Where Batman, Car Culture, And Music Collide: Hallmark Guitars’ 2009/2017 ‘Wing-Bat’ Guitar

My friends and colleagues will tell you that I am a massive sucker when it comes to my favorite fandoms being mashed together. I love baseball and I love music, so I am absolutely gobsmacked when Innings Festival Tempe brings bands like Cake, Weezer, Sublime, OK Go, and others to Tempe Beach Park alongside MLB legends for a weekend of Cactus League shenanigans. 

In addition to listening to sweet, sweet jams from the 90s, I also enjoy playing them poorly on guitar. I have half a dozen or so guitars in my collection. One of my absolute favorites is my Eastwood Continental by Jeff Senn. This guitar is heavily inspired by the 1953 and 1956 Supro Ozark guitars. It has the kitschy pearloid finish of the ‘53 and the slick cutout body style of the ‘56.

Here’s a video of R.J. Ronquillo demo’ing the Continental:

In 2009, custom guitar makers Hallmark Guitars went way out on a limb with a wild concept that resulted in the Wing-Bat. Guitar builder Bob Shade took the 1966 classic Swept-Wing body style and redesigned it to mimic the lines of the original 1966 Batmobile, designed by George Barris. 

There are plenty of gimmick guitars on the market that put appearance and branding ahead of playability, but the Wing-Bat was created with music at the forefront. Each of the limited edition guitars features a single coil 60 Custom pickup, shade vibrato and roller bridge, a mahogany body, and a maple neck with ebony finger board. 

Design elements include custom black and fluorescent red paint, scalloped wing design, turbine power boost, and an official Barris Crest badge that can be mounted to the guitar. It also comes with a custom form-fitted case which also displays the Barris Crest. The case candy also includes a signed certificate of authenticity from The King of Kustomizers himself.

When the guitar debuted with a limited run of 100 pieces, you could grab one for just under $1,000. The initial offering in 2009 was so popular that Hallmark did a second and final run of another 100 Wing-Bats in 2017. I’ve only seen one of these guitars in person, so I really can’t say how to tell the difference between an ‘09 and a ‘17, and the very few listings on auction sites and secondary market sites don’t clearly state which model is being offered. Either way, there are only 200 in existence, and there are rarely more than one listed at a time anywhere. 

I did find one claiming to be a 2009 currently listed for $4,500 on Reverb. Another listing (which doesn’t specify which run it’s from) asks $6,558. That second listing has buckle rash, is missing the case and case candy, and is pretty much being offered as a daily player, with no regard for the condition or collectability of the thing, which struck me as a little bizarre considering the higher asking price. 

These beauties exist in the overlap between music, Batman ‘66, and car culture on the great Venn diagram of geeky fandoms, and I’m here for it. I don’t have $4,500 to drop on it at the moment, but it’s on the list, right next to the Gibson SG Zoot Suit that I’ve wanted since 2009.