Heritage Guitars is a cool guitar company
This is a guitar company you already know, even if you didn't know it.
A guitar company I've known about for a while is Heritage Guitars. And the entire reason I know about them is because of their location. Kalamazoo, Michigan. It's not that I've ever been to Kalamazoo. It's that they build guitars in the exact same place Gibson used to.
Here's the very quick story of Heritage: Gibson originally used the factory up until 1984 and then moved to another state. Some of the employees obviously didn't want to leave Michigan, so they pooled resources together, bought the old Gibson factory, and that's how Heritage Guitars came into existence. They've been building guitars ever since...
...and they're damned good instruments. A lot of what they make uses old world style guitar building, and it's done right.
When I went to NAMM 2015, Heritage wasn't there. If they had been, I would have most certainly gone to their booth.
They were however at the guitar festival I just went to recently, and I finally got to play an H150 model for the first time.
It was as good as I hoped it would be, and more.
The guitar I really wanted to see was the H150 in a finish called Dirty Lemon Burst. This is a finish that is as far as I know exclusive to Heritage. Only they make it, and there's less than 100 of them in existence. Yes, it was there. And it was a treat to play it.
The model in the Dirty Lemon Burst finish is available at the moment for $2,499. But before I discuss price in greater detail, I have to talk about that finish more.
There is absolutely no photo anywhere online that accurately shows how much this finish really pops. Professional photos of it obviously exist on the Heritage web site, but even that still doesn't show how crazy-good the color is. It is absolutely a custom shop style finish that goes far above and beyond the price the guitar sells for.
As far as how it sounds, it has the exact set of humbuckers I would otherwise put into it myself, the Seymour Duncan '59 set. I just talked about these recently. These things are voiced to sound like vintage PAFs. Perfectly suited for classic rock tones. The H150 is thankfully not a shredder guitar with super-hot output pickups.
Concerning weight, it has some heft but isn't boat anchor heavy. The first thing I said out loud when I picked it up is that it didn't have the weight of a Les Paul Traditional - which is a good thing. LP Traditionals usually weigh at least 9.5lbs. The H150 weighs less, thankfully. I actually got along with it quite nicely.
The neck felt fantastic, and the rosewood fingerboard was one of the nicest cuts I've ever seen. I actually thought it was ebony at first because the cut was so nice.
Standing next to me in the photo above is master builder Pete Farmer. He chatted with me a little bit as well as anyone else that wanted to ask him about what he and the other guys at Heritage are making. And being one of the builders, he will of course build whatever you want as a custom order if you like.
Is the H150 worth the $2,499? Actually, it's worth more than that. For those who have been following me a while, yeah I know it's weird to hear me say that as I champion cheap guitars. But this is different. Heritage is not some new company that sprouted up and started making copies of something else. They've been around for almost 25 years, know what they're doing, and the H150 is a continuation of a classic.
Heritage makes their single cut electric like Gibson used to make theirs, but with just enough modernization to keep it both classic and modern at the same time. That's no small feat. It has every single upgrade most Les Paul players would put into their guitars in the first place, matched with build quality that is second to none.
I think the best compliment I can give the H150 is that it just felt so solid. It's not some dainty thing. The guitar was made to be played.
The H150 one of the very few guitars in the 4-figure range where I can absolutely say yes, you really do get what you pay for here. More so, actually.
I was glad I finally got the chance to play one.
The proper direction for a Les Paul bridge
The main reason anyone flips around the orientation of a Les Paul bridge is for extra intonation adjustment. But is that the correct thing to do? Let's find out.
On Les Paul guitars that have the standard bridge and tailpiece (meaning not a wraparound bridge), there are two main types of bridge used. ABR-1 and Nashville.
Traditionally, ABR-1 has the intonation screws facing front towards the neck, and Nashville bridges have screws facing the tailpiece.
But let's say for the moment you wanted to flip the bridge around the other way. This is typically done with ABR-1 bridges because then you get some extra screw length to work with for intonation.
Is it OK to do this?
Whether you can safely do this or not basically depends on one factor. String saddle notches.
If your Les Paul bridge has string saddle notches that are sized on a per-string level, then no, you cannot flip the bridge around. If you do, the wound strings won't seat properly in the saddles and instead sit on top of them. The end result of this is possible buzzing noises and early string breakage.
If however your string saddles have notches that are all the same size, then yes, you can flip it around and you're good to go after setting intonation again.
Is there any tonal advantage to flipping the bridge around?
No. Flipping around the bridge isn't the same as top wrapping at the tailpiece (which I will probably talk about in another article later) that would affect how the guitar sounds.
Said again, the reason you do the flip is for extra intonation adjustment.
And yes, this means if your Les Paul is intonated fine the way it is, then you have no reason to flip around the bridge.
