Mosrite Guitars: A Short History

this video is brought to you with the support of TruFire learn practice and play with TruFire [Applause] hi this is Keith Williams welcome to five watt World learns to help you get the most music from the least gear in 1974 I was playing my Epiphone 12 string in the folk group at St John's in Clyde New York Folk groups were a new thing and each week we endured the scowls of the little ladies that sat in the front row as we played this new music in church and I can't blame them really our fearless leader joining McAllister would work up an instrumental version of John Lennon's imagine and play it during the communion service the teenagers smirked at the lyrics playing in their heads and the parents and grandparents thought it was just pretty it was an amazing experience to be playing live music every Sunday with three other guitarists and a bassist and that bassist my good friend Andy Davis played a white univox copy of a moserite ventures model base I had no idea what it was but we all thought the guitar looked wonderfully odd somehow upside down and yet perfectly correct all at once so if you always wanted to know the history of this incredibly influential Guitar Company then stay tuned because this is the five watt World Short history of mozray guitars enjoy our videos make sure to subscribe and if you've already subscribed grab a hoodie or a stomp preset pack to support what we do and to become a bigger part of five white World sign up for the friends of 5 Watt on patreon the links are in the description most rate guitars was founded in 1956 by Andy and semi Mosley the boys had both been playing guitar in a gospel group and in around Bakersfield California by the time they were in their early teens almost immediately they had begun experimenting with modifying their guitars refinishing the instruments and building new necks for them semi began his formal education building guitars as an apprentice at Rickenbacker in 52. there he worked with Roger rossmeisel who played a large role in sculpting the design of Rickenbacker guitars Ross maisel had immigrated to the U.S from Germany and brought his old world luthier techniques integrating them into manufactured guitars remember that Rickenbacker has always been a company with a lot of hand finishing on their guitars and is even today more like the Fender Custom Shop than Lake Fender's main modern manufacturing it was even more so back in the 50s one of the most recognizable features that Ross Miser was responsible for is what is referred to as a German carve a steep Scoop from the outside of the top to the height of the center section this was carried over to the design of the early moserite guitars semi also apprenticed with Paul Bigsby the man credited with designing a custom building the first solid body electric guitar from Merle Travis in 1948. Bixby also designed the famous Bigsby vibrato tailpiece used on so many guitars and that are still produced today after sharing that he was building some custom guitars on the side with his fellow employees at Rick Sammy was let go and was forced to go out on his own in 54 semi would build both a triple neck and a double neck guitar through connections he was able to present the double knack to Joe mephis a Los Angeles area country guitarist that was on TV at the time he gone to make several twin neck guitars for mephis often with the performer's name inlaid on the fretboard the Mosley Brothers had long worked with gospel Minister Ray Boatwright Reverend Boatright decided to invest in the Mosley Brothers company The Story Goes that the Reverend took the brothers to Sears and co-signed for them to buy a bandsaw a drill press belt sander air compressor and the other small tools needed to set up their custom guitar business the company name is actually a combination of the Mosley and Boatright names to recognize the reverence early support of the Endeavor correctly pronounced Moe's right by the way in addition the Reverend let the boys set up their shop and it was a one-car garage in 1956 they finished their first official moserite guitar from that influx of equipment in 56 until 59 they were strictly a custom build shop working in garages or storage sheds wherever they could Wrangle a place to set up their equipment in 59 Andy Mosley moved to Nashville for a year to promote the moserite brand names and sold a few guitars to members of the Grand old Opry and other Road musicians these were still one-off custom guitars later that year semi moved the build operations from Los Angeles to Oildale California just north of Bakersfield growing invisibility he then moved to Panama Lane where he designed and produced the first Joe mafis signature model guitars coming from their all custom Roots moserite built everything but the tuners knobs and screws in-house the large pickups were hand wound in those early years as well Sammy then moved his shop to Bakersfield he continued to evolve his Custom Designs producing what are referred to as the scroll guitars for their double scroll cutaways in 61 some early moserite guitars caught the attention of The standell Amplifier company their high-powered amps had been giving fenders some direct competition being used players like Joe mafis and Merle Travis standell's founder Joe Crooks was interested in offering a line of guitars and he was approached by Sammy Mosley at The NAMM Show where he agreed to take delivery of 10 instruments Crook in the end was not happy with the quality of the first 10 guitars delivered this led to a meeting where Crooks told semi that he wanted guitars that were as close as possible to the fender line he emphasized that the guitars needed to come up to the standard of the standell amplifiers Mosley returned to Bakersfield and began working on a design with employee Joe Hall that would revolve into the iconic moserite body style [Music] foreign [Music] unlike Fender Stratocaster the new Design's lower belt would extend further forward than the upper horn as popular as the Stratocaster was this immediately caught your attention as it looked like a strat that was upside down the pickups likewise immediately Drew your eye the