Heritage Guitars
Heritage Guitars is a guitar manufacturer in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States.
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[edit] History
Heritage Guitars was founded in 1985 by former employees of the Gibson guitar factory.[1] In the early 1980s, Gibson, faced with excess production capacity and, some[who?] claim, a difficult relationship with its labor union, closed its historic Parsons Street factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan and relocated much of its production to its factory in Nashville, Tennessee.[2] Some of the Gibson employees who did not want to move their homes and families to Tennessee started production of guitars under a new name, "Heritage," which was likely meant to stake a claim to their guitar-making tradition.[2] The company set up their new factory in part of Gibson's former Kalamazoo premises, but produced instruments in much smaller numbers than Gibson had.[1][3][4]
The Heritage line initially consisted of electric and acoustic guitars, electric basses, mandolins, and a banjo. The line was eventually narrowed to electric guitars only. Although most Heritage guitars were, and continue to be, based on Gibson designs, a few of their early electric guitars were based on modified Stratocaster and Telecaster designs.
[edit] Current status
Heritage is a boutique manufacturer, making semi-hollow guitars, large jazz boxes, solidbody electrics.[1] In these types of guitars, Paul Reed Smith Guitars and Gibson guitars are the closest nominal equivalents, though Heritage is a much smaller company making far fewer guitars.
In general, Heritage makes guitars that are similar to Gibson's products,[1][5] but which the company's advocates and fans would say are constructed in a much more "hand-made" fashion, and with much greater individual attention to the instrument by the builders.[6] Part of this increased attention to detail is a result of Heritage being a smaller operation than Gibson, and some of it is likely a reaction against the cost-cutting practices that developed at Gibson during the Norlin years (practices that Gibson would later work to remedy as well). The design of the Heritage H-150 solid-body guitar is clearly modeled on the Les Paul Standard, while the H-575 resembles the ES-175 and the H-535 reinterprets the ES-335. There are differences between most of the Heritage models and their Gibson counterparts, however. For example, all Heritage full-body semi-acoustics have solid wood tops, while many of the Gibson guitars of this type had laminated tops after World War II.[2] Both the 575 and the 535 are thinner than their Gibson cousins. Heritage has also introduced several new designs, most notably the Millennium models, which employ a "semi-solid" body that is more solid than a traditional semi-hollow design, but chambered, and thus less solid than a typical solid body.
Apart from the use of a Plek automated fret-dressing machine to grind the frets to the correct crown and intonation, Heritage guitars are largely hand-made, without the use of CNC machines for woodworking. Heritage, however, is clear about the fact that their guitars are indeed manufactured, with no claims that they are handmade. Such claims tend to arise from the company's fans and advocates, who are a comparatively small but nevertheless enthusiastic and loyal bunch.
During the first several years of the company, Heritage advertised its guitars in the usual guitar magazines. These advertisements made it clear that Heritage was making guitars on Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, without ever mentioning Gibson by name, and the company began to develop an image as the alternative to Gibson at a time when Gibson was going through a period of transition and rebuilding. But at some point in the 1990s, perhaps in an attempt to keep costs low or because orders were numerous enough, the company all but stopped advertising. This lack of an advertising presence significantly limited and even diminished the brand's name recognition among guitarists. Recent years have seen a growth in the Heritage name, in part due to word of mouth on internet forums devoted to guitars and guitar gear, including the Heritage Owners Club (launched in 2007).
[edit] Endorsees
[edit] Johnny Smith
In 1989, jazz guitarist Johnny Smith withdrew his endorsement from Gibson and awarded it to Heritage, which began production of the Heritage Johnny Smith. The Gibson model continued in production as the Gibson LeGrand.[7]
Smith has since moved his endorsement from Heritage to the Guild Guitar Company.[7]
[edit] Alex Skolnick
More recently, guitarist Alex Skolnick, of the band Testament, had begun endorsing Heritage Guitars, as opposed to his older Ibanez models. He is known for his jazz-oriented playing. For jazz, Skolnick plays an H-575, but for playing rock he plays a H-150.[citation needed]
[edit] David Becker
Jazz guitarist, composer and two time Grammy nominee, David Becker, has been endorsing Heritage Guitars for more than 20 years. He was one of the first artists to join Heritage in 1988. He has two custom David Becker modals which are a combination of the H- 575 and Sweet 16, featuring a humbucker and piezo pickup.
[edit] Roy Clark
Country musician Roy Clark currently endorses Heritage guitars, which makes a signature model.
[edit] Citations
- ^ a b c d (Bacon 1991, p. 151)
- ^ a b c (Freeth & Alexander 1999, p. 106)
- ^ Gil Hembree, Gibson Guitars: Ted McCarty's Golden Era, 1948-1966 (Hal Leonard, 2007), 58-59
- ^ Walter Carter, The Gibson Electric Guitar Book: Seventy Years of Classic Guitars (Backbeat Books, 2007), 100-101
- ^ (Freeth & Alexander 1999, p. 107)
- ^ (Freeth & Alexander 1999, pp. 106–107)
- ^ a b "Johnny Smith Goes Full Circle" Interview with Charles H. Chapman
[edit] References
- Bacon, Tony (1991), The Ultimate Guitar Book, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., ISBN 0-375-70090-0
- Freeth, Nick; Alexander, Charles (1999), The Electric Guitar, Quadrillion Publishing, Ltd., ISBN 0-7624-0522-8
- Johnny Smith Goes Full Circle by Charles H. Chapman
