Silvertone 14409 vintage Japanese Mosrite-inspired surftastic guitar

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This 1960s Japanese "Silvertone model 14409" guitar (made by Kawai possibly?) has some very strong Mosrite stylistic influences, although that proto-Ibanez-style headstock does look a little at odds with the body design. Despite the obvious influences instruments like this are becoming increasingly sought after in their own right, with more and more collectors becoming interested in vintage Japanese-made guitars.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $344.99.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
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Mosrite Mini

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Here at Guitarz we love Semie Moseley's creations; there is nothing too conservative about a Mosrite guitar, there's always something quirky about them.

This Mosrite Mini although discontinued isn't a vintage instrument, but it's a beautifully formed baby and is much in the spirit of the original Mosrite guitars; early Mosrite doublenecks often combined a regular 6-string neck with an octave "baby" 6-string or sometimes a mandolin neck.

Currently listed on eBay with a reduced rate Buy It Now price of US $550.

G L Wilson

© 2014, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Another rarity from Semi Moseley of Mosrite fame - Moseley "The Sooner"

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I've lost count of the number of times I've seen a rare guitar from the Mosrite stable being sold as one of the rarest ever. Here, dating back to 1973, is another contender for that title, although "The Sooner" actually was branded under the Moseley name rather than Mosrite. Still it has a few Mosrite-style touches, including that duck bill-shaped headstock which also appeared on several of Mosrite's acoustics, and it even appears to feature a brass rail in the fingerboard, although on closer inspection this appears to be a strip of rosewood in the centre of a maple fingerboard. Stylistically, the slab-bodied design seem to owe something to the erstwhile Fender Telecaster.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1790.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

Ultra-rare one-off 1980s Mosrite Axe Bass which may or may not have been made for Gene Simmons

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The eBay seller of this one-off 1980s Mosrite Axe Bass claims that it must be the rarest of the rare amongst Mosrites, but when that company is known for its various one-off guitar creations, such a claim is hard to substantiate. I guess it's more a case of how desirable a particular guitar is, and I'm guessing the seller is assuming that the Gene Simmons/Kiss connections (even if Simmons never even set eyes on the bass - was it made FOR him or just inspired by him?) would make serious Mosrite collectors reach for their chequebooks.

Currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $25,000.

G L Wilson

© 2013, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - the blog that goes all the way to 11!
Please read our photo and content policy.

1966 Mosrite Gospel Mark-I - Model 600

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When I think Mosrite I think mostly about the iconic double cutaway solid body with a longer lower horn, a slanted neck pickup and a German carve, but though this Gospel semi-hollow is more classic, it still has the special hardware of its more famous sibling that contributes to the Mosrite uniqueness - also the classy headstock... 

The 'antigua' finish is most unusual for a Gospel and makes this guitar probably a one-off. I love the shape of the scratchplate, it really improves the otherwise quite dull outline of the ES-335 template. 

Bertram D

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Vintage & Rare Guitar of the Week: Mosrite 350 Mono Bass from 1973

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I figured it was high time we looked at another bass, and so present the above-pictured for you. Although it's not a bass that you see every day I'm sure that most everyone reading this blog knows who it was made by just by looking at it even if they are unsure of the model designation. From 1973, it's a Mosrite 350 Mono Bass, and as I have limited time today I shall copy and paste from the listing on Vintage & Rare:

This exceptionally rare, custom-color 'semi-transparent Wine Red' "350 Mono" bass weighs 8.60 lbs. Solid alder body and two-piece medium-profile rock-maple neck with a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 30 1/4 inches. Single-bound rosewood fretboard with metal nut, zero fret and 20 original jumbo frets frets with clay dot position markers. Specially shaped headstock with "Mosrite of California, USA", "By Semie Moseley" and the Mosrite "M" logo decal in black. Black plastic bell-shaped truss rod cover with two screws. Individual Mosrite of California closed back tuners with crown shaped metal buttons. The serial number is stamped in blind into the twentieth fret of the guitar. Four-bolt neck plate. Two Mosrite 'Humbucking' pickups with black plastic covers with "Mosrite of California" embossed on the lower edge and outputs of 5.45k and 4.95k. Three-layer (white/black/white) plastic pickguard with eight screws. Four controls (two volume, two tone) plus three-way pickup selector switch, all on the pickguard. Mosrite metal 'hat type' knobs with "M" stamped on top, numbered from 1 to 5 (one with a "V" and the other with a "T". Jack socket on pickguard on treble horn. Mosrite bridge with four individually adjustable saddles and Mosrite aluminum and rosewood tailpiece secured by three screws. The 'Translucent Wine Red finish is bright and vivid and shows no fade. There is some very light finish checking on the back and a few small and fairly insignificant edge chips. Overall this super rare and all original, early seventies Mosrite Bass is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. Housed in its original three-latch black hardshell case with black leather ends and burgundy plush lining (9.00). We have never seen another Mosrite "Brut' Bass.

