently own a Fender Lone Star Strat, HR Deluxe, & a couple Boss fx pedals. To be perfectly honest, It would've been nice to known in advance all the options Heritage is willing to do. If in doubt about something special you might like on your guitar, call the factory. They are all pretty helpful. As stated previously, I'd certainly replace this guitar in a heartbeat if ever stolen or seriously damaged. It might take sometime getting used to the "boxy" feeling of the H535. Not a big deal. You'll really love the guitar once you start playing it. Overall, the H535 is a terrific guitar for the $$. Check out the Epiphone DOT, Sheraton, Washburn HB35, & then check out a Heritage H535. You'll see the difference is night & day. If you're seriously contemplating an Epiphone Sheraton, check out the H535. When you consider the cost of swapping pickups, the H535 isn't all that steep in price.