The Wait Is Over - Part II

[MrHat]

The “stork” came to visit me a couple of weeks ago – twice actually! The “babies” are beautiful! And, thankfully they do not take after me.

Originally, the game plan was to acquire a Sunburst ’65 Mosrite from Front Porch. Next, I wanted to grab a 60 Custom from Hallmark later this year or next year. I placed the order for the Mosrite with Artie, but a delay in shipments from Fillmore caused me to rethink this plan.

Recently, I decided to go ahead and contact Hallmark to inquire about a Candy Blue 60 Custom model. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when the Hallmark staff informed me that they were out of stock. However, they had a few 59 Custom models remaining, and they offered me a significant discount. With this incentive, I when ahead and grabbed a Sunburst 59 Custom!

After receiving it, I decided I didn’t want both the new arrivals to be Sunburst, so I contacted Artie and we changed the ’65 Mosrite order from Sunburst to an in-stock Ink Blue model. By now my game plan was completely altered, but I was able to “adopt” two absolutely beautiful “children”.

Both instruments are first-rate and beautifully finished. Actually, I’ve been a ill and I haven’t played either as much as I’d like, but they are awesome! As you would expect, the Mosrite neck is narrow and thin, and the action is very close (like my ’73 Tele). But it is sooo easy to play. The neck on the Hallmark is wider and thicker, closer to my 80’s Strat, and it plays beautifully, too. The fit and finish on both are simply top-notch.

I want to thank Bob and the Hallmark staff for providing the deep discount on the 59 Custom. Also, I want to thank Artie and Front Porch for their continued support and the great discount for Forum members.
This proud “father” has included some pics of the new “children”.
http://s1133.photobucket.com/albums/m592/MrHat18/

[Veenture]

Two Beauties, either way! Congratulations MrHat

[sleeperNY]

That is just great. I love both. My brother has a 59 custom and he just loves it so much he is thinking about getting rid of most of his other guitars.

Jim

[dubtrub]

Congratulations to the proud papa! If your going to pass out cigars, I'd prefer a nice hand rolled Cuban.

Glad to see forum members taking care of forum members.

[jtr654]

I thought that the 59 was supose to have a different trem on it?

[MWaldorf]

I thought that the 59 was supose to have a different trem on it?

It was supposed to have a replica of the original mistake plate aluminum vibramutes with fafnir bearings and an actual mute. I had one on my Meshugga guitar and it never worked right - it wouldn't return anywhere near pitch after pulling the vibrato arm up. Borderline useless in my opinion. It's a shame because it looked cool. On the positive side, the fixed bridge with the mute lever worked well and I kept that when I replaced the fafnir vibrato with a Vibramute.

The Shade assembly, based on the later Moseley vibrato design, is far more accurate in pitch and no doubt makes for a better guitar.

There are other differences between the 59 and 60 - the different headstock, sidejack, three ply binding and fretwire string guide. It's unclear from their website if the pickups are the same in both guitars but I suspect they are.

[Bob Shade]

Hey guys!

Thought I should chime in and clarify a couple of notes.

We were offering the 59 with only the cast aluminum vibrato but these were pricey and were not selling as well as the 60C. Now that we have been sold out of the 60C's for a short while we decided to offer the 59 at the exact same price as the 60C but with the diecast trem. Now we have gone through most of those too.

We fixed the issue with the aluminum trem a long time ago, Mel's was the first example we tried this tailpiece on. We used a roller bearing that was not as good as the more modern ones due to not being able to find modern bearings with the mounting stem.

So we decided to make our own version with the vintage correct stem. This corrected the problem with the aluminum vibratos. They work well, but in my opinion I like our die cast trem better myself I must admit.

Mel was a good guy going through some issues so we gave him "free of charge" a new production model H60C Sunburst model guitar along with his handbuilt H60C. He deserved it and was very patient.

Anyway, the 59's with the sandcast flip mute vibrato do work fine if someone out there wants one as we are almost out of these models now.

Best reverbs, Bob

[MWaldorf]

So it was the bearings? Glad you got it fixed, because it's a cool system, especially with the flip mute. I still think the 59 with the Shade vibrato is the better guitar and if you're selling them at the 60 price, some people here better jump on those and fast!

[KRamone27]

Congratulations on the twins, going to have double the trouble

[olrocknroller]

Soo...your family is growing in both directions, children and guitars! Congratulations on both!