Heritage > Heritage Custom Core H-150 P90 Pelham Blue 2024 Electric w/OHSC
Heritage Custom Core H-150 P90 Pelham Blue 2024 Electric w/OHSC
This guitar is a mint condition customer return with original case and all paperwork. Essentially new, but it "left the building" as a previous sale.
It's fair to say that the most iconic and coveted Les Paul guitars are the late 50's through '61 models equipped with chrome covered humbucking pickups. So why lust after a P90 Les Paul? Because a properly made, low wind P90 is one of the most expressive and dynamic pickups you can play. Made in the original Gibson factory on 225 Parsons Street in Kalamazoo Michigan, the Heritage Custom Core H-150 P90 represents the best Heritage has to offer. Featuring premium selected materials, exacting craftsmanship and their new in-house P90 pickups, the Heritage H-150 Custom Core P90 offers an exceptional combination of clarity, transparency and grind that is the hallmark of a great P90 guitar.
This Heritage H-150 Custom Core P90 features:
Nitrocellulose Pelham Blue finish, 8.8 pounds
Redesigned carved maple top
Natural finish Mahogany back
Cream binding
One piece 50's Mahogany set neck, 1-11/16" nut width, 24.75" scale
Approx .890" depth at the first fret, .980" at the 12th
Bound Rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, 12" radius
Trapezoid inlays
TonePros locking bridge and aluminum stop bar
Bone nut
Proprietary Heritage logo tuners
In-house 225 Classic P90 pickups, ~7.65K DC resistance
Special Heritage Custom Shop headstock logo
Custom CTS pots and Vishay orange drop .022uf capacitors
3-way Switchcraft pickup switch and jack
Custom Shop hardshell case with certificate of authenticity
Since Bandlab acquired Heritage and the historic Kalamazoo factory, they have continued to up their game in terms of build quality and consistency. And Custom Core series represents the top of the line production guitars coming out of Parsons Street. To insure optimal tone and weight, all materials are specifically selected for this series of guitars. From what we can tell Heritage has determined that the mid 8-pound range is the optimal weight for this type of guitar; as any Custom Core H-150 we've had has been +/- a smidge around 8.6. This H-150 balances nicely on the shoulder, and it's a very acceptable weight for a full thickness, non-contoured body. As you would expect at this price point, fit and finish is spot-on, and we love the look of the natural finish mahogany back and neck.
Instead of the usual Seymour Duncan P90's, for the Custom Core series Heritage has designed and built their own pickups, fittingly call the 225 Classic P90. Here is what they have to say about them:
"At the heart of the Custom Core H-150 P90 is a pair of 225 Classic P90 Pickups. Designed and wound in-house, these pickups offer a unique mix of warmth, grit and clarity. From shimmering cleans to roaring distortion, the 225 Classic P90s offer a dynamic range of tones, blending authentic vintage character with modern reliability."
Wound to a moderate DC resistance of 7.6K ohms, the Heritage 225 Classic P90's are marvelously open and transparent sounding, with excellent high end clarity both in the neck and bridge positions (like early Les Pauls the neck and bridge pickups are the same). The pickups give the feeling of really "hearing" the guitar and not just the pickups, and they exhibit great sensitivity and response to pick attack. Push them a little bit and you'll get a tasty grit that is excellent for blues and roots music. Push them a lot and they'll produce plenty of crunch that while not as thick as a humbucker is looser and more expressive. The custom wound CTS pots have a great taper, and P90's more than other pickups don't always sound their best wide open. To us they do their best work in the 6-8 range.
For the Custom Core series, Heritage opted for a 50's neck profile instead of the C profile used on their standard series. At roughly 890" depth at the first fret and .980" at the 12th, it's pleasantly chunky and offers very good palm support. While slim profile necks dominate the market, there is something to be said for the substantial and sturdy feel of a bigger neck profile. And as neck mass is also related to tone, we can only assume that Heritage took that into consideration too.
Guitars of this calibre have a certain intangible "feel" that is hard to describe, but it also sets them apart from their more mass-produced counterparts. The Heritage Custom Core H-150 P90 is not just a fancy paint job and certificate, but a carefully engineering instrument that offers classic vibe, expansive tonal flexibility, and exceptional playability.