I think that probably says it all. I love those "Bart Simpson" tuners, by the way. Currently being offered for sale by Fretted Americana via Vintage & Rare priced at €2185 / $2800.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Eat my short(s)-scale bass: Mosrite Celebrity III Model 221 Mark X

guitarz.blogspot.com:  

Most modern bass players wouldn't entertain the idea of a large-bodied hollowbody instrument with a short-scale length. I'd imagine it would produce quite a boomy tone. However, I can't help like this Mosrite Celebrity III Model 221 Mark X bass from 1969 (is that enough model designations already?). Apparently this was the rarest Mosrite colour (for some reason I often find green guitars appealing even though it's not a colour I am usually drawn to), and that there was only a single run of guitars finished in transparent green across several models in the range. Check out also the Bart Simpson machine heads!

With its close string-spacing and short-scale this Mosrite would probably be better suited to the guitarist who dabbles with bass occasionally, rather than a dedicated bassist. But then with a Buy It Now price of $3,495 it's most likely to be bought by a collector rather than a player.

G L Wilson

[Edit: I'd totally forgotten that we'd looked at one of these before. That particular example, in sunburst finish, was being offered for sale at $795, which makes the above pictured example a tad optimistically priced, I'd say. Even if it is a rarer finish. That's one helluva lot of money for a green finish. Note also, these are not just short-scale basses, but they are ULTRA short being just 24.5" in scale length.]

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

1976 Mosrite Bicentennial acoustic guitar ... + speaking of anniversaries...

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We don't normally associate Mosrite with acoustic guitars, but this Mosrite Bicentennial edition from 1976 proves that they did indeed produce such guitars. For those outside of the USA, that's America's bicentennial being celebrated, not Mosrite's own! The headstock shape on this guitar is interesting too, and is a departure from the shape with the M cutout that we expect to see on a Mosrite guitar.

Anyway, speaking of anniversaries, I've managed to miss ours again! Indeed, last Tuesday was the 10th Anniversary of the Guitarz blog - the world's first and longest running guitar blog! I had earlier in the year planned on making the announcement with quite a fanfare, giveaways, competitions, etc etc, but the brutal truth of the situation is that I am absolutely broke and simply can't afford the extravagance. I had hoped to produce a Guitarz calendar for 2013 too, but again I really can't afford to do so. Sorry for the sob story... All I can promise is that I hope and fullt intend to continue bringing you a daily dose of weird and wonderful guitars for as long as I am able.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - 10 years and counting!

Leroy "Sugarfoot" Bonner plays his trademark Mosrite doubleneck (with the Ohio Players)

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And now, let's funk!

Bertram


© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

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1965 Standel Custom Deluxe

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After last week's Mosrite, here is another apple candy red wonder, another guitar that has been seen on Guitarz already but deserves to be adored by our new followers (with a better picture), and another offspring of Mister Moseley (says the rumor, in the absence of more official records) created in the early 1960s for the Standel amps company: the short lived Standel Custom Deluxe that is somehow the dream vintage guitar - super cool, super rare, with plenty of chrome, knobs and switches, a German carve, bisonesque horns and an unique headstock. 

Another guitar that deserves to be reissued, if you see what I mean!

Bertram


© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

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Smith Family 10-string Melobar in white finish built by Mosrite

guitarz.blogspot.com:

The "upside-down Strat" body shape of this bizarre looking guitar may look familiar, especially following from Bertram's recent blog posts featuring Mosrite guitars. This 10-string Melobar is indeed a Mosrite-built instrument, one of a quantity of 500 that Semie Moseley produced circa 1965 for the Smith Family, the company behind the Melobar name. Apparently 500 of this design were built: 50 finished in white, 50 in blue, 100 in black, 100 in red, and the remaining 200 in sunburst finish. We previously looked at a sunburst example here.

