A Sterling Guitar - Pre Date of the Joe Maphis/Venture's?

[TerryTNM]

I've had these photos for sometime. Can't remember where I found them. I wonder if they have turned up on the forum before?
A Sterling? Obvious Moseley influence. Thought they might be interesting. I know nothing about it other than it's really cool.
It has all the ear-marks of the early Mosrite's

[dubtrub]

Here's the info from the pot code reader.

This potentiometer was made by
Stackpole Electronics, Inc.
in the 48th week of 1948 or 1958

Man, that has to have been built by Semie and marketed under the Sterling name. Even the case appears to be hand built.

[dorkrockrecords]

I'm sure Deke or Bob or Artie will chime in, but those Sterlings were made by Joe Hall, not Semie. That one happens to be in the collection of Marc Lipco.

[Deke Dickerson]

Yep, those were made by Joe Hall when he was working alongside Semie at the tin shed in Bakersfield. I think it's a very similar deal to the "1959" Joe Maphis model--Semie and Joe probably made these guitars, the Sterling and the Joe Maphis model, around the same time--1961 or 1962, but used pots that were a couple years old at the time.

The dates that Joe Hall worked with Semie were around 1960-1962. Joe Hall himself says he didn't make any guitars until Semie taught him, so he wouldn't have the luthier skills to make something like this by 1958.

Deke

[GattonFan]

Pickguard looks like Casper the Friendly Ghost - doesn't follow any of the guitar's lines. Someone went wild with the router!

[dorkrockrecords]

Pickguard looks like Casper the Friendly Ghost - doesn't follow any of the guitar's lines. Someone went wild with the router!

That pickguard look familiar? I think Semie's guilty of going equally wild...

[Deke Dickerson]

Yes, and actually the only other Sterling guitar I know about is one that looks EXACTLY like the Joe Maphis & Rose Lee guitars pictured above, except with the "Sterling" stamped into the pickguard. So--Semie and Joe Hall were obviously working on these things around the same time.

Deke

[bakeoboy]

Yep those were built in the early '60's in the shack on Panama lane,east of cottonwood rd.I think Semi let Joe build his own guitars in lieu of pay.
the pickguard looks like the underside of a male horse to me!

[JimPage]

Artie wrote:
>>the pickguard looks like the underside of a male horse to me!

Well, there goes my plan of using THAT as a desktop image!!!

--Jim

[jfine]

That's what's so cool about this forum--I run across stuff all the time that I never knew existed! I love the body and headstock shape on that Sterling. Bob Shade--how about something like that, with more of a Mosrite-style pickguard, for your next Hallmark model?