Did Mosrite ever have a shot at being really mainstream?

[Haole Jim]

Back in the mega-emerging days of electric (and for that matter, acoustic) guitar and bass in the mid-late 50s and all through the 60s, mighty Gibson-Epiphone and Gresch watched Fender and Martin gaining strength and position and become bigger (as guitar-based music exploded to become ultra-mainstream).

And from "nothing," Ibanez and Peavey came to be big namesAnd from being America's biggest, Harmony went down, completely. And Rickenbacker never really made it big. And VOx never had the magic or focus for becoming a guitar great.

And PRS and Taylor began from scratch with big talent sand skill and focus to become fairly serious in this current era.

Did Mosrite ever, even for one year, ever display the potential to have become another Fender, or did Leo have too many of California's best minds in his camp, while Semie was kind of a loner...?

[thunderhead]

The Ventures sure sold a Ton of Guitars for Semie. I have talked to plenty from the 60's generation of aspiring Guitarist. They either saved the dough to actually get a Mosrite or had to settle for a Mustang or Musicmaster Guitar. That Guitar on the back of all those albums was pure advertising gold

[Veenture]

From what I've gathered so far from reading about Semie Moseley and Mosrite, it has never been Semie's intention to compete with any of the established large guitar names of the era and even if he did, not in any big way at all.

He loved crafting quality guitars and took on many a custom order as we all know. Just look at the diversity of Mosrite guitars out there, vintage and new -and I'm not thinking about factory 'relics', 'road word' stuff ...and goodness knows what else some of today's guitar brands are trying to come up with to push their ware...not Semie.

No, Mr. Moseley could've become a multi-millionaire but once turned down a mega deal and eventually his company even went down, only to emerge again....and again....just building fine guitars and making a living.

Semie will not be remembered for outstanding business deals but all the more for having been a dedicated builder of fine guitars for players and it was only when The Ventures started endorsing Mosrite that the company hit it really big (unintentionally). That's how I think about it at this time.

[dellison]

I thought from what I heard he WAS a millionaire back in the day and everything went down the tubes because of poor management and mistakes... Wasn't it when he lost his deal with the Ventures they took their distribution chain back and he didn't have a method of getting guitars out to customers. If you have a inventory but no way to sell it your pretty much doomed...

If someone could legally use the name and sell them correctly they would probably sell again. The problem is if you can't go to your local music store and buy them no one is ever going to know about them...

Duane...

[Haole Jim]

Good point on the (lack of) distribution chain. In all these centons. 'never seen new Mosrites on the racks anywhere except at Roman's in Vegas, and now that's only an e-store.

[dellison]

Well, I've heard you can walk into Bakeoboy's Front Porch Music in Bakersfield California and buy them!

[jfine]

The guitar business is littered with the corpses of companies who had good products and promotion, and didn't make it, usually due to getting overextended. Take Vox, who had a great-sounding amp (the AC-30) and endorsements from the biggest bands in the world--then, they got into guitars, which they never were able to produce with much quality, and a disastrous distribution deal with Thomas Organ, which resulted in inferior products being marketed in their largest marketplace (the US), and they didn't last too long after that under the original ownership. As far as Mosrite being mainstream, after Semie got the distribution deal going with the Ventures, every guitar-playing kid in America (including me) wanted one. You couldn't find one--their local dealer in San Francisco would occasionally get one in, and it would usually sell right away. They were in demand, and scarce--Rickenbackers were the same way; lots of demand and small production. (Although I understand that, at its peak, the Bakersfield factory was turning out 500 or so Mosrites a day.) I think Semie was also a victim of the guitar boom going bust in about '68, as well as losing the Ventures' distribution deal--also, music and people's tastes were changing--the Ventures were considered dated by some people (not by me!) and everybody was buying Gibsons and Marshalls to try to sound like Eric Clapton. Buying Dobro couldn't have helped Semie's financial situation either...

[Sarah93003]

I think it's pretty difficult to make it as a guitar manufacturer in the US. The Custom Shops of Fender and Gretsch are still producing guitars but they are VERY expensive. I may be wrong but I don't think PRS took off until the moved production off shore. I've met some excellent guitar builders and I think they just barely make a living or have to supplement it with a "real" job. A local builder, Joe Till ( http://www.tillguitars.com/ ) makes beautiful electric guitars, Randall Kramer in Northern California makes beautiful acoustics ( http://www.randallkramerguitars.com/ ). There are many more out there and I doubt if they will be famous in their life time. Most people will not spend $2,000- $4,000 USD on a guitar that doesn't have a strong history behind it. Every few months I play a Joe Till guitar and get tempted to buy it but I wonder what it will be like 10 years down the road. Perhaps it is my own lack of understanding of the longevity of a guitar.

[Veenture]

A local builder, Joe Till ( http://www.tillguitars.com/ ) makes beautiful electric guitars...//...get tempted to buy it but I wonder what it will be like 10 years down the road.

Hey Sarah, thanks for pointing out that link -Till guitars certainly appear to be masterpieces (and probably are!), Mosrite inspired and all (German carve).
You know, in general an object of quality will always hold it's value...it's just up to people to discover it -if they are not already aware of it.

[LOSTVENTURE]

"Well, I've heard you can walk into Bakeoboy's Front Porch Music in Bakersfield California and buy them! "

That's great for the folks in Bakersfield. Not so good for those of us here on the east coast or overseas.
See the problem ? Why is Front Porch the sole location in all of the USA? Please don't get me wrong. I would love to try one of their Mosrites, but a three day drive (one way) is sort of out of the question. I guess that generally, the Mosrite will remain our little secret.
Don