bridge pickups pull pieces had a straight alignment with the string but the next pickups was angled so that the pole pieces would still be located directly under each string as we'd seen on early Mosley designs the fretboard inlays were tiny dots with two of them at the first octave three on the 12th fret and one again higher up there was a round black plastic plate that wrapped around the base of the vibramute vibrato the angle of the set neck did not allow for the adjustment to the vibramute and was attached to the top of the guitars so the strings would end up too high over the fretboard to deal with this semi hollowed out of cavity approximately 0.375 inches deep to mount the mechanism it was then covered with that black plastic plate this would be corrected in later designs but the earliest moserite design guitars came with what came to be called the mistake plate among vintage guitar collectors the guitar is intended for standell would have a flat top of the headstock instead of the m shape of the mosray guitars but in the end the work with standell ended up being just a footnote as the standard guitars never attracted too much attention and were dropped but it was the struggle to satisfy the standout contract that led to the classic moserite silhouette the guitar started out without a name but were soon labeled the Joe mephis signature model they corrected the body designed to accommodate the vibrato and launched a production double neck guitar as well Gene malls was an early player from California who had a few early moseray guitars in 1960s he'd moved to Tacoma Washington and become friends with Noki Edwards of the ventures who'd had a big hit with their cover of Johnny Smith's walk don't run that year they even wrote some tombs together that year but soon moles would head back to Bakersfield and Edwards would be back out on the road with the ventures predictably perhaps moles introduced Edwards to semi-mosley at the meeting Edwards looked over the mozray guitars and according to Edwards he bought one on the spot for three hundred dollars Edwards cut a deal with moseray that he would be paid a commission on any guitar sold from a referral from his use of the instrument he's supposed to have left the guitar on a stand on stage on the brakes so when the audience came up to see the guitar he was playing they could get a good look according to Edwards this really worked and they sold a lot of guitars for moserite following the release of their 63 album The Ventures play Telstar the rest of the band got on board with moserite getting instruments and investing in the company an international distribution office was opened in Hollywood right next door to the headquarters of the ventures fan club both adventures and moserite Logo were now on the headstock when they were released in 63 based on the early Joe mephis models they had a set neck a side Jack and a bound body the guitar scale length was 24.5 inches and the matching base was 30 and one-quarter inches the ventures appeared on the back of their album the ventures in space released in early 64 holding moserite instruments and with a note that the guitars were quote courtesy of the moserite Distribution Company and with the address of the Distribution Company office and the fan club also listed there on February 9 1964 The Beatles would make their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show perhaps the most significant moment in rock history and with the explosion of the British music Invasion toh2 did the demand for electric guitars likewise explode here were the ventures in moseride in the first band and brand partnership poised to take advantage of all this new demand the success of the ventures model guitars forced semi to open a real Factory at 1500 P Street in downtown Bakersfield that year to be my sponsor because I've used them for years with over 2 million users worldwide whether you're a beginner intermediate or advanced level player TruFire has lessons to enhance and Inspire your playing get 35 off courses using the promo code 5 watt 35 or like I do sign up for the all access pass to use the entire TruFire catalog I really like true fire and I think if you give them a shot you'll like them too sign up now to start your journey to being a better guitarist I'd like to thank TruFire for their support in making this video this move to production instruments brought many changes to the ventures model guitars the body binding was removed and the set neck was replaced by a bolt-on neck the unusual neck plate shape led to it being dubbed the peanut plate the Frontline guitar would be later dubbed the Mark 1 and the base the mark 10. there was a move to a smaller venture's logo on the headstock and the vibramute would be modified with the muting system removed that October the ventures released Walk Don't Run volume 2. essentially a remake of their 1960 Hit album featuring Don Wilson's wife Nancy bacon and all the guys lounging behind her holding up their moserite guitars going into 65 moseray had over 100 employees at their Factory on P Street they acquired the dobro resonator instrument company and began gearing up to build amplifiers and effects pedals as well the ventures line expanded adding a student model called The Ventures 2. this was designed to compete with Fender's music master and do a Sonic guitars and Gibson's Melody Maker the Mark V had a narrower headstock a slab body without the German carved top smaller pickups and a different vibrato design from the vibramute this idea was launched by older brother Andy and at first semi-resisted but in the end the guitars were launched at 100 less than the mark 1. sadly though it had different features it would end up costing the same to produce as the Mark 1 and the model was dropped but as we'll see this model is important because in the mid 70s Johnny Ramon would fall in love with the single pickup Rarity playing adventures 2. the truss rod adjustment was moved from the base of the neck to the headstock with a unique cover plate shape and 66 of 12-string Ventures model with a predictable name of the mark 12 was launched it was even available with a vibrato which is very rare