One very quirky feature is the out-of-place 10th machine head (see photo, right). Forgetting the fact that the Melobar pictured has been strung with 6 strings, these were originally designed as 9-string instruments, but were then quickly altered at the factory for 10 strings. So, that odd looking extra machine head is factory original, and is not a later addition by some former owner. It's not the most elegant solution, it must be said.

This intriguing instrument - I'd love to have a go on one but never really got on with slide guitar - is currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $875.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Another Mosrite, Red as Lust...

guitarz.blogspot.com

Yeah, I know, I know, I've shown exactly the same guitar (in white finish) a few weeks ago, but I can't resist showing this perfect 1965 Mosrite Ventures in apple candy red, since I just found very good pics of it...

That's all folks!

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1960 Bartell doubleneck - looking a bit Mosritey perhaps?

guitarz.blogspot.com:

We've looked at the creations of Paul Barth before here on Guitarz. This Barth 6+12 doubleneck does not have the elegance of his celebrated but hard to track down Black Widow guitars but is no doubt even rarer. There is more than a hint of Mosrite to it - not surprising when you learn of the links between Paul Barth and Mosrite's Semi Moseley (they had worked together at Rickenbacker and later a quantity of Black Widow guitars were produced by Mosrite), but the whole guitar does have the look of an instrument that has been thrown together from whatever spare parts were lying around. Witness the shape of the control plates and the pickguards - those on the upper six-string neck have no reason to follow the body contours that they would on a single-necked guitar. Note also that the necks look identical - the six-string headstock looks huge and appears to be the same size as its 12-string twin.

Thanks to Mark Rubel who spotted this one on eBay where it is currently being offered for sale with a Buy It Now price of $2,495.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Mosrite, Mosrite, Mosrite, who can resist to a Mosrite?

guitarz.blogspot.com

We've been showing our share of cool Mosrite axes on Guitarz (a.o. here, here and here) but not their most classic and famous model, and I cannot do better than to do it with this über-lovely Mosrite Venture Royal Mark I (I'm not sure of the official order of all these names) mid-90s reissue of a 1964 model...

You all know about the characteristic longer lower horn, the slanted P90 style neck pickup, the round pickguard, it's been copied so many times, so I will just focus on the impressive Mosrite trem (yes I'm still in my vintage trem fetish phase), it's not only quite unique, it also survived where so many models gave up and let us with Fender, Floyd Rose and Bigsby and that's all...

I think that I will go out now and rob some helpless old lady so I can finally get me a Mosrite.

Bertram

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

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Univox Hi-Flier from 1976 - Japanese-made Mosrite copy

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Guitarz reader Colin Brown brought this guitar to my attention via our Facebook page, commenting:

I thought this was kind of neat, with a maple fingerboard, wraparound bridge, and humbuckers... I've only seen the ones with the jazzy trem, rosewood fingerboard, and single coils.

The guitar in question is a Univox Hi-Flier, which is essentially a 1970s Japanese-made copy of the Mosrite Ventures model. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain helped popularise these old Univox Mosrite copies, injecting them with the cool factor.

This example is currently being offered for sale on eBay with a starting bid of $300.

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Mosrite Danamite Wave

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Forgive me if I sometimes come across as some kind of all-knowing "Guitar Guru" but I never claimed to be an expert, and I certainly hadn't realised that the Mosrite company were still producing guitars. Dana Moseley has followed in her father Semie's footsteps as a luthier and is keeping the Mosrite name alive. The Mosrite Danamite "Wave" is an all-new limited edition 45th Anniversary model with what looks like three P90 pickups, but which actually are "Dana-Mo" custom special pickups, and an almost organic-looking Vibramute tremolo and roller bridge combination. The wave body design complete with the German carve so familiar on old Mosrites make it look both modern and vintage at the same time - it's unmistakably a Mosrite!

