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Mosrite is an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists.

Mosrite guitars were known for innovative design, high-quality engineering, very thin, low-fretted and narrow necks, and extremely hot (high output) pickups. Moseley's design for The Ventures, known as the "Ventures Model" (later known as the "Mark I"), was generally considered to be the flagship of the line.

History

Apprenticeship

In Bakersfield, Semie Moseley started playing guitar in an evangelical group at age 13.^[1] Semie and his brother Andy experimented with guitars from their teen-age years, refinishing instruments and building new necks.^[2]

Semie Moseley began building guitars in the Los Angeles area around 1952 or 1953. He began by apprenticing at the Rickenbacker factory, where he learned much of his guitar making skills from Roger Rossmeisl, a German immigrant who brought old-world luthier techniques into the modern electric guitar manufacturing process. One of the most recognizable features on most Mosrite guitars is the "German Carve" on the top that Moseley learned from Rossmeisl. During the same time, Moseley apprenticed with Paul Bigsby in Downey, California, the man who made the first modern solid-body guitar for Merle Travis in 1948, and who invented the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, which is still used today.

Mosrite founded

In 1954, Semie built a triple-neck guitar in his garage (the longest neck was a standard guitar, the second-longest neck an octave higher, the shortest was an eight-string mandolin). He presented a double-neck to Joe Maphis, a Los Angeles-area TV performer. By 1956, with an investment from Ray Boatwright, a local Los Angeles minister, Semie and Andy started their company, Mosrite of California. In gratitude to Boatwright, Moseley named the company by combining his and Boatwright's last names; the name is properly pronounced MOZE-rite, based on the pronunciation Semie Moseley used for his own name.^[3] Semie, who built guitars for the L.A.-based Rickenbacker company, said to his co-workers that he was making his own product, and he was fired by Rickenbacker.^[2]

When they began, their production was all custom, handmade guitars, built in garages, tin storage sheds, wherever the Moseleys could put equipment.^[2]

In 1959, Andy moved to Nashville, Tennessee, for a year to popularize the Mosrite name and sold a few, including to Grand Ole Opry entertainers and road musicians. Andy said: "And that’s how we kept the factory going at the time: custom guitars".^[2]

Moseley made guitars in Los Angeles until 1959, when he moved to Oildale, California, just north of Bakersfield.

In 1962, he moved his shop to Panama Lane where he designed and produced the first Joe Maphis model guitars, one model of which would eventually evolve into the "Ventures model" guitar and bass (Joe Maphis would later get a model of his own, similar to a Mosrite Combo model but without the F-hole). At this time, Mosrite made everything in-house, except for the tuners.^[7]

Mosrite pickups after the 50s usually came in several ways through Mosrite's history, none with metal casing; 1: the large single coil similar to (but not the same as) a P90, 2: a cheaper version of the first pickup that showed on cheaper models (Celebrity III, Mark V,) 3: a cheaper strat-width pickup only found on the first iteration of the Ventures II and 4: a Mosrite Humbucker mostly found on some 1970s models.

The full "The Ventures" line consisted of the Mark I, Ventures II (of several versions,) Mark V, Mark X (bass) and Mark XII (12 string). "The Ventures" line started in 1963 and ran through 1967 when the licensing agreement with The Ventures ended.

At the peak of production, in 1968, Mosrite was making around 600 guitars per month.^[3]

Bankruptcy and restart

Mosrite of California went bankrupt in late 1968 after they contracted with the Thomas Organ Company to market their guitars. After this, they tried to deal directly with stores, and they sold 280 guitars in 1969 before they came to the shop one day and found their doors pad-locked.^[2] Two years after his bankruptcy, Semie was able to get back the Mosrite name, and in 1970 he started making guitars again in Pumpkin Center near Bakersfield. He moved his factory three times in the next 20 years, to Oklahoma City in the mid-1970s, to the township of Jonas Ridge, in Burke County, North Carolina, in 1981 (where a factory fire destroyed the operation), and to Leachville, Arkansas, in 1991.^[2] Only one guitar was produced in Leachville and is now on display at the town's Melody Theater.

