any know of heritage guitars?

[kazste]

My dad is retireing from a very long and stressfull career at the tender age of 63, and i would like to buy him something to enjoy in his retirement. He has quite a collection of guitars and has always fancied a Gibson 355, so was thinking of getting him one. I have since been told about these guys http://heritageguitar.com/indexc.html and that they basically do gibson guitars more highly engineered than gibson themselves.

has any one heard of them and are they worth the extra outlay over the gibson models?

i unnderstand the "if it's a gibson he wants then get him one" argument as put forward by the wife, but just think if these are the next step up then it shows a bit more though into the gift.

any opinions welcome, and thanks for reading.

by the way the model im thinking of is this one http://heritageguitar.com/models/h535almsb_specs.h...

[AdeTuono]

Some excellent reviews here...

http://reviews.harmony-central.com/reviews/Guitar/...

http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/117922

If your dad really is into his guitars, I'd go for one of these. Doubt he'd be disappointed.

[kazste]

Cheers for that I did do a search promise but on the iPhone. Looks good for getting one then just need to find someone who has one in stock in the uk

[bigbadbikercats]

kazste said:

i unnderstand the "if it's a gibson he wants then get him one" argument as put forward by the wife, but just think if these are the next step up then it shows a bit more though into the gift.

It's a little more subtle than "the next step up" - Heritage guitars are actually built (largely by the same people) in the building where Gibson's were built until The Big G buggered off to a brand new facility in Nashville in the early '80s. Your wife's argument could (and arguably should) be restated as "If it's a guitar built in the same place as the guitars which made Gibson an iconic brand by people with a direct link to the brand and it's heritage he wants then buy him a Heritage..." I know someone who has a Heritage 535 and not only is it utterly gorgeous in every respect but it's actually better value than the equivalent Gibson as to match the materials, workmanship, and sheer love which appear to have gone into the Heritage you're well into Gibson's Custom/Historic collection, and they're *way* more expensive...

May also be worth considering the PRS McCarty (named after and inspired by Ted McCarty who was responsible for lots of iconic Gibson guitars from their "Golden era") as a quality piece of kit with a clear connection to Gibson.

If you can sacrifice the Gibson connection then Collings make some fabulous guitars with a touch of the "vintage Gibson" vibe about them.

--
JG

[kazste]

I'm thinking heritage is the way to go. Looking into some form of publication to show the relationship between them and Gibson to give to my dad alongside the guitar as should make a nice gift.
Thanks for all the help.