Hallmark Owner's Corner!

[Veenture]

Well, I just pulled the trigger and bought the 60 Custom in red, blue, and silver sparkle. I was debating customizing it but decided it's a classic just as is. So this will be number 3 for me in the Hallmark corner!

-Tommy

Congrats Tommy!

[MOSDAN]

Toomy,
You're going to love it. Bob Shade makes a great product and the guitar is outstanding for it's cost.

[jfine]

More Hallmarks! Cool! I'm getting mine back from the tech later today, I hope--he's tweaking the truss rod (it had a bit of backbow), fixing a couple of rattly bridge saddles, and installing 500Kohm pots--it should be killer after he's done with it. This guy knows what he's doing--he used to work for Tom Anderson.

[twango the clown]

I'll tell you, when I first got my C60 out of the box a month ago, (case was back ordered at the time) it had a few minor issues. The cardboard shipping crate must have gotten banged, and the string spacer was loose. It must have been a couple of good knocks, because there was an imprint of the strings in the wrong place on the zero fret. The 'nut' had moved and then got banged again. It wouldn't hold a tune. If I bent a note, the whole thing moved. Well as the Chambers Brothers say, "And that ain't right!"
I wasn't sure how to reattach a metal nut, so I called Bob Shade, and talked to him for a while. What a treat to gab with a real expert!
Elmer's glue, or the like. No point in permanently bonding it in the wrong spot when the strings will hold it down anyway. Problem solved.
Another thing I asked him about was the whammy bar. Soon after I started swinging it around, it loosened up and started swinging and creaking like a fence gate. I wanted it to stay where I left it. Easy, he said.
Take the tailpiece off next time you change strings. It's just four screws into the body, and you don't want to scratch your brand new thousand-dollar guitar do you? Well, he had me there.
Next, he said, unscrew the bar assembly from the bottom, and take out the paper disk that lies directly under the lever itself. That paper disc is your template for the solution to your problem. Use it to cut a similar disc out of leather. You can obtain one square inch of leather if you can obtain a thousand dollar guitar.
Put the leather washer back in the same place that you found the paper, and you're in business.
So, I did that, or thought I did, and: problem solved.
In fact, I stupidly put the leather disc back in the wrong place, between the spring and the block, not between the block and the lever, but it still worked. I only realized my mistake when I checked with the eye candy closeups on Bob's website. These closeups, incidentally, under the 'About" department , verge on porn.
Next time I changed strings, I put it in the right place, and it's perfect. I can move the trem with my pinky without thinking, and it stays. Try that with a strat! A Bigsby B3 will stay, but has other issues. The Shade unit, set up properly is the first tremolo I've ever used that has no tuning issue, other than a Floyd Rose, which is out of the question for me as it entails mutilating the rest of the guitar. Plus, I'm not a dive bomber.
Last problem, and this is a weird one. Strings unwinding. I'm using new strings, and suddenly the ball end unwinds off the high E string! The whole string unwinds from the ball!
I posted on this elsewhere in this forum, and was promptly answered by Top Men. We have Top Men on this very forum working on it. Actually they had the answer pat!
Truth is, we should be thankful for this problem. The strain which would otherwise cause your guitar to go out of tune, is being transmitted by the trem (doubtless with the blessing of Jesus Christ or of St. Semie of Bakersfield, patron of troubled luthiers,) and it instead causes your string to unravel. This (previously unencountered) problem can be solved as I also found from this forum, by simply soldering the twist on your new E and B high strings to secure them. Hardware store, resin-core solder.
Then, all these minor setup problems addressed, I think you have just about as close to a perfect stage electric solidbody guitar as you can get in this day and age. The action is to die for. The fret radius makes long note bends above about fret sixteen difficult at first, but you can learn, and BTW, just how many meaningful note bends do you go for up there beyond the Threshold of Pain? Switch to flatwounds if it bothers you.
There's a little fret buzz down low, but it's a new kind (for me) that actually helps a bit.
Pickup sound is unbelievable. You have to go there.
What else do you want? Looks great, stays in tune, sound can't be described.
Or, you could go out and get an EVH for thirty grand and try to tell someone it's his.

[Bob Shade]

Thanks for sharing the great technical information!

One thing I can pass along too is not all strings will come unraveled at the ball end. As well, some string companies also sell strings with re-inforced ends. GHS does and we have used them with great success. These strings are designed for use with tremolo systems.

Bob

[vjf1968]

Thanks for sharing the great technical information!

One thing I can pass along too is not all strings will come unraveled at the ball end. As well, some string companies also sell strings with re-inforced ends. GHS does and we have used them with great success. These strings are designed for use with tremolo systems.

Bob

I have used DR's 10-46, D'Adarrio's 10-52's and Everly's B52's 10-52 without any issues involving strings coming unraveled.

[oipunkguy]

i've used DR's and ernie balls on trems too without an issue. even on a few floyd rose trems.

[eltuce]

It's weird, I had never heard of that problem but it happened to me on my V88 a couple of months ago, then a week later on a Hallmark, then it came up as a subject here. So far I haven't had it happen again but I might see some solder in my future.

[LOSTVENTURE]

I've replaced the D'addarios (10-46) about every three weeks since I got the C60 (mid-summer) without any string winding problems. I don't use the vibrato much though. Still loving my "Mosrite". Thanks Bob.
Don

[101Volts]

It's weird, I had never heard of that problem but it happened to me on my V88 a couple of months ago, then a week later on a Hallmark, then it came up as a subject here. So far I haven't had it happen again but I might see some solder in my future.

I've had this problem happen even on guitars that don't have a vibrato system. It only happnens with unwound strings, I always tin my unwound strings now before putting them on.

Austin