The Official Mosrite Appreciation Thread

[hydra19]

late to the thread but I've had a Hallmark C60, and now have a vintage 1966 Mosrite and a Fillmore 1963 reissue.

Hallmark C60: looked great, played great, and sounded close enough but it didn't sound quite like a Mosrite but for the price had no complaints and played it daily for 2 years. Sold it when I got the vintage 1966 as that's all I played. Conclusion: great guitar, sort of between a Mosrite and Fender or Les Paul, noticed the neck is easier to play than the vintage Mosrite and the finish was great.

Vintage 1966: looks great, the thin neck and worn speed frets make it interesting to play. You could say it's hard to play, but that's not true, it's weird fretting the strings with the tiny frets, but gets easier by the minute. Plug it in, and magic happens. It's sounds magical, the tremolo, and bass strings. everything. I would refret it but dont' want to lose the magic it creates, and the frets are a part of that.

1963 reissue by Fillmore: not much details on this guitar, the raduis is flatter. I was planning on swapping out the pickups but these sound great, maybe less hot than a vintage Mosrite but it sounds great! It's ink blue side jack and sounds great when playing along to the Ventures in Space!

[sumlin]

Chiming in with 2 Mosrites:

Brass Rail #43 - 1976 and a total monster
Acoustic Black Widow - Semie built no more than 200 of these for the Acoustic amp company. Mine has wrong pickups, bridge and other issues but is being restored at the moment.

[Pacafeliz]

oh i'm late here!

my december '65 Ventures II

[sumlin]

[hydra19]

Love my Mosrites!

[windmill]

They look good

Tell us more about them please

[hydra19]

the Candy Apple Red is a Mosrite 1964 reissue by Fillmore, but it says 'Made in USA, standard mode on the headstock under the Mosrite logo. It sounds great and plays great. the color is nice and deep.

the Ink Blue is also a Mosrite reissue, the 1963 sidejack model. Says 'Mosrite of California" on the headstock and the warranty card says it's also a USA model. This guitar is pretty unique. The neck is Mosrite thin but wider at the tuner end and gets flatter as you go up the fretboard. Strings feel pretty loose but it's got it's own feel to it. Tough to explain, but it looks so good that I usually play it most of the time. Pickups are the same as in the '64 reissue. Basswood body so it dents easily but I take care of this great looker. Ink Blue is quite a rare color and I have never seen another '63 reissue in this color. No real 1963 models were made in Ink Blue, only sunburst and candy apple red.

the Sunburst is a real vintage Mosrite from 1966. It's got spreed frets while the reissue have vintage frets like Fenders. I got the '66 first and got adjusted to the speed frets. Very weird to play but the upside is that the sound is absolutely magical. I have now gotten completely used to the feel of the guitar. It's got a real punch to the sound, sounds great for Ventures and Ramones.

I've got a bunch of videos of them in action, mostly the '63 ink blue but as I said, the original vintage is a class of its own. The whammy is just so nice to play, really works, and has a dreamy kind of quality to it. I suspect the metal is different or of higher grade than on the reissues. They are all great guitars, and actually pretty different in feel from one another.

[MattK]

Are knockoffs allowed?

(in my defence I am fairly sure the Morales / Zen-On guys ended up making licensed Mosrites a few years later)

[hydra19]

yes, they're allowed!

Real Mosrite ended in 1969 and I consider my reissues to be knockoffs as well. Made by the Japanese, who bought the Mosrite trademark as Semie wasn't such a good business man to think what would happen to the brand in case he passed away.

Nice guitar, the top carve looks just like a Mosrite from 1964-1965.

[MattK]

I think it's a '67 but it could be later - hard to tell with these ones. Neck is very cool - laminated from thin slices, very full, and has a large volute (which I think is a Mosrite design thing). It's a very high quality guitar and sounds great.

[sumlin]

Here's my Morales (bought from the same guy!). Weighs an absolute ton...



Unfortunately the last deal I did from Japan didn't work out as well (the courier reimbursed but still...):



Here's 3 of Semie Moseley's weirdest creations, the Acoustic Black Widow, the Brass Rail and the Bluesbender:

[/url]Mosrites

The Black Widow got different pickups recently:



and finally, not quite a Mosrite but love these low-rent versions just as much (maybe more):



And here's Maud, who I bought from a second hand shop. If anyone knows her, let me know or I could be facing a Tad "8 Way Santa" type situation when I use it on an LP sleeve...



MOSRITE FOREVER

[MattK]

(a) holy shit that's a lot of Univoxen
(b) Maud is killing it there

Here's my Morales (bought from the same guy!).

Shout-out to forum member sleepkid, finder of Japanese exotica and stand-up guy.

[Scoot]

Hey slumin
Is that an original bridge and tail piece on the brass rail looks awesome

[Johnny Alien]

I have an Excellent reissue coming early this week. I will post a photo when it shows up. I also might be picking up a Hallmark too as I am curious as to how they compare with the updates and super flat fretboard radius.

[sumlin]

Hey slumin
Is that an original bridge and tail piece on the brass rail looks awesome

Yep - it's a work of art. Only non-original bits are the controls though I have the original portion of the pickguard and the wiring/knobs that came with it.