- Heritage Guitars
Heritage Guitars is a
guitar manufacturer inKalamazoo, Michigan .History
Heritage Guitars was founded in 1985 by ex-employees of the Gibson guitar factory.Harv|Bacon|1991|p=151] In 1984, Gibson moved production from
Kalamazoo, Michigan toNashville, Tennessee .Harv|Freeth & Alexander|1999|p=106] Some of the employees who did not want to move started production of guitars under a new name..] The company set up their factory in Gibson's former Kalamazoo premises..]Current status
Heritage is a boutique manufacturer, making semi-hollow guitars, large jazz boxes, solidbody electrics..] In these types of guitars, Paul Reed Smith Guitars and Gibson guitars are the closest nominal equivalents.
In general, Heritage makes guitars that are similar to Gibson's products,.] Harv|Freeth & Alexander|1999|p=107] but are constructed in a much more hand-made fashion, and with much greater individual attention to the instrument by the builders.Harv|Freeth & Alexander|1999|p=106-107] For example, all Heritage full-body semi-acoustics have solid wood tops, while many of the Gibson guitars of this type had laminated tops after World War II..] Apart from the use of a Plek automated fret-dressing machine to grind the frets to the correct crown and intonation, Heritage guitars are hand-made, without the use of CNC machines for woodworking.
New Management Joins the Old
Heritage experienced some financial difficulties related to late shipments in late 2007, and the owners went so far as discussing the sale or closing of the company. The owners, who excel at making guitars, admitted that they weren't focusing on maintaining the business as they should have. However, fate almost seemed to intervene. According to the business-oriented magazine Encore, Kalamazoo-based attorney Vince Margol - during that same period - told his wife while on vacation that if he could do anything he wanted, he would "ask the guys at Heritage Guitar to teach me how to do what they do so that when I'm ready to retire, I could buy the company." When Margol arrived home from vacation, he contacted the previous owners, and worked out a partnership with them. According to Robert M. Weir, who wrote the Encore article, Margol remains pleased at his good fortune: "I pinch myself every morning. The greatest of planners could not have made this thing fall into place the way it has." Margol has added his business and technical expertise to the guitar-making expertise of the previous management team, and currently, Heritage looks like it is already making positive changes.
Endorsees
Johnny Smith
In 1989, jazz guitarist
Johnny Smith withdrew his endorsement from Gibson and awarded it to Heritage, which began production of the Heritage Johnny Smith. The Gibson model continued in production as the Gibson LeGrand. [http://fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/bios/smithinterview.pdf "Johnny Smith Goes Full Circle" Interview with Charles H. Chapman] ]Smith has since moved his endorsement from Heritage to the
Guild Guitar Company . [http://fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/bios/smithinterview.pdf "Johnny Smith Goes Full Circle" Interview with Charles H. Chapman] ]Alex Skolnick
More recently, metal musician
Alex Skolnick (Testament) had began endorsing Heritage Guitars, as opposed to his olderIbanez models.Roy Clark
Country music ian,Roy Clark , currently endorses Heritage guitars, which makes a signature model.Citations
References
* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Bacon
Given1 = Tony
Year = 1991
Title = The Ultimate Guitar Book
Publisher = Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
ID = ISBN 0-375-70090-0
* Harvard reference
Surname1 = Freeth
Given1 = Nick
Surname2 = Alexander
Given2 = Charles
Year = 1999
Title = The Electric Guitar
Publisher = Quadrillion Publishing, Ltd.
ID = ISBN 0-7624-0522-8
* [http://fenderplayersclub.com/pdfs/bios/smithinterview.pdf "Johnny Smith Goes Full Circle" by Charles H. Chapman]External links
* [http://www.heritageguitar.com/ Official site]
* [http://www.heritageownersclub.com/ The Heritage Owners Club]
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