Mosrite Owners Manual

[StevieSTL]

Here are some pics of the orignal booklet I found in the case of my Celebrity. Enjoy!

[Bob Shade]

These booklets are hard to find.

Has anyone ever really seen a Mosrite mic??

[StevieSTL]

I know that I sure haven't... I've in fact only ever seen two Mosrite guitars, and I bought them both! The booklet is neat, I really like the pic of Semie at the desk, writing the "thank you" introduction. Also I like the last (z) of the features section, -YOU-what else could we add. ...without a question mark. Haha awesome old stuff. Even though its a small pamphlet, it is very informative and thorough. All guitars should have practical advice included about all of the common adjustments, it's a must if professional help is not available or affordable. Not only does this booklet cover all the major bases, it has good tips in there, evidence that Semie cared about the product and the consumer. The guitar industry was sure different when this booklet and these guitars were made.

[axis9313]

Great find! I learned something new about the tremolo arm being adjustable. I'm going to go take a look at mine - it's always been too loose.

Anybody ever seen a Mosrite amp?

[Brian]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

[Bob Shade]

I have 4 Mosrite amps! 1-BG 1000, 1-Model 400, 1-Model 200 and 1-Mosrite shop test amp.

The BG models distributed by the Ventures were not great as far as reliability. Mine has broken down twice on me. The Mosrite electronic series distributed by Mosrite designed by Ed Sanner were more reliable. Both series while they are no Fenders, sound very good.

Artie has a bunch of these amps too.

Bob

[loud3tone]

"The Happy World of Mosrite!" Thanks so much for the page-by-page photos of this classic Mosrite lit. Though I have to admit that if I'd been an original late-60s owner (which in my case would have meant that I was a pretty lucky teenage rocker), some of the contents would have baffled me. Like the concept of setting intonation by physical distances between bridge "brackets" and 12th fret--there's an easier way to do that, no rulers needed Ah, the mind of Semie, always different....

The group photo/collage of Mosrite products would make a great poster. Wonder what's up with that instrument that looks like a Mando-Stradette?

[SanchoPansen]

Like the concept of setting intonation by physical distances between bridge "brackets" and 12th fret--there's an easier way to do that, no rulers needed Ah, the mind of Semie, always different....

Would you mind telling me/us, I always wondered?

[Bob Shade]

Yes, those are Mandolins, very few made, only a half dozen or less.

[loud3tone]

Sancho--using a handy inexpensive electronic guitar tuner:

(a) tune guitar to correct pitch
(b) play the note at the 12th fret
(c) play the harmonic of that note at the 12th fret
(d) harmonic and fretted 12th fret note should match on tuner
(e) if fretted note is flat compared to harmonic, move the bridge saddle towards the nut ("flat = forward")--do this in small nudges so you don't go too far
(f) if fretted note is sharp compared to harmonic, move the bridge saddle towards the tailpiece/end pin, in small nudges
(g) when fretted note and harmonic match on tuner, that string is in tune with itself and properly intonated

If you can't get the note and the harmonic to match after moving the saddle all the way forward or backward, the next step might be adjusting the neck, or raising/lowering the bridge. Here is where I usually let a guitar tech take over. For electric guitars with non-adjustable individual string length, like Melody Makers or Danelectros, the whole bridge/tailpiece assembly is adjusted forward or backward to get the low E and high E intonation accurate, and from there the other strings are theoretically also in tune (or close enough, depending on how well the guitar was designed/built and what's going on with the neck). Some guitars also have some string length adjustment powers built into trapeze tailpieces. On archtops you can slide the bridge up or down or slantwise to achieve proper intonation. On flattop acoustics, one hopes that the neck/fret/bridge are all in a good relationship, and it helps to stick with string gauges that match or are close to what was on the guitar when it was set up (hopefully) by it maker.

In fairness to Semie, I realized as soon as I started writing this--d'oh!--that the now ubiquitous under-$20 guitar tuner had not yet been invented when that manual was written. Conn Strobo-Tuners were available, which were big boxes that looked like oscilloscopes and cost a few hundred bucks--sometimes you'd see one on stage with a well-funded band, but they were specialist tools. Lacking a tuning device, the options were to do it by ear (easy for pro techs, hard for most of us) or to do it like the manual said. I take back my previous comment--the method in the manual is actually a good suggestion in the context of its time.