I started taking guitar lessons at a young age – maybe seven or eight. My first guitar was a Lyle junior acoustic, which I still have. It isn’t a great guitar but it did okay by me. I soon became enamored with the beautiful electric guitars I saw hanging in the local music store. Not only were they dazzling to look at, they were also much easier to play than my Lyle. I started riding my bike over after school and on Saturdays and spending hours in the store, playing the guitars and absorbing the atmosphere. This was back in 1972 when a 10-year old could ride his bike two miles to the music store and nobody had to worry about him. I was a quiet kid and respectful so the store owner didn’t seem to mind me being there without any intention of buying anything. I eventually became somewhat of a fixture I guess. Money was tight in those days and I never dreamed that I could own one of those guitars. It didn’t keep me from playing them all, though. When a different guitar arrived in the store it didn’t take me long to get my hands on it. At one time or another I imagine I played just about everything that was available in the early-70s, new or vintage.
I was pretty naive about guitar brands back then; I chose guitars by look and feel. The love of my life was a natural mahogany Deluxe Tele. I was also into wood-working and I thought that Tele was the most beautiful instrument in the store. Eventually my guitar teacher, Dave, started letting me choose a guitar to use for my lesson. I have small hands and, though I lusted after the Tele, when it came time to actually play a black and white Mosrite was the easiest for me. Not surprisingly, function usually triumphed over form so the Mosrite was the guitar I almost always picked. Our usual routine was for me to play rhythm and Dave to play lead. I could read music alright and could have played the lead part but I always enjoyed playing rhythm the most. And, of course, Dave was better at the lead part so it sounded better. We didn’t play the popular music of the day. Instead, we played really great guitar songs like “Satin Doll” and “The Girl from Ipanema” which, to my young ear, were far better than the stuff all the teenagers banged out when they came into the store. There were no copy machines in those days so Dave would painstakingly hand copy the music for me to take home and practice; I still have all of those sheets. Dave was a smoker and, once in a while, when I was in the store and Dave was working, we’d go to the donut shop a few doors down and Dave would buy me a sugar donut and a lemonade. He’d drink a cup of coffee and smoke while I ate my donut. I never gave it a whole lot of thought, I just figured that I had a really cool guitar teacher. Looking back, I remember that Dave had a son who was about my age; I’d actually met him once or twice. Dave was divorced and I think his boy lived some distance away. I guess I must have been an okay substitute for him to feel like a father again for a while.
By the time 1974 rolled around I was in 7th grade and had joined the school “stage” band. In order to play my Lyle through an amplifier we added a DeArmond pickup. Again, not great, but it was what I had. Little did I know that my parents were planning on buying me a real electric guitar as a surprise Christmas present. They enlisted Dave to help figure out which guitar I really wanted. I don’t think my folks had the money for the Deluxe Tele; it was an expensive piece to be sure. Dave, I’m sure thinking of resale and looking out for me, tried to convince me that I liked a natural ash standard Tele. It was a beautiful guitar as well and I liked it okay. But the Mosrite and I were old friends by that time so it was really no contest. I’m sure my face said it all when I opened the guitar case on Christmas morning and saw the Mosrite. I never dreamed I’d get such an extravagant gift and it instantly became my most prized possession. I played in school right up through my junior year of high school when, for the usual reasons, I stopped to focus on other things. Over the years I took some crap for my “no-name” guitar from ignorant Fender and Gibson fans but nobody who ever played my Mosrite had a bad thing to say about it afterward. It remains the easiest guitar to play that I’ve ever had in my hands.
My mom told me that Dave later lost his job at the music store. It turned out he suffered from agoraphobia and just started to miss too many days of work. I lost track of him after that. I suppose we all have our inner demons to fight but Dave seemed to have ended up with more than his fair share.
I’d like to say that I never tried to sell my Mosrite but that would be a lie. In the early 80s I was in college and hadn’t played in a few years. I had bought a new P-bass while in high school so I had three guitars and two amps stuffed into the closet in my old room at my folks’ house. It seemed logical to unload what I could. For many years my family had had a business association with Jimmy Webb; the amplifier Webb, not the songwriter. Mr. Webb had a music store in an adjoining town – my old haunt had since closed – so we headed over there with all of my gear. He was happy to buy my mint P-bass and Champ and Bassman amps. However, when it came to the Mosrite he just smiled and said he couldn’t give me anything for it. Now, Mr. Webb was an astute business man so I have to believe that he would have bought my Mosrite if he thought he could resell it. On the other hand, he was also a nice old guy and maybe saw that my heart was breaking just a little at the thought of selling my old guitar. In any event, I came home with the Mosrite.
After not playing for many years I went through a rebirth in 1997 and started up again. I’d recently gone through a divorce and, while I had a good job in a new town, I had just bought a house and didn’t have much money for anything else, not even cable tv. So, with time on my hands and nothing to do, I started playing the Mosrite, sans amplifier, in the evenings after work. Eventually I made a friend who had always wanted to play guitar. By then my financial picture had improved so one day in 1998, with more money than sense, we went into Guitar Center in downtown Houston and loaded up. He bought a custom shop sunburst Les Paul and Princeton Chorus amp. I bought a beautiful, transparent white, American Deluxe Fat Strat and Taylor 410CE. Needless to say the salesman about pissed himself. Because we had bought so much I convinced him to swap the deluxe locking tremolo from another Strat onto my guitar; the transparent white Fat Strat wasn’t available from Fender with the deluxe tremolo. Ironically, soon after buying these guitars, I met a woman, got married, and really haven’t played much since. I’m not sure why.
Below you'll find some hastily taken pics of my Mosrite, reposted as requested from my Intro thread. It is actually black (not green), serial number ^0331. I'm fairly certain that it was used when I got it, but given the manufacturing timeline for the 350 models and the high serial number it couldn't have been that old. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the Mosrite case with it but I still have the case it came with which has held up very well. I haven't played it in a long time so it's got some tarnishing going on here and there. Of course, the lacquer has checked pretty badly, too. Other than that, the worst ding it has – a small one on the back of the neck – was there when I got it. Not bad considering I played it daily in school for five years. I know you guys love your vintage photos so I added one of mine, back when the guitar and I were just starting out (8th grade Stage Band). If I had to guess a date I’d say Spring of ’76 but it could have been as early as Fall of ’75.
I intend to start a detailed thread about the guitar with better pictures – along with my questions – so please keep a look-out for it. Thanks,
Will
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How often do you use the stereo function?