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Heritage Roy Clark Signatures have many variations over the years. There was a limited run (25) of essentially H-535s with his name on them and with exceptional wood figuring. But the original design is a single cutaway that's deeper than the H-535s for higher fret access. It is a hollowbody similar to the ES-330 with a floating centerblock. The thinking of the single vs. double cutaway is that there is more bling facing the audience, a larger resonance chamber, and a little more body weight to avoid neck dive. You'll find the Heritage Roy Clark models with double and single cutaways, maple and mahogany necks, dots, blocks and split block inlays, and some with Bigsbys. Some will have traditional black headstock veneers and some will have matching maple figured woods. A few have P-90s. Most have humbuckers: Schallers, SD 59s, or HRWs.
I do recall that Roy did have quite a hand in designing his namesake Heritage types. I also recall that some of the original guys, maybe Marv and Ren, told me he "stole" some guitars. I may have it wrong, but as I recall they lent him a couple of guitars that he wouldn't return, and Roy was mad at the Heritage guys. I know they were mad at him, at least for a while. I think it's possible that there was a disagreement about what constituted a RC Signature model. I personally got one in the past that did not having any Roy Clark markings on it, which probably means Roy got no royalties. There was fallout between Johnny Smith Heritage as well after a number of years. I can surmise why but don't know. Nonetheless, the Roy Clark and Johnny Smith guitars are among my favorites.
Life is complicated.
Here's a RC solo that is amazing.
This is from the Heritage Guitars website from a few years ago. The guitar looks like the same one that's incoming.
Roy Clark Specifications :
24- 3/4” scale
22 fret ebony block inlaid board
one piece mahogany neck
20” long semi hollow body
16” width with 1- 5/8” rim
Center block is not attached to back
laminated white bound curly maple top and back
solid maple rim
gold hardware
Here is an analysis of Roy's technique and skills.
Incoming photos to follow.
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01-14-2024 10:04 AM
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Here are the incoming pics:
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The one time I dealt with the guys at Heritage (won't name names) I found them to be incredibly uppity, rude and arrogant. Unwilling to admit that they could ever possibly get anything wrong, complete lack of concern.
Originally Posted by Marty Grass
Last edited by Woody Sound; 01-14-2024 at 11:13 AM.
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What exactly is the "floating block?"
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Beautiful guitar!
Dude could play anything with strings. Here’s Roy playing the Heritage with Joe Pass during their recording session:
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I came across this video yesterday—never seen it before. Of course Roy can play, but Marty sure does hang with him.
I am going to see Marty Stuart in 2 weeks and am sure he will be trading some licks with Kenny Vaughn.
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Ah yes, I never thought of that as a "block." More of a "thickened top." Originally Posted by Marty Grass
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The old group was pure Gibson. The current group is more corporate in demeanor with pleasant, younger people answering the phone. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
For quite a few years Ren Wall would take the lion's share of phone inquiries. I've been with him when he was bombarded by phone calls. Many of the callers seemed neurotic or at least highly detailed in their questions. Twenty or more calls a day like that while your bench is filled with work to do can make you cranky. I don't think that has happened in the last few years. I don't visit Heritage much now because it is not like it was in the old days. There is a professional greeter when you enter. You go to a waiting room that has guitars on display. You don't get any further into the factory. A few years ago you could usually walk back to where the workers were and get individual attention from the builders.
I initially thought many of them were rude. Soon I learned they were blunt. For example, I asked about getting a Kenny Burrell model built. The response from one of the owners was to ask why would I want to pay $700 more for what is basically the same guitar as a Florentine Super Eagle. He sounded rude, but he didn't mean to be. That was blunt. Another time I brought in a beautiful guitar I just got because it a little buffing cream still on the f hole edges. Ren Wall looked at it a minute then asked me if it bothered me. I hesitated a moment because I reflected that it was somewhat petty. But I responded that it did bother me. He said then they will take care of it. A few minutes later he returned the guitar without the buffing cream.
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I returned a 555 with a treble leaning sideways banana neck, paid for shipping. You could shoot an arrow sideways with that neck. The high e-string literally fell off the fretboard around the middle section of the neck. They told me there was nothing wrong with it and I didn't know what I was talking about. Was the last time I ever considered a Heritage.
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Interesting story. I feel there is a deep and profound message being delivered Originally Posted by Marty Grass
AKA
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While I'm posting on Heritage guitars, here are two somewhat similar ones. These are H-530s, basically a variant of the long neck ES-330. They demonstrate how flexible Heritage was in making customized instruments.
The first has humbuckers.
The second one has a story. The guy who ordered it from Heritage was a gigging musician in California. Before he received it, he had developed some chronic pain condition that was progressive. The guitar was not played much due to his deteriorating health. He took his own life due to his progressive suffering. I saw the guitar listed on eBay or some forum. I corresponded with the owner's wife and she called me. She then had me call the band's bass player for details.
This one has Lollar P-90s, which are standard. It has extra binding, and ebony fretboard, and MOP block inlays.
Here's that nice jazzy tone of such an instrument.
