NGD - Mosrite Circa 1972

[MozRite]

Well, I believe this is an early '70s Mosrite because it's identical to one that a member posted of his grandfather's which became his dad's and is now his.

I wasn't expecting much when I got this because I have almost a dim view of major guitar brands that made guitars in the '70s. The '70s were cruel to guitars in the '70s but this one although not as highly sought after as a '60s model is simply amazing. I took delivery of it this afternoon after a long excruciatingly painful week wait to get from me. I'll give more details on price and where I got it later but I am curious if anyone can confirm this is a '70s. It must be because that other poster like I said had his father and grandfather's and that was identified as an early '70s model. Let's see if this will post correctly Sometimes I can post pictures and sometimes I can't.

[MozRite]

Picture worked! It came in a Taylor guitar case. Looks like it would fit an ES-335 but it also worked for my guitar. I know Taylor makes some electrics so this must be one of those cases. Another here -

[MozRite]

In the photos it really doesn't look so glamorous but in person the Cherryburst actually looks good. At first when I saw photos of it when I was buying it I thought, oh typical '70s, cruel to guitars, what a ridiculous finish but it looks actually good in person.

The tone is unbelievable. I compared it to my Fillmore guitar and although the Fillmore has vintage 1960s Mosrite pickups installed I think this one sounds better. It's hard to explain, they sound similar but this one just beats it. Maybe the early '70s Mosrite pickups are different than the '60s Mosrite pickups in terms of sound and winds and stuff, or they may be the same in general but maybe there was inconsistency among them. This has a dimension in tone that the Fillmore doesn't have. Not to knock the Fillmore. I love it and keeping it despite feeling this early '70s seems to have a magic that the Fillmore doesn't quite have.

[Greg_L]

Wow that's really clean. I can't confirm anything about a 70s Mosrite, but it looks great. Congrats.

And I disagree about 70s guitars. I like them. 70s Gibsons are weird and quirky. I have a 78 Les Paul Custom that's an amazing guitar. So heavy! The 70s Japanese "lawsuit" stuff is great. The humbucking Telecasters. A lot of cool stuff happened to guitars in the 70s.

Now, the cars of the 70s......

[MozRite]

That's Greg, yes it's a great guitar. It has a magical quality that even reissues don't have although the reissue Mosrites are nice.

Well yeah some '70s guitars are good but like Gretsch came out with some really weird guitars in the '70s but all their designs from the '50s thru late '60s were great.

[Greg_L]

That's Greg, yes it's a great guitar. It has a magical quality that even reissues don't have although the reissue Mosrites are nice.

Well yeah some '70s guitars are good but like Gretsch came out with some really weird guitars in the '70s but all their designs from the '50s thru late '60s were great.

Ha I love those 70s White Falcons with all the weird switches and string mutes. You can spend a month trying to figure out what all that useless crap does.

I think by the end of the 60s guitars pretty much hit their peak of useful innovation. Metal and shred players might disagree with that, but screw them. That music sucks anyway. Lol. The guitars most people love were pretty much figured out by 1968-ish. Everything after that was weird or an outright bad idea. But that doesn't mean they aren't cool.

[Sarah93003]

That looks great!

[MozRite]

That looks great!

Thank you Sarah. If you ever want to see it just email me and when we have time we can meet at Guitar Center, maybe Sherman Oaks and you can try it out.

[MozRite]

Greg, I agree about the White Falcon. That's the first Gretsch I had ever been made aware of and that was back about 1982. I didn't know what a Gretsch was but I thought it was either German because the name is German or it was British because I saw many British acts of the day using them but never saw Americans use them. Well Billy Zoom of X did and he's American but other than that I didn't see any Americans of the early '80s use them. I love White Falcons even the '70s models.

[amoviebuff]

MozRite,
I, too, have a Mosrite "Circa 1972"--at least the pots are, and they appear to be the originals--along with everything else--installed in my Mark I (made "by Semie Moseley" on the headstock). The pots are stamped 1377243, which--my research years ago told me--means that the pots were supposedly made by CTS (Chicago Telephone Supply) in the 43rd week of 1972. Assuming Semie bought and installed the pots soon after they were made, he probably built my guitar in late 1972, or possibly early 1973. Have you checked the pots in yours? The serial number stamped on my guitar's neck (again, seemingly the original) is V0394, but I have not been able to find out anything about the date or place of origin from that (Jonas Ridge, maybe?). Yours probably has a serial number close in sequence. My guitar is almost identical to yours, except that it is a 3-tone sunburst (in fact, it is the one shown by my member avatar on this forum). Another thing that your guitar and mine have in common is that the headstock is wider at the end than is typical for Mosrites. I don't know if this style was used for other than "circa 1972". Finally, the fact that your guitar was also made "by Semie Moseley" should allay any concern about its quality being from the '70s. I have owned another '70s Mosrite, and have been familiar with a couple of mid-'60s Ventures models owned by friends, and I'm convinced that Semie was too proud of his art to downgrade its quality, even when he had little or no help, building his guitars in the early '70s.
Don