Heritage H-575 Custom

2004 model. Bought from ebay seller as "new/old stock". Beauteous solid wood construction; curly maple body. Mahogany neck, light brown rosewood fretboard (matches body color). Brown "'burst" nitro finish. Two humbuckers (don't know brand). Fancy neck position inlays. Endpin-style cable jack. 1-11/16 bone nut. Similar to Gibson ES175 body except: neck PU is hard by fingerboard end, & the body seems a bit thinner. OHSC. Quality tuners. Rosewood bridge. Unworn medium jumbo frets.

All the "features" I was looking for in a practical, affordable & gigworthy jazz guitar.

If you are at all like me, a 50-something Berklee-trained, thousands-of-gigs-seasoned, broke MF who lives for true sound, not BS, this guitar is your dream come true. If you have any skill at all, you will be rewarded with an awesome tone that can't be beat. Like jazz guitar? All the sounds thereto are here, in this Heritage guitar. I mean, ALL. Mellow, barky like an L5, you name it, it's right at your fingertips. The factory pickups are great. I don't know the brand, but there are four adjustment screws instead of the usual two. I've owned many, many jazz boxes, and this is the first ever where the LEAD PU had a true, usable jazz tone. Just turn the tone knob down a bit, as well as the volume, and you'll see what I mean. Useful as a "sound almost off" rhythm guitar thing. When in mid-position (both pickups on), there's no weird "funky" out-of-phase honking sound, just a good in-between sound. And, in neck PU position, --well, there it is--the real, true super-jazz sound.

Feedback--this box has awesome, totally musical feedback; at medium volume through a Blues Junior, the feedback-assisted sustain is even, and unbelievable! Hardly any squealy pitches; you can't get this type of useful musical sustain on a solidbody.

Sound: awesome.

This Heritage H575 Custom came to me poorly setup, from an Ebay seller. Small $ at Classic Axe in Nashville solved all problems. Plays perfectly now. If you buy one, consider having a luthier lower the pickguard a hair, so your LH pinky doesn't hit it when you're playing in the highest position. Just needs a smaller felt piece, I think.

I mean, there is no fret buzz; PU, bridge, or tailpiece rattle nonexistent.

I waited several months to write this because I wanted to make sure that this great axe didn't have undetected warts. None. Highly recommended. Gigworthy.

The nitro finish is delicate; don't use cheap straps; or stands, with those cheesy "rubber" parts. Buy a quality stand, or keep it in the case!!

Buy a Heritage guitar, soon! USA-made, top quality! No, I don't work for them; they don't know who the he%$ I am.

Heritage has a website. Pretty basic, but you can contact them, and even order a custom model.

Rave review? YES! Like I said, I waited a long while before posting this review. This Heritage H575 Custom is a great guitar that any jazz guitarist will play for about one minute before declaring, "Damn! I want one of those!".

My 575 Custom was born in 2006. It came with two matching Seymour Duncans 59 humbuckers, 24-3/4 fretboard scale. Mahogany back and sides with a laminated top. The color is a dark almond color.

I have it strung with Thomastiks and the sound is a pure jazz tone. Very warm and thick sound, in conbination when both pickups are selected thinner sound, but still very jazzy. The pots are also very sensitive and I took time in experimenting with volume and tone controls. I run it through several amps. Twin Reverb, Peavey Classic, and Carvin SX300.

When I first got my hands on it the action was right on, and it felt great. As far as how the pickups were adjusted, they seemed to be properly adjusted. The only thing that I was not happy about was the way the wires are seen through the F-holes, but that is not a bid deal as the sound was the main concern. I got this guitar from Wolfe Guitars. I have been to Wolfe's several times and I have to say that Jay and Graham go over and beyond to make sure that the guitars on their wall are nothing but the best. And I did have Graham go over it again before I took it home and I could not be happier!

This is a solidly built guitar, and I am sure it will stand the test of time. I would not hesitate to do a gig with this guitar without a backup!

All the Heritages through the F-Hole will have a sticker with the serial number and color etc... Well mines was one that made it out of the plant without it. I called them and explained this and they asked me for the serial on the back of the headstock and in a within a few days I got one in the mail to be placed inside the guitar. They explained that it was possible that it made it out of their plant that way. The person was friendly and was very helpful.