The annoyance of having the screws facing the tailpiece
A new annoyance that happens when you flip the bridge around is that it's more difficult to get at the intonation screws when they're facing the tailpiece...
...but this is only a minor inconvenience, because once your intonation is set, the saddles stay put. Unless you bounce around with string gauges (which most players don't), once you're done with intonation, you shouldn't have to do it again for a long time.
Gibson and Epiphone differences
Gibson Les Paul Standard 2019 model uses a Nashville bridge; the intonation screws face the tailpiece.
Gibson Les Paul Traditional 2019 model uses an ABR-1 style bridge; the intonation screws face the neck.
Epiphone Les Paul guitars for both the Standard and Traditional models use an ABR-1 style bridge with intonation screws facing the neck.
In fact, I am fairly certain all Epiphone Les Paul guitars with the bridge + tailpiece setup have ABR-1 style bridges on them, again with intonation screws facing the neck. When I scanned over all the LP models that Epiphone currently offers, I didn't see any with a Nashville style bridge on them.
Alesis Fusion book update, Casio CTK-7200 stuff
This is as niche as it gets (more or less), but there are still some out there who care about this synth.
Way back in 2007, I wrote a book called Alesis Fusion PowerStart Guide and published it. Then in 2016 I started publishing books to Amazon. What I should have done in '16 is moved the Alesis book over to Amazon but didn't for basically one reason. Big pain in the back side to convert the book to a format Amazon "likes".
Since there is still a small (but dedicated) following of the Fusion synth still to this day, I manually went through the entire book once again, reformatted the whole thing, and now it's finally on Amazon. If you're a fan of the Fusion synth and want the book, here's the links:
- Alesis Fusion PowerStart Guide - eBook Kindle version
- Alesis Fusion PowerStart Guide - print version
The eBook is actually the big deal here. Yes, there was an "ePub" version on Lulu, but with the Amazon Kindle version is it now much easier for people to download it to their phones or tablets.
I did modify the book slightly.
The cover is new.
I made an introduction that said hey, this info is old but still historically valuable, so there will be some outdated-but-usable info in here. An example is any time I mention how to do things with Microsoft Windows XP, which was the most current Windows OS of the time. Windows 7 wasn't even released yet, never mind Windows 8, 8.1 or 10.
I also included a small chapter at the end with updated web links to get things like the Fusion Convertor software, Hollow Sun Sound packs and so on.
Without question, the Fusion book is the most advanced guide I've ever written. As I was going through that book, I was actually amazed at just how much stuff I gave instruction on how to do.
Fusion gone, replaced with Casio
I don't have the Fusion workstation anymore. These days I'm playing a Casio CTK-7200.
Will I be writing a book on that synth? Maybe.
The 7200 isn't a current model anymore. But technically, the CTK-7200 is functionally identical to the WK-7600 (they share the same manual). The only real difference is that the 7600 has more keys and more importantly still is a current model.
I definitely could write a book on it, to be sure. There's a lot to the 7200/7600 that isn't covered anywhere on the internet that would be genuinely useful in a guide.
If I have any updates on that, I'll be sure to post them here.
But for now, yes, the Fusion books have finally been republished in proper formats to Amazon.
The alnico V humbucker is the sound of rock
Let's talk about the most ballsy alnico humbucker pickup, the V.
It should be noted first that when you want the absolute most output available from a humbucker pickup, you go with a ceramic magnet. The old school way of this is the DiMarzio Super Distortion DP100 model. That pickup, while not the best with its treble response, is the original from the early 1970s that's still made new today. This is the pickup that has the old school rock sound. Yes, there are many other "hot" pickups now, but the original that's got the balls, so to speak, is the DP100.
Then there's alnico magnet pickups, and that's what I'm going to talk about.
The guitar I just bought, the Epiphone Les Paul Traditional PRO-III, has the Alnico Classic PRO pickup set in it, the same as seen in the ES-339 PRO and G-400 PRO model guitars.
For those not aware, alnico means magnets made from ALuminum, NIckel and CObalt. The most generally available alnico magnet strengths are 2, 3 and 5 (there is also 4 and 8, but those are not-so common). Sometimes these numbers will be shown as roman numerals II, III and V. A higher number means a greater magnetic pull and usually greater output overall.
With Stratocaster guitars, the two most common types of alnico are 3 and 5. The 3 is weaker but brighter. The 5 is stronger with greater midrange response, but has less brightness. Some prefer the 3 because of the clearer "bell-like chime", but I prefer the 5 on the Strat.
For guitars with humbuckers, the two alnico types you see most are 2 and 5. I prefer the 2, but the Alnico Classic PRO pickups have alnico 5 magnets, which usually means "hot" output.
I'll describe the bad of this and then the good.
