Heritage H-575 Custom - Back from binding repair

[Marty Grass]

This is a 2006 H-575 Custom. The H-575 is a carved archtop with no laminates anywhere. The top is maple. It's parallel braced. The custom designation means it has an ebony board, block inlays, a hoity toity tailpiece, more binding and gold. The finish is chestnut burst, which is a favorite of mine.

I received it months ago from Reverb coming all the way from Singapore. The instrument had some cracking on just one strip of binding- nowhere else. I sent it to Gary Hines (hinesarchtop from the JGF). Gary does superb work. He replaced the binding strip and it looks just right. He also set the guitar up. It couldn't have turned out better.

This is the second H-575 I have, the first being on long term lone and is a standard, not custom. That one has an interesting story. My friend bought it at Guitar Center in Columbus, OH for a very good price because of a neck issue. He had the famous Aaron Cowles re-neck it with a 59 carve and an ebony board. It's a handful but still comfortable.

Here are pics of the Custom. I'll post pics of other soon.

[Marty Grass]

Here's the back of the other H-575. I'll have to take more pics I suppose.

[skykomishone]

Wow!
That's beautiful Marty.
I'm familiar with Gary's work. It's excellent. And he's a great guy too! I wish he lived closer to me but compared to you I'm a neighbor!

[deacon Mark]

Those are super nice guitars and what a finish on them. My guess is you got something above and beyond what most guitars can deliver. MG keep doing you trade of taking these guitars for serious worth and playability. These in my opinion are at better than a 175 but as we say..............they are not an ES175.

[Woody Sound]

I've always wondered about this. Maybe my ignorance, but why a carved maple top instead of spruce?

[Marty Grass]

I've always wondered about this. Maybe my ignorance, but why a carved maple top instead of spruce?

I could speculate that it is for tonal superiority, but I doubt it. More likely it's for the flame and is less expensive. Having that much hardware on the top probably neutralizes any tonal difference of the wood choice.

[deacon Mark]

Maple is one of the hardest woods and when carved it should yield and great stable top and guitar. I am with MG that the tone is probably going to be different but the fact that it is maple it will just produce a different amplified sound than laminated guitars. I don't what Heritage was doing in the carving process but my guess is that it is not real thin and if that is true, this guitar will in particular be very stable. It would be cool to hear a Gibson ES175 with a carved maple top and otherwise all the exact same. Heritage did a super job on finished they did not layer it thick and if fact the Almond Sunburst is one of my favorites.

I would be interested in if the guitar is bright sounding compared to a 175, it appears to have a mahogany neck. The other blond one has maple and probably sounds brighter than a 175, but you never actually know till they are plugged in.

[Woody Sound]

I could speculate that it is for tonal superiority, but I doubt it. More likely it's for the flame and is less expensive. Having that much hardware on the top probably neutralizes any tonal difference of the wood choice.

I didn't know that flamed maple is less expensive than spruce.

[Marty Grass]

I didn't know that flamed maple is less expensive than spruce.

That's my impression. It may be less fragile carving. IDK. They do charge more for spruce.