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Reminds me of the time I was buying sheet music at the local music store. I think it was SW "You are the Sunshine of my Life." The store owner was a well know pedagogue in the jazz world, known for being really cranky. I sax student of his said he didn't want to study clarinet any more. Well the owner (I will not name him) said, "That's fine. You can just pay me for the clarinet time and go home, because that's part of what I teach to be a woodwind player." Originally Posted by Marty Grass
Anyway, I approached the counter with the song in hand. He said "Are you sure you want to buy that? I've heard the song and I don't think it's worth the couple of bucks."
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I have a Heritage guitar which I bought used that was clearly a one-off custom order. It doesn't have specs like any other that I had seen. After a couple of years of curiosity, I emailed Heritage and asked what info they had on it (this was about 2 years ago). Ren Wall responded to me from his personal email and asked for some photos. After I supplied them, he gave me a list of specs on the guitar, some of which were clearly wrong (claiming it was a spruce top when it's actually maple, for instance). I'm not sure if he was pulling those specs from a database or if he was inferring them based on the photos.
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Just the opposite here. About 15 years or so ago, I was rebuilding (peghead break) a Golden Eagle that I bought on Ebay for $800. I called them about a new peghead overlay and the guy was really helpful and sent me a new one that turned out to be some kind of plastic. I always thought that eagle inlay with the crude engraving was ugly so I ended up using ebony and inlaying the JS rose with MOP. Always wondered what happened to that guitar - sold it to someone in CA. The guy was friendly and helpful though. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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This is perfectly normal for me. All the Luthiers I have known have this attitude. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
Liuthers are like Doctors....if possible it is better not to associate with them.
Ettore
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Not Mark Campellone……no tude Originally Posted by equenda
This is perfectly normal for me. All the Luthiers I have known have this attitude.
Liuthers are like Doctors....if possible it is better not to associate with them.
Ettore
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Nor Matt Cushman. He was a marvelous guy to do business with.
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I don’t take it personally LOL. If you need to see me (Infectious Diseases), you might have a big problem… Originally Posted by equenda
This is perfectly normal for me. All the Luthiers I have known have this attitude.
Liuthers are like Doctors....if possible it is better not to associate with them.
Ettore
I have met a few guitar shop owners with an attitude—a small vintage shop in Madison comes to mind—but most are fairly menschly. George Gruhn for instance is as pleasant as they come.
OTOH—look at who they have to deal with…
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I miss Matt on the forum. Very knowledgeable and willing to share it. He built an excellent ebony bridge for my L5P. Originally Posted by Cunamara
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Man, I'm so sorry for the experience you had. What a bummer! I had not heard about anything like that with Heritage guitars. Comments about them that I've seen or read were always so positive regarding Heritage guitars.
I can only speak of a 575 that a buddy of mine has and a new Standard Classic Eagle that I took ownership of a few months ago. I love them both! The craftsmanship, attention to detail, and sound on both guitars is stellar. Hopefully Heritage has their act together. As far as dealings with Heritage, I visited with them on the phone a couple times regarding my Standard Classic Eagle and the interaction with Heritage and their reps was very pleasant. I'm thinking of having Heritage build me a single pickup jazz archtop to go with my current Heritage. I guess any company can turn out a rare clunker. I certainly hope you have better luck in the future.
I had a similar experience to yours with a new custom shop Gibson L5CES. Like my Heritage it sounded superb. But when I took it out of the case it fretted out on two spots of the fretboard (I think the neck might have been twisted) and I couldn't get it dialed in. Then, the deal breaker...the tailpiece was mounted off center. And it was VERY obvious. I had waited about 2 years for that guitar to come in. I was so disappointed I didn't even bother to try and rectify things with Gibson. I had already waited so long to get the guitar I wasn't in any mood to mess with it. I took it back to the dealer who was very supportive and traded the L5CES for a couple other guitars. This was in the late 1990s to early 2000s. I traded for a Gibson '54 LPGT and a custom shop ES5 Switchmaster with P-90s. Gibson redeemed themselves with those two
guitars. They were outstanding and were perfect for the blues band I was in at the time.
Anyway, I really hope you have better experiences with your guitars in the future.
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The guitar arrived safely yesterday. Despite the low temperatures outside, the box was fairly warm. I opened the box and let the package warm a few hours.
The guitar is in excellent condition with almost no fretware. The neck is straight. The pickups are SD 59s, which are fine with me. The neck is more of a C than D but is not too fat.
The finish has less red in it than what the photos showed.
The real story is the box. It was beat to hell. One side was torn open. The bottom was crushed in the corners. The top was pushed down a bit. It was labeled in large letters to handle carefully. Fortunately, the shipper packed it really well. It was supported around the headstock in the case. Styrofoam, bubble wrap, and cardboard inserts protected the case. I sent pics to the seller to show him what became of his box. He was shocked.
I've tried to post the box pics, but they won't upload. Perhaps this thread is saturated with pics.
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Here's the shipping box!
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Ouch! That's brutal! Glad your guitar was properly packed.
Beautiful guitar Marty!
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Originally Posted by Marty Grass
Here are the incoming pics:
I have always wanted one of this. Congrats and Happy NGD.
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Floating Biltoft pickup
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