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My wife bought me a wonderful used Hallmark Custom 60 for my birthday last year.

I love it. Hands down, my favorite guitar.

It's a lefty, but it is strung as a right handed guitar.



I am having a problem with my High E string .009... I have strung it with 2 strings so far and they have BOTH unraveled at the ball.

When the string goes on I notice after playing a few minutes the High E goes flat, sometimes a whole step. This never stops. I keep tuning up, and it keeps going flat... eventually the whole thing unravels.

This does not happen with any other strings.

I have tried 2 different brands.

Is it something in the bridge? Do I need to go to higher gauge?

Holy crap mine did that too one time. Just once though. I thought I had a bunk string. It's been through dozens of string changes since with no problems. That is curious though.

I use Ernie Ball Super Slinky's (the flourescent red package) and have never had them unravel at the ball end. Have you tried those?
Scott

Nice guitar, love the matching headstock!
This is a quite common problem with Mosrite style tremolos (even with Bigsbys).
Try to buy 'enforced' strings. E.g. GHS offers them. You could also solder the ends to prevent them from unraveling.

We use the GHS reinforced ball end strings. They will not break even with heavy vibrato use. The ball end area is a weak point with some brands of strings.

Bob

this has happened to me on my Hallmark when I first played it but I really went to see how much range the tremolo had and caused it on my own. I only have Mosrites now and whilst that never happened again, if I do break a string on a Mosrite, it'll be an E and it'll be at the ball end, I notice this happens if I detune the guitar to mess with the truss rod, and then when tuning back up the high E will snap.

What I do is make sure all the other strings are up to tune so that high E has no extra pressure from the neck on it, and I find this works but the more you do this, the more likely it is that E will snap.

I have also been recommended to tin the strings with solder on the balls so that it doesn't happen but I didn't need them in the end.

BRRanger wrote:I use Ernie Ball Super Slinky's (the flourescent red package) and have never had them unravel at the ball end. Have you tried those?
Scott

I use Regular Slinkys - the flourescent green pack. My one unraveled high E string was with those.

I started using the new NY XL's from D'addario a year ago.
I have not broken a single string since then, and I am a 300 lb. Johnny Ramone Jr.
I also use 11's. I used to break a ton of strings, mostly on other guitars before I sold my soul to Hallmark.
The NY XL's are a bit pricey, but they are still a dollar less then the M-Steels from Ernie Ball, and don't feel rusty a month later like the M-steels did. The NY XL's also have higher output. Even unplugged they seem louder than other strings. They made a cool video to show the strength and durability too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41VGr7cCmYQ

Oh yeah, and they stay in tune from the second you put em on! No Tugging nessesary!

This used to happen on my Strat - would keep tuning up and it would keep slipping back down until eventually the string would break. This video resolved the issue, maybe it will work for you too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdJSSQ9S7Ag

Thanks Bob, I will buy the reinforced GHS strings and let you know how I get on.