Mosrite Dobro Bass

[ChristoMephisto]

An old friend of mine found this Dobro bass in his grandfathers attic and has me looking after it for a while.
Myself am a vintage Hagstrom enthusiast, including an 8-string bass and a Swede, but am really impressed with this bass.
Not sure of when it was made, but the pot's date codes read early 67.
This model is a very short scale of 24.5", a bass version of the Californian D-100, being the D-100X having the D shaped resonator
From what I can tell, there are not a lot of these

[Veenture]

First time I've seen a Dobro bass and then this most unusual Mosrite Bass Dobro -with guitar scale neck and duckfeet tuners to boot
I see Semie squeezed in the neck pickup up against the neck on this model too. I wonder how she sounds.

[Dennisthe Menace]

.......OK.......I can't think of anything else to say other than "Very Rare!!!"......

[ChristoMephisto]

If it wasn't for the large slots in the saddles and nut, this could be a tenor guitar

[jfine]

Wow! I've never seen one of those. And a 24-1/2" scale on a bass? The only other basses I'm aware of with that short a scale were the National/Supro Pocket Bass from the early-to-mid '60's, and Carvin basses from about the same period. Can't imagine what it sounds like...

[Veenture]

Taking a closer look at the way the headstock is constructed makes me think this is a 'Semie Partsrite' instrument.
The complete neck may have seen life as a Mosrite guitar neck first and then later modified (dobrofied?) by Uncle Semie himself, possibly upon request by someone. Notice how the added on 'ears' of the headstock have a distinct wedge shape. The "tenor guitar" idea crossed my mind too; I guess Semie didn't have any tenor saddles and nuts lying around
If it is a one-off made by Semie Moseley himself (which it seems to be), then it could only add to the significant importance of this piece (especially to Mosrite collectors). Again, most unusual but not strange to Mosrite Ways.
It would be interesting to see how it would fare on eBay, but hopefully it won't have to come to that. Enjoy it while in your hands, ChristoMephisto

[Sarah93003]

Very cool! I don't think this is a "partsrite" guitar. I think it is exactly as it appears, a Mosrite made Dobro bass. The headstock is typical Mosrite Dobro shape, the pickups are typical Dobro design, and the serial number appears to be typical. It's difficult to see but I think it says "DC0120". Is that correct? I suppose we shouldn't be surprised to see that Semie made a Dobro bass, I think I even have an example of a Dobro 12 string in my archives.

I would love to get some hi-res images of this bass for my website. Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[ChristoMephisto]

My friend seem to think it was a Partsrite also, then I started to find some mention of it in old catalogues
Third page of the 1968 catalogue http://www.mosritecelebrity.com/page30.html
It's also not listed in the Vintage Guitar Guide (insurance reasons) so maybe that is throwing him off too.
Seems Mosrite just took the Californian model, offshoot of the Celebrity, made it a bass without changing the scale length
Yeah, the s/n is DC0120, it's a real 'C' not a poor tooling. The site above has a DC0122 Dobro s/n
Sure I can take some hires pics, is there anything in specific you need for the collection?

Here's some other technical stuff...
vol/tone pots 500KA, d/c6704 (forget complete d/c)
.047 +/-20% PIO cap
1.5" nut

[Sarah93003]

My friend seem to think it was a Partsrite also, then I started to find some mention of it in old catalogues
Third page of the 1968 catalogue http://www.mosritecelebrity.com/page30.html
It's also not listed in the Vintage Guitar Guide (insurance reasons) so maybe that is throwing him off too.
Seems Mosrite just took the Californian model, offshoot of the Celebrity, made it a bass without changing the scale length
Yeah, the s/n is DC0120, it's a real 'C' not a poor tooling. The site above has a DC0122 Dobro s/n
Sure I can take some hires pics, is there anything in specific you need for the collection?

Here's some other technical stuff...
vol/tone pots 500KA, d/c6704 (forget complete d/c)
.047 +/-20% PIO cap
1.5" nut

Sure, I'd like to know the pot codes. I'd love to have a variety of photos of the guitar so that I can include it on the Dobro page of my website. You can email me through my site for the photos if you like.

thanks, Sarah

[ChristoMephisto]

Had a chance to check the pot's date codes, both are the same

1346704
BA811-3901