A History of Mosrite Guitars

MY MOSRITES

MOSRITE HISTORY

MOSRITE SERIAL # AND MODEL LISTING

MOSRITE TIMELINE

MOSRITE PICS (THE EARLY YEARS)

MOSRITE PIC OF THE MONTH

MOSRITE MYTHS AND ANSWER PAGES

MOSRITE LINKS

MOSRITE CATALOGUES
THESE MAY HELP YOU IDENTIFY YOUR MOSRITE

1960's single and double necks.



This Mosrite was probably made in 1960 when Semie first moved from LA to Bakersfield.	It's typical of the very simple and fairly crude cheap guitars Semie was making during this period.

This double neck is from around 1960 and you can see the Joe Maphis model starting to show in this design. This guitar has a lot of the features that will eventually be used on the Joe Maphis model single necks to follow that in late '63 will turn into the Ventures model.
This guitar was used by Mosrite as a "demo" guitar and lent to many of the great country and gospel players in the early 60's. It is said that the Mosrite logo on the headstock was scratched off so endorsed players trying it out didn't get in trouble.

	Contrary to popular belief, the Joe Maphis model single neck IS NOT a Ventures prototype. Semie had agreed to make double and single neck guitars for Joe but in late '63 the Ventures deal was signed which gave Semie the money he needed to get a factory up and running and the Maphis model became the Ventures model. There were aprox. 25 of these Maphis model single necks, as seen on the next page, made.