Heritage H-576

The instrument in question is a 1996 H-576, with a subtle quilted top and back, done in a nice vintage-style cherry sunburst. Made, as are all of the Heritage instruments, in the Kalamazoo, Michigan factory that Heritage bought from Gibson when Gibson split for Nashville. There's 4 ply binding on the top, and single ply binding most everywhere else - Headstock, back, f-holes, fretboard, and the maple pickguard are all bound. MOP block fretboard markers show you where to put your fingers. The total effect is pretty flashy. I bought this guitar new from Classic Axe in Manassas, Virgina. Russ always has a few Heritages in stock there.

As others have said, this instrument is a bit different in design - I think of it as the love child of a Gretsch 6120 and a Gibson ES-335. The body is sort of Gretsch-like in shape and construction, but the electronics belong to the Gibson. All of the features have been discussed in other reviews, except for the fact that noone has mentioned the case - You could probably deflect the blast from an Iraqi IED with this thing. It's decidedly heavy-duty.

The H-576 can do everything from classic rock through rockabilly through blues and jazz. A very versatile axe, depending on your setup. Mine is set up for blues and jazz, as it sports flatwound 11's. Still, with the modifications described in the Action, Fit and Finish category, it can rock out. With a compressor in front of my Mesa Boogie Mk IV, it's surprising how loud it will go before the inevitable "dinosaur mating call" type hollowbody feedback kicks in. While other reviewers have complained about the quality of the bridge and tailpiece, I've got nothing but unreal amounts of sustain from the stock units, and find no reason to change them.

I'm giving two ratings in this category - One for the way it came from the factory, and one after some modifications done by the amazing Phil Jacoby at Philtone (http://www.philtone.com). The factory rating is an 8 - A peek inside the bass side f-hole reveals a bit of kerfing that came loose during construction and was somehow glued to the back. Hard to believe that QC missed that one.
In addition, as another reviewer mentioned, the toggle switch was scratchy and didn't inspire confidence. The action was on the high side.

Phil Jacoby was able to turn this instrument from candidate-for-eBay to a keeper. The Schaller humbuckers seemed way too hot for this instrument, and were ditched for a pair of Duncan Seth Lovers. Phil had to do some custom pickup mounting work to preserve the stock look of the instrument, as the Duncans have 2 height adjustment screws and the Schallers have 4. In addition, he did a complete setup and some nut work as well, lubed the fretboard, and replaced the entire wiring harness with CTS and Switchcraft components. The resulting instrument is more in tune, the action makes the 11s feel like 10s, and the Duncans are a far better match for this guitar. The new pickups seemed to have moved the resonant peak of the instrument to a frequency where the guitar feeds back less at high volume - Not something you'd expect for unpotted pickups in a hollowbody, and a real pleasant surprise.

Post Phil's modifications, this axe gets a 9.5. The rating listed is sort of an average.

This is a professionally made guitar, and should stand up to pro usage. After Phil Jacoby's mods to the wiring harness, I'd have no problems using this anywhere.

I've never had any warranty work done on this instrument, and never contacted the manufacturer.

I own a pile of instruments, and have built (and am building) parts guitars out of Warmoth and Stew-Mac parts. I've had, or have, bespoke instruments from Klein, Pedulla, PRS, and Thorn. I think I'm a reasonable judge of quality new instruments. I've been playing for something like 3 decades.

This instrument is my jazz box, and so is set up that way. It's the first, and so far the only, hollowbody guitar I own. I looked at Gretsches and ES-175s before buying this, but the Heritage seemed to offer a lot more bang for the buck.

If it were stolen or lost, I'm not sure what I'd do - I'd definitely take another look at post-Fender Gretsch guitars, if I was thinking more twang, and I'd take a long, hard look at some of the Eastman instruments if I was thinking pure jazz axe. As for Heritage, they no longer make the H-576. I'd like to try an H-575 Custom or even a Sweet 16, if I was to go with them again.

This is a Blond 1995 Heritage H-576 guitar made in Kalamazoo, Michigan. This guitar was purchased on ebay in near mint condition. The guitar had already been updated with a Gibson stop tailpiece and tunomatic bridge with graphite saddles. A black plastic pickguard was included in the purchase along with the wooden pickguard that came with the guitar from the factory. When I purchased the guitar, it had the Schaller neck pickup still installed and a SD JB pickup in the bridge. This gave the guitar one chrome covered pickup and one black pickup. Not an attractive combination. The body wood is maple and is highly flamed. Overall this is a stunning looking guitar. I changed the pickups to two chrome covered SD '59's as soon as it arrived. The tones are amazing with the new pickups. Just great. This guitar looks and feels like a million bucks.

