"Heartfield guitars and basses. Not just a name. But a whole new experience."
Welcome to the wonderful world of Heartfield guitars and basses. If you're here, you're probably in the same boat I was in a few months back. Does this sound familiar...
I have this great guitar but no one seems to know a thing about it. I have searched the web and have come up empty handed! There has to be some information out there somewhere!!!Well, there wasn't very much information out there anywhere...until now. I have done the dirty work for you. I have nickled and dimed my way on up to a dollar...I have hounded the guys at Fender (who have been great...thanks Mr. Jack Schwarz and SunnBoy)...I have hounded anyone that I could find that has ever mentioned Heartfield on their web page...I have hounded anyone I could find that had a Heartfield listed for sale, and I have accumulated that information here...just for you! My objective with this page is to provide you with as much information as I have about the Heartfield Series of guitars and basses manufactured by Fender. Here you'll find technical specifications, links to parts, copies of ads, photos, reviews, sound bites, contact information, etc.
Many people believe that the induction of the Heartfield Series was Fender's answer to Ibanez during the '80s-'90s metal craze. While this may be true to some extent, I don't believe this to be entirly the case. The Talon Series was obviously put into production to compete with the Ibanez line. As a matter of fact, they were identicle to the Ibanez and they were even made at the same factory in Japan, all of the Heartfield series was.
The Talon's were by far Heartfield's most widely marketed guitar and it is obvious that this particular series were put into production and mass marketed to compete with Ibanez. If you look at the specifications of the other series Heartfield produced, I'm sure you'll agree that an Ibanez/Heartfield rivalry was not Fender's sole intention. The EX Series and the Elan Series were no doubt directly competiting with Fender's cashcow, the Stratocaster, PRS, and Gibson's Les Paul. These two series consisted of very beautiful and well crafted instruments. The EX Series had a very interesting pickup configuration that I have yet to see repeated still today. The Elan Series is kind of a cross between a Strat and a Paul Reed Smith. The RR Series was a little lower scale, but nice guitars in their own respect. The RR-8 and RR-9 have some very innovative active electronic features and provide a wide variety of sound options for a single pickup guitar. Overall the RR series remind me of the Les Paul Jr., but with a Fender feel in the neck. It's hard to explain with words, but if you've played one you would know what I mean.
I don't personally know very much about the Basses in the series. From what I have seen in
photos and read in articles, they are very attractive instruments. I have heard that they play
awesomely and they certainly look as if they do. You can find the bass specs and Fender's sales
pitch by following these links. Sorry but I haven't included the Heartfield basses in the
photo gallery yet. The reason is lack of photos! That's a hint
to all you Heartfield bassists out there. Please send me your bass photos. You know you have
them so please share with the rest of the world.
Please take a look around and hopefully the information that I have provided here will be of some use to you. Please check out the photo gallery page. If you have a good quality photo of your guitar that you would like to share please submit it to me. I will only post one photo of each model and color so only the highest quality photos will make the page. For you contribution I will give you full credit and a link to your page. If you are looking for the factory setup instructions, I have decided not include them on this site. Setting the intonation of your guitar is a very delicate matter and should not be attempted by your average Joe. You could really mess up your guitar's neck if you do something wrong. If you think your guitar needs to be adjusted, do what I do...take it to a professional. I am going to totally redesign this page over the next few weeks so please come again soon. Feel free to ask any questions and I will try to get answers for you to the best of my ability.