❌SOLD❌ Heritage H-575 Archtop Electric Antique Natural, 1989

The Heritage H-575, built at the historic Parsons Street plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan takes visual cues from the classic Gibson ES-175, but there are major differences in construction and materials.

When Gibson introduced the ‘ES’ or ‘Electric Spanish’ designation, archtops were the most commonly used models on bandstands because of their superior volume and projection. The archtop guitar itself was developed and patented by Orville Gibson in a merging of guitar and violin family concepts. At the time, the arched top and back were made of solid wood, hand carved inside and out.

However, it rapidly became evident that when amplified, feedback was a serious problem particularly on high-volume archtops. In an effort to mitigate this, Gibson and other companies used laminated wood pressed on shaped forms to create the arched tops, as the laminates don’t resonate as much, and consequently have some feedback resistance. As well, amplification can reduce the tonal differences between solid and laminate woods, and laminates are much less expensive to mass produce.

The Heritage H-575, on the other hand, is built with solid figured Maple for the sides and the carved arched top and back. This makes them more suitable for the tonality of jazz genres.

Solid woods are used throughout this guitar, with Maple for the top, sides, back, neck and pickguard. The fingerboard and floating bridge are Indian Rosewood. For hardware, Grover Roto-Matics are at the head, and an ES-195 style tailpiece at the tail. Electronics include a standard two Volume, two Tone and pickup selector arrangement. At the time this guitar was made, the stock pickups (still in this guitar) were Schaller Golden 50 humbuckers. The output jack mounts through the tailpiece and doubles as a strap pin.

This Heritage H-575 was built during 1989 and is in overall very good, clean condition with little wear. Fret wear is light and the nitrocellulose lacquer finish is in great condition with no meaningful marking or natural checking. Presently strung with flatwounds, it has a woody, round tone.

The original hard shell case is included.