for a 12 string interestingly the factory Sunburst finishes on the guitars included a cream undercoat that would then make the three-tone Sunburst pop out more in addition candy apple red and metallic finishes were available both as standard and a special order 1966 Southern base model moved to a two pickup configuration and the control layout moved to being similar to the guitars another step in moving to simplifying the mass production of the guitars the bases also moved to a tuner that was produced in-house Unfortunately they used Die Cast pop metal and were hence more unstable collectors would dubbed these duck foot tuners meanwhile the ventures attained god-like status in Japan and so the demand for mozray guitars has been very strong there since the 60s with guitars being shipped there throughout the company's entire history and players in the 60s saw Mose rights as an alternative to Fender and Gibson but the guitars were often out of the price range of what a young player could afford so if you could swing a moserite It generally gave you a boost in respect of other players somewhat ironically the musicians that would put Bakersfield Country Music on the map were known for playing telecasters not most rights the narrow neck and flatter Frets that appealed to many didn't find fans among the tele wielding local country guys with their hotter wound pickups moserites couldn't make the twanging tones they were looking for in general a pickup that is higher output will have a warmer tone this is why the early broadcasters are often cited as more balanced than the later Telecaster pickups they were hotter and hence warmer than the pickups that came later though the original Joe mafis model had for all practical purposes been rebranded as the ventures model mosray continued to build the Joe mephis two neck model in 65 they redesigned the guitar for a single Neck Joe Mavis model which they named The Joe mafis modeled one 's right tried to build this into a line standing on its own with 6 and 12 string guitars along with a base model they'd also offer a series called the combo which had a similar proportions to the Joe mesa's two guitars but had an f-hole and a hybrid semi-hollow Construction foreign [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] Direction with their celebrity series guitars they had laminated Maple symmetrical Arch top bodies much like the Gibson 335 or Guild Starfire guitars they even moved to pickups to line up with the strings breaking with the moserite tradition or angled neck pickups on all the other models interestingly they never developed the ability to produce the laminated tops backs and rims in-house moserite bought them from a furniture manufacturer in the Carolinas the guys at the factory then pulled the finished guitars together by the 67 catalog the line would be expanded to include 6 and 12 string guitars and a bass as well some of the models had new modified two-piece vibrato system with the tailpiece bolted to the body separate from the bridge the celebrity one line instruments were two and three quarters inches thick and Glenn Campbell was known for using one in the studio for recording the ce2 instruments were generally the same except they moved down to a body depth of 1.875 inches and went on to a smaller offset headstock shape the ce3 models were designed as a No-Frills budget style instrument with the same body depth as a ce2 they had Unbound necks and single layer body binding and the pickups did not have pole pieces also interestingly is that the ce3 base was the only production mozerite base with a 24 and three quarter inch scale length like Fender the company would build acoustic guitars but it was never a primary part of their business model as I mentioned earlier moserite felt a need to take advantage of the amplifier in effects Market as well the best known of these was a pedal named the fuzz right as the name implies the fuzz pedal even looks a bit like the Gibson Maestro fuzz of that era right down to the shape and the control placement but the tone was said to have more sustain and to be nastier the pedal was used by Danny Weiss the guitarist in the band Iron Butterfly and Hendrix reportedly used a fuzzrite when recording Spanish Castle Magic on electric ladyland by 67 the ventures had become increasingly unhappy with their relationship with moserite and severed their connection that year they still played mozray guitars but also used fenders in the studio and alive in the wake of losing the ventures as their primary publicity machine Glenn Campbell's use of the mark 12 12 string was important to the brand being shown prominently on his gentle On My Mind album cover after the Distribution Company funded and run by the ventures organization folded moserite briefly tried to do their own distribution but they lacked the experience and soon shut down that effort in 68 they cut a deal with Thomas organ who was also then Distributing Vox in the U.S but that too failed putting mozray at even greater risk of getting their products into the stores their financial problems continued to escalate and the IRS became involved they began having trouble covering payroll and top managers seeing the end was coming began to jump ship the end of mosaic's golden age came on Valentine's Day 1969 when employees arrived at work to find the factory doors padlocked a few months later there was a bankruptcy auction where not only Machinery but guitar bodies necks and dobro parts were sold to local luthiers both professional and amateur this would cast doubt on the authenticity of some late 60s mozray guitars as many were pieced together after the factory was long closed by 72 semi had been able to negotiate himself back into the factory space on P Street and after a three-year break was building guitars he had a distribution deal with custom amplifiers and a rough catalog that year they offered solid body guitars that had been in the mark series and there were also celebrity models in 73 they launched the 300 and 350 model guitars interesting slab body single cutaway models with one or two pedicups respectively the 70s version of the company would get an unexpected boost when