G L Wilson

© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Mosrite Celebrity Bass, ultra-short-scale

guitarz.blogspot.com:

As you can see in this photo with two Fender Starcasters behind it, this Mosrite Celebrity Bass from 1967 isn't just a short-scale bass, it's an ultra-short-scale. In fact with a scale length of 24.5" it's a shorter scale than many guitars. You can just imagine how it sounds!

Personally I'd quite like to have an instrument like this and set it up and string it for DGBE tuning, i.e. an octave lower than the TOP four strings of a guitar rather than the bottom four... or octave baritone ukulele tuning if you prefer. That's an instrument I can imagine having a real use for.

Anyway, concerning this particular instrument, the seller tells us that:

According to the orange Mosrite label inside the f-hole this is style #221, the Celebrity CE III Mark X, which was offered from 1966-69. It is 1 7/8" deep at the rims and has a single-bound top and back. The serial number, Z 0362, is written on the label and stamped at the end of the rosewood fingerboard between the 21st and 22nd frets. Other features include bound f-holes, metal zero-fret, Mosrite logo-embossed machines with metal tuner buttons, adjustable bridge with non-roller string saddles, raised white plastic pickguard, short trapeze tailpiece, bridge cover/hand rest, dual pickups, and white plastic control plate with mounted jack and selector switch.

If I was in a position to be buying guitars right now, I'd be so tempted to snap this one up. It has a Buy It Now price of $795, which is about £488 to people like me. Sometimes it's hard compiling a guitar blog with all this temptation on daily basis!

Thanks to Jeremiah Cornelius for bringing this bass to my attention.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

1965 Mosrite Melobar

guitarz.blogspot.com

This Mosrite Melobar is one of the most exciting instrument I've posted here.

I was aware that something such existed but (thanks one more time to David B. who regularly send us his Internet finds) I've made some research lately about it and I discovered a cool hybrid guitar, allowing a musician to play lap steel style while standing / moving / dancing - that makes it a great instrument for the kind garage blues I particularly like lately (that's also the kind of instrument that was played in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band).

The instrument was conceived by Melobar in the 60s and built by different brands - this one by Mosrite with its classic design that fits particularly well (there is also a Flying V version with accurate ergonomics but ill-looking in my humble opinion). It has a neck with 70° angle to the body, that is then almost horizontal when the body hangs from the strap in a standard guitar position (the strap is connected to the headstock to allow uncompensated pressure on the neck). You play it like a regular lapsteel, though probably with more energy!

This is the 9-string version of the Melobar - they existed also in 6 and up to 10. For some obscure and un-understandable reasons, the Melobar was short-lived and never reissued (I have a doubt though, there's been a Melobar.com website that is now closed, so I can't tell if it was a vintage fan site or a new company one - like Jolana...). So who will resuscitate this little marvel?

bertram

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

Glen Campbell's electric resonator guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Tone Deaf Radio has written to me asking what guitar Glen Campbell is playing in the above clip?

This red electric resonator guitar is also pictured on the front cover of his album "Hey, Little One".

Anyway, my suspicion was that it might be a Mosrite - I don't know why I thought that - but it's been vindicated by this page here where we see a very similar guitar in black for sale (pictured right). I did wonder if it was it was a genuine collaboration between the Dobro and Mosrite companies, or if the name Dobro is being used to describe the type of guitar, i.e. a resonator. Dobro is one of those brand names, like Biro or Hoover, that has passed into the language and is applied to similar items not of that brand. However, a look at the full-size photo clearly shows both names on the headstock.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!

60s Mosrite Joe Maphis double-neck

Many reactions on the previous post about the Gretsch Baritone double-neck, including a comparison with the great Mosrite Joe Maphis that has indeed a much cooler look and more important has non-parallel necks, that is more organic and allows a smaller body... I just regret that it only exists as a 12/6 and not baritone/6. Also it's long time discontinued and therefore unaffordable.

About why do people use double-neck guitars, if it's just to have a rhythmic neck / solo neck for a song, I'm far from convinced - would be more interesting to develop solos with 12-string, and unless you're Jimi Hendrix ou David Gilmour, solos are so often just fillings that they don't require something so sophisticated as a double-neck guitar... Jazz à la McLaughlin feels more relevant. And I know what to do with one too (but I'm not McLaughlin, for sure).

More double-necks later!

Bertram