Hey Zach,
I’m a huge fan of Heritage guitars, and I found these pictures
on the internet of a Heritage Super Eagle that’s for sale. It has
a serial number of K03XXX and appears to be in mint condition,
but I’ve never seen a Super Eagle with P-90 pickups.
Have you ever seen one of these before, and if so, what do
you think it’s worth? Thanks! - Jim in Philadelphia, PA
A premium jazzbox, the Heritage Super Eagle sports a carved spruce
top. This model is still in production, although it typically sports humbuckers
rather than the P-90s shown here. Pictures and guitar courtesy
of Jeff Radtke
Hi Jim,
You’re not alone in your affinity
for Heritage guitars. Many
players love these instruments
because they have that vintage
Gibson feel, without Gibson’s
big-company pricing. For those
of you who don’t know the history
of Heritage, I’ll provide a
little background.
When Gibson moved its
remaining Kalamazoo plant
operations to Nashville in 1984
(the Nashville plant opened
in 1974), several longtime
Gibson employees decided they
wanted to stay in Michigan.
Jim Deurloo, Marv Lamb, and
J.P. Moats were three of those
employees, and they made
plans to create their own guitar
company called Heritage.
When Heritage became incorporated
in 1985, Bill Paige
and Mike Korpak joined forces
with the group, though Korpak
left shortly after. Heritage then
set up shop in the oldest of five
former Gibson buildings and
purchased most of the machinery
they use from their former
employer. They quickly gained
a reputation of building great,
handmade guitars at a lower
price than Gibson could offer.
When the company was
founded, each of the owners
already had 25 or more
years of luthiery experience
under his belt, so they were
all involved in actually building
Heritage guitars. Instead
of using an internal sales and
marketing team, Heritage
outsourced the job to Lane
Zastrow from Lasar Music
Corporation, which proved to
be a successful relationship that
continues today.
When Heritage was founded
in 1985, the owners were
already nearing retirement.
Once the mid-2000s rolled
around, Heritage found itself
struggling to keep up with
demand, and there were actually
rumors they had closed
in 2007. In the fall of 2007,
Heritage reformulated its
ownership and hierarchy when
a local Kalamazoo attorney
named Vince Margol bought
out Paige’s share (though Paige
accepted a position within the
company after the transaction).
Margol began working on
modernizing Heritage’s business
operations and devised a
transition plan to implement
when the other three owners
decide to retire.
Yes, the guitar model you
found online is a Super Eagle.
This guitar is built in the style
of Gibson’s Super 400CES
and is generally considered its
equivalent. It was Heritage’s
next to top-of-the-line model
for many years in their electric
archtop series—only surpassed
by their American Eagle
model. That said, Heritage
introduced models like the
Concert Master, Super KB,
and Henry Johnson in the
mid-2000s that were priced
higher than the Super Eagle.
According to the serial number,
it was built in 1994
(Heritage uses a letter prefix
for the year and K indicates
the year 1994).
This model features a
carved spruce top, curly maple
back and sides, bound body
and f-holes, bound maple
pickguard, and a curly maple
neck. The 20-fret bound ebony
fretboard has pearl split-block
inlays, and the bound headstock
has an inlaid, pearl eagle
atop a tree and logo. Other
features include a pearl truss
rod cover, Grover Imperial
tuners, pearl inlays on the
ebony bridge, a trapeze tailpiece,
two P-90 pickups, gold
hardware, and an antique sunburst
finish. The guitar has an
18" body, 3" body thickness,
and a 25.5" scale.
As of the early 2000s, this
was one of only two Super
Eagles built with P-90 pickups—
the standard pickups are
humbuckers offered in a single- or
dual-pickup configuration.
This guitar is still offered by
Heritage with an MSRP of
$7500. It sells new for between
$5000 and $5500, and the
current used value is between
$3000 and $3500. While this
guitar is quite rare (one of only
two), the P-90 pickups do
not necessarily make it more
desirable. P-90s are simply a
preference for some players and
the majority of guitarists would
probably choose humbuckers
instead. Remember that rare
doesn’t always mean collectible.
Since Heritage is still building
the Super Eagle, you could
order it new today with P-90
pickups for the same price or a
small upcharge.
Make no mistake, the
Heritage Super Eagle is a
mighty fine guitar and one
rarely finds them for sale in
the used marketplace. This is
definitely a treasure, especially
if you appreciate a Gibson-style
instrument in a newer, handbuilt
guitar.
Zachary R. Fjestad
is author of
Blue Book of
Acoustic Guitars,
Blue Book
of Electric Guitars, and
Blue
Book of Guitar Amplifiers.
For more information, visit
bluebookinc.com or email
Zach at
guitars@bluebookinc.com.