Been playing for alot of years, and have had many guitars, and still do. This one gets picked up the most! If it were lost or stolen I would surely get another one without questions.

I have owned this instrument since 2002 and all the info on features have already been covered on the Heritage Website and in previous reviews. My instrument was produced prior to the company adopting the PLEK mfg method of neck & fretboard preparation. The PLEK treatment of each instrument should be one reason to consider purchasing the guitar, it makes a good set up possible. My instrument has the Dual HRW pickups installed. I also like the end pin input jack mounting. My instrument is all maple top, back and sides, with excellent bindings. I rate this a 9 because the PLEK system would add a point and mine did not have that from the factory.
The pots on this instrument are very linear in their ability to smoothly control the output of the instrument.

As a player of jazz and other music, This guitar is a wonderful choice. I really think there is not a better option for those who understand that they want a hollow body guitar. The response from the combinations made into this instrument make this a guitar that would have been a first choice by all those great players from the past. Had this guitar been around when Charlie Christian, Howard Roberts, Wes & Co, etc were active on the music scene, THis would have been the guitar they would have chosen. The guitar, with the HRW pickups is very sensitive to pickup adjustments and can add or reduce the overall output sound a great deal, this is wonderful for those who want flexibility to add a somewhat ammount of distortion to their playing. The output of this instrument is a FULL, warm sound without the brittle brightness I have heard on some laminated body instruments. The pickups are quite and the entire experience of output on this instrument is just what you would expect a guitar to be. No surprises. Play Jazz no problem, kick it up a notch and play the blues no problem, Church performance oh yes no problem, Country Music ah yes, you can even get a little Pink Floyd going if you have some pedals, and it will work out. Not a good guitar for THRASH or Heavy Metal or Hard Rockin' styles. I play this 575 through a Pritchard Jade Dagger amp (solid state) and this is a terrific combination that I would suggest to even the most basic player if they are interested in a great guitar/amp combination. If you are like me you are looking for an instrument that could produce an acoustic output and then pass it along for amplification, well this is my solution to that desire. I have to give this a 10 because it does everything I want and does it correctly.

As stated before the Heritage guitars NOW have the PLEK process online with their production, mine did not. I had to PAY a specialist to set up my 575 to play the way the PLEK systems allows for a sucessful to be completed. I had the nut replaced with a custom bone nut(now available from Heritage on request I think) and the nut slot leveled to accommodate the new nut, from the factory the nut slot was unlevel. I also had the rosewood compensated bridge custom fitted to the top as it was not as close a fit as could have been, for best response.(fitting a compensated bridge on an archtop is a time-consuming task but is worth it!)I had a specialist set-up my 575 after I received it and the proper set up on this instrument made a great difference in sound. This guitar is strung with GHS Compund Nickel Rollerwound strings, gauge set: 12-16-N22-C30-C42-C50 and I think this is a PERFECT string set up for my interests as state above. A quality guitar will have a great response to any string selection option. And mine sure has responded well to the GHS set from the custom shop selection that I order from my dealer Bill Foley at German Village Music Haus in Columbus Ohio. Bill is a first class businessman/luthier. The Fit and Finish on this instrument is the CROWN AND GLORY of this review. All who have seen this instrument have declared it the WINNER and TRUE CHAMPION in this dept. Thanks to the sharp attention to detail of Jay Wolfe(guitars) from the dealership in Jupiter Fla. all the cool appointments were included on this instrument. The WOW factor is garnered by the Highly flamed wood selection that is finished off in a Burnt Amber finish. This finish is a perfect match for the mahogany neck to the maple body and the appearance is second to none. Jay made me lucky! When I rate one of these catagories it is a correct rating not FLUFF! my rating of 9 reflects the nut set up as stated above.

This instrument is a most trusted part of the music making experience and will be here for my great grandchildren to play on. Everything on my guitar will stand the test of time, from looks to sound. Play with this guitar live no problem, back up would only be necessary if a wild action by a fan or the player caused the player to fall off the stage or cause a problem. The instrument is ROCK SOLID as I hoped it would be when I ordered it from JAY WOLFE.

This area is also a winning rating. I have received excellent attention in my ownership of this instrument due to the professional interest of Jay Wolfe, the retailer, and Ren Wall Heritage Guitar Factory Guru. Both of these men have made my ownership of this H575 Custom the experience just exactly what I would hope it would be.

