Another rare single pickup Mosrite

[Deke Dickerson]

Hey Danny--

Thanks for getting that thing off the wall! I've always been curious exactly what year that thing was built. I'm kind of surprised that it's a '63, actually, I would have figured '61 or '62.

It does have the same pickup and the same slotted-fret string guide that my '63 doubleneck had, so that makes sense.

Deke

[Beatnikbandit]

Wow, that's a cool guitar! I'd confer with everyone else on the string guide-- my '63 Ventures model has the same one, works well.

[Sarah93003]

this looks like one of thoses barn guitars semie made before the pre-ventures models. noted by tym, there was several economy made mosrites in the late 50's. interesting that this guitar is dated in 63.

did anyone notice the zero fret/string guide is two frets instead of the half round string guide? i wonder if eddy had a hand in building this baby
very cool.

yes, I did notice that. I've never seen the nut done that way before!

[Haole Jim]

Most interesting. Thank you for sharing. Interesting the pickup is not right at the bridge, like an Esquire. The Mosrite equivalent of an SG Junior?

[Dennisthe Menace]

Thanks Danny, I was always wandering about that guitar .

[dubtrub]

I'm glad I got involved with this guitar when I did as it was starting to deteriorate pretty bad. The finish is so weathered that flakes of the finish are constantly falling off, unfortunately nothing can help there. However, I have removed all the the crud and tarnish (not patina) off most of the metal parts. The tuners were beginning to rust pretty badly but cleaned up quite well.

The plastic plate for the side jack was crumbling around the jack, and someone in the past put a huge washer about an eighth inch think under it to prevent the jack from pulling through. Fortunately when I took it apart, the small shards of plastic was still inside and I was able to CyanoArcylate glue it back in place. I then made a tracing of the plate and cut a paper thin sheet of brass to secure it from further damage and the brass plate is barely noticeable.

The pickguard was curled virtually into a 'U' shape apparently from years of heat exposure near a vent where it was hanging in the store. I was able to use a heat gun and a 1" X 4" X 12" flat bar of steel weighing about 20 lbs, to flatten out the pickguard. Unfortunately being a nitrate material the guard had shrunk about 1/4" leaving an exposed gap into the control cavity. Artie decided that he would prefer to have a new pickguard made for display purposes and keep the original with the guitar. Unfortunately one can't obtain the old style 3 ply pickguard material with the thick top layer and two thin bottom plys, so I've ordered some cream/black/cream vinyl material from Warmoth to serve as a replacement.

It's interesting that the neck and fretboard are made out of mahogany while the body appears to be either Basswood or Alder. It is extremely light weight at 5 lbs 7 oz.

BTW, It sounds great through my Vibroverb even though it's a tube amp.

It should also be noted that this guitar used to belong to Bill Gruggett.

Adam, do you know the story behind this guitar that you can share?

[oipunkguy]

hey danny,

about the unique three plied pick guard used on mosrites, I have wondered the same thing. an idea I had was to buy the three plies separately and gluing them together to get a more authentic looking mosrite pick guard. what do ya think?

[dorkrockrecords]

Adam, do you know the story behind this guitar that you can share?

Unfortunately I don't. I remember Bill telling me that he owned it at one point and traded it to Artie.