Mosrite stories.

[mosman]

I have a tale of woe regarding Mosrites which I must get off my chest.Back in the mid 90's when I was just beginning to realise that Mosrites are the coolest guitars ever, I found two of them in a shop here in Sydney.At the time I didn't know just how incredibly unlikely an event that was, but nonetheless I knew I had struck gold.The guitars were a sunburst M-88 and a sunburst Nokie model.My problem was the cost of these little gems.The 88 was the cheapest at somewhere between $2500 and $3000 Australian while the Nokie was just over $3000.Both prices were intimidating to me at the time and both had their pros and cons.The 88 -while less expensive -had no pickguard or German Carve and the toggle switch was located in a very un-Mosrite place.Three factors I considered ( and still do) very important to the overall beauty of a Mosrite's appearance.The Nokie had the pickguard and switch placement sorted out but was too expensive for me, so I opted for the 88.Now, the tragic part here is that I had no idea at the time what Nokie referred to:it sounded vaguely Hawaiian to me so I made an assumption that as Mosrites were considered surf guitars, then it must have some Hawaiian /surf connotation.Groan.
By the time I realised what I'd passed up, it had sold and I was also now wishing my 88 at least had a pickguard to make it look better so I had a friend at a local guitar shop put one on.(!)I can see you all shaking your heads in disbelief and disgust, but in my defense I must say that I was a Mosrite novice and it's true that a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing.
The pickguard wasn't the worst bit though...it hurts to say this ... but the body had to be routed to relocate the switch.Ouch! Hey if you're disgusted imagine how I feel.I have to live with the memory of this every day!
Anyways I eventually wanted a Mosrite with a German Carve so I decided to sell the 88 and put the money towards an Excellent 65 which had the works.Except a Moseley vibrato and numbers on the knobs.Yes I sold an American M-88 which I'd defaced in order to buy a Japanese Ex65.I throw myself at the mercy of the Mosrite Forum members and beg forgiveness.
Well I hope I'm not alone in this tail of despair and now is the chance for others to come forward and cleanse their souls of their burdens.
Please ...anyone?

[dubtrub]

This post reminds me of my dumb luck story.

I feel your pain.

......and if you really want to cry, have Dennis tell you about his '63 sidejack.

[mosman]

I feel a little better now, although I'm a little apprehensive about hearing a tragic tale that involves a Sidejack 63!
Bill.

[Dennisthe Menace]

I feel a little better now, although I'm a little apprehensive about hearing a tragic tale that involves a Sidejack 63!
Bill.

OK, This will be my last time posting this. Here it goes...
Reprinted from the "59-62 Joe Maphis pre Ventures model" Thread......

After seeing Bob's collection of early 63s, I'm thinking the continuous changing a "little of this and a little of that" continued all the way through the early 63s. Mine is #0038, but mine has the "concave bottom carve" and I had heard this started taking place in the 30s digits which would put mine in the correct category. However, I have heard that there were some early 40s digits that still had the "convex carve." I guessing maybe these were some bodies already carved that way and were not assembled yet?? ALSO, my output jack was a single layer white (cream?) that had gotten brittle with "spider webs), and when Uncle Semie restored my guitar back in '90, he had replaced it with the white/black/white type . He also did not refinish the Headstock in the Sunburst, but in the Black style on the late '63s and '64s on up. That hurt also, but when I got the guitar back (took forever!) from Jonas Ridge, I didn't care at the time, I was so excited getting it back and it looked so darn good! Now, that I look back, I wish I had been a little more sensible and would of asked Semie to redo the Headstock. BUT, all in all, I know what I got, and that's that!
p.s. I also screwed up by not keeping those old pieces that he replaced. When he changed the Klusons, at least I did tell him I wanted the old ones and the old pickups. I had Semie put on a pair of Humbuckers , so I could play it out on a gig. Well, that never happened, I had second thoughts about the whole scenario what I have in my hands......

Danny had also asked:

OMG! Say it an't so.

You did say you kept the original pups didn't you? No doubt there was a little routing to get them to fit, but will the originals cover up the routing?

