mosriteforum.com

Hey!

Visited the Hallmark World Headquarters today. Bob had two new prototype basses with medium-scale length necks.

Since I have been bugging him to do this for a year or so, I was pleased to see these. Now, these are not for sale, and I have dibs on the single-pickup sunburst one. The two-pickup black one is going to a pro touring musician whom Bob can name if he wants to.

Bob plans to have these on the market, should all go well, early next year.

Anyway, these sound and play great! Having had an original Mosrite single-pickup sunburst back in the late 1960s-early 1970s (it used to be in my avatar), I can say these have, as my memory serves, a more distinct voice; almost Rickenbackerish to my ear. However, Bob and I were playing these through an old Mosrite guitar amp (at low volume, natch) and that could have colored the sound, too. Seems to me that my Mosrite one had a shorter scale than these; more like the Hofner I had then, too, but I can't swear to that.

So, here is an iPhone pic. I tried five times to upload a set of four pics, but the I kept getting a "Your images may only be up to 1000 pixels high" alert. I reduced the pics several times, finally down to 600 pixels high in PhotoBucket and still kept getting that alert, so I am giving up on the set of pics. Maybe one photo will get through!

Any questions about these basses can be answered by the Bobster:





Pretty attractive, eh? The sunburst has a set neck. The black one has a bolt-on neck and the neck plate has a nifty engraved Hallmark logo.

--Jim

I'm glad to see this happening. Those look great. The only thing that would make the sunburst single pickup perfect would be for it to be a side jack. That is, if that is binding I see around the body. If you want you can send me those pictures via email and I'll get them posted.

Those are beautiful! Makes me want to take up the bass.

Beautiful looking guitars. Congratulations!

Very nice!
A Sunburst (without binding) two-pickup, bolt-on neck, top jack Hallmark Bass should do very well, in my humble opinion.
Will the headstocks be 'scarf-jointed' too?

Hey--

I'm not Bob and don't speak for him on this or any other subject. If you all could have seen him and me banging heads while coming to an agreement on a seperate business matter yesterday, you'd agree! We parted partners and friends, as always, but we had some intense discussion regarding a guitar accessory I patented and he's helping me get on the market.

But regarding producing and selling a quantity of new guitars in today's world, if it were me, my prime directive would be to make a great-looking bass that played great and sounded great. I'd leave all the inside-baseball nuances to the specialty builders.

Someone trying to sell more than onesies/twosies has to realize that some of those to whom he's selling may never have seen or heard of a Mosrite bass and even fewer have ever played one. And there are several super-talented folks on this forum who can replicate something for a very fair price. Heck, some of them even learned under Semie's direction.

That being said, I am as guilty as anyone of wanting a mass-produced modern instrument to have elements that just aren't economically practical in today's world. For example, I love the look and feel of a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, but how many production guitars bother with that more labor-intensive process nowadays? Not too many, and if they do, you pay more for it. So there's a place for guys like Bob and there's a place for the specialty artisan.

Just my two cents!

--Jim

Cool. I think there's plenty of room for "artisan" equipment makers. Lots of people like the idea of supporting "the little guy" instead of the major players.

FRICKIN SICK! IVE BEEN BEGGIN' FOR A BASS TOO!
No word on price yet. Thanks for the pics! I've been dying to see them and the II's. He's building me a custom 60 as we speak!
Since I play ramones-core, I'm having a dimarzio and sperzels out on, set up with 12's.
THANKS AGAIN!

These basses may be worth waiting for, if the prototypes are any example. There were a couple of factors that made the original Mosrite basses a little more difficult to adapt to than these; the scale length and the neck width.

Hope the H60C is all you want it to be, and we'd love to see photos when you have the time to take and post them!!!

--Jim

Sharp looking basses. Though, am I missing something or are there no pole pieces on the pickups?