New kid on the playground...

[twango the clown]

Howdy folks!
My name is Frank, but I see everybody here seems to go by 'handles,' so I guess my name is really 'Twango the Clown.'
I am 58, going on 20 as they say, and I have the dreaded G.A.S. that we guitar nerds talk about. I have had the same band, Classic Ruins out of Boston, for thirty years.
As I am widowed these last 5 years and my kids are grown and gone, there is nobody on earth to tell me I can't afford any guitar I want, even when I can't.
Six months ago my band was on the bill with a guy named Jay Allen in Boston's Fenway district and I noticed he had a Mosrite. Not just any Mosrite: this was an ancient looking Mark II with a great deal of wear and checking. Johnny Ramone; that's where I'd seen that kind of guitar before.
In 1976 My wife and I sat on the dance floor of The Rat in Boston's Kenmore Square the first time The Ramones came through, about six feet from Johnny, and Denise got some great pix, some of which I'll post when I remember how.
So, I'm looking at Jay Allen's Mosrite and could feel that familiar tickle in the back of my mind.
I cruised Elderly Instruments and found that "used but not abused " Ventures Mark I they've had on consignment for months. I remembered these from when I was a kid from the back page Weekly Reader or something... They looked lefty in some way back in the days when most guitars looked the same to me.. But what I had never seen before was the languid sensuality of the design. The body was the shape of that girl's bathing suit that you're surreptitiously watching from behind at the beach. The neck was sunburst bookmatched maple. The Fender style Kluson slot heads in three-on a-side configuration that I had always wanted to put on my Les Pauls but couldn't find. The whacky tilted pickups...my heart melted.
I read up on the life of Semie Moseley. Reads like the book of Job. And after all that his faith never gave out. Every guitar has a built-in soul. I know this man.
How to get one? Ed Roman had them, and I cruised the site. Geoff playing 'Our Day Will Come' and the factory tour. Three Thousand Five clams. Sixteen hundred for a Fillmore Mark II. Keep looking.
Ed Roman raved about the "Impostors." One name he mentioned that I hadn't seen was Hallmark. Thanks, Ed.
Reviews on Harmony Central were all raves, and so I went to the site and got some eye candy.I was hooked. After forty years of the usual Les Pauls, (5 over the years) and Fenders (6 over the years) as well as the usual assortment of SGs, Firebirds and Melody Makers, several of which broke at the headstock before or after I had them, I really needed something different and the Road to Ruins model seemed to be the ticket. But I saw that for a measly $100 more I could get the Cadillac, namely the 60 Custom. For a week or so I had trouble getting sleep.
Fortunately those of us with G.A.S. often have the cure at hand. It's T.U.M.S. (Time to unload more stuff.) Having recently also been bitten by the Resophonic bug I had a Gibson flattop that was outmoded and gathering dust. It sold at a heartbreaking discount but I was glad to have the money.
I called Bob Shade and ordered the Custom 60. This is a remake of an early Ventures Mark I with glued neck and (to me ) highly desirable body-end truss rod adjustment. ( I am lucky enough to have never needed to touch a truss rod, but you never know.)
So I'm in the club, sort of. Just before I bought this I saw a Joe Maphis 12-string selling at Mr. Music for $1200. A true devotee would have picked that, but this Hallmark is what I wanted.
In forty years, I've had most major types and brands, and I have to say this seems to be the best all-around guitar I've ever had: nothing this solid looked this good ( Fenders, Danos, etc.), and nothing this good-looking was anywhere near this solid (Gretsch, Gibson {oh, please!} and I can't wait to take it out and run it past the folks. We don't have Mosrite-type guitars here in Boston to speak of, and I think some eyes will be opened.
I even love the mechanical learning curve in the unique bridge, and the way it asks me for flat-wound strings, and to play Ghost Riders and Wild Wild West all the time.
Current guitars:
Danelectro U-56 (nineties)
Squier P-bass
1956 Gibson Les Paul Jr. (older than dirt, never broken.)
Gretsch 1968 Clipper w/ Bigsby (last of the N.Y.Gretsches)
1983 Fender Japan Esquire (homely but solid!)
2006 MIM Fender Strat
2008 Gibson Melody Maker made in USA-(right...would that be Usa Japan?)
Regal (China) Tricone resophonic
Republic Guitars (China and Czech parts, set up in Republic of Texas) Biscuit-bridge duolian
Unheard-of Gretsch 1930's Broadkaster Artist mandolin prototype (family heirloom)

toodles for now!
twango the clown

[dubtrub]

Great introduction, Frank. Welcome the forum.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Welcome to the Forum Frank and as Danny mentioned, FANTASTIC INTRO!!
I loved the antidote for G.A.S.

Fortunately those of us with G.A.S. often have the cure at hand. It's T.U.M.S. (Time to unload more stuff.)

[GattonFan]

Welcome to the forum, Frank. That GAS can be painful, if you don't find a way to relieve it. Thanks for the home-remedy.
Dennis

[eltuce]

Welcome Frank! Hmmm, do I know you? Jay is a pretty good friend of mine. I believe he has 3 Mosrites although I forget what the third is I believe the other is the same as the blue only red.

[eltuce]

Duh, just reread that, and yes I do know you. Not sure if you remember me but we had a little chat about Melody Makers and Juniors when you guys played with Eddie and the Hot Rods. I'm pretty friendly with Carl and Jeff from your band.

[101Volts]

Welcome to the forum, Frank! I'm pretty close to buying a Hallmark 60 Custom myself but there's just one thing blocking me from doing so: "What if I don't have enough money to buy the Mosrite model that I really want when it comes on eBay?" I'd have ordered a Hallmark in Surf Pearl by now if it weren't for this.

Austin

[dubtrub]

Welcome to the forum, Frank! I'm pretty close to buying a Hallmark 60 Custom myself but there's just one thing blocking me from doing so: "What if I don't have enough money to buy the Mosrite model that I really want when it comes on eBay?" I'd have ordered a Hallmark in Surf Pearl by now if it weren't for this.

Austin

Don't want to hijack Franks great introduction, but....................

Austin,

You are a young man and have got the rest of your life to find 'that' certain Mosrite that may or may not every surface. Go for that Hallmark and be enjoying it now. Live for today and quit worrying about all the what if's. Life is too short. If you can swing it, get a Hallmark and start saving again for the guitar of your dreams.

[marsman]

Welcome to the forum, you can get your Mosrite fix here. great group of guys.

The Hallmark C 60 is as close as you can to go back in the way-back machine to
the 1960's and playing a Mosrite.

[101Volts]

Welcome to the forum, Frank! I'm pretty close to buying a Hallmark 60 Custom myself but there's just one thing blocking me from doing so: "What if I don't have enough money to buy the Mosrite model that I really want when it comes on eBay?" I'd have ordered a Hallmark in Surf Pearl by now if it weren't for this.

Austin

Don't want to hijack Franks great introduction, but....................

Austin,

You are a young man and have got the rest of your life to find 'that' certain Mosrite that may or may not every surface. Go for that Hallmark and be enjoying it now. Live for today and quit worrying about all the what if's. Life is too short. If you can swing it, get a Hallmark and start saving again for the guitar of your dreams.

Thanks. I appreciate your advice, Danny but I'd be kicking myself if I missed the opportunity to buy a Brass Rail. I want to build a guitar like it and I need a Brass Rail to compare my future build to. I'm going to sell my massive video game collection once the weather gets better so I won't have to wait as long.

Austin