The bad
I've been having to go through all my amp presets (I have a Line 6 Spider V 60) and adjust them to accommodate the higher output of the Alnico Classic PRO set. This has been an annoying process, because I had all my stuff set to pickups with medium output. It's not the end of the world that I've had to do these adjustments, but still, kinda annoying.
Because the pickups are alnico V, they're both hot and trebly at the same time. On a Strat, I could deal with this because Strats are always trebly and it's expected. But on a Les Paul or like guitar with the same pickup set I have, it's not expected.
The good
Having hotter output pickups means I've been able to cut back on using compression quite a bit, and sometimes eliminate it entirely. This is a welcome thing because it means the guitar is more usable in more situations.
The hot/trebly thing was unexpected and somewhat annoying, but it's also a good thing for basically one reason. Better to have too much treble response than not enough. Too much treble? Dial back the tone control; that's what it's there for.
There is also one gigantic major advantage of having a pair of humbuckers with alnico 5 magnets:
It is the classic Les Paul rock sound.
As I've been experimenting with my guitar, getting used to the pickups and so on, I could hear rock sounds of the '70s, '80s and '90s come out prominently.
When the distortion is kicked in, this is That Guitar Rock Sound from a lot of famous rock bands I heard from decades ago. I could hear Def Leppard, Guns 'n' Roses, RATT and many others from that wail of the bridge-side humbucker at full volume.
It's basically the same thing that happens whenever I play a Strat with pickups that have alnico 5 magnets. On that guitar, when the magnets are alnico 5, I hear famous Strat sounds. Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Knopfler, David Gilmour and so on...
...but on the 'Paul with the alnico 5 magnets, I hear the famous rock tones. This is a sound I definitely did not get out of my Ibanez guitars with their ceramic magnet pickups.
Alnico 5 humbuckers like to be driven
I'm not a high-distortion type of guitar player, but the 'Paul with the alnico 5 humbuckers really, really likes it when played overdriven or distorted.
This isn't to say I started playing metal again, because I haven't. But I have started toying around with rock and hard rock tones again since the guitar likes it so much.
Even something as simple as old school distorted power chords really rings out true with pickups that have these particular magnets in them. It just works.
Would this work in a non-Les Paul guitar?
Yes. It's not so much the 'Paul itself but rather a pair of genuinely decent alnico 5 humbuckers that's really making the difference here.
I'm not saying that alnico is any better than ceramic magnets. It's just different.
I have played some crazy-good guitars with crazy-good sounds that come from ceramic magnet pickups (like the Mexico made Fender Strats of the '90s and 2000s), but in this instance, my 'Paul totally has that classic rock tone to it, and it's because of the alnico 5 humbuckers.
The closest equivalent to what's in my 'Paul would be the Seymour Duncan '59 set. The voicing of those is pretty much the same as in my 'Paul. Classic rock tones kicked up a notch from the alnico 5 instead of lower output alnico 2.
My second gold watch
I went gold once again.
In my watch collections are two gold Casio models, the A500WGA-9DF, and now the recently acquired AQ230GA-9D.
After I got my first AQ230 (black dial, stainless steel), I liked it so much that yeah, I had to go for the gold.
Embracing the cheeseball look of the very-early '80s
Early 1980s styling was weird because it was late-'70s styling that had been mildly updated, and that's what this watch represents.
The AQ230 is a reimagining of the AT552. That model looks nearly identical save for the fact it has a touchscreen that allows "invisible" calculator functions (yes, really). But what matters more here is when that watch was made, which was in the early '80s.
It usually takes about 30 to 35 years before a particular style comes full circle to where people can appreciate it again. The AQ230 totally captures that "late '70s + early '80s" vibe to it, but when in gold, that kicks it up another notch.
A gold AQ230 would have been a very fancy timepiece back in the day. It has the '70s styling with its paper-like dial (it's not white, it's yellowed and textured) with gold hands and sticks, and the '80s styling with its digital display below the analog face.
The fact the analog part of the dial is somewhat "squashed" also has that '70s/'80s appearance to it, because instead of that analog being a vertical rectangle, it's a short box.
I'm in my mid-forties old now, so I can get away with wearing one of these. After I got my black dial AQ230, I just had to get this gold one. Glad I did.
Wrist size considerations
There's goofy-big which I've talked about before, then there's goofy-small.
Is the AQ230 goofy-small? No. It is a proper size for a men's rectangle timepiece.
As a general rule of thumb, a rectangle shape men's timepiece should wear the same as a round 36mm. So if your wrist can wear a round 36mm, the AQ230 will fit properly with its 29.8mm case. Round watches need to be bigger to accommodate for the circular case while rectangle shapes don't.
To put this in perspective, just look at Fitbit fitness trackers. Most of those are all super-skinny pieces with case sizes of under 25mm, and you'll see the manliest of men wearing those things.
Or to put it in another perspective, if you can wear an F-91W and it looks fine on your wrist, the AQ230 will look fine too.