mosriteforum.com

I played up in Ventura on Friday and a gentleman introduced himself to me on the break. He said his name was Carmine Sardo and he had a Mosrite doubleneck out in his car he wanted to show me. Well, that needs no prompting, of course, so I invited him in and got him to sit in with us for the second set.

Carmine had a neat 1980's Mosrite JM65 and also a rarer-than-heck Fender Rosewood Telecaster. He's a great picker and we had fun playing together. Turns out he goes way back, he was in Mickey Rooney Junior's band back in the 60's, and went to Hollywood Professional School with Larry and Lorrie Collins. He played with Joe Maphis at the Palomino in the 70's and knew most of the Mosrite doubleneck legends--Bob Regan, Brian Lonbeck, Elaine Frizzell, etc.

Of course, it's always nights like these I forget to bring my camera ! Here are a couple of shots from my Iphone of Carmine's JM65.

I particularly liked the customization of the "see-through" routing of the JM65's pickguards and armrest. Carmine stuck things underneath the pickguard like dollar bills, playing cards, etc. for a cool custom look (picture 2).

Amazing to me that guys like Carmine are still poppin' out of the woodwork, Semie and Joe Maphis cast a long, long shadow that we're probably never going to fully comprehend!

Deke

Neat! I can't quite see the number on it. Do you recollect? I think that there were only about 22 of these completed.

-Terry

Sorry Terry, in the confusion of trying to talk to Carmine while selling merchandise, I didn't get the serial number. But yes, there were supposed to be 65 of them made in honor of Joe Maphis being 65 when he died, but I think you're right, they only did 22 (or thereabouts).

Carmine's local, he's been around forever, so we'll have an opportunity to ask him the serial number.

Deke

Wow what a gorgeous guitar! I may be mistaken, but it seems that the few JM65s I've seen are slightly different - different hardware, pickups, binding, etc. Am I dreaming this?

Carmine did the "binding" effect around the edges of the German carve with automotive pinstriping. A cool effect I hadn't seen done before.

Most of these things were customized slightly by either Semie or the owner depending to their taste, after all, part of the deal with paying Semie a bunch of money to make one of these was that it was "your" guitar. So you're right, Mel, they're all slightly different.

Deke

Beautiful Guitar, would Love to Play one. Thanks for sharing

Hi guys. When Deke said Mickey Jr. that sure rang a bell. Mickey Jr. and Carmine
called me back in late 80's. They came out to the house in So. Calif when I was out there.
Mickey was trying to get up support for a film. He also got in touch with Rosie, Brian, myself and others. Mickey was loaned a JM-65 by Rosie which he had quite a while before Rosie got it back. I know I have VHS footage of us pickin' out there. Before long though we felt that the film was not going to get done and I lost track of Micky Jr. and Carmine. I will try to find pictures. I see the guitar in the picture has double binding. When Loretta showed be the JM-65 book that listed serial numbers and who bought them, there were some serial numbers that were not used after about # 14 or16. The original batch finished up were not bound. The first bound ones I saw were after Semie passed. However he was working on a double bound with black pickup covers for me . Buddy had the first one I knew about. I bought one from Loretta about 4 years ago. It was right after the Tribute Album to Joe Maphis & Merle Travis I did was released. That would put it late 2005 or early 2006. I believe Buddy's had white pickups like the one Deke posted. The highest number I have seen is #0020. With about 5 numbers blank between about 15 & 20. But that was four years ago. Loretta would know where it lays now. However Loretta would
allow you to pick out a special number.
EF

I just got a e-mail about binding. I realize this guitar's binding is as Deke said was added by Carmine. There are at least two to three real ones double bound by Mosrite I have seen. There may be more JM-65's out there that have double binding I know nothing about.

EF