Many players love the sound and look of a classic Les Paul, but hate carrying the weight of a 9+ pound Les Paul through an entire set. The Heritage H-140 is a interesting compromise for this dilemma. With a body that is slightly narrower (about a quarter inch) and much thinner (about like a Gibson SG), the H-140 has the sound and look of a Les Paul in a much, much lighter package. Mine tips the scales at around 7 pounds. This may not sound like a large difference, but your back will definitely feel the difference at the end of the night!

Heritage guitars was founded when a group of Gibson craftsmen from the original factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan decided not to move with Gibson to Nashville in 1985, instead founding their own company in the original factory. Their guitars tend to look like old Gibsons with a few cosmetic differences. In the case of the H-140, the guitar has a florentine cutaway as well as being thinner, and the bridge and tailpiece hardware is different than a regular Les Paul (as is the standard on most Heritage Les Paul-type guitars). The normal pickups are Schallers.

How does it sound? It sounds like a light, vintage Les Paul. It's rich and creamy, but with just a little more bite than a full-size Les Paul. The only drawback to the sound is that you don't get as much sustain when holding an individual note as you might on a heavy, full-size Les Paul. The standard bridge is a roller-type of bridge that lets you adjust the string spacing from side-to-side as well adjust the intonation. This is nice, but I believe the rollers detract from the guitar's sustain (they also tend to move around when changing strings so you have to be careful). The light body is also a factor, but I think the bridge exacerbates the sustain issue and I'll be putting a Nashville-style bridge on mine along with a regular Gibson tailpiece (this change definitely helped the sustain on my H-150). You can get bridge and tailpiece for as little as $45, so this is not an expensive change and all it takes is a couple screwdrivers and 30 minutes. [Update: I did this mod and it worked well and did indeed increase sustain. I did it with inexpensive parts so it was a cheap and effective update.]

While the H-140 is no longer in production, H-140s usually sell for considerably less than Heritage's full-size H-150s (mine was around $650). For me, the light weight makes the guitar a joy to play and swing around. The neck has an awesome feel (not too fat, not too thin), the wood is top notch, and on mine, the cherry sunburst is pretty. Except for special circumstances, my heavier H-150 and Godin LGX-SA get set aside in favor of the H-140. It's a sweet little guitar.