Mosrite Fan & Burgeoning Collector Here, oh and I'm new

[Ed_Shed]

Hello all,
Just discovered the Mosrite about six months ago, and now it's my favorite brand of guitar. Love the thin necks, the sharp twangy sound, the curves of the body, just all of it. Slowly been acquiring a collection and I intend to continue. Looking forward to joining the forum and discussion.

[FrankJames]

Welcome to the forum !!

[sleeperNY]

Great looking collection. Welcome.
Jim

[Ed_Shed]

Thanks, appreciate it. Also, if anyone is looking to move any Mos guitars, please reach out. I'm admittedly not somebody who will pay more than $2,500 for a guitar though, so I wouldn't be able to act on any real special or valuable ones. But I've gotten all of mine for well under $2k and feel like that's my personal sweet spot.

[101Volts]

Welcome, Ed. I spoke with you over at The Gear Page a bunch, and I saw when you got the Combo, too. How's the Combo compared to your Ventures Reissue? I've never held a Combo to play it. I saw one in person once, but didn't play it.

As it turned out, I volunteered to administrate this forum around late June or late July last year. It's a bit slow, yet. I can't expect traffic to be huge after years of absence, but I'm approving new members.

There are a good number of Mosrites that go for under $2,500. I'd expect you should be able to find a 350, a 500 Blues Bender, an S.M. model, various Celebrity models (of which I see you have one,) and a Ventures II (later type) / Mark V.

We also have some serial number lists for Mosrites anywhere from the 1960s to the early 90s here. I'd extend it as far as 1995, but much of the late history is unknown to me.

Here's one for the Combo, and yours is already on there from when it was on Reverb:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=8170

- Austin

[Ed_Shed]

Hi Austin, thanks for your note.

The combo.... oh, the combo...
First impression: I hate this f-er, what have I done.
Second impression: Looks cool as heck though, and it took a little time with the Ventures model before I swooned, right? I'll keep trying.
Fifth impression: Maybe *I'm* the problem?
Sixth impression: No, no I'm not, it's the guitar that is a problem (and other lies I tell myself). But I'm starting to sincerely warm to it, kinda like how I feel about my least-loved child.

So I packed it up and brought to my neighborhood luthier for a proper set-up, at which point I'll determine how I feel about it. Since it's a Mos, I'm going to go out of my way to make it work. I think I need to stop wanting it to sound like [x] and rather learn how to play its [y] if that makes sense. But in order to do that, I wanted to make sure everything on it was tuned and tightened and restrung so that everyone is moving forward in good faith.

I also have a restored Celeb 2 en route, which you probably saw all over Reverb the past few months.

[101Volts]

Hi Austin, thanks for your note.

The combo.... oh, the combo...
First impression: I hate this f-er, what have I done.
Second impression: Looks cool as heck though, and it took a little time with the Ventures model before I swooned, right? I'll keep trying.
Fifth impression: Maybe *I'm* the problem?
Sixth impression: No, no I'm not, it's the guitar that is a problem (and other lies I tell myself). But I'm starting to sincerely warm to it, kinda like how I feel about my least-loved child.

So I packed it up and brought to my neighborhood luthier for a proper set-up, at which point I'll determine how I feel about it. Since it's a Mos, I'm going to go out of my way to make it work. I think I need to stop wanting it to sound like [x] and rather learn how to play its [y] if that makes sense. But in order to do that, I wanted to make sure everything on it was tuned and tightened and restrung so that everyone is moving forward in good faith.

I also have a restored Celeb 2 en route, which you probably saw all over Reverb the past few months.

Sounds a bit like my 66 - 68 Kay. When I got it, I was thinking "Ugh, I want a Strat." But the Kay does have some good gentle use, for more calm sounding playing.

A set-up can surely make or break an instrument in a lot of ways. When I got a 61 Harmony Broadway from a yard sale, the nut was too high in a few spots, not too surprisingly. I still don't get a lot of good use out of it because the G String's muted for some weird reason, despite the saddle seeming to not be too thin after I filed it.

- Austin

[t-bone]

hi and welcome, Ed. it’s great to have you here. your A- series Celebrity and blonde Combo are both very much in my sweet spot. i am very happy that they have found you. let’s hope that the Combo comes back rocking. i might add that a neck shim on a Mosrite can go a long way with playability. even though there is not a ton of action here, Austin does a great job of keeping the home fires burning. rock on and thanks for sharing!

[Ed_Shed]

Ayyyy, thank you for the replies.

Well, I have to say, I just got the Combo back from the shoppe, annnnnnd it still just sounds kind of flat to me. I'm rejiggering my expectations for it though, so I'm going to learn how to appreciate it for what it is. Because the fact is, I'm a MosHead now, I've got the fever to get as wide a variety of Mosrites as possible. (Double-neck 6 & 12 str, I'm lookin your way.) I just love my Ventures and even the MINI so much.

And, in STARK contrast to the Combo, I just received this beautiful baby yesterday, a very refurbished hollow body. It was sold as an 1966 Celebrity II but I'm not sure that's accurate. It appears the neck engraving is A0698. Regardless, I told the guy after a few hours of playing it that I wouldn't care if he came back and said it was a $20 rip-off from China because it just sounds that amazing. Immediate love!

[101Volts]

hi and welcome, Ed. it’s great to have you here. your A- series Celebrity and blonde Combo are both very much in my sweet spot. i am very happy that they have found you. let’s hope that the Combo comes back rocking. i might add that a neck shim on a Mosrite can go a long way with playability. even though there is not a ton of action here, Austin does a great job of keeping the home fires burning. rock on and thanks for sharing!

Thanks for that. Traffic's low here, but I'm seeing it gradually pick up more steam. Though it does sometimes feel like starting a steam car in the dead of winter, without any electric heating elements installed in the engine.

Ayyyy, thank you for the replies.

Well, I have to say, I just got the Combo back from the shoppe, annnnnnd it still just sounds kind of flat to me. I'm rejiggering my expectations for it though, so I'm going to learn how to appreciate it for what it is. Because the fact is, I'm a MosHead now, I've got the fever to get as wide a variety of Mosrites as possible. (Double-neck 6 & 12 str, I'm lookin your way.) I just love my Ventures and even the MINI so much.

And, in STARK contrast to the Combo, I just received this beautiful baby yesterday, a very refurbished hollow body. It was sold as an 1966 Celebrity II but I'm not sure that's accurate. It appears the neck engraving is A0698. Regardless, I told the guy after a few hours of playing it that I wouldn't care if he came back and said it was a $20 rip-off from China because it just sounds that amazing. Immediate love!

(images snipped from quote.)

You're welcome.

I've never played a Combo myself, so I can't speak much about them. But as I said earlier, a 350 or a Blues Bender or an S.M. model might be in the cards for you. The problem is finding one for sale since they're so scarce - the 350 had maybe 400 made, the Blues Bender about 205 or 225, and the S.M. may not even have had 84 as I was told - I've seen them so rarely. These numbers are all guesses, though.

I think you have a Celebrity I model, not a II. The number isn't accurate to the Celebrity IIs, which usually start with an M, but I've seen some other letters for various Celebrities, and I haven't yet updated the lists. But I can't tell for sure if you have a I or a II from here; it's the body depth that will tell. The I is something thicker than 2 inches, the II is 1 7/8".

- Austin