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How come there are so many guitar books but only a few ever mention Mosrites? I saw one today that was as thick as a phone book but had nothing about Mosrites at all.What's the deal?Is it ignorance or prejudice? Speaking of prejudice,there's a shop here in Sydney which only deals in rare mega -buck guitars and when I asked if they ever had Mosrites the guy just chuckled and looked at me like "are you serious?' and then told me that they'd never carry anything like that.
I hope he's happy with his $20,000 Strats and Les Pauls that he'll never sell.

mosman wrote:How come there are so many guitar books but only a few ever mention Mosrites? I saw one today that was as thick as a phone book but had nothing about Mosrites at all.What's the deal?Is it ignorance or prejudice? Speaking of prejudice,there's a shop here in Sydney which only deals in rare mega -buck guitars and when I asked if they ever had Mosrites the guy just chuckled and looked at me like "are you serious?' and then told me that they'd never carry anything like that.
I hope he's happy with his $20,000 Strats and Les Pauls that he'll never sell.

We hear you Mosman. And the same holds true with the 2 big Retailers as well, but GC and S.A.'s DAYS ARE NUMBERED!
One New Contender is entering the world of music retailing.....BEST BUY. Yeah, you heard me right. For those that
have not heard, BEST BUY wants a piece of the 7.5 billion dollar U.S. musical instrument market....there are a few that
have already opened locally. What is the advantage of buying from BEST BUY as opposed to the big 2??? The Sales Guys
are on Salary, not commission. Which means, you won't have that ugly feeling that you get sometimes when you walk
into one of "The Big 2" and have the Sales Guy ask you the harsh question, "Well, are you ready to take it TODAY?!?!?"
And YES, they are carrying ALL MAJOR BRANDS such as, Fender, Gibson, Roland, Shure, Electro-Voice, not to mention
all kinds of Percussion, Lighting, PA gear,etc.....all that without the Sales pressure.......

........................Their days are numbered.................

yeah the best buy in fairview heights, IL near St. Louis had its' grand opening last weekend. I wanted to go check it out but it's a 2 hour drive for me.

They are in some books. Note copyright dates, however, realistic history is very thin post 1970s.

The Guitar Book, Tom Wheeler, 1978 (3rd Ed) pp 42,115, 129, 209

Electric Guitars and Basses, George Gruhn, 1994, pp194, 195196, 197, 198

American Guitars--An Illustrated History, Tom Wheeler, 1992, pp 3, 278-84, 314, 321

The History of the American Guitar, Tony Bacon, 2001, pp 114, 115

Guitar Stories, Vol 1, Michael Wright, 1995, pp 28-9, 55, 59-60, 155

The Ultimate Guitar Book, Tony Bacon, 1991, pp 49,151, 108, 93, 109, 91

Part of the reason that there's never been a comprehensive book on Mosrite is because the history is so spread out, so confusing and everybody involved seems to hate everybody else (see: "Mosrite Lawsuit" thread).

I am going to have a big chapter on the history of Mosrite in the "History of West Coast Guitars" book that I've been threatening to put out for a while now. Between myself and Adam and Bob and John and Artie and a few other nuts I hope to have photos of just about every model Mosrite ever made. I've got a ton of vintage photos and things that will flesh out the story, but even between all of us, I know that we'll just be touching the tip of the iceberg.

When you start getting into Semie's story, from the early L.A. years to the Bakersfield years to the 1970's Bakersfield and Oklahoma years and the Jonas Ridge years and the Booneville, Arkansas years to the Japanese companies to who owns the rights to what and this and that, it starts to become apparent WHY somebody hasn't written a comprehensive book on the subject.

The best chapter in a guitar book thus far on Mosrite I think is in the seminal American Guitars book that Haole Jim mentioned. Just reading Semie's own words tells the story better than any of us historians could, though he's pretty shy on details.

Deke

...interesting reading guys.

Dennisthe Menace wrote:...//...We hear you Mosman. And the same holds true with the 2 big Retailers as well, but GC and S.A.'s DAYS ARE NUMBERED!
One New Contender is entering the world of music retailing.....BEST BUY...//.....all that without the Sales pressure.......

........................Their days are numbered.................

You know what, THE INTERNET is one helluva competitor too... ...not surprising that I got my Mosrite-type guitar through the internet