Don't feel bad though, I refinished my '62 Stratocaster that I purchased new in sunburst. It originally came with the custom see through blonde ash body. heck in '62 if a guitar wasn't sunburst it was considered cheap looking. I didn't own it two weeks before I refininished it in a red and black sunburst with lacquer that Semie gave me. I still have the guitar and refinished it again back in 1990, this time in the correct three tone sunburst. Just not correct for an ash body Strat. Oh Well! At least I still have the guitar and it is all original except for refret and refinish , but there went the collector value. Course I'd never sell it in my lifetime.

and I responded:

Danny, I don't know if any extra routing was done or not, they are the later Mosrite Humbuckers, and I haven't touched her (opened up anything) since I got it back. I do know that when I put Mosrite Humuckers in my other Mosrites, I didn't need to do any extra routing to make them fit. And as far as I know, they are the same p'up casings. I was going to put the original Pickups back in her about 10 years ago, but then this "other" thinking took over. This guitar was refinned and rewired almost 19 years ago by the Man himself....Now what do I do? Do I put the Original P'ups back in her and devalue the guitar again from the 'original wiring' 19 years ago, or should I leave it alone since Semie redid it and face the consequences of the mistake I made with the 'Buckers?'

...funny thing about this last post....nobody ever responded to that VERY LAST Question.....

[mosman]

Now that's a sad story.I absolutely LOVE sunburst headstocks and to have one changed to black without your consent ... bloody heck that would be hard to cop.Still ,as much as I do sympathise with you DTM, I feel my own pain decreasing ever so slightly knowing I'm not the only one to have a ' bad Mosrite day'.
Bill

[Bushers]

...funny thing about this last post....nobody ever responded to that VERY LAST Question.....

What you do Dennis is put it behind you and invest in another, heres a link I've been lusting over for a little while now, its serial number 0021 slightly before your model and every bit as sexy! I did contact Gary but got no response, I fear it may have been sold (Bob K? )!!

Though it would be nice to know what kind of price he's asking for such a beauty....

[Dennisthe Menace]

...funny thing about this last post....nobody ever responded to that VERY LAST Question.....

What you do Dennis is put it behind you and invest in another, heres a link I've been lusting over for a little while now, its serial number 0021 slightly before your model and every bit as sexy! I did contact Gary but got no response, I fear it may have been sold (Bob K? )!!

Though it would be nice to know what kind of price he's asking for such a beauty....

http://www.garysguitars.net/pictures/11 ... 021%29.jpg

The problem with that Jason, is that Gary unfortunately has got 2 or 3 of his Mosrites with incorrect info. The
one you just posted, he says is a '63. The only problem with that is the other pic of the guitar flipped over.
That guitar is "screaming" '64 to me with the neck plate and the small screws to hold the plate on. The ACTUAL Neck
screws are underneath the 'cover plate.' And he has 2 others with incorrect info as well. I don't believe he did it
on purpose, as a matter of fact, maybe one of his workers, who just might be in charge of putting these on his
Website, might of screwed it up.....

[Bushers]

Well, of the pics he has on his site, none look to be switched as the '63?? that he has with the sidejack is clearly visible in the photo of the back, so the mystery is, with a serial so low (if that is indeed the serial number) how could it be a '64? (I've seen what the neck looks like on the '64 models with screws under the plate)

In what way did the '63 differ from the outside on the back?

[Dennisthe Menace]

Well, of the pics he has on his site, none look to be switched as the '63?? that he has with the sidejack is clearly visible in the photo of the back, so the mystery is, with a serial so low (if that is indeed the serial number) how could it be a '64? (I've seen what the neck looks like on the '64 models with screws under the plate)

In what way did the '63 differ from the outside on the back?

1) Is that INDEED the S/N? Or could that be a Typo as well?
2) "How could it be a '64?"
All '63s had a "Glued in Neck." However,
although some VERY EARLY Transitional '64s still had the sidejack
and binding on the body, ALL '64s had the Neck Plate cover for the
actual neck screws holding the Neck on.

BTW, The '64 Sunburst Bass on his Website?.....it's a '65.

[dubtrub]

At least they got the year right on this one, 1964 Mosrite Ventures Mark I (#MOS0003). It looks identical to my '64.

BTW, those numbers are not serial numbers but stock numbers.