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Ok, story time. So, sometimes I go to the local Guitar Center on my lunch break out of boredom, since it's literally within walking distance of my work. Yesterday was one of those days. I usually just go and hang out for a few minutes, maybe stay to try out the classical guitars, as that's my latest fancy. But yesterday was different. To my astonishment, they had an honest-to-God Mosrite on the wall in the "special" room, ya know...the one with a ton of other more expensive reproduction guitars (mostly Music Man and Fender / Gibson custom shop stuff). I had to play it.

The thing was INCREDIBLE. I've played my fair share of Mosrite copies over the years (Univox, Eastwood, Aria, etc.) and none of them even come close to this. It's extremely well made, not a flaw to be found, and in great shape overall. Beautiful CAR finish. Thin and fast neck, with a butter smooth vibrato that blows Bigsbys and Jag / JM trems out of the water. Plugged into a Deluxe Reverb, it's basically the stuff of wet dreams for surf lovers like me. I would have bought it on the spot, but the $1300 price tag set me back, considering that I don't really NEED a guitar like this.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Looking at the hang tag, it said it was made in 1993. I was under the impression that Mosrite stopped making guitars some time in the 80s, and even those weren't of the typical Mosrite / Ventures style body. After doing some research, Mosrite did make guitars into the 90s, in a very limited amount. Semie Moseley collaborated with Nokie Edwards of the Ventures to build official reproductions of the original Ventures models, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of their meeting. They were called Nokie models. Moseley died in 1992, and his wife continued to run Mosrite, exclusively producing this model. The last Mosrite guitars were sold in the US in 1994. Afterward, Mosrite went bankrupt, and the rights to build the Ventures style body were sold to Japanese manufacturers. Hence why today you see so many reproductions.

That means that this guitar is quite possibly one of the last real Mosrites ever made. The odd part of it is that everything I'm finding says that these Nokie models were all set-neck. This one is a bolt-on. I'm going back today to take some pictures and write down the serial number, see if I can get some more info on it. It would be awesome if it has the original paperwork, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

I'm strongly considering buying it as an investment...I've always wanted to own one of these, and as rare as this is, it might be worth the asking price, especially if I talk them down a bit. But, with no paperwork, I'm not sure it'd be worth it. What do you guys think? Any Mosrite experts here?

That is too cool.

A lot of what you wrote is correct. I would suggest posting on the Mosrite forum where they have a couple of ex-employees who can tell you for sure if the model is real. I have some pictures of Nokie models on my old computer, post pics of this one and I can tell you if it looks real or not.

If it's real $1300 is nothing. You can get twice that easy on Yahoo Japan.

jcyphe wrote:I would suggest posting on the Mosrite forum where they have a couple of ex-employees who can tell you for sure if the model is real.

Good idea...just signed up, but I have to wait for approval. Thanks for the info!

It may not be "real", but I'm quite certain it's made from real parts, at least. If it's a copy, it's the nicest one I've ever seen.

Dillon wrote:

jcyphe wrote:I would suggest posting on the Mosrite forum where they have a couple of ex-employees who can tell you for sure if the model is real.

Good idea...just signed up, but I have to wait for approval. Thanks for the info!

It may not be "real", but I'm quite certain it's made from real parts, at least. If it's a copy, it's the nicest one I've ever seen.

It's not a copy I bet. There is a small chance it could be made from Mosrite parts. But your description sounds like it was too well built.

Looking forward to seeing pics.

If you love it and have the loot grab it . However bet on it NOT being and investment but your personal love toy .


As for me I have 2 Eastwood fakies which are just perfect for me .

Definitely speak to the guys on the Mosrite forum. I'll bet its real, maybe something that later moved on to the Hallmark range.
I'd love to have a go on a proper Mosrite, but its unlikely unless a tag along to some UKers house off that forum.
Please post pics!!

Went back during lunch today and they were quite busy. Surprisingly, the room was locked. (It never has been in the past.) I couldn't find anyone to ask to open it and didn't have enough time anyway. Got a crap pic through the glass using my cell phone:



You can't really tell anything from that, but here's what I noticed.

- Double dot inlay and black binding around neck
- Non-matching headstock
- Non-adjustable pole pieces (flat cover)
- No coil tap / phase switches

I think it's probably a mutt, made from whatever leftover parts were available at the time. I'm going back after work to ask about looking at it in detail. Also, price apparently has been lowered to $1200.

Rox: I wanted to ask why it wouldn't be an investment, but I guess I know now. After doing some more research, these aren't quite as collectible as the vintage ones, even though they are more rare. But it's still a great piece of history as far as I'm concerned. And yeah, I'd play it more than most of my other guitars

Actually I meant that you'd buy it and never want to get rid of it. Tell your girl it's an"investment". I for one see it different.

oh wow that one makes my pants tighter than a trip to tony roma's!!!
dude... get it. it's wonderful. it's unique. it's rare.
rock it!!!