I have been playing guitar(s) since I was 6yrs old, now I am 57 and I have been most pleased with the experience of owning this Heritage H575 Custom Guitar. I have 2 other Heritage models, an H535 and a one of the first of the 2000 Millenium Eagles to be produced. All these Hertiage guitars are SO COOL that I have kept all of them and love them all 3, as they are so different either in size sound or looks. If this H575 were lost I would most certainly reorder a replacement, nothing else comes close to competing with this guitar that would cause me to purchase something else, That is anywhere close to price. If you want to spend $7000-$24,000 for a custom boutique instrument then that is a different story, but short of that decision nothing else REALLY has changed my mind. These really high end builders are "Outstanding to saw the least" but I am not sure that spending that much more cash would have afforded me a better playing experience. Many great builders but the Heritage Musical Instuments are where I have invested my money. Best Wishes.

2006 H575 Custom. Solid carved X-braced spruce top, carved figured maple back and rim. This model has the single neck position HRW 4-point Humbucker Pickup. Volume and tone controls with black speed knobs mounted outside the f holes near the rim, as the they should be with an X-braced top. NO PLYWOOD HERE! Neck is one piece mahogany, 20 well dressed frets, fully bound ebony fingerboard with mother of pearl block inlays, 24 3/4" scale, bone nut. Bridge is ebony and the pickguard is a Kenny Burnell style also in ebony. Deluxe binding on top and bottom of rim and headstock. All hardware is gold plated including the nice Heritage "H" tailpiece. The guitar came in a nicely padded Heritage case. All the features you would expect in a solid hand carved jazz box. I'm giving it a 10 on featues because the guitar has all the features I wanted and none that I didn't.

I am studying Jazz guitar and was looking for a carved archtop with a rich full sound. I have been playing an Ibanez AF105 but it lacked presence and acoustic projection that I'll assume was due to its plywood construction. This Heritage Custom with the carved spruce top has a very rich and clear sound. The tone is very will balanced across all strings both acoustically and amplified. Single note runs ring true and clear with chords sounding full and alive. With the single neck HB the guitar produces that classic Jazz tone, listen to Vince Lewis (www.vincelewis.com) and you well here it. I have it setup with 13 flatwounds which seems to be a good fit for this guitar. It?s loud enough acoustically that there is no reason to plug in for practicing. I am most impressed with the clarity in the sound which I attribute to the hand carved X-braced spruce top. I was looking for a guitar that first had excellent acoustic properties and found it, for that I give it a 10. Incredible sound, you just can't get this tone from a plywood jazz box, and also, go with the spruce top.

I can't comment on the factory set as mine was set up my Master Guitar Guru Graham Zebedee at Jay Wolfe Guitars. He did a great job setting up the guitar. I play both finger style and with a pick and Graham set up the action fairly low but I have since gone a 1/64 lower without creating any problems. The PU was adjusted to provide a clean balanced tone. One thing I really like about this guitar is that not only can you hear that it's handmade, you can feel and see it's handmade. If you?re into sterile CNC machine made factory replicates where the next 1000 are just like the first 1000 this guitar may not be for you. There are very minor tooling marks, the finish has bleed over into the binding in a few areas, but I think it just shows where human hands connected with this fine instrument. The nitro finish is thin and highly polished which brings out the flame in the maple rim and back. The color is very uniform and pleasing to admire. Once again, if your into perfection and don't care about how your box sounds then look elsewhere. I have to fairly rate the guitar a 9 only because of the finish on the bindings and I would have like for "The Heritage" headstock logo to have been inlayed with MOP to match the MOP block inlays on the neck.

This is a real working jazz rig that is solid and extremely well built. I would think you could gig without a backup owning this guitar. I can only estimate the durability base on experience with other guitars and would think this guitar to be as or more durable. I had Graham from Jay Wolfe Guitars add the front strap button to the heel of the neck which he did expertly; it appears solid and not likely to fail.

I cannot comment on factory support from Heritage other then I called them once to talk about neck dimensions and they took the time to answer my entire question. However I will comment on Jay Wolfe Guitars where I bought this guitar. Graham took the time to answer several phone calls with countless questions, he was friendly, courteous and generally seemed concerned that you where getting the service and support you needed. This is a rare attribute in today?s society and I can't recommend Jay Wolfe guitars enough, a 10 plus in this category.

