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Hi everyone! I grabbed a Mosrite Mark I from Dave's Guitars this past week (I am sure that a few of you have probably seen it listed). It was listed as "refinished in purple sparkle" however I am not sure if thats true or not. When I get it I can inspect up close and know more BUT until them I am sleuthing the internet. I found it listed on a serial number database from 1998. It was listed as "dark purple" but not as a refinish. On this very forum an old photo of the guitar got posted by @dorkrockrecords as a reference for the Mosrite "California Grape" color. Now I am pretty sure its not california grape (although I could be wrong) but it does look a lot like maroon that may have darkened. Or it was a custom color of some kind. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? If it was a refinish it was done in the early 90's at best as its noted as that color by the late 90's.

Supplemental question. What is the best way to confirm that the color is original or a refinish? Neck pocket? Under the pickups?

Hi, and yes, I did see this one before at least once, on Facebook.

I don't have much to say about it, except that Purple isn't a color that Mosrite "never used."

I don't know if your MK I is original or not, but I do know that at least one of the few Mosrite "Strawberry Alarm Clock" Instruments is Purple:



Also, I don't know this one's model name, but this 1980s model that looks like a Ventures model with cuts in the body (imitating surf?) is also in a Purple Finish:



Lastly and most interestingly, though, is that there's one show where Bob Mould in Husker Du played a Purple Mosrite Ventures (or MK I) model for one or a few songs. I don't think this is the same guitar as yours since this one looks like it has a Sparkle finish too (like Danelectro,) but it's at least another example of a Purple Mosrite, even if refinished.

[youtube]https://youtu.be/l09cv_tYtrU?t=182[/youtube]

- Austin

I would love to believe that I own a guitar once played by the mighty Bob Mould (I am a huge Husker Du, Sugar, BM fan) but that is for sure different. It even has a matching headstock.

Johnny-Alien wrote:I would love to believe that I own a guitar once played by the mighty Bob Mould (I am a huge Husker Du, Sugar, BM fan) but that is for sure different. It even has a matching headstock.

Come to think of it, yeah, the headstock does look to match. It's a bit hard to tell in the dark, grainy footage.

Also, I forgot to say this earlier: yes, you could look under the pups and in the neck pocket to check for finish originality. Mosrite's Neck Pockets seem to be slightly tapered, though; removing the neck seems to be the easiest by removing the neck pickup, then pushing the neck towards the bridge.

- Austin

That's pretty nice, original or not!

It came today. Here is whats weird. I thought based on the photos that the serial number was V5439 which I discovered already documented on the internet as a Mosrite in a deep purple finish. When it showed up today the serial number is V5474. It is also in a deep purple though. In my opinion this does look refinished though. Its just so odd that two guitars so close together have similar colors and one is a refinish. Here is a photo.

Strange, but I've seen closer cases that are funny like that. My B670 is a Ventures II that had its Sunburst poorly stripped, and B673 also was a Sunburst which was more professionally stripped. I guess both of them had finish checking pretty badly, but B674 looks perfectly fine in its original Sunburst, so maybe that one was a case queen.

I don't suppose there's going to be a manufacturing date underneath the paint in the neck pocket (it seems too late in the numbering,) so it seems pointless to remove any to check. There's nothing on the neck heel, is there?

Also, (last ditch effort for dating this one from obviously visible hardware,) are there any numbers on the potentiometers that might relate to a date code? Like, say... 68 26, which would be in the middle of 1968. I might have the dates backwards, though - I'm not sure if the week or year comes first in the coding.

Lastly, how wide is the neck at the zero fret? I'm guessing around 1.550 or 1.560". My Ventures II B670 is 1.559", but I might as well round it off to 1.560".

- Austin

It's a nice color regardless if it's original or not!

The pots had no information on them whatsoever, The neck heel had M.J. initialed on it. In the end it had to be returned because it had some issues. There was some cracks that were a concern. The bridge adjustment screws were all mangled. The flathead part was spread so far that no size screwdriver would work and it also locked the bridge on them. Didn't seem to be any easy way to adjust the height anymore and the action was sky high. It was a known issue because there were stacks of shims to try and counter it.