Wenge Brass Rail (1978)

[dorkrockrecords]

Here's a prime example of forum members helping forum members. This guitar was found in the UK, and with the persistence of three forum members (coanda, stevestrings and handbrake) it has found its way home to the International House of Brass Rails. (Funny, I just got a sudden urge for pancakes...)

While my sweet tooth is in the driver's seat, if Mosrites were made of chocolate they might look something like this. This particular variety of Brass Rail is often confused for rosewood, but the body is actually made of wenge. This point is key because it is believed that the reason so few were produced was the toll the wenge took on router bits, and likely the router's operator.

[MWaldorf]

Wow, that's wild! Are those single coil pickups?


mmmmm.... pancakes.....

[dorkrockrecords]

Indeed, they are single coil pancakes...err...pickups...with syrupic...I mean ceramic magnets. Whew, that was a mouthful!

[oipunkguy]

what a find Adam. i bet this guitar weights a ton, i worked on a p bass one time with a wedge wood neck, but it was unfinished. a glossy finish on wedge looks sweet. reminds me of syrup.

[brutus]

Wow! 1978 was this made during the Sooner era?

[dorkrockrecords]

Nope. Brass Rails date to the New Mosrite period, 1976-1978. The Sooner was circa 1975.

[MWaldorf]

Is that five ply binding on the neck? Interesting how some of the binding is under the frets but the last layer isn't.

[dorkrockrecords]

It's four ply (bwbw) with the outermost layer of white capping the fret ends as you would expect. I suppose that would technically make the innermost three layers purfling rather than binding. It's also worth noting that the pickguard is made of the same material from which they cut the binding strips.

[Haole Jim]

Most interesting. Never saw one like that....

[dorkrockrecords]

One more from the archives...

Semie made this particular Mosrite for his nephew, Mark Moseley, who put it to good use as a member of The Buckaroos. According to Mark, he was the only guitar player who Buck ever allowed to sling anything other than a Tele, and for good reason.

Mark's axe started life much like the one above, with two pickups and a toadstool-shaped pickguard, but soon had its electronics minimized to a single volume control, then a middle pickup added along with a custom pickguard, then a couple more swapped out and so on. I have finished reverting most of the electronics to original issue, but kept the custom three-pickup configuration because it's just too darn cool (right, Mel?)!

Special thanks go to Bob Shade, John Lackey, Reber Stein, Ed Elliott, Elaine Frizzell and of course Mark Moseley.