Slab Mahogany + P90s: Larrivee Collings or Heritage

[MillIsland]

I'm looking for a slab bodied double P90 guitar. Has anyone compared the Collings 290 to the Larrivee RS-2 and the Heritage 137? I have an 65 SG Jr. and am not looking for vintage or Gibson. Just a modern Dual P90. Three totally different pricepoints but I'm looking for bang for buck + great tones.

[Crazyquilt]

I've owned a Collings 290, Heritage H137, and a couple of Hamer Specials.

The Collings was beautiful, and had an amazing smoky sound -- I know that's a cheesy sort of word, but that was how I thought of it at the time. It wasn't a super-aggressive guitar, but it had a plethora of great tones.

I wanted to like the Heritage more than I did. It was definitely the roughest of the 4 guitars, in terms of construction. By that I mean it was a basically very solid, reliable guitar, but you had the idea it was made by people, not machines. I actually liked that about the guitar, but I never loved the sound. Good, but not great.

I should note that my first good guitar was a '93 Hamer Special, bought new. That was my only guitar for years, and if it hadn't had such a skinny neck, I'd might still own it.

However, when I snagged a Hamer Korina Special with a wraparound tailpiece and Lollars, I found what I wanted. Full range of P90 sounds, from smooth jazz to dirty rock. Of course, I sold it. :D

[rockinlespaul]

Bang for the buck....Heritage.

Best quality/tone....Collings.

YMMV, IMHO, etc., etc.....

[MillIsland]

Throwing the PRS Starla X + soapbar into the mix too . . .

[Brudr]

I don't have experience with all of those (except the Heritage), but remember that the Larrivee is a 25.5 inch scale rather than 24.75 like the other two. It should have a bit more single coil quality/clarity with the longer scale. The 137 I had was a fine instrument with a pretty hefy neck (fat).