Hallmark SweptWing Vintage Series

gold sparkle , mosrite style neck, hardshell case, i think this was made in china, the best quality, ive seen in a import since burns.

this is the best surf guitar ive ever played. iown49, 20 fenders, this is a surf monster. i use a marshall, electroharmonix reverb unit plus other electronics. no noise ,sounds like a cross between a jag and amosrite. its good for any music. ive played all types of strange stuff. this guitar is my spaceship. ilike everything about it.

best factory setup ive ever had, including guitars twice as much money. pick ups set up like mosrites. i can honestly say there was not one flaw in this guitar.

this guitar will survive any thing you give it. the tremelo system is my favorite yet, burns guitars are good also. it is a well made guitar, and i would use it without a back up.

ive played 25 years, have cds on cargo, rough trade, instinct, and other u.s. u.k. labels. this guitar is one of my best. as i said i collect guitars and love my swept wing. i own vox,phantom, dipinto, italia 20 fenders,burns of london. this guitar is not for everyone. if you like ghastly ones, space cossaks, nebulas, surf coasters type music this is the guitar for you.

Finish is thin.Body style is a sea creature from outer space.Bridge is roller nut ala Mosrite.Whammy is a Vibramute clone.Tuners are Kluson style.Neck is a Mosrite repro. Frets are not small nor flat.No case candy or paperwork.Made in Korea or Venus.Maple cap on mahogany.Volume-tone-3-way.Two Hi-Fi '67 wide range high output custom wound single coiled pickups that are right out of Ennio Morricone's westerns.Clint Eastwood meets Rock Lobster.Body is mahogany and neck is maple with rosewood with binding.

The sound is superb.Don't try hot rodding it.After many experiments I had to return to original set up to keep that 53 miles west of Venus sound.If you are into Bakersfield California hillbilly twang meets Ricky Wilson and the B-52's era sounds then you made the right choice.If you own a Mosrite then you have to have one of these or then again you don't but it is way cool and very classy and would be a great addition.Works great through a Fender Princeton and a Fender Super Reverb as well as the Fender Blues Jr.I'm a Fender amp man.These are your ol' 60 cycle hummer P-90's. Deep bass .Stinging treble.I can get all the Mosrite sounds.Very surfy.Distorted by a decent fuzz box it gets Iron Butterfly psychedelic.These are for melodic playing.If you want to bash or get bluesy then you got to deal with the jangly set up which is not user friendly for those styles.Get out your ol' trust Strat for that.I don't like the last roller brigepiece because it is too shallow and you can pop the string off.Also the locking screws on the bottom are really a useless nightmare as well as the plastic rings on the bridge.The roller bridge is not the quality of Mosrite if California.But it still does the job despite those ilks.

Action was low but not intonated.Pickups were fine but I had a short in my neck pickup that a quick heating of my soldering iron got rid off in seconds.The book matched tiger maple woodwork and stain and finish would make Les Paul players jealous.I wish they would have used nickel plated brass nuts instead of the plastic Hofner looking easy way out ones.

This guitar is to be treated nice or she's a messed up momma.It is light as a feather and delicate.I installed Dunlop straplocks.You'd be well advised to do that to all your guitars.I own two so I have a backup.

Is this company in our solar system?

I was playing guitar when Mosrites appeared.My favorite thing about this guitar is that Bob Bogle of The Ventures once had it in his head and it popped out into my hands.He is a killer guitar player but most people don't realize his talent.Better keep your guitar in the case around him. I own two. One with a whammy and a hardtail.Both set necked honeybursts. I am envied when I play them. These guitars command your attention.These are basically Mosrites from Venus.Hallmarks are not for everybody.We are a select few.

I got this fantastic Swept Wing in gold sparkle! Bought it in february 2006 directly from Halmark Guitars and imported it to me to Germany, Europe! The case was included. Unbelievable finish! Best materials were used! I`m not an expert in woods but I know about the FEELING of a good guitar! The body style is like the legendary Swept Wing guitars from the 60`s. If Batman were a cool guitar player he would play the Swept Wing I`m sure. It looks like a "bat guitar". Check out the Hallmark website and take a look at the Swept Wings! There you get informations for the used woods and others.
23 frets. (Still best action at highest frets!!!) Scale length: 25.5" If you like to have the coolest 60`s style guitar and the fastest neck: Get it!!! The neck is thin and fast! I think the good old Mosrites own the same fantastic necks? Oh, don`t to forget the Volumecontrol: If you like to turn down the volume a bit, this is no poblem. The sound is still the same brillant!!! No muddy rhythm sound like with a Fender... (sorry Fender...) Perfect! This guitar is made for players!!!!