I've been playing on and off for about 20 years. If this guitar was stolen or lost I'd be mad as hell, then go out and buy another one. Please feel free to email me regarding my very positive experience with this Heritage Custom and Wolfe Guitars.

Differs from standard 575 Custom in that it has a "fingers" tailpiece, bound f-holes, single HRW pickup in neck position. It was ordered with a tunomatic bridge with rosewood base but arrived with standard compensated rosewood bridge and base. The guitar has been "Plek'd" and the standard of setup was good. Colour was OSB and looks great. Body is all maple with mahogany neck with block pearl inlays. If I were ordering again I would request a type 550 neck on the 575 body. Came with TKL hardcase with black interior. The guitar was surprisingly light. This is one guitar that won't give you backache when playing.

This was bought as a jazz box and it serves that purpose. A bit of a one trick pony. The guitar DOES NOT sound like a Gibson 175 despite looking like one. It has its own sound. More like an amplified acoustic guitar than an electric with and acoustic sound - if you know what I mean. Imagine taking a Gibson acoustic guitar and adding a neck pickup and you get close. I've found the guitar to be a bit of a feedback demon. There are several "wolf" notes on the neck and if you are not careful they will just takeoff if you are near your amp. I've found it necessary to stand with my back to the amp and be about 10 feeet away to minimise this. Apart from these caveates, this is an excellent jazz guitar. It came fitted with flatwound strings and sounded a bit dead for my taste so I've changed them for roundwounds and all is well. I'm playing through a recent model Fender Twin and they complement each other well.

Guitar was Plek'd at the factory. The standard of finish was excellent and the timber had a lovely flame to it - an almost irridescent effect. Only complaint was the standard rosewood compensated bridge. The feet of the saddle just "sit" on top of the body so each time you change strings the bridge and saddle become detached, requiring careful positioning once the new strings are on. Movement of the saddle also tends to "scuff" the finish of the guitar. Also the compensated saddle causes the action to be higher than I like without and means of lowering it. For these reasons I have changed the compensated bridge for a tunomatic version and have glued the saddle into place so it doesn't move. The Grover machine heads have a degree of "play" in them but they do the job.

Construction was all that you expect it to be. The surface finish is easily marked so avoid knocks and scrapes. Shame the guitar doesn't come in an ABS style case for better protection . I expect the guitar to last well if treated kindly.

This was a custom order and took 8 mths to deliver. (a fairly typical time frame I'm told) At all times the company were helpful in relaying the progress in construction via their web page contacts.

I been playing for 30 years semi-professionally. I own a '72 Martin D35 and an Ibanez AS80. If I were ordering a 575 again I would specify the 550 style neck as it looks better. If the 575 were stolen I would consider trying all of the other models to see if they sound better than this model - if not I would be happy to own another 575.

2004 Model with upgrades, Almond Burst, all solid maple, 2x Duncan Seth Lovers, ebony fingerboard, ebony scratchplate, sperzel tuners. Came with a nice case. I am giving a 10 here because as far as jazz guitars go, this is very well featured what with all the "Custom" upgrades the dealer had got done.

This suits my style of playing very well as I am learning to play jazz and I reckon it has been a good choice for me. I am using a Yamaha DG series combo with it which seems to work rather well. I just use the neck pick up with the tone rolled back a bit to about 6.5 as the bridge pick up doesnt give off a nice tone for jazz. The Duncan Seth Lover is very warm and open in tone. Definitely worth the upgrade from standard pick ups. The jazz tone is really very nice and way better than any ES-175 I have ever tried out. After you have held a solid wood guitar and played it for a while, you will instantly hear & feel the difference. Then when you pick up and play a laminated guitar it feels cheap. There is simply no comparison.

The qwuality is there, as I said above you can 'feel' the difference.

There are some buzzing to deal with around the lower frets, not a big deal but the guitar went thro some pretty major climate changes before I got my hands on it so its only to be expected that some tweaking will be required here & there.

