Even if your name is Ebeneezer Scrooge, seeing this guitar will surely warm your Mosrite heart.
Adam from the list (dorkrockrecords) bought this instrument from a guy who worked for Semie during the Brass Rail "New Mosrite" era of the mid-1970's. The guitar was back in Missouri close to where I'm from so I offered to go get the guitar while back in Missouri for the holidays.
This is a really wild one, folks, it's a totally hand-made 1978 Mosrite "Aluminum Rail" acoustic guitar, originally done in a "pinkburst" finish (now faded to a tannish pink) made for Dolly Parton!!
As the story goes, Semie made this small-bodied acoustic for Dolly with the hopes of marketing a Dolly model Mosrite acoustic, but for whatever reason, the deal was never finalized, and Dolly may or may not have ever seen this guitar that was made for her. There are certainly no photographs of her with it, and she never used it at a performance.
Despite the fact that Dolly never used it, this is one of those guitars that Semie put everything he had into. It's a remarkably well-crafted instrument. There are only a few guitars like this in in the Mosrite world, where Semie really invested time and effort into making a superbly refined guitar.
The body is similar in shape to one of the 60's "Balladeer II" acoustics, but the materials are much better and the body is much more well made than any of the factory acoustics. The back is made of birds-eye maple, and the sides are made of pretty flamey maple. The top is a nice cut of spruce.
The neck is very similar to the Brass Rail necks, but is an odd "aluminum rail" neck using anodized aluminum instead of brass. The back of the neck is made of very nice hard maple with a comfortable neck volute.
An interesting feature of the guitar is Semie's use of the butterfly motif, not only in the shape of the hand-made bridge, but also in the cut-outs of the Mosrite headstock (which may be one of the most unique Mosrite headstocks ever made).
Another pure Semie Moseley element to this guitar are the bridge saddles, which are actually just hex-head hardware store bolts that he shaped the heads to become individual bridge saddles; adjustable for height but not for intonation. They actually work quite well.
The serial number stamped in the neck is "D1," or Dolly #1. Additionally, in the neck block inside the body, Semie has stamped "DOLLY."
Those who remember this guitar when it was built all say it had a beautiful pinkburst finish that faded from pink on the edges to natural in the middle. Over time the finish has become opaque and faded to a tannish pink, but it must have looked amazing when it was first painted.
This guitar is one of those Mosrites that just makes you say to yourself--wow, I thought I had seen it all, until I saw this one. Thanks to Adam for making this public information. You can see it in person at the Guitar Geek Festival!
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to all you Mosrite geeks!
Deke
Note butterfly motif in the top of the "M" headstock:
Note butterfly shaped bridge:
Note the use of hex head bolts for bridge saddles, with the hex heads ground down to become string saddles:
Serial #D1, for "Dolly #1"
In the neck block you can see it is stamped "DOLLY"