Yeah! That`s it, folks! I`m very deep into 60`s Surf Instrumentals with nearly Dwell 10 Reverb. I play different Amps. A `63 blonde Showman with a 1x15" box. A Dual Professional or a Teisco Checkmate 100 with a 1x15" box. My only effect is for sure the reverb. For me it`s a more than cool 60`s sound!
With the Hallmark Swept Wing you will an unbelievable 60`s VIBE!!!
For me this is more true 60`sound than an original 60`s guitar...(I owned dozens of 60`s guitars before...)
For sure you can use it for many differnet music styles, no problem!
The sound is bright, brillant, full of sustain (!!!!), smooth, and so on....
So it`s perfect for the many styles in Surf Music from tender and sad melodies to highspeed shredder reverb orgies!

The action of the Swept Wing was nearly perfect when I get it! The first I have to change on every new guitar are the strings, but no problem... The Swept Wing came in the nice Hallmark case. Therefore the guitar was in perfect condition! And, yes! ...it was love at first sight! (Do you remember a guitar where you had those feelings?) Neck was perfect adjusted, the bridge was setted up perfect! Of course eryone needs a different height for the pickups. No problem to get them in good position! The golden sparkled finish is absolutely professional!!! Best materials are used! You can see it and you can FEEL it!!!
The neck finish feels awesome! (If there were an instrument which you like to have sex with, the the Swept Wing would be first choce... sorry for that... haha!)
The guitar stays right in tune while playing. I use 11-50 strings.

I`ve bought this Hallmark in Febuary 2006. I`ve got thoughts of writing a review for Harmony Central `cause this guitar is more than worth to have good reviews!. I only write true reviews!!! If there is any bad thing on this guitar I will tell you! So I have to tested the Hallmark extremely hard in many live gigs. Now I can tell you that the Swept Wing is my first choice in guitars since I own it!!! Live I`m playing very hard and with much more intensity as while rehearsing for sure. I`ve tested soooo many guitars for my perfect surf sound through the last years... The hardware makes no problems! The only thing was the vibrato unit! In Surfmusic you often use it. Because of heavy vibrato action the little screw for the vibrato arm goes a bit too easy out of the thread of srew. BUT there`s no problem without solution my dear gearheads! So I`ve put a bit glue on the little screw and tightened it hard. When I chnage strings I will control the screw always, and: YES! It stays where it have to stay. Things like this are no really problems. Be a bit flexible and open minded always (like you should be in life always...). Othe rthing for me was the spring in the nice vibrato unit. I use 11-50 strings and so I have to tighten the spring a bit (just 2mm`s). Now it works perfect with my strings! The Hallmark Swept Wing is one of the most reliable guitars I`ve played in the last 10 years! One gig I throwed it over the stage a bit (`cause I was out of control like sometimes while liveplaying...) and picked it up and.... hey, it was still in tune! So what else do you want? In a month I will play an USA West Coast Tour with my band (The Kilaueas) and I will play it with a Swept Wing! Watch out!

I don`t know about warranties... I contacted "Mr. Hallmark" Bob Shade when I received the guitar and told him the little problem with my thick strings and the vibrato unit... Hey folks: Bob Shade gave me best tipps instantly and was unbelievable kind and helpful! I know: If I had any problems with this guitar Mr. Shade would help me! GREAT GUY!!!

I`m 38 years old. I play guitar since `96. I came from 80`s/90`s punkrock and Independent to the 60`s Instrumental Surf. Since I discovered this music in `96 I learned to play guitar. I just wanted to have this fantastic Reverb sound! Meanwhile the Hallmark Swept Wings are my main guitars!!! I own two Swept Wings meanwhile!!! I still own: Fender Jazzmasters. (I sold my Jaguars meanwhile) A cool blue sparkled Squier Supersonic: Customized with Jazzmaster Vintage RE PU`s. An old Squier Jagmaster: Also customized with Jazzmaster Vintage RE PU`s. And three Yamaha SGV`s (two reissues and one original from `67). I`ve played over 30 different guitars the last years (Hofners, Framus, Fender Mustangs, Kliras, etc. etc. ....) I sold most of my guitars the last 4 years... I will NOT sale my Hallmark Swept Wings and I would definitely buy them again!!! Meanwhile I got 3 albums out with my band "The Kilaueas". In the studio I used my good Jazzmasters for recording... For the next recording I will use the Swept WIngs `cause they fit perfectly with our sound! If there were a rating scale with 11 I would give 11! I love everything on this guitar! My favorite features on this guitars are the neck, the sound, the handling, the complete feeling with it! (Believe me: Sometimes you get a bit this ass kickin` Ramones feeling!") The colours you get at Hallmark are all VERY nice! I`m thinking of getting my own "Kilaueas!" volcanic reverb drenched Surfmusic custom model from Mr. Shade... Someday it will happen!