There were some very minor flaws in the instrument tho, which look like more manufacturing issues, small scratches like from a buffing wheel or something in various places, not major but a bit annoying. You only see those if you look hard for them tho. The bridge pick up tone pot was bent a bit, and when I went to adjust it, I accidentally snapped off half of the post as it was much more brittle than I expected, for alluminum, I would have expected a certain amount of play in the material but anyway, thats easy fixed. The most prominent was a mark on the finish where the bridge previously sat in one position, obviously incorrectly. Jay had set up the intonation very well when he got the guitar and moved the bridge to its correct position, again this is to be expected on a floating bridge. Again youd need to go looking for this to find it. The wires are not all that secure inside and flap around a bit but bearing in mind this is a jazz guitar you will likely not be jumping all over the stage while you are playing it anyway and anyway probably all the Heritages will be this way. Overall, bearing in mind the out and out bargain price Jay gave me this fine instrument for, these things are all very minor indeed and once again let me reiterate here youd need to go looking real hard to see these things.

Definitely this guitar will take the knocks on the road and on stage. Still keep in mind its an archtop tho and not to go doing silly things with it. Jay kindly fitted a strap button for me without charging me a cent extra for it as Heritage leaves it up to the customer to choose where they want to put it so it doesnt come as standard and you may have to pay for this. The finish looks like it will last, time will tell. I would gig this without a back up...likely I wont be gigging with it anyway as I am only learning the basics of jazz and my level is not sufficient yet to actually play outside my home.

I have never really needed to contact Jay Wolfe or Heritaged after buying the instrument but Jay was very attentive to all the questions I put to him by e-mail. Jay also sent me lots of digital pics of the guitars he had in stock to help me decide on what to go for. I based my decision to buy an H575 Custom based on what I had read online about these very fine instruments. Just by what I have seen by the 'personal service' type of approach Jay gives his customers I think he would be the type who would take good care of you in the after sales support.

In making up my mind on which dealer to buy from, one other pretty major dealer wasnt even decent enough to respond to my e-mails or answer any questions about what they were selling, so I recommend you go with Wolfe guitars as you get that extra "personal" level of service and be treated like you are important and that your business is valued as he made sure I was fixed up with just the "right" guitar and responded to every e-mail he was sent almost immediately. To my mind, if that other dealer couldnt even be bothered with me before they sold me the guitar, theres a very high chance I would have still been a "nobody" to them after they sold me the guitar, so go figure...who would you rather give your hard earned money to.

I have been paying jazz only for a few months but played rock guitar for some 25 years on and off. My other 'main' guitars are Gibson ES-135 & Gibson Les Paul Custom, Tokai ES-120, Fender Strat (1974 3 bolt neck), Yamaha AEX520 plus a few others. Amps I use a Yamaha DG modelling combo which gives a great jazz tone and also a Mesa Boogie DC-5 Combo. If it were stolen yes, I would buy another in a heartbeat and in the exact same gorgeous Almondburst finish. This guitar, in my opinion is way ahead of any ES-175. I didnt find anything I disliked about it. Like I say there were some very minor scratches, but heck guitars do hang in shops and people do play them, so you got to expect to see some minor marks....

Jay Wolfe gave me the guitar with all the "Custom Upgrades" you could wish for at a price which was too good to pass up so heck a few little scratches here and there in my book is nothing to lose any sleep over. My favourite feature is the colour...Almondburst with flames.

I did compare it to other guitars, mainly the ES-175 and there was no comparison.

One last thing I would like to share is that the guitar came with roundwound strings so replace them with flatwounds and the guitar will come to life. I put D'Addario chrome 11's on straight away.

As far as dealing with Jay Wolfe guitars go, he was very professional all the way and answered every e-mail I sent very promptly and provided answers for any question I had. It took me quite a lot of e-mail correspondence to actually decide to go ahead & buy this guitar and all the pictures he sent showed the different Heritages in his stock from all angles which was just fantastic. I had the guitar sent to a friend first who then took the guitar to me as he lived closer to the dealer than I did and it saved me a ton on shipping too.

Pay no attention to the "Taken advantage of customer" below. He doesn't have a clue about what he is talking about. He should keep playing his squier strat's and leave the real guitars for real players.

