Howdy! (new member)
Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 10:06 am
Howdy! I'm in NYC. About 4 years ago I was finally able to acquire a Mosrite (sorta). As a baby boomer, the first tune I tried to learn was "Walk DOn't Run." When the Venture switched to Mosrites I knew that someday I'd get one if only for the way they looked. The local tiny guitar store in NJ turned me off to them though--said they shipped him one with a busted neck. About 3 years ago I discovered an online store: http://www.myrareguitars.com/toplevel.html
They had posted a story how they had a discovered a cache of Mosrites. I eventually spoke to the owner--the story I got: Somebody in Canada bought up all the parts from the factory and reassembled them in Canada--where he got them. The one I eventually bought is still pictured on his website home page (sort of sparkly blue). I later spoke to a Mosrite collector about these instruments (I believe he's a doctor in Tennessee and has a very large Mosrite collection). He said the the looked good on the surface (an almost new Mosrite) but they all seemed to have some kind of problem (he wanted me to buy one of his!). When the instrument arrived I was a little uncertain about what I actually got---I would say it was as described but without a stamped serial number (reasonable considering how they were assembled. They one thing I found really suspect were the frets. Either they were installed very poorly or the fretboard had shrunk a bit due to age and they stuck out a bit because of that (like running your hand across a knife!) I had the edges filed by Rudy's in NYC so its now playable (they did a so-so job--still not as smooth as I'd like them to be). I've only handled a couple of original Mosrites several years ago--I'm still suspicious about the frets--not sure if they're really the legendary "speed frets". (although I've heard that some guys actually prefer a more standard fret). I'd heard that Semie actually filed down the height of the frets further after he installed them so that could be a reason they're not as low as I think they should be. Is there any way to tell what the frets should actually be like??? The sparkly blue isn't my favorite color---like a lot a guys I would like sunburst like the one in this forum's logo!!! Stuff to blow money on (as it not completely original anyway) getting it refinished so it looks like the one on the forum logo. Anybody know anyone who could do that (preferably in NYC area)
Looking forward to reading through the posts on this forum.
Ron
They had posted a story how they had a discovered a cache of Mosrites. I eventually spoke to the owner--the story I got: Somebody in Canada bought up all the parts from the factory and reassembled them in Canada--where he got them. The one I eventually bought is still pictured on his website home page (sort of sparkly blue). I later spoke to a Mosrite collector about these instruments (I believe he's a doctor in Tennessee and has a very large Mosrite collection). He said the the looked good on the surface (an almost new Mosrite) but they all seemed to have some kind of problem (he wanted me to buy one of his!). When the instrument arrived I was a little uncertain about what I actually got---I would say it was as described but without a stamped serial number (reasonable considering how they were assembled. They one thing I found really suspect were the frets. Either they were installed very poorly or the fretboard had shrunk a bit due to age and they stuck out a bit because of that (like running your hand across a knife!) I had the edges filed by Rudy's in NYC so its now playable (they did a so-so job--still not as smooth as I'd like them to be). I've only handled a couple of original Mosrites several years ago--I'm still suspicious about the frets--not sure if they're really the legendary "speed frets". (although I've heard that some guys actually prefer a more standard fret). I'd heard that Semie actually filed down the height of the frets further after he installed them so that could be a reason they're not as low as I think they should be. Is there any way to tell what the frets should actually be like??? The sparkly blue isn't my favorite color---like a lot a guys I would like sunburst like the one in this forum's logo!!! Stuff to blow money on (as it not completely original anyway) getting it refinished so it looks like the one on the forum logo. Anybody know anyone who could do that (preferably in NYC area)
Looking forward to reading through the posts on this forum.
Ron
