Hallmark Owner's Corner!

[twango the clown]

That's right! ElTuce was there. He said he would come, and sure enough, I came in and saw a man who looked just like Johnny Ramone..(as he was back then, that is...)
We had met once before at a dive down in Rhode Island, but memory fades, like the color on a window-display guitar. I knew him best from his posts right here on the Forum.
There were other friends that night at The Midway, a really fabulous dive with 2-dollar drafts and no place to sit! I saw people I hadn't seen for years, and I saw my daughter, who hasn't called in a while. She can be thanked for the picture I posted, which was the least homely of me and the best looking of the Hallmark (the real star here,) and I also thank her for talking to all of my friends in my stead, because this gig was a real challenge: the set lists I had put together were no good because our drummer for the night (we have three rotating drummers depending on logistical considerations) were not the right songs for this drummer.
I went down into the bowels (and I do mean Bowels!) of the basement to write out new ones, and there was a whole scene going on down there.
I balanced the strips of cardboard on my lap. I had just set up the Hallmark in my P-bass gig bag, and put in everything but a Sharpie. The guitarist of the headline R&B band (I forget the name, but I knew him from open blues jams) loaned me one. Just as I was writing , people started coming in and gabbing about Mosrites. I got up and showed everyone the Hallmark. I would say that there was a chorus of oohs and ahhs, but in fact there was something much more significant... silent envy.
It was time to go out. Who stands where? We had to shuffle our usual blocking because of the bass-and-drums backline, but we threw it together because there was no time; oh, did I mention I was running a temperature of a hundred and one?
We charged through the set. I think it was that guitar that helped me through. I wasn't up to my usual patter: I'm half stand-up comic on my good nights, but anyway I think we pulled it off. The Hallmark was good to me.
At the end, I had to catch the train and ran out the door five minutes after we came off. Don't get caught alone with a guitar after the subway closes in Jamaica Plain!
I got home at one-thirty, and my cell phone rang. Jeff, the other guitarist in the Ruins, had unloaded in Worcester, an hour away, and couldn't find his pride-and-joy Epiphone. Did I have it? Two years ago he did the same thing with his custom-shop LP-TV and I had found it.
No, I didn't have it. I called next day and they said it was behind the bar: come get it, so I did, and while I was there, before hours in the warm sun, as the place aired out with all doors open, I sipped a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon, and thought, usually it isn't this easy.

[twango the clown]

I just sent an e-mail to the editor of Guitar Player that I assure you will not make it to the magazine. The May issue was the one that covered the recent NAMM show. Surprisingly, Hallmark was not mentioned in the twenty-some pages of the coverage. I brought that to the editors attention. They covered all of the Fender and Gibson same-old stuff and all kinds of pedals but not one Hallmark. Of course GP has never covered any of the Japanese Mosrites either. I'm sure that advertise enhanced reviews covered a lot of the article, but it was mostly the same old stuff. Still very dissapointing.
Don

I think that the Big Two will go a long way to avoid mentioning Mosrites, Hallmarks, Elliots or anything like those until one of the Big Two deems it worthwhile to appropriate the trade mark. And they can: they've got the money. And, The Moseley family is divided and therefore perhaps vulnerable.
Many millions have been poured into selling kids (and their parents) something that they have already bought:the supremacy in quality of the Gibson and Fender designs that everyone considers to be the Alpha and Omega of guitar design. And many millions have been reaped thereby.
Truth to tell, I bought heavily into that thaang.
But don't take it from me: just watch any channel on TV for half an hour, and I guarantee you'll see a Les Paul or a Stratocaster somewhere. I don't watch much television, but when I do, it's the first thing I notice.
We can count ourselves lucky. When Mosrite-type guitars come to the notice of the American guitar-buying public on a large scale, bad things might happen. Go to the Guitar Center site and you'll see assembly-line guitars such as the 'reliced' Jeff Beck Les Paul selling for $24,000; if you don't believe me, go there yourself!
(Nothing against Jeff, once he was a god to me) and also Fender's Eddie Van Halen's Frankenstein model for thirty grand (???????) (Nothing against Frankenstein, but I don't see how he can play with stitched-on hands!)
What is this marketing pattern going to do if they get ahold of the rights to Mosrite?
Suppose they can sell a computer-built guitar with a flat-sawn neck and plywood body to the folks for five grand?
I like things like they are, with reservations. Let people who know what they like pay what they want for the thing that they choose, and not have to deal with a mega-corp selling the ghost of a good thing at an inflated price.
I'm Looking Forward to Hearing Back,
twango

