What to buy? Celebrity or 60 custom?

[rynaro]

Hi guys'n'gals
I am thinking of buying a new guitar what should i get?
I have always had my heart set on a 63 mosrite ventures because i have always enjoyed the added sustain from a set neck but i can't afford a 63 or even a mosrite japan 63 reissue.
I had my heart set on a Hallmark 60 custom but recently i have been seeing 66-68 base model celebrity guitars for the same prices on ebay.
My heart says buy the vintage american made mosrite celebrity guitar obut my mind says buy the new asian (korea??) made hallmark reissue because it is almost exactly what you want.
i would love to get some opinions from both celebrity & 60 custom owners.
thanks -Ryan

[Desert Surfer]

If you are mainly a player, I would go for Hallmark Custom.

If you are player / collector, I would go for Celebrity if it sounds good.

If you are mainly a collector like me, I would go for Celebrity.

Vintage guitars will keep their value or appreciate if buy them right. Newer imported guitars will depreciate and lose value especially in the first few years.

If you really like 63 side jack, save up the money and buy a Japanese clones later. The vintage ones are definitely overpriced and out of reach for most of us.

This is just my personal opinion. Hope it helps.

[gplayer]

I don't think you'd be disappointed with the 60. I really am pleased with mine. But, supposedly, Hallmark is coming out with the 50 Custom that is supposed to have the "Sidejack" features. Just an FYI.

[Veenture]

Ryan, here’s another satisfied Hallmark 60 CUSTOM-er ...along with gplayer and others here too. It has been the perfect deal for me and moreover it's been the closest-to-home-find for me -although not in mileage- in finally getting the so desired “Ventures Mosrite” of the mid-sixties for myself.
The playability (custom wider neck), sound (close to the original pups but more versatile), feel, looks and quality are making it a continuing love affair and my poor old Fender Strat is now getting neglected…oh, and (whisper) I found the price to be very friendly too!

I can fully agree with Desert Surfer’s sound advice…and just imagine your greatest disappointment in discovering, after having hauled in a genuine ready-to-play vintage ’63 side jack Mosrite, say for 20,000 big ones…that the narrow neck doesn’t suite your fingers at all…

[MWaldorf]

I can fully agree with Desert Surfer’s sound advice…and just imagine your greatest disappointment in discovering, after having hauled in a genuine ready-to-play vintage ’63 side jack Mosrite, say for 20,000 big ones…that the narrow neck doesn’t suite your fingers at all…

The sidejack on eBay is apparently not worth $20,000 as it hasn't sold after months of being up there.

As for Celebrity v. 60 Custom, I agree with everyone else. As a player go for the Hallmark. As a collector, go for the Celebrity.

Doesn't Tym Guitars make a sidejack replica? Is it priced similarly to the MIJ ones?

[mosriteforever]

Hi Ryan and welcome to the forum! You have come to the right place. I work with Bob Shade at Hallmark guitars, so of course, I would love to have you purchase a guitar from us. If you look around at this rapidly growing site, you will see that you have a wealth of information and a variety of options when it comes to guitars, builders, and opinons. I have found that, (unlike other sites), here you have a variety of very talented builders, Like Terry (TNM), Ed Elliot, Danny, and distributors like Artie (with builder Dana Moseley) that are dedicated to the craft as exemplified by Semie Moseley. For some strange reason, we don't try to insult or denegrate each other, (though there is friendly competion,) but rather everyone on this site works together (thanks to Danny and Dennis' hard work) to deseminate information accurately about these guitars which we all seem to obsess about. It sounds like you have a nice collection of high quality guitars and are looking to maintain the same level of well crafted guitars well into the future. Most of us builders have websites you can look at and contact us through, so take your time, and take advantage of this website and the members to see what suits your tastes. Adam dropped by today and Bob and I had an enjoyable time breaking out the Gruggetts and Mosrites in our respective collections and going over the history and details amongst these guitars with Adam. I have not encountered anyone on this site who would steer you wrong. Bob and I will be at the Culver City Event, in California, "Back to the 50's" where Deke Dickerson will be playing, along with the Dynatones and the Collins Kids on May 9th, I believe. See Deke's site for the exact date. It will be a great time with some of George Barris' hot rods like the Batmobile and General Lee with a ton of other cool cars and great music! Sorry to ramble, but I have not posted in a while. Back to the original point. I don't think, (biased opinion), you can go wrong with the Hallmark 60 Custom, but Mosrite Celebrities aren't bad either! And Terry's, Arties' Tym's and Ed's are nothing to sneeze at either!

I'll shut up now,
Mosriteforever!!!!!

[Veenture]

...//... I have found that, (unlike other sites), here you have a variety of very talented builders, Like Terry (TNM), Ed Elliot, Danny, and distributors like Artie (with builder Dana Moseley) that are dedicated to the craft as exemplified by Semie Moseley. For some strange reason, we don't try to insult or denegrate each other, (though there is friendly competion,)...//...Mosriteforever!!!!!

…guys I’m no expert but allow me just this quick thought on the "Sidejack" feature. I’ve had no experience with it but have been thinking about this lately that it may be cool but to me it seems to be less practical and even more vulnerable than the later incorporated "Topjack".

I imagine the jack plug getting much more readily undone when the plugged-in guitar cord gets a sudden unintended tug! Most guitar players know the trick to minimise the risk for this happening of course (with any type of guitar for that matter) but perhaps Semie was thinking along these same lines when abandoning(?) the side jack input and moving it to the top in his later models. (Perhaps more practical too, production-wise?). Taking these thoughts into account it seems to me the top jack positioning has more pro’s than con’s than the side jack. But I’ll leave it to the experts. (we're lucky to have you here!)

To be honest, I still think the slanted Topjack which Leo Fender used is the coolest!

[Desert Surfer]

Personally, I prefer "side jack" for guitars with a large fixed tremolo bar (Mosrites, Gretsch etc.) I always forget to put the whammy bar in "up position" before plugging in, had to put amp on standby, unplugged the cable, move the bar upward, then plug in.....

It is also easier to move the bar downward during playing when I don't use it. This gives my hand a little more room

[rynaro]

I don't think where the jack is has any difference since there are right angled guitar lead heads made for that purpose. And if you wanna get tricky there is always wireless ... But they are silly