New Member - The Jester

[The Jester]

Hi Everyone,

I am simply known as The Jester, I am a London based bohemian and dreamer and I am in to writing, photography, film-making, and electric guitars. I am not very good at playing, but I am hoping to develop some skills. I always had an affinity for Mosrite guitars but only recently became acquainted with the compnay history. I thought Mosrite had been comparable to Fender and Gibson in the 60s, but it would appear that Mosrites were largely the brainchild of Semie Moseley, and his team of luthiers, some of whom, at the time of writing, are still alive. I am a fan of the Ventures and love that American surf sound and previously played a Fender Jaguar, which I still consider to be a great guitar, but I had wanted to purchase a Mosrite, ideally with humbuckers, to get a fuller, more powerful sound. I recently acquired a Mosrite Brass Rail electric guitar, with a Moseley Tail Piece, and in black finish. It looked and sounded awesome, and felt quite sturdy and resilient. Before purchasing it, I looked on the internet to see if I could find a current model being produced by Mosrite, and it was during this phase I found that technically, the Mosrite brand is inextricably linked to Semie and his team of guitar builders, and although the name may legally go to other companies, pretty much all vintage Mosrites have a different sort of authenticity.
The current Mosrites are a reproduction of the original designs and do not have anything to do with the original compnay other than having the legal name.
There is, of course, very little information on Mosrites on the internet, and specific information relating to all but the most popular models is hard to find, so when I came across the Brass Rail, I had little research material. While I do love guitars and have a fondness for good instruments that were not always comercially succesful, I am not an expert, and as my skill is quite limited, as is my ability to discern genuine or good/bad guitar, I feel I have a lot to learn, and I was hoping the expertise, passion and fondness for Mosrites on this Forum may help me become more familiar with it.
As I start becoming more aware of the covetability of Mosrites by 'knowing' guitarists, I would be reluctant to take this one on the road. Vintage instruments are always at the risk of damage and theft, but one of a kind instruments cannot even be replaced, and finding one like this again would be quite difficult, but so far I am having fun with it, and it does make playing guitar a huge pleasure.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has responded to my posts. It has provided some fascinating background to this instrument.
I am not sure how much help I would be to other forum members, as I only own one Brass Rail guitar, and know little about Mosrites, but I hope I learn more so I could be of some use to people on the forum.
In any case, Mosrites are cool, and I am pleased to be inducted in to its pantheon of players.

[dubtrub]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

Not everyone on the forum is an accomplished musician, so don't think any less of yourself as being a participant here because of being new to playing. I've been playing all my life both professional and for pleasure and still learning. Every time I work out a new song I'm learning.

As you mentioned, there hasn't been a lot of information on the internet about Mosrite guitars and especially the Brassrail. That was the idea behind starting this forum. Previously there was no place dedicated to Mosrite to bring people together to share their wealth of knowledge. The Mosrite Forum is slowly becoming the premier place to go for everything Mosrite to include technical as well as historical information.

[EFElliott]

Hello The Jester, Welcome to the Mosrite Forum!
This is a good place to learn about Mosrites from
great bunch of guys.
I think Brass Rails are one of the coolest Mosrites
of all time, incredible tone and sustain, good looking too.
Ed Elliott

[Dennisthe Menace]

Jester posted:

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has responded to my posts. It has provided some fascinating background to this instrument.
I am not sure how much help I would be to other forum members, as I only own one Brass Rail guitar, and know little about Mosrites, but I hope I learn more so I could be of some use to people on the forum.
In any case, Mosrites are cool, and I am pleased to be inducted in to its pantheon of players.

Jester, that is what this Forum is all about, we are ALL Family here .
We exist to exchange knowledge, ideas, experiences, info, humor, etc with other members.
As other members have said, "If you don't ask, then you will never know."
WELCOME