[Veenture]

twango, I'm sure we all would love to see the availability of Mosrites improve significantly (i.e. more outlets selling them!) but I shudder to think if Mosrites start getting mass produced in a big way as cheap (inferior quality and workmanship) musical toys. You pretty much said it right.

[GTSP]

twango, I'm sure we all would love to see the availability of Mosrites improve significantly (i.e. more outlets selling them!) but I shudder to think if Mosrites start getting mass produced in a big way as cheap (inferior quality and workmanship) musical toys. You pretty much said it right.

Not me. I like it just the way it is. Besides Mosrites, I also collect 1980's era skateboards. I've been doing it since the late 90's. Until about 2005, decks could be found on Ebay pretty cheap. Then something happened. Joe Lopes was killed. Joe Lopes was a awesome skater & a better person. He had 5 kids & no insurance. Schmitt Stix re-issued his skateboard to help the family out. This created a market and created a bunch of guys my age to suddenly want the same decks I collect. Decks that were going for $60.00 now go for $500.00. Go to Ebay & search Zorlac NOS. Not the re-issues, but the original 80's decks. They are so expensive I can't buy them anymore.

If someone comes along playing a Mosrite who is in Tokeo Hotel or some other little emo dumb band or something & now the demand skyrockets, so will the prices.

Part of the appeal of these guitars is the small niche market. Knowing that I'm in on the secret is cool. If people wanna keep playing their GIbsons & Fenders, then let 'em. More for us.

[jfine]

Just used my Hallmark 60 Custom on its first gig, with the Buck Ford Band at the Columbo Club in Oakland, CA. It did fine--I had to tweak the tuning occasionally, but that's par for the course with vibrato guitars, and since I lubed the bridge and string guide, it stays in tune a lot better. This was the first time I've been able to run it through my stage rig (a Tech 21 Trademark 60 212 amp with a Boss volume pedal in the FX loop, no other FX besides the amp's channel-switching and reverb) at stage volume. Sounded great--lots of headroom on the clean channel and plenty of dirt on the distortion channel. I even got comments from a guitar player in the audience, who asked me if it was a custom job! For forum members in the Bakersfield, CA area, we'll be playing at Trout's on Thursday, April 22, and I'll be bringing the Hallmark, so come on down!

[chunners]

I just received my 59 custom yesterday. WOW!!! I don't know where to start.

I play a Blackguard Telecaster in my honky tonk band here in Ventura...or rather...I should say I used to play one. The 59 now is my go to guitar. It simply is stunning. I've owned Teles, Jazzmasters, Sweptwings and Grestch guitars. The 59 is the coolest and plays just as good if not better than any electric guitar i've owned.

It has "That Sound" The thing that I like is that it sounds really "country" and twangy on the bridge pickup and just as "country" and twangy on the other settings as well.....just a different sort of twang.We have some "surf" numbers in our set and it of course works great for that. It does the Don Rich/Gene Moles, Joe Maphis, Nokie Edwards thing very nicely. I do a lot of Travis and hybrid picking and it does this nice as well. What can I say?...for me....this is it.

I went back and forth between a 59 and 60 and finally decided on the 59. I guess the extra $500 is mostly for cosmetic upgrades etc. (side jack, cool headstock, mistake plate, vibramute and the binding is sort of a yellowed, black, white, black pinstriped binding....it's really sweet) In short, I'm glad I went with the 59 over the 60. It just adds that little extra and to me, makes it more collectable and really different than any other guitar you'll run into at any gig.

The back of the headstock is also signed by Bob.

Bob really has something going with these guitars. Hallmark truly is offering great modern versions of classic mid 20th century art design. Just great.

