Hallmark Mosrite and Sweptwing models???
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 8:31 am
Fellow Forumites,
Firstly, I'll apologize for this lengthy, eye-painful post
. Secondly, now to the guitars... 
Recently I have been searching into some Mosrite clones or companies that make decent Mosrite clones. I'm not really in the market for shelling out a few thousand for a real brand Mosrite let a alone a vintage model, as well as even the Japanese-made Fillmore (brand) guitars, which by the way I've heard and read great things about. Now some may argue I can go on eBay or Craig's List to find a used one, or 'just wait and save'...it's just not in my budget yet.
I've also been looking into Hallmark guitars, which the focus-end of this post starts here:
Custom 60 model, with its solid alder body, maple neck shaft and rosewood fret board, slim yet not 'too skinny' neck, slightly wider nut (sorry my hands are fairly small so even a 1-5/8 nut won't bother me that much). It also has the Gibson-style short scale (24.75 inches), which I would feel comfortable with, as well as 22 frets. The pickups are Hallmark's recreation of the original Mosrite pickups, called 'The '60', which have fairly 'fat' bobbins. By some review reports, bass response is reported to be snappy and dry, mids have a cool 'hollow' character, and treble is snappy, yet dry and clean. A sort of Strat-meets-Ric type of chime.
On the other hand...
I've also considered the Hallmark Swept-Wing which many rave about and claim to be a good playing and sounding guitar, as well. Now granted, the Swept-wing has a 25.50 inch neck scale (aka Fender-ish), but there are actually 23 frets. Also, the body is solid mahogany, but the neck still maple and rosewood. This model also has Custom '67 pickups which are slightly skinnier bobbins, but not Fender-skinny; however, these pickups are said to have more twang, rounder bass, and airier treble; however I did not read or hear much about the sound of the middle-position.
Reference: I like the clean, jangly and swirly rhythm sounds on Iron Butterfly's 'Heavy' album (Look for the Sun, Unconscious Power), but I also like the snappy tones of the B-52's; granted each group used different amps and gear for different 'voiced' results.
Now big question:
(1) Has anyone owned or played both the Hallmark [color=#4000FF]Custom 60[/color] and the Swept-Wing models? What are the most noticeable sonic and tonal differences?
(2) If I wanted to play Ventures, Iron Butterfly, and maybe B-52's -ish music, and some Neu-Wave stuff, would the Custom 60 do well, or would the Swept-Wing do fine as well, despite it's slightly different pickups and longer neck scale, and body woods?
(3) Is the Swept-Wing capable of those cool 'hollow mids' tones in the middle-position, as compared to the Custom 60 middle-position tone? Or is the difference totally noticeable and 'not-worth-it'?
Any or all advise, differences, experiences and suggestions would be greatly welcomed and appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
-- Toneharmatic
P.S. Would there be any strong or weak points, tone-wise, for each model? I can play either 25.5" or 24.75" scale no problem. My concern are the sounds and tone abilities.
P.P.S. No, I'm not entirely 'stickler' to historic specs and tones, but I'm also open to playing slightly different single coils and scale-length.
Firstly, I'll apologize for this lengthy, eye-painful post
. Secondly, now to the guitars... Recently I have been searching into some Mosrite clones or companies that make decent Mosrite clones. I'm not really in the market for shelling out a few thousand for a real brand Mosrite let a alone a vintage model, as well as even the Japanese-made Fillmore (brand) guitars, which by the way I've heard and read great things about. Now some may argue I can go on eBay or Craig's List to find a used one, or 'just wait and save'...it's just not in my budget yet.
I've also been looking into Hallmark guitars, which the focus-end of this post starts here:
Custom 60 model, with its solid alder body, maple neck shaft and rosewood fret board, slim yet not 'too skinny' neck, slightly wider nut (sorry my hands are fairly small so even a 1-5/8 nut won't bother me that much). It also has the Gibson-style short scale (24.75 inches), which I would feel comfortable with, as well as 22 frets. The pickups are Hallmark's recreation of the original Mosrite pickups, called 'The '60', which have fairly 'fat' bobbins. By some review reports, bass response is reported to be snappy and dry, mids have a cool 'hollow' character, and treble is snappy, yet dry and clean. A sort of Strat-meets-Ric type of chime.
On the other hand...
I've also considered the Hallmark Swept-Wing which many rave about and claim to be a good playing and sounding guitar, as well. Now granted, the Swept-wing has a 25.50 inch neck scale (aka Fender-ish), but there are actually 23 frets. Also, the body is solid mahogany, but the neck still maple and rosewood. This model also has Custom '67 pickups which are slightly skinnier bobbins, but not Fender-skinny; however, these pickups are said to have more twang, rounder bass, and airier treble; however I did not read or hear much about the sound of the middle-position.
Reference: I like the clean, jangly and swirly rhythm sounds on Iron Butterfly's 'Heavy' album (Look for the Sun, Unconscious Power), but I also like the snappy tones of the B-52's; granted each group used different amps and gear for different 'voiced' results.
Now big question:
(1) Has anyone owned or played both the Hallmark [color=#4000FF]Custom 60[/color] and the Swept-Wing models? What are the most noticeable sonic and tonal differences?
(2) If I wanted to play Ventures, Iron Butterfly, and maybe B-52's -ish music, and some Neu-Wave stuff, would the Custom 60 do well, or would the Swept-Wing do fine as well, despite it's slightly different pickups and longer neck scale, and body woods?
(3) Is the Swept-Wing capable of those cool 'hollow mids' tones in the middle-position, as compared to the Custom 60 middle-position tone? Or is the difference totally noticeable and 'not-worth-it'?
Any or all advise, differences, experiences and suggestions would be greatly welcomed and appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
-- Toneharmatic
P.S. Would there be any strong or weak points, tone-wise, for each model? I can play either 25.5" or 24.75" scale no problem. My concern are the sounds and tone abilities.
P.P.S. No, I'm not entirely 'stickler' to historic specs and tones, but I'm also open to playing slightly different single coils and scale-length.
