Got a new Heritage H-150 P90 Standard/ A question about the bridge

[Gergo]

I have always wanted to try out a Heritage. Well, I finally pulled the trigger and got a H-150 P90 Standard.

It arrived the other day, and is a beauty. Beautiful finish and the P90's sound huge! It's got a rich red top, and a light brown natural back and sides. I can not find any flaws in the finish, and the fretwork is perfect. I have to wonder if they pleck the frets on the Standard series.

While the guitar plays like a dream, with low action, it does bother me that the bridge is almost totally bottomed-out on the treble side. I would have almost no room for adjustment down if ever needed in the future. Seeing how this ain't exactly a cheap guitar, this kind of bothers me. Purely an OCD thing I guess. My question is that is this something I need to be concerned with, and therefore need to send it back, or is this not uncommon with Heritage guitars and I need not worry. Are there any Heritage owners here? Does anyone know? I have photos of both the treble and bass sides of the bridge here.

Any opinions would be appreciated. Thanks

[tobijohn]

Beautiful finish! I've got a black H-150, @honyock has an H-157, and @toomanycats just picked up one of their jazz boxes. Mine is a case queen but the few lefty players who have had it in their hands were all incredibly impressed, comparing it to my Custom Shop R7...

[toomanycats]

That is such a gorgeous red contrasted with the cream plastics an binding.

I recently acquired a used Heritage, though mine is an archtop with an ebony floating bridge. I'm not sure how the observations on my Heritage's bridge translate to the Nashville on your H-150, but for what it's worth, I have it set very close to bottomed out to achieve the action I prefer. I do tend to prefer lower action. Keep in mind that an archtop and LP are very different in construction, and my guitar is also "settled in," having been built in 1997.

That being said, it does concern me when a bridge on a new guitar has to be bottomed out to achieve the action I like. My purchased new, 2020 Gibson Les Paul Standard 50s has the treble side of the bridge just the thickness of a cats whisker away from being bottomed out. However, it was such an awesome looking, sounding, playing guitar (and light at 8 lb., 13 oz., unchambered), that returning it was out of the question. I've played the hell out of that guitar since then, gigging it hundreds of times, so it's been put through the paces. While the pots are failing, there is no problem with the bridge.

Honestly, a bridge that has to be bottomed out on a acoustic or archtop concerns me far more than on an LP. There's more reasons why things can drift over time that contribute to higher action, like a neck heel rotating away from the body and the belly bulging. Even with a Strat you can play around with neck shimming to address bridge height issues, though with an LP, things are, relatively speaking, "set in stone" once the guitar is assembled with it's given geometry (discounting a neck taking on a twist, bridge posts pulling out of the body, and other nightmare scenarios).

Just my observations from a guy who has fricked around with a lot of guitars, though who is by no means a professional tech.

Again, exceptionally beautiful guitar, and if it's a player with good tone as well, I'd keep it.

[tonebender]

Congrats on the new Heritage. They are amazing guitars as you are finding out. If the action is fine now you will probably get many years of play without issue and you may never have an issue. There are ways to drop it lower if you need to in the future but like I said it will probably be fine.

[tobijohn]

...While the guitar plays like a dream, with low action, it does bother me that the bridge is almost totally bottomed-out on the treble side. I would have almost no room for adjustment down if ever needed in the future. Seeing how this ain't exactly a cheap guitar, this kind of bothers me. Purely an OCD thing I guess. My question is that is this something I need to be concerned with, and therefore need to send it back, or is this not uncommon with Heritage guitars and I need not worry....

I checked the bridge on mine late last night and it looks pretty much the same as yours. I could get the action a little lower if need be, but it's at Gibson LP factory specs where it is now and that's fine with me.

FWIW, my down and dirty setup is a nickel under the low E (5/64) and a quarter under the high E, both at the 12th fret (3/64)...

[tobijohn]

My only complaint about the Heritage is a minor aesthetic one. IMHO, the headstock is about 3/4" too long. It reminds me of Frankenstein's forehead...

[andrewsrea]

...the bridge is almost totally bottomed-out on the treble side.

HNGD! Nice choice!

Two things to check with a straight edge: truss rod adjustment and then neck angle. If there is too much relief (headstock bowing to the body, leaving a higher gap in the middle of the finger board), the action will be higher from the 7th fret up. A little tightening will correct some of that (loosen all the strings to pitch 2 steps down when tightening and do less than quarter turns).

Typical neck angle for that style of guitar is between 1.8 degrees and 3.3 degrees. The lower the number, the flatter and the lower the bridge needs to travel. Higher than 3.3 degrees and you risk not having enough bridge height to make it play without buzzing.

You can file the bottom of the bridge at the lift wheel but will more than likely hit the limits of the middle part of the bridge bottoming out. You may get .75mm from this method. But then, your warranty may get compromised.

If it is on the low side, you may want to call Heritage direct and talk it out. My neighbor bought a very nice H-150 with a truss rod rattle and they exchanged it at their expense. I believe he had the choice of having it fixed, or taking another offering (which is the way he went).

[tonebender]

My only complaint about the Heritage is a minor aesthetic one. IMHO, the headstock is about 3/4" too long. It reminds me of Frankenstein's forehead...

I find it a little long too. Same reason I could never like some Epiphone semi-hollow offerings.

[Gergo]

My only complaint about the Heritage is a minor aesthetic one. IMHO, the headstock is about 3/4" too long. It reminds me of Frankenstein's forehead...

Yeah, the headstock is a little weird. I have a couple of old Aria Pro's from the 70's that have very similar headstocks, so I am kinda used to it

[LightWingStudios]

SWEET! Reminds me of my long lost '73 LP Deluxe in Transparent Red. I miss that guitar big time!

[Gergo]

SWEET! Reminds me of my long lost '73 LP Deluxe in Transparent Red. I miss that guitar big time!

I would love to have one of those transparent red Deluxes. I really like those. I think Gibson redid a Deluxe with that wine red finish in the late 2010's as a Les Paul Classic with mini's.

One of the things that attracted me to this guitar is that it reminded me of the mid 70's Les Paul Deluxe with the solid red top. I always dug those, and I think there was a blue one as well.

[voodoorat]

Just got a new (to me) H150 Standard in dirty lemon burst. It feels great, action is maybe slightly lower than I'm used to. It's pretty close to as low as it goes on the bass side, a little travel on the treble side. I'm not worried.

[tobijohn]

One of the things that attracted me to this guitar is that it reminded me of the mid 70's Les Paul Deluxe with the solid red top. I always dug those, and I think there was a blue one as well.

Of possible interest:

[Gergo]

One of the things that attracted me to this guitar is that it reminded me of the mid 70's Les Paul Deluxe with the solid red top. I always dug those, and I think there was a blue one as well.

Of possible interest:

Yep, that's the one! It was Trogley that turned me onto those. I sure wish I had one. I am too cheap to drop the kind of cash those go for these days now, though.