Mosrite guitars

  • Thread starter Thread starter Hankel
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Hankel

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Does anyone out there have a Japanese made Mosrite? I am dating myself, here, but I still think that the original Mosrites are still the most futuristic (space-age) looking guitars in the world. But you (kids) will probably blame me for being stuck in a 60's time warp, which I probably am. The Mosrites, for those of you who don't know, were the guitars The Ventures played. You probably haven't heard of them, either! Anyway, I played a Mosrite many years ago, and really loved the ultra low profile neck. Unfortunately, the only Mosrites available are the oldies and the copies made in Japan. I am wondering how the copies compare with the originals.
 
I remember Mosrites from my teenage years, they were the guitars none of us could afford but everyone wanted to play when we went to the music store.

Ultra Slim neck, ultra low action, played like butta'.

I've seen the originals on eBay but haven't run across any Japanese models.
 
I got on a site that advertised the Japanese copies of Mosrites, but it seems to me that they sold for $1000 plus. Where did you get your info about the not so good reviews about the Dillion Mosrites, Bighand? Phyl says none of us could afford one. (They sold for around $400 back then, which was a chunk of change.) I live in a city of about 33,000 people, and back in the 60's it was probably more like 40,000, but our two music stores never carried Mosrites to my knowledge. The first and only time I played one was a used one. Would give my eye teeth for even a beat up one right now! Did you oldies like the Ventures, like me? They were my guitar heroes from day one. They came to my hometown, Butte, Montana, one year, and I got to talk to Nokie Edwards - one of the big thrill of my life.
 
There is a fellow here in australia that hand makes mosrite copys and calls them wosrite he has a web site that I dont know the name of but the guits are great and he has orders from all over the world from dedicated mosrite fans so maybe his stuff is for you.Speaking of the vwntures I have a surf band that is made up of me and a couple of other 'OLD' guys and were called THE DENTURES
 
Sorry for the confusion, I was speaking about circa 1968 when I was a teenager and Mosrites were very popular (and expensive).

My sister's boyfriend taught me a Ventures song, I think it was called Diamond Back, or something like that.
 
There was a brother/sister country duo called the Collins Kids that played the local TV circuit in the L.A. area when I was a kid and the younger brother played a double neck Mosrite that his mentor Joe Maphis had made for him. I think it was guitar/mandolin. God that was cool.

In their heyday Mosrite (out of Bakersfield) had nearly 100 employees. They made acoustics too, remember that red white and blue thing Buck Owens played of Hee Haw?

As I recall they were expensive yet did not hold resale value.
 
I sure DO remember the Buck Owens red, white, and blue guitar. I tend to be a little on the patriotic side, but always thought those guitars were really dumb-looking. Were those patriotic gems acutually made by Mosley? (Mosrite)
 
Just did a search and it turns out Buck's guitar was a custom Mosrite:

"In 1966 Buck and The Buckaroos had their instruments painted red, white and blue, an extension of Buck’s innate patriotism. When these instruments were seen on Hee Haw, guitar manufacturers began making offers to him to market a guitar in those colors. Though Buck used a red, white and blue acoustic guitar built for him by Semie Moseley of Mosrite Guitars, his business sense told him an expensive model of that type wouldn’t sell to the public."
 
I have played a few mosrites. In the sixties when I started playing there were mosrites for sale in the stores but nobody wanted them. Strats, teles, and gibsons were the guitars to have and mosrites were a second best, sorta like hagstrom.
 
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