Incorporated on April 1, 1985, Heritage Guitar of Kalamazoo, Michigan has achieved the status of one of the premier guitar companies in the world today. It is, in many instances, the new guitar line handled by countless vintage shops throughout the world, indicating it is thought of as the collectible guitar of tomorrow. The idea to start Heritage Guitar began when the Gibson Guitar Corporation closed its Kalamazoo, Michigan factory in September of 1984, opting to move all production to its factory in Nashville, Tennessee. The founders of Heritage Guitar started operations in the oldest of five buildings formerly owned and operated by the Gibson Guitar Corporation, and much of the machinery that Heritage uses today was purchased from Gibson during their consolidation to the one factory in Nashville. The founders’ greatest resource was the group of craftsmen they could draw from to begin operations. The owners, themselves former Gibson employees, each had decades of hands-on experience in making guitars, and to this day each of the owners is directly involved in the manufacturing of every Heritage instrument.