New member from the UK

[sumlin]

Hi all

New member here. I'm Chris and I'm from the UK. Have owned various Mosrite-related guitars over the years - a pretty shot Ventures bass, an Excetro Ventures copy being 2 interesting ones - and now mainly use Univox Hi Fliers. I have 3 of the Phase III models.
Been thinking about stepping up and getting a vintage Mosrite for a while and I regularly read the forum to look at pics etc.
I work as an illustrator and my work is here (among hundreds of photos of guitars) - www.flickr.com/sumlin
I play in several bands - www.honeyisfunny.com has links.

Thanks!
chris

[FrankJames]

Welcome to the forum, Chris !!

[sumlin]

Thanks! I'm actually in the process of purchasing a '76 Mosrite Brass Rail, I'll get some pics up once I sort it all out...

[SanchoPansen]

Welcome to the forum!

[sumlin]

Here's a few pictures you might be interested in:


Aaaaarrrrghhhhh! by Sumlin, on Flickr

First up is this Bass. My friend James got a record deal and an advance and in a fit of insanity paid too much for this thing on Denmark St in London before attempting to record with it and realising things were a little amiss. He then handed it over to me to sell on EBay for him. I got a message from someone saying they worked at Mosrite (this is maybe 12 years ago so I no longer have the emails) and they remembered this bass because of the weird discolouration on the front. Later I got another message from someone else saying they owned it once but back then it had been hand painted turquoise. Needless to say the Denmark St seller hadn't mentioned this to James. Anyway - it played like a nail. Awful thing - I'm sure it could have been sorted by someone but years of abuse had taken it's toll. It sold eventually but a few years later I was in London and there it was again, back in the same vintage store! Still no mention of the refin...


Excetro Mosrite by Sumlin, on Flickr

This is really cool - I have no idea why I sold it... It's an Excetro copy of a Ventures. The neckplate had "STELL ADJUSTABLE NECK" on it!


Excetro Mosrite by Sumlin, on Flickr

Got it cheaply off EBay and then had some repro Mosrite tuners from Tym in Brisbane fitted. The trem on it was a real problem though and made the tuning really unstable, even with new pegs and heavy strings and the pickups - though they look like Mosrite pups - were insanely microphonic making it near unusable live.


Excetro Mosrite by Sumlin, on Flickr

But in terms of the Teisco/Japanese Mosrite copies this one certainly looked the part. I ended up selling it to a nice guy in France who was going to swap out the pups and bridge/trem for proper Mosrite bits which I hope he did with success.


John's Electrical Mosrite by Sumlin, on Flickr

Here's my friend John's Electrical Guitar Company 'Mosritey'. This is one of the very first guitars that Kevin made at Electrical. Aluminium chassis slotted into the handmade Mosrite style body with 2 high output P90s. Sounds like someone dropping a tray of wine glasses in a church - so, so sharp with everything on full. Great sounding thing.


Mosrite by Sumlin, on Flickr

From the same show (we were all playing in a 100 guitar orchestra) I spotted this Celebrity over the other side of the room and snapped a picture before the owner came and explained it wasn't a Mosrite at all. He had no more info other than it was a copy. Anyone?


Univox Hi-Flier Phase III by Sumlin, on Flickr

Finally some Hi-Fliers. I see they get a bad rep on the forum from a few folks. What they aren't is a high-end, hand-built, instrument. What they are is something unique on their own terms and if you get a knowledgable tech and iron out some of their problems you end up with a great guitar. I go for the later Phase III ones with humbuckers, those pickups sound amazing. This one was given to me by a friend. I swapped the tuners for Grovers but other than that, it's stock and a bit of a set up and a clean and it was rocking.


Univox Hi Flier Phase III by Sumlin, on Flickr

This one was more problematic. It has the earlier Phase II neck plate which is tiny and coupled to the thin body and less-than-tidy cut of the neck socket, the high E was just hanging off the neck on this when I picked it up. It took a lot of repair work but the feel of the guitar, it's weight and it's resonance made me persevere and it's amazing. Had the bridge swapped, the neck join sanded out and re-drilled, the tuners replaced, a tension bar added and, while it was there, I got my repair folks to add dot markers to the side of the neck too. Love this thing.


Univox Hi Flier Phase III by Sumlin, on Flickr

I have a 3rd Phase III in natural wood too currently sitting at a friend's in Nashville waiting to make it's way overseas.

Hope that's helped some of you waste a few moments....

[BRRanger]

Hi Chris, and welcome! Great pics and interesting stories. Thank you!
Scott