Help with identifying and preserving

[dunlop]

I recently purchased this Mosrite Celebrity. Physically, its not in great shape. A number of holes and a lot of checking. I don't think it was well cared for. But it plays beautifully. I know the tuners were replaced. All else SEEMS original. I cannot for the life of me make out the serial number. I think it starts with an A - possibly A 1217? I'd love help identifying the year and any info at all..... Hopefully these pics come through:









Thanks in advance!
Lisa

[dubtrub]

Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum. Unfortunately this forum has been dormant for a couple of years and many of our experts have moved on. I'm in the process of trying to bring it back to life. I sent an email to one our forum experts on Mosrite Celebrity models. Hopefully she will see your post and reply. Or, maybe one of our other long time members will chime in.

[dunlop]

Thanks Danny. This site has been a great resource. I appreciate your help

[Sarah93003]

Welcome to the forum, Lisa. I happen to know a little bit about Celebrities. They are my passion! Your guitar is what we call the "original" Celebrity, built before they divided into three groups, Celebrity-I, Celebrity-II, and Celebrity-III. For this instance I won't go into the Gospel, Mobro, and brass rail versions of the Celebrity.

I suspect your serial number is A0217 or something like that. The end of the "originals" came about serial number A0750 as my best guess. I would love to see more photos of yours. If you look inside the left F hole is there a label on the inside of the guitar? If you can't read the serial number very well try a pencil rubbing. Put a pice of paper over the area and lightly rub a pencil over it and it will raise the serial number for you. If it is in my database I'll have photos going back to when I collected them. Once we identify the serial number we can make a better judgment on when yours was built. 1966-1967 is a good guess so far.

I'd like to see the back of the headstock but agree the tuners do not look original. The pickguard is missing. There is likely a little hole on the right side of the bout where the mounting bracket to the pickguard once was. The tremolo handle also doesn't look original. Your guitar has the knobs we call V&T that came on the original Celebrity and other early Mosrite models. I'd also like to see the back of your guitar. I suspect it has two mounting screws for the neck to the bout. This is also indicative of the original Celebrity which used the mortise and tenon style neck joint.

Sarah

[t-bone]

Lisa, we can all appreciate a lovely A series Celebrity here. Absolute Killer Guitars! I would love to hear how you found it and came to own it. thanks for bringing it in

[dunlop]

Alrighty-- here are some back pictures. Clearly the tuners are not original. As for inside the F hole, all I see is a number penciled.. or crayoned ... in. A few months ago, my son and I were in a really cool guitar shop in Georgetown, SC and got to play a Mosrite he had there. I loved the sound and the look. Then I stumbled on this one at Guitar Center of all places and it looked like it needed a good home. I actually haven't played for years but am trying to get my fingers to pick it back up.

I really appreciate all your help and feedback.

[101Volts]

Looks great, Lisa. I agree with Sarah about the serial number, it looks like it should be A0217. And the Vibrato Bar looks like a Bigsby handle, not a Mosrite handle.

If you'd like to get replacement tuners, 1960s Mosrites usually had Klusons. The only exceptions to that rule seem to be late on, Mid 1968 - 1969, when they used what are called "diamond" tuners. I'm not sure if that's an official name. Mosrite later went on to use Grover tuners in the 1970s.

I have a few suggestions that might improve a few things for you.

1: For the Vibrato Bar; if you use some little shims made out of thin plastic (so the screw goes through them) and you put them on the top and bottom of the bar, you'll be able to move the bar and keep it wherever you put it, even if the bolt is tight.

2: Thread Locker; you can buy this at a car parts store. Put it on the Pickup Selector Switch tip, on the ring that holds the Pickup Selector on, on the Output Jack's holder (somehow I can't remember the actual name of that kind of hardware which a socket wrench would fit over) and keep the thread locker handy if any of the volume or tone knobs should fall off. The knobs snap on and off, which could wear out.

3: Use "Tremolo Strings," which are soldered shut at the string wrap end, or you could solder your strings shut yourself. It's pretty easy, and doing this increases string life and tuning stability exponentially, especially when your guitar has a vibrato bar. I never miss doing this on any of my unwound strings, even if they're acoustic.

- Austin

[dunlop]

Thank you!!

I tried rubbing the serial number with pencil and paper but didn't get anything clear. perhaps a good clean of the fret board will help

[t-bone]

i like Mosrite sunburst necks. it’s cool that you have one on a cherry body. the bridge looks like it is in great condition as well. a real score. i have an A series too. fun to play and sounds magnificent plugged or unplugged. welcome back to playing, your chops will return in no time

[Sarah93003]

The spacer suggestion from Austin is a great one. I've done this in the past cutting them from a 1 gallon milk jug.

On the serial number, perhaps using a magnifying glass would help. I'd like to know what the actual number is to see if it is in my database.

The tuners that would have been on your guitar are the Kluson Deluxe. The image below is from A0212. You can find these regularly on eBay or buy new one reproduction versions.