Though an acknowledged genius at guitar design and construction, Moseley lacked many basic skills necessary to be a good businessman, and thus the company fell on hard times repeatedly in the late 1960s and 1970s, but continued to produce Mosrite guitars until 1993 in North Carolina and Arkansas. Most of them were exported to Japan, where their popularity remained very strong. The quality of the instruments always remained very respectable. Semie Moseley died in 1992. His wife Loretta continued to produce Mosrites a year or so after his death, and since 2008 has been selling custom Mosrites via their website.

The company now has recently{{when|date=July 2011}} released the Semie Moseley Model ’63 and ’65, based on the Ventures models made in those two years. Both models are made to the exact specifications as the original models; they are 100 % hand-made and were created to commemorate Semie Moseley.

Semie's daughter, Dana Moseley, is also a luthier and continues to build Mosrite guitars.^[4] She also helps kick off the monthly "Mosrite Jam" in Bakersfield.^[5]

List of models

Note that there are exceptions to this list of models where perhaps a 1960s model has white paint for the headstock logos or a 1970s 360 model has a basswood body and maple neck instead of a mahogany body and mahogany neck. Mosrite is a company where outliers aren't unheard of.

Mosrite also used other names occasionally; "Gospel" was often a name associated with guitars given away to churches although it was also used during Mosrite's bankruptcy period when they didn't have their Mosrite name (1969-1970,) Semie also used his last name "Moseley" for guitars built during the same period.

1950s

1960s

1970s

Unlike 1960s models, the 1970s marked a departure from the skinny necks; Mosrite didn't always make thin necks in the 70s.

An estimate of 100 Brass Rail models are estimated to have been built with the Deluxe models being scarcer, an estimate of 12 being built.

1980s

This era mostly consisted of Ventures reissues and Ventures shaped models including but not limited to:

1963 Ventures Model Reissue with a bound body and neck, output jack on the side and vibramute.

1990s

Notable users

References

1. ^Thompson, Art, "Mosrite 40th Anniversary", Guitar Player magazine, January 2007.
2. ^¹²³⁴⁵Price, Robert, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080712034122/http://www.bakersfield.com/static/FP/baksound/mosrite.htm "The Man Behind the Mosrite"] (archived 2008 copy), The Bakersfield Californian. Has biographical notes on Semie Moseley.
3. ^¹{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=James H.|title=American basses: an illustrated history & player's guide|year=2003|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-0-87930-721-9|page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lBKzcs746oC&pg=PA128}}
4. ^{{cite web|url=http://www.edroman.com/guitars/mosrite/dana-moseley.htm|title=Mosrite Guitars - Dana Moseley of Moseley Family|first=Ed|last=Roman|website=Edroman.com|accessdate=3 October 2018}}
5. ^Munoz, Matt, "Mos-rite-teous! Lovers of Bakersfield guitar ready to jam" {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213052407/http://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/local/x914961517/Mos-rite-teous-Lovers-of-Bakersfield-guitar-ready-to-jam |date=2011-02-13 }}, Bakotopia.com, Wednesday, Feb 17 2010
6. ^{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKXIk45pL0o&t=1m6s |title=Alice In Chains - What the Hell Have I |website=YouTube |access-date=May 3, 2018}}
7. ^Album liner notes, Grammy Award winning album We Called Him Mr. Gospel Music: The James Blackwood Tribute Album, various credits to the Mosrite guitars of Art Greenhaw
8. ^¹²{{cite book|last=Hunter|first=Dave|title=The Electric Guitar Sourcebook: How to Find the Sounds You Like|year=2006|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-0-87930-886-5|pages=67–68|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u8qxXFvsqeMC&pg=PT68}}
9. ^ {{cite web | title = Mosrite Guitars | url = http://www.mosriteguitars.com/ | publisher = Mosrite Guitars | location = Las Vegas, NV | date = | quote = Mosrite is an American guitar manufacturing company, Originally based in Bakersfield, California in 1952. ... Today it does all of its American Manufacturing in Las Vegas, NV. Imports are strictly Japanese by Japan's best guitar factory "Tokai". Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists such as ... | accessdate= 2014-07-29 }}
10. ^{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlW5LbpYQps|title=Drivin' N' Cryin' - Can't Promise You The World|first=|last=DrivinAndCryinVEVO|date=8 October 2009|accessdate=3 October 2018|publisher=YouTube}}