Heritage Johnny Smith 18 months later

[BigMikeinNJ]

I've recently acquired two Heritage Johnny Smith's: one from the early 90s and one of the last three made by Heritage. The latter one is all "Gibsonized" with a genuine NOS Gibson Johnny Smith tailpiece and a more gibson shaped tortoise shell pick guard, it's got the Ultra woods package. The other, the older one is a stunning bubble/quilt maple model.

The thing I notice immediately is that the slightly thinner body is REALLY comfortable to play. Doggone it - I'm sure Joe and many of you HJS owners will agree, it's so comfy you don't feel like putting it down.


Big

[Frank67]

Vinny, that's so funny. I was thinking that same thing! Can't stop laughing! My dad had hair like that all the way to the end, and an incredible tenor voice.

Frank, that sounds awesome. The guitar and the playing. Thank you for sharing.

thank you very much!

I’d love to be able to sing well. I love to do it but only the ones that love me can tolerate it for short periods of time :-) ... at the moment I am in a totally different place musically and play with gain and delay etc. but I will get back to these things eventually and the Heritage JS is such a beautiful guitar. I am only keeping a few archtops but this will definitely be one of them. It is really special.

[Marty Grass]

The Heritage Johnny Smith is a special guitar. I got my first one from a guy who listed a natural one in mint condition on eBay. The listing looked like a scam. The only other stuff this guy had ever listed on eBay was a few deep fishing pieces of equipment. He didn't respond to any questions. And the price was pretty low. Lastly, it was a stock photo of the guitar.

The strange part is that I was really cynical about the listing when talking to Patrick, who usually was more cynical than me. Patrick said that the guy probably didn't know much about guitars or eBay and likely was an honest seller. Since the guy lived in New York City, I challenged Patrick to check out the guitar.

The seller did eventually respond to Patrick. They talked by phone. Patrick went to this guy's apartment and spent several hours.

It turns out the seller was a wealthy real estate developer (not Trump) and was out of the country during the eBay listing. Years earlier he decided he should get another hobby and that it should be guitar. He asked around what would be a good guitar. Someone told him a Johnny Smith. He called Heritage and asked for one. They said they only sell to dealers. So the guy asked how many guitars would he have to buy to be a dealer. Three. So he bought a H-150, a H-535, and a natural Johnny Smith. He took a few lessons then left them all in his closet.

Patrick, who was not really a Johnny Smith guitar fan due to the black hardware and 1 3/4" nut, checked out the guitar and the 535. They were both good. The two of them smoked cigars, drank cognac, blabbed about lots of stuff, and slowly worked toward a deal. Eventually they were deadlocked at about $100 apart. Patrick told the guy that if he threw in the cigar humidor, they got a deal. They shook hands and it was done. Patrick remained in touch with the guy for the rest of his life.

The next time Patrick was visiting Heritage he delivered the guitar to me. I was stunned at how Patrick pulled this off. So you see almost every jazz guitar has some sort of story behind it.

The Heritage Johnny Smith is a delicate instrument that is designed for acoustic playing. Yes, it has a pickup, which is great to have but not at all necessary when you are the only audience.

[Frank67]

Thank you for this beautiful background story!

[BigMikeinNJ]

Thank you for this beautiful background story!

No kidding, this place is like hanging around a bunch of old war vets - under the right circumstances they have a million tales to tell, but it's gotta be the right group of guys to get them talking.

Big

[Marty Grass]

This never gets old!

[skykomishone]

This never gets old!

Very true.

[Crm114]

I bought that 18 inch Johnny Smith back from Joe in late 2019 I believe and just recently sold it about two months ago to Marty Grass

I still have three other 17 inch heritage Johnny Smith turn on quite fond of

I got a remarkably beautiful Heritage Johnny Smith that was custom-made for Jay Wolfe I bought that for Marty and when Deacon Mark was here picking up the red acoustic L5 that I got from Danny W through Marty and a number of other people Deacon played that custom Johnny Smith made for Jai Wolf and he said it was every bit as good or better than a Gibson Johnny Smith

[deacon Mark]

I bought that 18 inch Johnny Smith back from Joe in late 2019 I believe and just recently sold it about two months ago to Marty Grass

I still have three other 17 inch heritage Johnny Smith turn on quite fond of

I got a remarkably beautiful Heritage Johnny Smith that was custom-made for Jay Wolfe I bought that for Marty and when Deacon Mark was here picking up the red acoustic L5 that I got from Danny W through Marty and a number of other people Deacon played that custom Johnny Smith made for Jai Wolf and he said it was every bit as good or better than a Gibson Johnny Smith

A tremendous guitar in all respects. It had the sound and feel of a real American icon jazz guitar. My mind at the time was on the L5 but frankly this Heritage Johnny Smith clicked all the buttons. It was a custom 18 inch guitar and that is my favorite size. It has the 1 3/4 inch neck width that too clicks the button. Finally it has a 25 inch scale which I have come to believe might actually be the ideal guitar scale length. It sits between the normal 25.5 on Gibson L5's and S400's, and the 24 3/4 scale of the 175.

It gives a tad softer touch which I think brings out a slightly mellower sound but might be hard pressed to pin it down. I find that most interesting because my 49 D'angelico has a 25.25 scale on it not the 25.5. D'a guitars vary in scale length for sure but this one is 25.25 and I have only heard of other D'a s with this never played one I knew was that length. Johnny Smith was clearly working from his own D'angelico New Yorker as the template of the Gibson JS guitar. In fact he was trying to really refine the sound in the GJS guitar as the physical size and dimensions of his D'angelico were already what he wanted.

This particular Heritage Johnny Smith for me would be a dream guitar to have. I don't need it and I would have to part with something to get one like it but Marty if you get tired of it look me up. For me this is THE JOHNNY SMITH GUITAR. I know full well the 18 inch box is not what Johnny himself would pick first but, it sure is simple to point the Deacon is no Johnny Smith..........by any stretch of imagination. A picture guitar would me most cool to post again.

[Woody Sound]

My Heritage JS had the most amazing neck/fretboard. Perfect. The only reason I parted with it is becaue I can't handle 17" guitars anymore.

[2bornot2bop]

The best stories I've ever heard told on this forum were Marty speaking to Patrick. That man was a true Dealmaker, and 6 years later I still miss him!