With the new SD pickups, this guitar sounds like the best semi hollow guitar on the planet. The bridge pickup pushes the front end of my BF Deluxe Reverb. The neck pickup is perfect for jazz and blues. The middle setting is all about rock and roll. Just a wonderful set of usable tones. The best guitar I own.

In a word, this guitar is near perfect. The neck is slim and well tapered. It fits my small hands perfectly. The body is mint and the neck is true. This guitar was set up when the new pickups were installed, but nothing much had to be done. It was good to go from the day it arrived.

I have not played this guitar out, yet. It seems to be solid as a rock and I am going to be using it to gig with soon. I have been babying it along because it is such a nice looking guitar. I try to keep things nice even when gigging with them. I don't see any reliability problems on the horizon. But, if need be, I live within
2 hours of Kalamazoo and I can just take the guitar back to the factory. But, I don't expect tohave to do that, ever.

Having met the folks at Heritage on two occasions, I feel confident that they would help an owner of their guitars if they could. I see not problem with customer support.

I have been playing guitar for 35+ years. I have owned 50 or more guitars in those years and own 7 currently. This is the best guitar I have ever owned. This is the only guitar I've ever named. (BB King has a black semi-hollow he calls Lucille. I have this Blond semi-hollow I call Louise. It seemed to fit. My wife is named Louise.) The only problem with this guitar is a tendency to feedback at volume. I have to be careful of volume and where I stand when playing. But, if this were lost or stolen, I would certainly find another. It's just the best humbucker guitar I've ever played. Thanks.

Made in 1996 (I think) this guitar is a 24-3/4" scale, 20 or 21-fret instrument. Kind of a cross between a Gibson Es-335 and byrdland. It has a maple body, laminated, nicely bound, even around the f-holes. Typical gibson cntrols, 2 volume, 2 tone, three way switch, two humbuckers (bill lawrence - lots of people don't like them, I like them WAY cool on this guitar) Neck is one piece mahogany, rosewood fingerboard, nitrocellulose glossy finish all over, 335 shaped neck. In fact, think of a Gibson ES-335, make it single cutaway, which means less access to the top frets, make it a little thicker through the body, but the block of wood supporting the pickups is not thicker, which means that it has air all throughout and isn't much heavier. Came with a case. Has THE features you need for this instrument.

I myself was looking for a big rock and roll sound with lots of 'air' which is why I think this guitar is perfect. My fave I've ever owned. I've owned fenders, gibsons, ibanez's (i'm trying to forget that part of my life), etc. and this guitar sounds fabulous with my 60s bassman with open 4-10 cab (snarlin dogs distortion & wah) and my little fender blues junior. Big Rich Full sound. Never thin, not noisy either. Can get some feedback with all that air, and it's very controllable (this is a good thing!). not a lot of variety of tone, if you want variety of tone, do what i did, get this and a strat...NO dislikes about the sound of this guitar

Guitar is impeccably well crafted, BUT, the bridge sucks, when you break a string, the saddle pops out and you're screwed, replace it with a real gibson tune-o-matic, or for even COOLER tone, do what I did. get thee a wooden bridge. The tailpiece also sucks, do the same, replace it with a fine-tuner or with a standard stop. I think the wooden bridge improved the sound of the guitar IMMENSELY, even though it isn't fully hollow. Pickup selector sucks on both heritages I've had. Replace it, it's cheap. Hardware holds up very well, It's got grover tuners. I replaced the strap buttons with dunlops, but the ones it came with were real good! NO finish flaws. Every joint is awesome.

This is THE guitar I play live. I would definitely take it with no backup. In fact, it's almost the only guitar I've EVER owned I'd do that with.

I haven't dealt with them, but the dealer in my town, www.classicaxe.com, is awesome!

Overall, once you replace the tailpiece and bridge, and selector switch (figure a little ofer 100 bucks) you have a perfect semi-hollow guitar. It's pretty versatile, although it can't do strat tones, but who cares, strats are cheap. I have never had an instrument I liked as much as this. If it were stolen I would buy exactly the same thing again in a heartbeat! Go see what a similar Gibson costs, maybe twice as much. I like the H better myself, and I've had both.