Mosrite Celebrity with Vibramute!

[Dennisthe Menace]

still having trouble with this double posting thing grr.

Might as well get use to it. We've tried everything imaginable and nothing works. Same with our email notification.
Every time a member sends another member a personal message our admin error log bogs down. Even the phpbb
provider can't seem to figure it out. Best thing to do is hit the submit button for your post, wait a few seconds
then go up to the top and click on the forum logo to exit out and back to the main page. After a few hundred
times you'll get use to it.

............................................................

....sorry....I couldn't resist....

[Sarah93003]

Thanks Joe. Do you still need a tremolo spring? I'm glad you're enjoying your Gospel!

[Sarah93003]

Finally this guitar has arrived! It's not as rough as the previous owner told me, but it does need some work! I only had a few moments to unpack and give a cusory inspection. I'll take apart tonight to really see what I have. The orange label is missing from inside, not uncommon, but there may be a serial number stamped in the neck pocket. There is no serial number stamped on the fretboard, I guess it happened occasionally. Everything does look original. The headstock is the long version. The vibramute is pretty cool! Here are some pictures for now and once I've taken this apart, cleaned everything, evaluated, photographed the inside, etc. I'll give a full report!

Here is the Vibramute:



From above:



The headstock. Note that it looks kinda dark green. The other end of the neck is the same way. I don't know if the black faded that way or if they painted it olive drab on purpose.



This is pretty cool. I've never seen this on a Celebrity. There is a Tortoise shell plate under the rear strap pin.



And there is another tortoise shell plate under the upper strap pin on the neck heel.




So, any initial thoughts on this one?

[dubtrub]

Nice score! I like the added tortoise pieces at the strap buttons. It's great to get something like this and stop it in the state of neglect and decay before serious damage is done. To me, I enjoy projects like that more than something brand new.

[Sarah93003]

Nice score! I like the added tortoise pieces at the strap buttons. It's great to get something like this and stop it in the state of neglect and decay before serious damage is done. To me, I enjoy projects like that more than something brand new.

Boy, if you don't mind I'd love to pick your brain on this one. I'm not sure what to do with it as far as restoration is concerned. I think there are cracks in the wood that will need to be addressed. I'll really appraise it this evening and see how much work there is. It actually sounds quite nice acoustically.

I'm due for a Bakersfield road trip if you'd like to see this one in person.

[dubtrub]

Boy, if you don't mind I'd love to pick your brain on this one. I'm not sure what to do with it as far as restoration is concerned. I think there are cracks in the wood that will need to be addressed.
I'm due for a Bakersfield road trip if you'd like to see this one in person.

I'd love to see it. I'd wait a few weeks until the weather cools down though. It's been in the three digits lately.

As for restoration, I'd stop at arresting the state of decay and nothing more. You can cause more damage by attempting to repair cracks. As long as they don't effect the integrity of the guitars construction, just do some TLC and leave it at that

[Sarah93003]

Boy, if you don't mind I'd love to pick your brain on this one. I'm not sure what to do with it as far as restoration is concerned. I think there are cracks in the wood that will need to be addressed.
I'm due for a Bakersfield road trip if you'd like to see this one in person.

I'd love to see it. I'd wait a few weeks until the weather cools down though. It's been in the three digits lately.

As for restoration, I'd stop at arresting the state of decay and nothing more. You can cause more damage by attempting to repair cracks. As long as they don't effect the integrity of the guitars construction, just do some TLC and leave it at that

three digits! Okay, I'll wait! I think my face would melt off and that is not a pretty picture.

[GattonFan]

Very nice find! Doesn't look to be in too bad shape - depending on how it plays now. Those tortoise details are a very neat touch, too.
Dennis

[oipunkguy]

nice celeb sarah!. I'm in agreement with danny. with the cracks I would make sure don't allow it to sit in a room with low humidity. kinda wished i lived in cali, so I could see this baby in person.

[Sarah93003]

Well, this baby is just full of surprises. I had some time to really begin to assess what I have. This guitar has the mahogany one piece neck I read about in very early Mosrite literature. As far as I know the first Celebrities had Mahogany necks and then Semie went to the two piece Maple neck. This neck also has a very different joint than any other Celebrity that I've seen. I don't know the technical term but the heel of the neck has a carved out rounded dealie that goes into a rounded slot on the body.

The inside of the bout has a bunch of styrofoam peanuts jammed in the end. A coat hanger should dislodge them. There are two parallel tone bars going along each side of the pickups. There is a thin block that spans between the two tone bars at the rear of the bout. I took a bunch of pictures and will post them.

The string guide fell off as soon as I removed the strings so that will need to be reglued. The neck pickup wasn't even attached to the wires. That explains why that didn't work! There is a shim glued into the bottom of the neck pocket and it is covering some red letters. There is only room for 4 or 5 letters and the firs two appear to be H E. I'll have to decide if I want to disturb the shim to discover the rest of the letters.

The Vibramute tremolo mounts differently than the Moseley tremolo. The Vibramute does not have a screw under the spring but has three screws at the end of it. The bridge is the standard type, not roller type. The F holes have true binding and not the plastic ones that came in the later Celebrities. That was a cool surprise! The bout is 16 1/2" across.

The finish on the back of the neck is kinda rough to the touch and there are plenty of nicks in other places. All in all I think it's totally restorable.

Pictures will follow.