Heritage Guitars
Heritage Guitar is an American musical instrument manufacturer company based in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. The company produces a range of electric guitars, including hollow-body models.
History
Heritage Guitar was founded in 1985 by three former employees of the Gibson guitar factory, Jim Deurloo, Marv Lamb, and JP Moats. Two other former Gibson employees that took part in the company were Bill Paige and Mike Korpak.In the early 1980s, Gibson closed its historic Parsons Street factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, due to excess production, and relocated much of its production to its factory in Nashville, Tennessee. Some of the Gibson employees who did not move to Tennessee started production of guitars under a new name, "Heritage," which was likely meant to stake a claim to their guitar-making tradition. The company produced instruments in much smaller numbers than Gibson had.
The Heritage line initially consisted of electric and acoustic guitars, electric basses, mandolins, and a banjo. The line was eventually narrowed to electric guitars only. Although most of Heritage's guitars were based on Gibson designs, a few of their early electric guitars were based on modified Stratocaster and Telecaster designs.
In 2024, Heritage launched a new budget line known as the Ascent Collection. These instruments are made in China with more affordable woods, finishes, and electronics. They also lean heavily into bolt-on neck construction, features not typically associated with the Heritage lineup.
Current status
Heritage Guitars is a boutique manufacturer, making semi-hollow guitars, large jazz boxes, and solid-body electrics. Heritage makes guitars that are said to have been similar to Gibson's products, which the company's advocates and fans would say are constructed in a much more "handmade" fashion and with more attention to detail. The result of Heritage being a smaller operation than Gibson is probably a reaction against the cost-cutting practices that developed at Gibson under Norlin's ownership.The design of the Heritage H-150 solid-body guitar is modelled on the Les Paul Standard, while the H-575 resembles the ES-175 and the H-535 reinterprets the ES-335. 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. Heritage has also introduced several new designs, such as the Millennium models, which employ a "semi-solid" body that is more solid than a traditional semi-hollow design, but chambered.
During the first several years of the company, Heritage advertised its guitars in guitar magazines. The marketing was handled by the former VP of Sales at Gibson, Lane Zastrow. The advertisements wrote that Heritage was making guitars on Parsons Street in Kalamazoo, without mentioning Gibson by name. In the 1990s, in an attempt to keep costs down, the company stopped advertising.
In 2016, Heritage was purchased from the founders by PlazaCorp Realty Advisors Inc., a Kalamazoo-based property development firm that had recently purchased the property housing the factory. In 2017, PlazaCorp partnered with Singapore-based tech startup BandLab Technologies to revamp marketing and distribution of the brand worldwide. Additionally, they partnered with Rolling Stone to develop the factory campus into a destination to include "a live entertainment venue, a music instrument store, a recording studio and a space for musicians to try instruments or rehearse." That same year, BandLab acquired a majority stake in the company. The following year, CNC machinery was installed and craftspeople were terminated in order to lower overhead costs.