My 575-custom is a 2004. Pretty standard controls: 1 neck and 1 bridge pickup with separate volume and tone controls. Of course, we are talking about the custom so this model has Seymour Duncan Pickups. I strongly advise, when getting any heritage, to get the upgraded pickups. Otherwise, you'll end up replacing them down the road. This guitar is an all solid wood archtop that is sort of designed after the Gibson 175- except for the 175 is laminated and the 575 is a slightly smaller box. Only problem is that the 575 puts the gibson 175 to shame. Quality of construction is top-notch. Playability is great.

The 575-Custom is the best factory made (reasonably priced) archtop on the market today. An all solid wood well made archtop under $2,000 is unheard of in today's market but Heritage does is somehow. And to their credit, they do not compromise one bit in quality of construction. In fact, Heritage guitars are the best constructed guitars I have come across next to PRS. Gibson does not compare.

The 575 puts out a great acoustic tone. The sound is very versatile. It has good enough acoustic tone to be a restaraunt straight ahead guitar but can get loud enough to play with a bigband. I haven't had any problems with feedback yet. I play this guitar through a Polytone mini-brute and Victoria 35115. It sounds great through both.

Action was great, although I adjust my own. No flaws or any problems on finish. Again, quality of construction is superb. Heritage takes great pride in building better guitars than Gibson, and they do.

This guitar is a beast. So far, it has held up nicely in the everchanging weather we have here in Kansas. I'm not worried about it giving out at a gig. It is very dependable.

I work for a Heritage Dealer and talk to them on an almost daily basis. Everyone is very friendly and helpful. They take pride in building quality guitars and do a very good job of it.

In regards to another comment made by the "taken advantage of customer". I speak with Lane Zastrow quite a bit, and can speak from a professional relationship. He is easy to do business with, very friendly, and responds to any inquiries I have. It was very childish of this "taken advantage of customer" to say anything that would contradict that, especially on a platform that is meant for intelligent critique's.

I have been working with archtops for quite a while and see them on a daily basis as I work in a guitar shop. The 575-custom is the best guitar I have come across for a fair price. All solid wood for under $2,000 is crazy. If this guitar had Gibson on the headstock it would be at least $3,500. Hands down, it is the best archtop that I have played. Acoustic tone + versatility + price is unmatched.

Purchased new in 1997 in Berkeley CA. Double p/u, original tobacco sunburst finish (always gets good comments!!) Solid Maple all the way. Replaced the wooden bridge with an ABR-1 type. Replaced the Shaller pickups with the HRW pickups. Much improved sound. (Thanks, Rendall!!) I string it with Thomastic flatwound strings, either Benson 14s or Jazz 13. I have tried DAdddario, Fender, Gibson and GHS on this instrument, and I keep coming back to Thomastic-Infeld. The factory uses GHS roundwounds, I believe.

I play big band rhythm guitar mostly, with some quartet/sextet gigging around. I use a Roland JC-120. Super, super clean, ringing sound. NEVER have had a feedback problem with this setup.

No flaws anywhere. The action was even right on for me!!

No problems anywhere. Even the string height was right for me.

I play at least once a week, 48 weeks a year with the big band for the last six years. I don;t take my Gibson backup with me on gigs because I never have to worry about whether the 575 will make it. It has NEVER let me down. I unpack it, sit down, check the tuning, and play away.

Super - the crew at Heritage have always taken the time to talk with me on the occasions where I have had to call them. Rendall Wall was especially helpful in getting the HRW pickups set up correctly.

I've been playing for over 50 years. I've had Fender & Gibson axes, but note of them have brought me the fun, the joy, and the comments as this guitar has. It looks great and sounds even better. I put it up against a 175 and a Guild when I was making the decision to buy, and there was no question in the end how I was going to proceed. It took me a while to realize that this one was going to be my permanent one.

it's made in kalamazoo,MI USA. 20 frets, 3 way selector, 2 volume 2 tone, H/H, beautiful looking top with excellent wood, though I don't know what kind of wood it is, perfect finish, pretty fat neck, it came with a hard case. I love everything but it would've been better if they put something to put a strap on. I had it installed at a local guitar repair shop which cost me 10 bucks and took 5 minutes. no big deal. Also some kind of F-hole blocker for feedback would've been good.
Maybe I want too many things haha. but other than that this guitar has perfect feature,

i'm a straight jazz guy who also like to play latin, funk, blues stuff. and this is a perfect guitar for jazz. i use Fender twin reverb and blues junior and i could just play all day and not get tired of playing. often i like to record myself directly to the computer through mic preamp and it sounds great. you can use it with any kinds of amp at any situation and this guitar will give you it's own great tone. it also sound fantastic when not plugged in, it's very loud and has a unique acoustic tone. it has a rich and full sound. not so much variety for the tone, but you can use it for jazz and blues and it does a perfect job. so far i haven't found anything that i don't like about the sound.

