Hallmark Owner's Corner!

[jfine]

Got my 60 Custom back yesterday, and took it to my teaching gig today. I'm now carrying it in a Japanese-made Mosrite-branded gig bag from Front Porch Music (the hardshell is beautiful, but it's really heavy). I got it into the teaching studio, a little nervous--I didn't want to bang it into a wall--but we both survived. The gig bag is a perfect fit, for the guitar anyway--it's got Velcro-opening pouches inside at the headstock and butt ends to hold the guitar in place--but the exterior compartments are small and tight--I was barely able to find space for my string crank, wire cutters, spare strings, screwdriver, polish cloth, and slide, and my teaching materials wouldn't fit at all, so I still have to carry the briefcase. Darn. With a little relief on the neck, it plays great with no buzzing at all--I've actually lowered the action a bit from where the tech set it. He glued the bridge rollers in place, so no more rattling there, and it still stays in tune--the bridge rocks with vibrato use. The pickups are finally balanced, with the bridge pickup a lot closer to the strings than the neck pickup, and with the 500Kohm pots, there's a little more high end, although it's still not a real bright guitar. The pots he used have a really abrupt taper, but he's got some Alpha pots on order that are supposed to be a lot smoother, so when those come in he'll swap them out. In one of the lessons, one of my students was working on her first few chords, so I had her play the chords to "Red River Valley" while I played the melody, and with some subtle vibrato bar wobbles and both pickups on, it was as close as I've ever gotten to a Chet Atkins-sort of tone out of anything that's not a Gretsch! Through a little 15-watt practice amp, too.

[eltuce]

Number 3 for me arrived today. So far so good but I've only had about 10 minutes of messing with it. I imagine I'll be playing along to some Big Star tonight with the recent and unfortunate news of Alex Chilton passing yesterday. On a more cheerful note, one more thing to love about Hallmark, bought it Monday night, here by Thursday!
-Tommy

[101Volts]

All this talk makes me want to order a 60 Custom. Sadly, I'm still after that rare Mosrite model. I'll probably buy a Hallmark before the Mosrite I'm after if enough time goes by but you never know.

Austin

[eltuce]

You're still holding out for the 'ol brass rail eh? I really wanna get one of those too but since I have seen how much you want one I will do my best to hold out on bidding should one show up for the right price. Maybe we can split the cost of the one from Jester and work something out where one of us gets weekends and holidays? There are a few other things I have been looking to get anyway but I gotta sell a couple more first. I'm also working on getting a custom amp from Billy Zoom. I'm tellin' ya though, this 60 Custom is pretty sweet, been playing it for the last hour or so, time to get back to it!

[rog43win]

Number 3 for me arrived today. So far so good but I've only had about 10 minutes of messing with it. I imagine I'll be playing along to some Big Star tonight with the recent and unfortunate news of Alex Chilton passing yesterday. On a more cheerful note, one more thing to love about Hallmark, bought it Monday night, here by Thursday!
-Tommy

Congrats Tommy!! Glad your package arrived safe and sound......would love to hear more about it once you've had the chance to play it for a while....
I'm still playing the strat for a few more months til I can order a Hallmark, but a week ago we got the new car......which was a necessity....2008 Ford Fusion....not brand new but new enough....beats the '93 Olds.....lol.......

Roger

[JimPage]

Tonight was a practice night for our country band, and Don, our talented and very knowledgeable lead-guitar player, gave me his take on the difference in the sound of the H60C compared to the '72 Celebrity I also play in that band. I play rhythm guitar almost exclusively in that band.

According to Don, the two guitars sound almost exactly the same and are both great for Bakersfield country, but with this subtle difference: In the H60C sound, you can distinguish the sound of the individual strings more readily than on the Celebrity, which has a more blended sound.

I may not have explained it well, because I can't remember Don's exact wording, but it makes sense to me and after he said that, I could hear it myself.

This is an apples-to-apples comparison, because I play the same songs the same way through the same amp (1962 Ampeg J-12) with both guitars.

