Hallmark Owner's Corner!

[LOSTVENTURE]

I play guitar in the choir at my church, and yesterday was the first time that I took the 60 Custom to play.
My biggest problem was keeping the grin off my face. The guitar sounded absolutely great no matter what the pick-up selection was. Those big pick-ups just filled the room and let me do a lot of volume control just by modifying my pick attack. The bass player thought that I had brought in a volume pedal.
The amp that I use there is a limited edition Vox Pathfinder which has a solid state 15 watt head and a speaker cabinet with 4 - 8" speakers. I thought that it was a toy untill I plugged into it. I have always gotten great clean tones out of it using Tele's, Strats, and Les Pauls, but with the Hallmark it was like somebody flipped a hot switch somewhere. I think the Custom may be the instrument of choice now that Iv'e heard it in action. I'm still having trouble with the grin

Don

[thunderhead]

I own a Pearl White with Tortoise Guard 60 Custom:!: As many of you know it's on our website, I love it

[GTSP]

Is my Sheena in the mail yet!

[dorkrockrecords]

Is my Sheena in the mail yet!

Dude, I don't even think your Sheena is in existence yet, let alone the mail.

[GTSP]

Is my Sheena in the mail yet!

Dude, I don't even think your Sheena is in existence yet, let alone the mail.

DOH!

[sleeperNY]

You know they say that patience is a virtue. I even tried it once but found it takes to long.

Jim

[TimR]

I changed strings again today on my Hallmark C-60. When I originally took off the GHS 10's that came on it and replaced them with D'Addario XL-110's. I noticed the vibrato bar sat a little higher, which told me the D'Addarios were lighter strings (less tension). I had just a tad bit of buzz on the bass string only (above the 5th fret). Anyway, today I ran accross a set of D'addario Chrome X-tra Lite Flatwounds (10 -48), whereas the XL-110's were 10-46.

I put the Flatwounds on just for kicks, and I think I may have found the perfect strings for this guitar. It just feels better now, even though it felt great before. Plus, with the added tension, the buzz was gone. I thought the sound would be less bright, and that concerned me. The sound is different, but I like it. It's fuller, deeper, more refined. I know everyone says flatwounds are for jazz, but I think they may be perfect for surf, too. I remember I used to use them in the 60's, but they are much different now.

I'm sure I'm not the 1st to figure this out, but have any of you guys tried flatwounds on your Hallmarks?

Tim

[JimPage]

Hey, Tim--

I put the D'addario Chrome Flatwound 10s on my Stradette, and the D'addario Chrome Flatwounds 11s on the 60 Custom.

I love them! They seem to really work well with those guitars.

I showed the 60 Custom to Bob Shade last weekend and he loved them, too. He got that look in his eye that I have come to recognize when he is thinking hard about something and about to have a brainstorm, so look out!

--Jim

[TimR]

I believe (and I could be wrong), that the '66 Mark I Ventures I bought new back in my misspent youth, came with flatwound 09's on it. My recollection though, about flatwounds, was that they were easy on the fingers and quiet, but sounded sort of dead.
That's definitely not the case with these D'addario Chromes. I am a new convert .......

Glad to hear I'm not the only one who's noticed that........

Tim

[JimPage]

Hey, Tim--

You wrote:
. . . sounded sort of dead. That's definitely not the case with these D'addario Chromes . . .

You are right! These sound rich and full to me, especially through the old Pignose 7-100 (my favorite-sounding amp, believe it or not).

I seem to recall a Rick 330 I bought new came with flatwounds. Years ago.

I have always used LaBella flatwounds on my fretted basses, and tapewounds on my fretless bass. I don't like a high-fidelity bass sound, plus flatwounds are kinder to my old fingers.

--Jim