Hallmark 60 Custom Club

It would seem that you have to be an old Ventures fan or a member of the Mosrite Forum to have heard about Hallmark. It's a small guitar builder in Maryland who has gotten control of the Hallmark brand. He is building exceptional copies of Mosrites (59 Custom, 60 Custon, and a couple of the Ramones models) and he's almost giving them away. He has some of the body work done in Korea to help keep his cost down, but you are going to have to see (and play) one of these models in person to believe the quality.
Don

Hey! I'm a memeber of the Mosrite Forum and I own a Hallmark 60's custom in Pearl White. Had it since October and is my main gigging guitar.

I can't tell you how badly i want a Mosrite, but the Hallmark seems to be an affordable and great choice..are the necks skinny like the Mosrite, or are they a bit chunkier? The sounds I've heard on various clips sound great, very authentic and retro-active....cool that there are Hallmark players here!

The neck shape is really close to a Mosrite. The string spacing at the zero fret is only 1/16th wider than the Mosrite. Calling the neck chunky is a real stretch. It has a comfortable, slender feel that keeps me playing much longer that I really should. The difference that you are going to feel is in the frets. Mr. Shade has used a very small frets and nicely rounded it for a great feel. Think of speed frets witha little meat on them.
As for the pickups. You are probably going have to turn your amp down a notch, because these pickups tend to dominate. They are great in small amps and down right bossy in my Twin.
Don

I am also a member of the aformentioned Mosrite forum