[Sarah93003]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pvFK8Q8GEU

what the?...... is there a word for something that is cool and weird at the same time?

Yes, that would be "wool". Oops, that's already taken. How about "cweired", ahhh never mind! Nope, no such word.

[twango the clown]

Okay, okay. Now we have someone (Chunners) with a Hallmark '59... I know it sounds great, because my own Hallmark 60 has displaced all of my other string-things for the two months or so that I've had it.
The primitive-looking vibramute casting on the '59 intrigues me, as well as the wild inlays (?) on the headstock. The big question in my mind is, What's under that mistake plate?
I know the story- while building the first Maphis models, the neck angle was miscalculated and the tailpiece didn't work without a last-minute fix, much like the case of the first Les Paul trapeze bridge. Luckily for Gibson, it was possible to pass the strings under instead of over the wraparound bridge, which was a simple piece of rod stock with holes drilled in it. A quick fix that held them long enough to put the stop-tail in place on the next batch. Semie wasn't quite so lucky. He had to carve a big trench in the top for the vibramute, sort of like open-pit mining.
The mistake plate hides a 'multitude of sins,' for which we must assume the devout Semie was suitably contrite.
But as we all know, Bob Shade and his mentors Bill and Joe, have known all this for decades.
To duplicate the appearance of the Joe Maphis forerunners, you need the plate. But what lies beneath? Unsightly gouges? Super-distortion preamps? Jimmy Hoffa?
I'm guessing it's Bob's marvelous sunburst,and if you took those plates off, with the exception of two or three screw holes, you would have something very, very sweet. But that's just a guess. Wouldn't it be nice to know for sure?

guitars worth mentioning at the moment:

Hallmark Custom 60 (it can do anything!)
Republic Steel Duolian biscuit bridge (no more flattops for me!)
Fender (Japan) 1983 NAMM sample Esquire ( this guitar will last way longer than me)
Gibson 1956 Les Paul Jr. (as bad shape as that Front Porch RS, but still going out.)
Danelectro (90's) u-56
Squier P-bass (don't sell it short.)
Regal (China) Texas-T Tricone (sweet with a slide)
Gibson Melody Maker (2009) in case I lose or sell my LP Jr.
Gretsch 1968 Clipper w/Bigsby B-3 last of the NY Gretsches,
MIM Fender Strat (autographed all over by everyone I played on bills with)
Upright Bass (mysterious, no label, repaired, from the school where I work when they were throwing out the old band instruments after budget cuts.)

[Sarah93003]

I just received my 59 custom yesterday. WOW!!! I don't know where to start.

I play a Blackguard Telecaster in my honky tonk band here in Ventura...or rather...I should say I used to play one. The 59 now is my go to guitar. It simply is stunning. I've owned Teles, Jazzmasters, Sweptwings and Grestch guitars. The 59 is the coolest and plays just as good if not better than any electric guitar i've owned.

It has "That Sound" The thing that I like is that it sounds really "country" and twangy on the bridge pickup and just as "country" and twangy on the other settings as well.....just a different sort of twang.We have some "surf" numbers in our set and it of course works great for that. It does the Don Rich/Gene Moles, Joe Maphis, Nokie Edwards thing very nicely. I do a lot of Travis and hybrid picking and it does this nice as well. What can I say?...for me....this is it.

I went back and forth between a 59 and 60 and finally decided on the 59. I guess the extra $500 is mostly for cosmetic upgrades etc. (side jack, cool headstock, mistake plate, vibramute and the binding is sort of a yellowed, black, white, black pinstriped binding....it's really sweet) In short, I'm glad I went with the 59 over the 60. It just adds that little extra and to me, makes it more collectable and really different than any other guitar you'll run into at any gig.

The back of the headstock is also signed by Bob.

Bob really has something going with these guitars. Hallmark truly is offering great modern versions of classic mid 20th century art design. Just great.

Hey Chunners,

does your band have a website or Facebook page? I'd like to come here you play sometime and would love to here this '59!

[chunners]

Hi Sarah...

My band is: BIG TWEED

We have a facebook page and other stuff like that. We can be found at bigtweed.com