Ok...here we go. The guitar is a new Hallmark 65 Custom. The Hallmark brand was resurrected by Maryland Luthier, Musician, and hot rod enthusiast Bob Shade around 12 years ago with the assistance/input of original Hallmark founders Joe Hall and Bill Gruggett. Hall and Gruggett were also key players at Mosrite before forming Hallmark in the 60's. Bob Shade is also the go to guy for vintage Mosrite restorations and anything Mosrite so he knows his way around these guitars better than just about anyone...including their quirks. These Hallmark guitars are not a defunct brand name being slapped on an Asian made guitar with a cosmetic resemblance to the originals with a bunch of off the shelf generic hardware, pu's, ect slapped on. They are also not perfect replicas of the originals either. The 65 Custom is an updated/upgraded version of a mid 60's Mosrite. Original Mosrites, while sounding great could be difficult to play due to their narrow necks (1.5" at the zero fret), very thin neck profiles, very low flat "speed frets", high output single coil pu's that sounded great but squealed and fed back at volume and problematic roller bridge. The 65 Custom addresses all those issues. The bolt on maple neck of the 65 is 1 5/8" at the zero fret w/ a 24.75" scale, the profile is still on the slim side but definitely beefier like a cross between a Gibson 60 Les Paul and a 60 Tele (D shape of the Gibson and thickness of the Fender), frets are vintage size but with nice round crowns and relatively flat 14" radius Indian Rosewood fretboard. The pu's are alnico with an output of around 12-13K and all the materials have been upgraded to prevent feedback and squeal. They are also very quiet for big single coils. The roller bridge and vibrato was redesigned by Bob Shade also. The bridge uses upgraded materials, has much tighter tolerances, locking intonation screws, the roller saddles are also sized and radiused to match the fretboard and individual string gauges. The needle bearing vibrato maintains the easy action and touch sensitivity of the originals but maintains surprisingly good tuning stability if you don't do "dive bombs" (IMO, it's the best feeling vibrato I've ever used). The bodies on the originals were basswood while the 65 is alder (Bob Shade believes that alder is superior tone wise and Mosrite only used basswood because it was soft and easy to carve with their very basic tooling). Now where exactly are these guitars made? Apparently they are a hybrid of Korean and the USA. The German carved bodies and necks are made in a small factory in South Korea (SPG?) to Hallmark's/Bob Shades spec's and then shipped to Greenbelt, Maryland for finishing and everything else. Except for the the Kluson style tuners (w/ safety post just like the old Mosrites and Fenders), pots, switches, jack, nothing on these guitars is generic or off the shelf. How well is it built? How does it play/sound? I'll cover all that in my next post or posts.