Educational opportunity: Mark II or V?

[MWaldorf]

Wow. I hadn't noticed the difference in neck pocket depth before - which one came first? It would seem to be that the shorter neck pocket would be the more playable guitar, at least for shmoes like me who can't reach the high registers beyond the cutaway.

Mel, that would be the first gen Mark IIs (Johnny's Model) and I prefer the looks of
that one as well as like you said, being able to go up higher on the neck.

Actually, I was referred to the difference between the blue and red guitars Adam posted above. They both have the german carve body, but the blue guitar has a shorter neck pocket and a different pickguard than the more common red body shape.

[Dennisthe Menace]

I see what you are talking about, but I think they are still one in the same.
I think the only difference are the angles that the guitars were shot at with
the camera, creating a sort of an optical illusion in which the frets are positioned..

p.s. I borrowed this, courtesy of http://www.tymguitars.com.au/mosriteinfo_flyers06.htm

B 1965 Mk II Small body with full scratch plate and NO german carve , smaller single coils , as played by Johnny Ramone , very rare

B B250 1965 - 1973 Mk II Small body with "set in" neck , parallel pick ups with no pole pieces , with german carve

B B708 1965 - 1973 Mk V As above with Ventures mark V on headstock

[101Volts]

Wow. I hadn't noticed the difference in neck pocket depth before - which one came first? It would seem to be that the shorter neck pocket would be the more playable guitar, at least for shmoes like me who can't reach the high registers beyond the cutaway.

I never noticed that either, I always thought the Ventures II models (With German Carve) and Mark V models were the same except for the headstock logos.

I see what you are talking about, but I think they are still one in the same.
I think the only difference are the angles that the guitars were shot at with
the camera, creating a sort of an optical illusion in which the frets are positioned..

Perhaps, I counted the high frets that aren't easily accessible in both pictures and the red Ventures II model has six or seven hard to reach frets but the Mark V only has four or five. I could be wrong though.

[Bushers]

I think the neck depth is an optical illusion, looked mine over and has around 5/6 into the body. It is difficult to tell if you're not looking at it perpendicularly.



Doesnt seem too high in price IMO, I've seen these go for over $2k before in this kind of condition..

[handbrake]

Another view

[MWaldorf]

These are different bodies. Look at the shape of the pickguard behind the neck pickup - on the red guitar it only goes half way up the side of the pickup; on the blue guitar it goes all the way. Also, there's significantly more space on the neck below the last fret on the red guitar than the blue one.

[Dennisthe Menace]

I think the neck depth is an optical illusion, looked mine over and has around 5/6 into the body. It is difficult to tell if you're not looking at it perpendicularly.

Thanks Jason, this particular Mo' guitar is very different looking in the neck pocket from different angles by a camera, so bump....

dtm posted:

I think the only difference are the angles that the guitars were shot at with
the camera, creating a sort of an optical illusion in which the frets are positioned..

p.s. I borrowed this, courtesy of http://www.tymguitars.com.au/mosriteinfo_flyers06.htm
Quote:
B 1965 Mk II Small body with full scratch plate and NO german carve , smaller single coils , as played by Johnny Ramone , very rare

B B250 1965 - 1973 Mk II Small body with "set in" neck , parallel pick ups with no pole pieces , with german carve

B B708 1965 - 1973 Mk V As above with Ventures mark V on headstock

And I also would not trust the 'cut' on the p'guard coming up to the neck p'up, because I have also seen different cuts on 'the Ventures Models' guitar as well......
this one from Bob K's Collection.....(1963 S/N# 0016) Note: the pickguard almost comes up to the end of the pickup ring housing.....

However, check out another 1963 model (S/N# 0039, BTW one digit after mine ), but only 23 units after the first PIC (S/N# 0016).....

[MWaldorf]

I think a lot more was changing from guitar to guitar on the earliest Ventures models - even the side jack seems to be in different places on those two guitars. Still I think the carve on the blue guitar is different than on the red one, especially on the bass side cutaway, so not just the pickguard and neck are different. Besides, the light blue guitar handbrake posted looks to have the same features as the blue guitar so I don't think it's a matter of perspective.

[Bushers]

I'm betting that on the red Ventures II guitar, the pick guard broke at the point, or split or something at some time and someone just shaved it back to fix it..

[Dennisthe Menace]

I'm betting that on the red Ventures II guitar, the pick guard broke at the point, or split or something at some time and someone just shaved it back to fix it..

Jason, that's a good guess. However, there's a PIC of inside Artie's place that has 3 or 4 Ventures IIs with that kind of cut for the pickguard
Maybe Artie will see this and chime in on this confusion.....