2005,made in Korea, solid mahagony body,sparkle finish,hard case

Sounds awesome with a p-90ish kind of sound.

Here's the problem. There was no factory set-up! The guitar was flawless in every other way, but I bought it new and it was completely unplayable. It didn't take me long to make all the adjustments, but I would have felt alot better about this expensive purchase if it was set up out of the box.

Now that's its set up, it's a keeper. Very well built and really cool looking. Built as solid as any of my hi end guitars.

I've been playing 30 years. This is a great stage guitar for it's funky flash factor. I haven't used it on any recordings, but it does sound great in rehersals. I'd Give the guitar a 10 but without setup,well....how about an 8?

This is a new (2004) Hallmark Sweptwing Custom Series. Amberburst, set neck, mahogony body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard, highly flamed maple top, 2 hot hi-fi single coil Hallmark pickups, Hallmrrk easy action vibrato with roller bridge. I believe this one is a recent production model made overseas (not sure where?).

This guitar purrs like a kitten and roars like a tiger! I've used it through my Mesa Maverick with a Barber Direct Drive. Nice! Cleans up well when turning the volume pots down. Goes from quiet (no hum, noise with clean settings) to pretty raunchy when the amp is opened up a bit. Kick in the overdrive and it gets nasty without losing control. Was not noisy with the amp turned up either.

Set up from the factory with fairly low action (I like unreasonably high which I adjusted it to after I warmed it up a bit). This guitar, to my eyes, is extremly handsome. Not a flaw one in the finish, frets,tuners,or electronics. I am amazed at the quality for a factory produced guitar. No complaints whatsoever.

This guit is brand new (less than a week) and I've banged around on it after a couple bottles of Sam Adams. If it was gonna funk out, it hasn't happened yet. Not gigged with it yet though.....

Not had a problem

This is a good value in my estimation. I have several Gibson Firebirds, a Les Paul and an American made Strat, an older BC Rich (1978) and older Dean Elite (again 1978). All solid guitars. I believe the 'Wing to almost equal any of those visually/cosmetically (I do have a proclivity for the 'Birds though). I really can't compare the 'Wing soundwise to anything else I have...it has its own vibe. I generally enjoy to play blues rock and I see the 'Wing as more rockabilly/Ramones/Ventures/Surfabilly material (which is cool). I became interested after seeing a video with Deke Dickerson (who has what looks like a custon doubleneck). He plays the bejesus out of these things! Been playing over 30 years and this is a fine guitar. I don't believe I am the target market for these, but I'm glad I stumbled on it!

Wow...a friend of mine from Southern Culture on the Skids had me try his SweptWing...within a week I'd sold a coupla guitars so I could buy a Hallmark. Great pickups, nice and bright. Fast, fast neck with easy access to the upper frets. Love the whammy on this one too...so much like a Mosrite; doesn't take a lot of pressure, but it's not too soft either. Great tuners as well. Even with new strings it's pretty solid in tune right off the bat.

What a great design and finish too. Have to see it to believe it. Attitude and style to spare.

Comes with a custom case, which is great because you'd NEVER find one to fit it, ha.

Great for my style, a kind of surf punk go-go mishmash. Nice full and bright sound down to a dirty growl. My primary use live is with a Vibrolux with a Danelctro Spring King, Flashback fuzz, Vox distortion, Big Muff, and Crybaby Wah.

In the studio I've used it with VibroKing, Matchless, Vox, Supro and ToneKing amps. Great with all of `em.

Everything is great, with the exception of one thing...if you use higher gauage strings there's a tendency for the strings to pop off the bridgesaddles or to ill-fit up at the nut in extreme cases. Other than that, it's great. Small price to pay for a great guitar.

Really reliable. I've beat the hell out of this thing live (down on my knees in front of chickies, jerking the trem hard ;) Always stays in tune; no tarnishing from reallyreally sweaty situations. I've never, ever had to use a backup.

Not sure if there's a warranty. Customer support seems fine.

Great, solid, beautiful guitar. Looks to die for, incredible sound...great overall guitar.