50's Doubleneck on eBay

[Veenture]

Also notice the really dramatic radius on the fretboard -

I'm glad you noticed that too...I wrote my observation down to an optical illusion...

[Sarah93003]

Also notice the really dramatic radius on the fretboard -

I'm glad you noticed that too...I wrote my observation down to an optical illusion...

I have optical confusions all the time! I call them Blonde moments, or if it's severe, Blondezheimers is the culprit.

[Dnepr]

I heard it plays really nice, and is very light.
Anyone care to elaborate?

[Deke Dickerson]

Yep, I went and looked at this guitar today. It's fairly astounding. Despite the fact that the original tailpiece has been replaced by a Bigsby vibrato, I would venture to say this is the only 1950's Mosrite doubleneck in this original condition. It's a well known fact that Semie liked to update and modify his early work, and most of the 50's doublenecks that exist today have 60's and 70's paint jobs and pickups and hardware on them. This one, to my eyes, is staggeringly original.

It is much lighter than I thought it would be, and very well made. The fretboard radius is insane but the guitar actually does what it is supposed to do--play country music with low action and fast frets. I don't think anybody ever bent a note on this guitar, the string would fall off the fretboard if you tried...

It was made for a guy out in the outlying areas of Los Angeles that I've never heard of. I won't post his name here or the original photograph I got a scan of, but it's a legit guitar with a legit vintage original photograph. It appears to just be another Joe Maphis obsessed guy who wanted a guitar like Joe's! If the guitar goes back on ebay, the guys who are selling it say they will post the photograph of it.

I would say the guitar was made some time between 1956 and 1959. There are certain things that would make me think it was an earlier guitar, and certain things that would make me think it was later. It's not like any of the other ones I've seen photographs, but obviously since these were all one-off custom made guitars, that makes sense.

One thing's for sure--it's darn cool. Not sure who is going to buy it, it won't be me, but I'm really glad I got to see it and play it in person.

Deke

[Sarah93003]

Woah! That is so cool! What a special treat to play something like this. That's totally awesome Deke! Thanks for the report.

[Dnepr]

Deke,
Did you happen to make a note of any of the dimensions of the guitar? I know the "regular" neck is pretty short, like 23 inches scale or something. I figure it'd be worth documenting the thing before it goes to Japan or something.
And thanks for the report. I wish I could have been there!

[Dennisthe Menace]

Great report Deke. BTW, did you get a chance to see the '65 Jag loaded up with Mo' pick-ups or the Toilet Bass while you were there??

[ElTwang]

Wow...! Cool pics Mel and update Deke.

[Deke Dickerson]

To answer your question, I did see the toilet bass, which is pretty cool and actually plays and sounds great, but I didn't see the Jag with the Mosrite pickups.

The doubleneck has a 23 inch scale on the bottom (unlike my TNM Custom from the same era, which is Semie's more standard scale of 24 3/4). It has a 14 inch octave neck scale, which is the same as the TNM. The body depth and most of the general construction are the same as the TNM as well. I didn't take measurements but I had the two side by side.

The real interesting thing was noticing all the subtle differences in this doubleneck than any of the other ones I've seen from this era. The headstocks were remarkably similar to the Joe Maphis & Larry Collins guitars, yet slightly different, and there were a bunch of other details that were the same way.

Other than that, there were so many pictures on the ebay listing I figured it was redundant to try and get more exacting measurements, especially in the short time that I had at the place.

The most intriguing thing to me is the 23 inch scale. Not sure where Semie got that from. The Gibson Byrdland came out in 1956 with a 23 1/2" scale, which would be my first guess, but it's still a really unusual choice. If the guitar was built for the guy in the vintage picture I saw, he didn't look like a particularly small guy, so who knows?

Deke