New York guitarist John Cummings AKA Johnny Ramon began using one of the Ventures 2 models The Ramones iconic punk rock sound was driven by these classic guitars Cummings bought the used guitar at Manny's music in New York on January 24 1974. he reportedly loved the moserites lightweight and its thin neck that was great for his heavy use of bar chords he would own several Mo's rights in his career including a mark one but the guitar most often Associated them was the white Ventures 2 that went through numerous modifications Leroy sugarcoat Bonner guitarist and vocalist with the Funk Soul band the Ohio Players was often seen playing a Joe mafis double neck guitar Ricky Wilson of the early alternative band The B-52s also used Moe's rights his favorite being a blue Ventures Mark V that was used on many of the band's earliest recordings the 70s saw many moserites being shipped to Japan to meet the demand for the Nostalgia over American surf music there The Story Goes that semi-contacted the ventures during this time asking for permission to use the band name on the guitars again the band said no but Mosley put the name on the guitars anyway during the 70s and 80s the beginning of the 80s semi moved the business to Carson City Nevada though he yearned to return to Bakersfield his interest in a career in gospel music instead sent him to moving to Jonas Ridge North Carolina his wife Loretta's Hometown located high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains he planned to build custom guitars to help Finance their gospel aspirations in 83 a fire destroyed not only the factory but many guitars that were slated to be shipped to the lucrative Japanese Market after that semi would put up several Shacks to house his building operations in the 80s and into the 90s moserite was doing what Fender and Gibson were doing at the time doing their best to recreate the magic of the instruments that were built during their Golden Era the difference being that Leo Fender and Ted McCarty were long gone from those companies and semi-mosley was still at the Helm of the many times reconstituted moserite guitars during that time Allison Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell used a candy apple blue Ventures model and of course that lover of Oddball guitars Kurt Cobain used a moserite gospel model an incredibly rare guitar built when Mosley was building guitars under that name in North Carolina Robert Smith of the Cure was often seen sporting a moserite and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine rocked one as well spoke with my friend Rick viato about the use of these guitars as a secret weapon in heavy music he said that the unique pickups both cut through and office sat perfectly in the mix enhancing the more common Gibson and Fender guitar tones Mosley passed away in 1992 and his wife Loretta continued to Market his instruments for approximately another year his daughter Dana Mosley is a luthier and builds his designs to the present day Oscar Wilde said imitation is the sincerest form of flattery a number of companies have built moserite look-alike guitars over the years one of the most notable being univox who built guitars that clearly copied the style of the moserite ventures model guitars and basses during mozray's Heyday in the 60s under the name high flyer they copied the style but not the electronics using more traditional P90 style pickups or humbuckers on the guitars and bases and today you can see the influence on the Eastwood side Jack guitar line check out the excellent demos of the different Eastwood models played by my buddy RJ ronquilio here on YouTube it's sometimes easy to forget that there were many guitar Brands Beyond Fender Gibson Gretchen Rickenbacker that left their Mark during the explosion of electric music in the 60s unlike a lot of these companies moserite started out building custom instruments by hand before demand would drive them into a factory environment that looking back they were ill-equipped to run it takes such an amazing combination of skills to be a guitar designer and Builder and those skills don't often include running a company but that doesn't mean that the guitar is built then haven't had a long lasting impact on the guitars of today you only have to look at the Innovative artist that Used mozray Guitars both then and since to understand the unique qualities that they had it's for these reasons that a brand from the 60s can still cast a shadow on the guitar industry of today first I need to thank Michael Robinson owner of Eastwood guitars for his permission to use the clip of my friend RJ ronkilo playing their side Jack models that are inspired by the original moseray guitars [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'd like to thank Carter vintage for their permission to use the clip of JD Simo playing an original moserite Mark guitar this video would not have been possible without the extraordinary Book Bakersfield guitars The Illustrated history by Willie G Mosley it's an incredible reference and does an amazing job of outlining the entire moserite story I need to thank the folks at vintage guitar Oldenburg for permission to use the video of Tobias Hoffman playing an original 1968 moserite combo mark 1. we need to thank everyone that stopped by the store and grabbed a hoodie or a stomp preset pack in particular I need to thank the friends of five watt they're all five watt world I just make the videos if I missed your favorite guitar or guitarist from moseries history leave in the comments for everyone to enjoy if you enjoyed this short history of mozray guitars hit the like button if you haven't subscribed yet go ahead and hit that too and if you like this video you might enjoy my history of Dan Electro or something more mainstream from the 5 watt World Short History catalog until next time I'm Keith Williams thanks for being a part of the five level [Music] foreign

Channel: five watt world

Views: 109,489

Keywords: five watt world, a short history, keith williams, mosrite guitars, johnny ramone, kurt cobain, joe maphis

Id: 1A7xSu3iCdM

Length: 25min 13sec (1513 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 16 2023