Looking for answers....

[vjf1968]

from the combined wisdom of the Mosrite forum

So I got my Hallmark 60's Custom and loving every bit of it and now, after spend considerable time with it I have some questions.
1) are the pick ups suppose to be noisy? There is hum but its not bad, it only intensifies when I kick in the fuzz. Should I be looking in to having the cavities shielded? Or have I been playing my 6120-1959 Gretsch too long?
2) before I bother, what affect does the other spring have on the vibrato? Right now I am using D'Addarios 10-52 guage strings but may go back to regular 10's.

I know these maybe stupid questions but I am new with the Hallmark and Mosrite type guitars so any info you can provide will be extremely helpful as I want to use this guitar to its fullest potential without having to do expensive mods.

[jtr654]

#1 They are single coil pickups and more subject to noise. I don't have any problems except when I'm way to close to my amp and turned facing it in a live setting. Your fuzz is also a boost and it will boost noise. Humbucking pickups are just that, less Hum. #2 Its a heavier spring for heavier strings.

[Veenture]

My Hallmark's pups don't hum at all. Haven't used my other spring -maybe it's a different size (for heavier strings?). Check out the Hallmark thread (other than the Hallmark corner) I know there was someone who experienced some problems changing strings on his Hallmark...

[Bill Mc]

Hello Vjf1968,

I'm not a hallmark user but I am a single coil user.
some circuts{plugs} are worse than others here at
my house especially this living room but I just deal
with it now If go to a friends home or a store no hum
at all. worst of all this is about 100 ft from me.

PECO says a good power conditioner will cut out the
line noise but the mighty tower is still gonna emit
a noise signal. So give some other outlet a try and
that may help, also turn off computer, tele, lights to
see if they are putting out any interferance.
Hope this helps.

Cheers.

[vjf1968]

It was just more noticable with this guitar even going clean into a DRRI. I am probably noticing it more in this guitar than say my 52 Tele RI because of the hot pick ups.

[Veenture]

Hummmmm....I just leave my Budweiser neon sign OFF...

(just kidding)

[Haole Jim]

We have a big honkin' sodium-vapour street lamp about 50 feet from the house, and the wife's-forever-on TV in the family room, below the music room. Single coils HUMMMMMMM!!!!!

ELECTRO HARMONIX HUM DE-BUGGER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Greatest effing sompbox in this or neighbouring arms of the galactic spiral. Ain't jiving; that little box works.

[vjf1968]

Been playing and dealing with the hum but we had a few gigs where the hum was exacerbated by either a dimmer switch or some other interference where it was unacceptable. Had to run to a music store to pick up a Boss NS2 to allieveate some of the hum. Did not really like the Boss for some reason. I think it was becuase it really did not give a lot of control.

I went on a search for a EHX Hum Debugger but nobody seemed to have them in stock till I found one store that had one, used. I tried it with a tele through an amp and the darn thing did NOTHING, you couldn't even tell the thing was on. The hum was still there. They did not have the EHX power supply that come with the unit (?) so that may have had something to do with it.

In the end I got a ISP Decimator for extreme emergencies. At least I can put that on my board with my DC Brick

I am more and more getting the gumption up to open the Hallmark and laying down copper foil tape to try and tame the hum. Another person suggested reverse wire one pick up so they will become hum cancelling with the switch in the middle position. I do not want to go there becuase it may effect the sound of the guitar and I am a novice with a soldering iron.

Does anybody here have any suggestions on shielding? Any tricks? Anything I should watch out for?

[billywrecker]

I have a rocktron hush pedal that to me works better than the boss noise reduction,to my ears it doesn't take as much of the tone away like the boss dose,There are some reviews on Harmony central you can check out.A good power conditioner should probably be the first step tho.That's just my two cents.

[vjf1968]

I have a rocktron hush pedal that to me works better than the boss noise reduction,to my ears it doesn't take as much of the tone away like the boss dose,There are some reviews on Harmony central you can check out.A good power conditioner should probably be the first step tho.That's just my two cents.

The ISP Decimator is from the same guys who designed the Rocktron. It works very well when using hig gain pedals.