mosriteforum.com

at the request of a few people that saw my videos with my mosrite, i was asked to play my other mosrite clones for a side by side test. same settings, same song, same strings, same everything. just the guitars are different. the bridge pickup was the easiest to hear the differences between the guitars.

this is rather tough to do since i dont have great video gear, but here it goes.

all 3 of these guitars sound great, play great, look great, but by doing a side by side, you can hear suttle differences. not that its bad or good. its just different. i'm sure i've got room for all 3 of these in my playing style.

1. Hallmark custom 60 (2011)
2. Mosrite Fillmore Classic (2005)
3. Mosrite Original made in USA (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzbFu7q6cBM&feature=youtu.be

nice vid
for the look i don't know what guitar choose the burst or the withe ?
for the sound the more i love is the black one

Great video Jay!

Like another commenter at the link, I think the third guitar is best suited for the song you chose. However, I am mildly curious as to what differences the circuitry, string type or pickup distance may have contributed to tone. Are you aware of any differences in this regard?

string height to the pickups are very close. i've fiddled more with the hallmark at dialing in the best tone. i replaced the strings on all 3 of these guitars before the comparison video. i used 10-46 daddarios

i checked out the output of the pickups. the hallmark is at 12.7k, the sunburst dana-mo pickups are 11.7k, the fillmore is at 9.8k.

to me, the hallmark is the warmest (darker) sounding and has less pick attack than the other guitars. this could be due to the magnet spacing doesnt match the string spacings.

the black fillmore is the brightest of the three. but it has a very good pick attack response. just think of the 007 theme or a spaghetti western. this guitar can nail that tone

the sunburst mosrite with the dana mo pickups is a perfect fit between the other two guitars. it isnt over-bright and has great string response and pick attack. i can definately see myself playing chicken pickin with this guitar.

another note.....the hallmark has 250k pots which may be the reason for the warmer tone. the other 2 have 500k pots.

i also have a sunset sparkle hallmark that i changed the pots to 500k and it helped brighten the tone a little bit. though it's still missing the pick attack response that i get on the mosrites. it too has the magnet spacing issue. that could be the reason. i would put the hallmark tone in the range and response of a les paul with p90s. they are definately usable and play great. i take them on the gigs with me every week.

if all i ever played was my hallmark guitars, i would be quite happy. but its nice to have a variety of tones between all these guitars. i have a candy apple red mosrite on order from Artie. it should arrive in a few weeks

also, the necks on these guitars are different sizes. the sunburst is the typical mosrite real thin neck, the hallmark feels like a fender tele neck, and the fillmore falls somewhere in between. its not the typical super thin neck that you see on most mosrites.

i would rather have a bright sounding guitar as apposed to a dark sounding guitar. main reason is noise issues. a single coil pickup will naturally be noisy. if you have a bassy/dark sounding guitar, you will have to add more treble, that will add to the noise level. i would rather turn the treble down to tame the brightness, which will also decrease the noise level from the hum.

Excellent comparison. The Hallmark sounds best to my ears.

Robbie