Hallmark 59 Custom

[JimPage]

I saw a cream-colored 50C Hallmark when Bob was working on it and it was a gorgeous guitar.

I don't need another guitar and I love the ones I have, but if Bob was nice enough to give me that cream 59C as a present, I would accept it.

But he ain't.

--Jim

[sleeperNY]

I will have to make another trip to my brothers house sooner than I want to just to check the vibrato system out again and see if it has settled down. I have almost never owned a guitar with out a vibrato system on it and have never had it go out of tune as bad as this guitar did even with new strings on it. I will report back when I get another look at it.

Jim

[Bob Shade]

Hey guy's for future information I thought I would post this, hope it helps:

Any 59 out there now will stay in tune, all of them have the new bearing.

Here is the biggest problem we have with this and other guitars as well. Guys don't take enough time to stretch their guitar strings until they will stretch no more. Plug your guitar into a tuner. Stretch the guitar string, then re-tune, you must do this with any set of new strings until the strings will not stretch any more and stay in perfect pitch. Strings stretch, it is an unfortunate fact. So PLEASE do this prior to e-mailing us about the 59. We really have had no complaints other than this one, and Mel's experience prior to the new bearings.

It is a hassle, well yes it takes a little time, but you will be in tune after the fact. I told this to one guy and he still complained it would not stay in tune so he sent the guitar to us. Guess what? He did not stretch the strings out completely. Any guitar will have problems unless you do this. I know, I was a professional tech on the road for rock stars. The last thing they want you to hand them on stage is a guitar that will not stay in tune. This goes for a Les Paul, Strat, Tele, really any guitar with strings, needs this prior to going any further into a tuning issue. A tiny bit of your favorite lube on the 59 stationary aluminum bridge never hurts either. Big Ben's nut sauce etc. Although we generally have no problem in the nut area dut to our zero fret.

I strongly recommend this for all guitars that you own and play.

Best intonation, Bob

[stl80]

Bob, I've never heard of that but it certainly makes sense.
Jim

[Sarah93003]

You are absolutely correct Bob! That little task is fundamental to having a guitar that stays in tune for hours on end. It is a task that I pay special attention to when I restring any guitar. I learned many years ago that 99.9% of my tuning issues came from strings not being stretched properly.

I have my own little procedure that I follow. Every guitar I have has a polishing cloth in the case. I drape it over the body before closing the lid. When I restring a guitar I have the cloth over my index finger and I slide my finger under the string as I go up the neck and gently lift the string in various places. After I do this a couple of times I will place my left thumb on the half way point of the fret board and lift each remaining side of the string to give it a stretch in both directions. The high E string, being the smallest, takes a little extra care not to break it or cut your finger.

[101Volts]

You are absolutely correct Bob! That little task is fundamental to having a guitar that stays in tune for hours on end. It is a task that I pay special attention to when I restring any guitar. I learned many years ago that 99.9% of my tuning issues came from strings not being stretched properly.

I have my own little procedure that I follow. Every guitar I have has a polishing cloth in the case. I drape it over the body before closing the lid. When I restring a guitar I have the cloth over my index finger and I slide my finger under the string as I go up the neck and gently lift the string in various places. After I do this a couple of times I will place my left thumb on the half way point of the fret board and lift each remaining side of the string to give it a stretch in both directions. The high E string, being the smallest, takes a little extra care not to break it or cut your finger.

What I'm about to say is a bit unrelated to tuning but if you solder the wraps of unwound strings (Near the ball ends) It improves string life a lot. (After doing this I never break strings) Some companies offer strings that are already soldered too, They're usually called "Tremolo Strings".

Austin

[Veenture]

What I'm about to say is a bit unrelated to tuning but if you solder the wraps of unwound strings (Near the ball ends) It improves string life a lot. (After doing this I never break strings) Some companies offer strings that are already soldered too, They're usually called "Tremolo Strings".

That is a very good point Austin. A slowly unravelling string at the ball end will detune your string fer sure.
Jim, perhaps you can tell us what guage strings are/were on the '59 when it detuned. If a string is too thick for it's slot in the string guide, it could jam. Bob Shade's advise is excellent, I do my restringing exactly in the same way -never a problem.
I got it from a Fender mag ("Frontline") many years ago. I'll see if I can find it and make a scan

[JimPage]

Old-time Washington, DC/Northern Virginia guitar tech Joe Latham turned me on to that trick years ago, which he said he learned from Buffie St. Marie.

He said she would put on the new strings, then grab them sequentially at the seventh fret and yank them hard three times. That would generally stretch them out/seat them securely.

--Jim

[sleeperNY]

I do believe the 59 has 10's on it. It has the original strings. He had it for 2 days before I saw it. This would be the 59 that was on e-bay from Calf. rickorama1 was the name and he claimed he was a Hallmark dealer with a full Hallmark warranty. I don't know if that is true but he was offered a great price and I told him he was a fool if he didn't get it.

Jim

[Bob Shade]

Just for the record.....Hallmark strings all of our guitars with round wound GHS 10's unless otherwise requested. We do use round wound D'Addario 10's on occasion as well. We also have been using 10 Guage GHS Tremolo strings too when we have them in stock. We like GHS strings the best. They have a string for everything and they seem to last longer.

Twanging regards, Bob