Now the Hallmark Stradette, according to Don, has a more distinct, rockabilly, sound than either the H60C or the Mosrite Celebrity.

--Jim

[twango the clown]

Number 3 for me arrived today. So far so good but I've only had about 10 minutes of messing with it. I imagine I'll be playing along to some Big Star tonight with the recent and unfortunate news of Alex Chilton passing yesterday. On a more cheerful note, one more thing to love about Hallmark, bought it Monday night, here by Thursday!
-Tommy

Terrible about Chilton; Dave Lee of The Neats just passed this week too. We are both on the old Ace of Hearts label. I played a show with them just a month ago and he looked fine, but not happy. I guess they booked the two shows that week so he could play out just one more time.
As you say, 'on a more cheerful note,' what color did you get this time? Was it the Red White and Blue? That's my guess, although 'surf mist,' or whatever they call the new teal-to-pearl burst, redefines cool!
I'm a sunburst man myself; I like to look at the wood joins.
Tomorrow, Friday the 19th, I bring my C60 out for the first time under the lights. It's been fantastic in rehearsals;I'll be running it through a '93 tweed Blues Deluxe and we'll just see what happens won't we? I'll try to post some pix. Also on the bill is Jay Allen and the Arch Criminals. Jay plays only Mosrites, (he has three, including one of The MkII's) and he was the guy who gave me my first exposure to the perilous bite of the M Bug a few months ago!
I'll try to get pix of him too.
Enough about me,
Twango

[101Volts]

You're still holding out for the 'ol brass rail eh? I really wanna get one of those too but since I have seen how much you want one I will do my best to hold out on bidding should one show up for the right price. Maybe we can split the cost of the one from Jester and work something out where one of us gets weekends and holidays? There are a few other things I have been looking to get anyway but I gotta sell a couple more first. I'm also working on getting a custom amp from Billy Zoom. I'm tellin' ya though, this 60 Custom is pretty sweet, been playing it for the last hour or so, time to get back to it!

Yeah Eltuce, I'm still waiting for that Brass Rail to pop up. I'll build guitars like it once I have one and can build necks, That's why I've been holding out for it. I don't know how much sustain they have. I don't think Jester really wants to sell his though.

Austin

[MOSDAN]

Twango,
The new Hallmark C60 is called "Surf Pearl" and is absolutely gorgeous. I got mine about 3 weeks ago and love it. This is my first Hallmark guitar and I am sure more will be in the picture down the line. Hallmark definitely makes the best quality "Mosrite" type guitar on the market today. I agree about the sunburst being very cool also. One of my original Semie made Mosrites is sunburst and it's a favorite of mine. I hope your gig went well with the C60.
Mosdan

[eltuce]

Number 3 for me arrived today. So far so good but I've only had about 10 minutes of messing with it. I imagine I'll be playing along to some Big Star tonight with the recent and unfortunate news of Alex Chilton passing yesterday. On a more cheerful note, one more thing to love about Hallmark, bought it Monday night, here by Thursday!
-Tommy

Terrible about Chilton; Dave Lee of The Neats just passed this week too. We are both on the old Ace of Hearts label. I played a show with them just a month ago and he looked fine, but not happy. I guess they booked the two shows that week so he could play out just one more time.
As you say, 'on a more cheerful note,' what color did you get this time? Was it the Red White and Blue? That's my guess, although 'surf mist,' or whatever they call the new teal-to-pearl burst, redefines cool!
I'm a sunburst man myself; I like to look at the wood joins.
Tomorrow, Friday the 19th, I bring my C60 out for the first time under the lights. It's been fantastic in rehearsals;I'll be running it through a '93 tweed Blues Deluxe and we'll just see what happens won't we? I'll try to post some pix. Also on the bill is Jay Allen and the Arch Criminals. Jay plays only Mosrites, (he has three, including one of The MkII's) and he was the guy who gave me my first exposure to the perilous bite of the M Bug a few months ago!
I'll try to get pix of him too.
Enough about me,
Twango

Well...... we're planning on going later! Looking forward to seeing the Custom in action.