Pat.

So here are a couple more pictures of the important bits, in my excitement I forgot to get a full shot of the guitar. Turns out it was in a locked room because that room also contains a $13,000 Slash signature series LP, signed by Slash himself. Serial number is 90043, which according to this page indicates a Nokie model, from 1989. I'm not sure how accurate that is though, because it also says "1 of 3" (presumably this should be 1 of 300) and "signed by Semie", which this one clearly is not. Another unusual thing, the truss rod cover is engraved with JEG, and there is a sticker on the back that says the same thing, any idea what this means (if anything)? It almost looks like a previous owner did that. I'm leaning more and more towards buying it. It's definitely real, and very rare.

That thing is hawwwt


If it is legit it will definitely be worth the money.

Boy, I wish I could see it up close. The hardware looks right to me, from the knobs, nut, truss rod cover, blank pickups, and flat (German) frets. The serial number is in the right spot, but I have not seen maple necks before. One detail that looks unusual to me is the bridge. There's extra stuff in there. But this would have been after the brass rail series, so he may have had new theories.

There's a chance it is legit. I wouldn't want to encourage anyone to drop that kind of scratch, but if you are already going to, I think you could feel better than if you bought a new Gibson. A better question is how you would feel to walk in there and see it had sold. The answer sounds obvious, but it varies.

There is almost zero info about that model. I would ask around online, but maybe not tell anyone where it is for sale.

Comparable models:

Spoke too soon! Maple neck and unusual bridge:

Any tuner pics?

Yeah, I noticed that as well. The maple neck is half the reason why I like this guitar so much. The tuners are Grover, and appear to be original---there are no extra holes from where Kluson type tuners would have been. Someone from the Mosrite boards also pointed out that this guitar has 12-string saddles. Apparently, the later Mosrites were put together with whatever was available at the time.

As for how I'd feel if someone else bought it---well, I wouldn't be crushed, but I'd be disappointed with myself for not snatching up such a unique piece of history. I didn't walk in there looking to buy a $1200 guitar, this one just struck me from the moment I saw it. I think it's worth the price, possibly more, based on everything I've read. The guitar looks and plays like brand new. I actually read about that cache of NOS M88 guitars that was found in a warehouse; I don't think this is one. But it's damn close.

P.S. - I don't see any difference in the bridge on this one and the bridges on the ones you posted?

Do it. If not for yourself, then for all of us who cannot afford such an gem.

Dillon wrote:Yeah, I noticed that as well. The maple neck is half the reason why I like this guitar so much. The tuners are Grover, and appear to be original---there are no extra holes from where Kluson type tuners would have been. Someone from the Mosrite boards also pointed out that this guitar has 12-string saddles. Apparently, the later Mosrites were put together with whatever was available at the time.

As for how I'd feel if someone else bought it---well, I wouldn't be crushed, but I'd be disappointed with myself for not snatching up such a unique piece of history. I didn't walk in there looking to buy a $1200 guitar, this one just struck me from the moment I saw it. I think it's worth the price, possibly more, based on everything I've read. The guitar looks and plays like brand new. I actually read about that cache of NOS M88 guitars that was found in a warehouse; I don't think this is one. But it's damn close.

Nothing about it looks unusual besides the jem thing, which was probably just somebody personalizing the instrument. It looks like something somebody ordered with those specs or as you said a run of 3. A run of 3 is probably more likely than a run of 300.

The bridge just has a tiny difference in what looks like a small strip of chrome with three screws. My model doesn't have that piece, but it looks like he used them in newer models. I have bought guitars without noticing that certain things were missing in the photo, so I was just trying to offer details. I ran into info gaps when I was trying to fix the wiring on mine.

One thing I like about Mosrites are the necks. People complain that Mosrite frets feel low compared to Fender, but I like them.

Went to pay for this thing tonight. It's officially mine Unfortunately I can't bring 'er home until the 20th. Apparently, in this area we have what's called a "police hold"...when someone sells a guitar (or anything, really) to a store that does resale, the item goes on police hold for 30 days. In this time period, the item is investigated to make sure it's not stolen, and the store isn't allowed to officially sell the item. I guess that means this guitar hadn't been there long at all...no surprise really. I'm hoping they'll rescind the hold before the 20th...the wait is killing me!

While I was there, I happened to talk to the employee who bought the guitar. He said it was from an estate sale of sorts...it belonged to the previous owner's father, who had just passed away. Apparently he had a collection of something like 50 rare guitars. This was one of 15 that this store bought from him. I can't help but wonder what else was in the collection...I'll never know, but I'm glad I found this thing. Now to start asking around for more details on it...I'm hoping I can find someone who can tell me how many of these were actually made, and place a real world value on it. Not that the value matters all that much, because I'm sure I won't be letting it go any time soon I'd like to know though.

What? Fuck that shit. Surely it should be policy to check the guitar when they first get it in.

Good buy though

Nice one, glad you went for it.