this guitar is very strongly built. i think it came with .011 round wound strings and i changed to .013 flat wound but the neck, intonation, action is perfect and needs no adjustment. very very nice top with gorgeous wood, GREAT playability and i found no flaws.

it's perfect for live playing except it has a lot of feedback just like any other hollowbody guitar. the hardware seem like it's gonna last forever so is the finish.
It's very dependable but i would never go on a gig without a backup guitar because in some place the feedback gets really bad.

I emailed the company because i wanted to get something to block the f-hole and i got the reply on the same day. the guy from the company gave me his phone number to call saying he got a few ideas to help. it's sunday now so i'll call him tomorrow.

I've been playing for 12 years, and i own a larivee acoustic, PRS CE-22, and I've owned Brian Moore, Don Grosh, Gibson ES-335, Fender Eric Clapton Signature, Fender '72 Tele, etc... If it was stolen or lost, I would definitely get another one! i never saw a guitar like this and this is the one for me. before buying, I compared this guitar with gibson L4, gibson 175, 335, 446, Gibson steve howe, ibanez pat matheny, george benson signature, d'angelico but none of them beat the tone, price, playability, and workmanship. Especially the price. how can a guitar like this cost this little? i couldn't believe the price. it's worth more than 3000 bucks at least. just try one you'd love it!

This is not a review, but just a response to a rather ugly & non-factual review posted by someone posting anonymously as "Taken advantage of Customer". Seems Bob Porter of Decatur, AL was so embarrassed by this angry & untruthful review that he didn't want us to know his name.
I'll just summarize my reply, and if anyone wants more details- please e-mail or call me. Bob admitted that he'd never owned this style guitar before, and that he didn't know if he would "like" an archtop. Apparently he didn't. The guitar was well inspected at Heritage, and again twice here, before shipping it to him. It was not, as Bob states, a "second".
There was nothing wrong with the guitar whatsoever, and it now belongs to a superb Jazz player & recording Artist, who is also a Guitar instructor at a major University. He has said several time that it's the finest guitar, etc., etc. No changes were made to the guitar before handing it to it's proud owner.
Allow me to correct some of the untruths Bob has so angrily put forth:
* Lane Zastrow is not the "President" of Heritage, and he is not employed by them at all.
* The guitar sounded rich & warm through my Amp, and also with it's new owner's Amp. I discussed this with Bob, and gave him some tips on archtop Amp setup. Although he admitted he had his amps set real bright for his other guitars- he refused to play the guitar with a warmer setup. Just wanted to send it back- which he did, for a refund.
* Bob not only asked for a lower price, he "bargained very hard" for the best possible deal. Just another lie.
* He did say the guitar "played great" & the neck "feels great", but tells of many finish flaws- none of which were evident when the guitar arrived back here. I would have to say he has a vivid imagination at the least, and perhaps poor eyesight, or perhaps some sort of "agenda." Heritage Guitars, just like "all" other makers, are not perfect, but c'mon...
* Bob eludes to this guitar as a "second". Another lie.
* Bob says a Pot. was bent. I explained to him the simplicity of a knob being jolted off center in shipment, and how to simply straighten it, and just how difficult it is to bend a Pot. shaft. He told me I was wrong, but when the guitar arrived back here- I was "amazingly".......... right.
I actually don't believe Bob really "believes" most of the stuff he put in his angry hit piece. He was just didn't like the guitar, It's just not his style of instrument & he wanted his money back. That's fine. It happens. He just went about it in the wrong way. I'm glad Bob sent the guitar back and I'm glad he's not my customer. He doesn't qualify, and he's now "off my Christmas card list."
If anyone has questions and would like more information- Please just e-mail & I'll reply quickly. Thanks to those of you that read Bob's hit piece & contacted me to say that your experiences with Wolfe Guitars & heritage have been completely satisfactory.