Help needed indentifying a Mosrite Ventures

[davesvintage]

Hi there my name is Dave, I own a small vintage guitar shop in Vancouver, BC Canada. A client has just brought in a guitar that he bought years ago as a Mosrite Ventures. There are a lot of things that set alarm bells off for me, but since my expertise lies in Fenders I would rather ask a pro. This guitar has alledgedly been in a house fire and my client bought it as a smoke damaged guitar and had to clean it up. My main concerns are that the body and neck don't make sense and that it could be a copy, also the neckplate sits reversed on the back. The neckpocket is a loose fit also. At one stage there was a tunomatic style bridge on there, the 2 forward holes at the front are the ones currently used for the bridge height screws.

My initial thoughts are that this guitar is a copy and that it has a fake decal. It could have original pickups, bridge and knobs. The finish is obviously a bad attempt at sunburst and the decal is a thick waterslide with a terrible clearcoat. The headstock looks a little wide at the base and also the curves look too dramatic to me. It has had a few sets of tuners and has Schallers at the moment. I think all of the electronics are Japanese and the pickguard has a layer of white contact on the top, it is broken underneath.

I have detailed pics of the inside and out of the guitar but here a few that might answer some questions.

Some stats so far:
weight = 4.1kg (fairly heavy I guess)
width at nut = 1.6inches
body thickness = 4.6cm
Headstock width at base = 8cm
Body width lower bout = 36.5cm

Some pics http://s838.photobucket.com/albums/zz30 ... te%20Pics/

Any help would be appreciated and I can email more pics if need be.

Cheers Dave.

Email: davesvintageguitars@live.ca
http://www.davesvintageguitars.ca

[LoveyX]

Dave,

Is there a serial # stamped between the two highest frets or a date/serial # in the neck pocket or anywhere on the neck where it goes into the pocket?

[Mr. Bill]

Dave:
I'm not the real expert here, but here's what I see.

1-Headstock decal is wrong style for that era guitar and I think that the headstocks were silkscreened anyway, not decaled.
2-The pickups look original to me. Mosrite was the only company that I know of that used those segmented magnets.
3-The routing for the control cavity looks wrong to me. But with the refinish, that may be covering up the fact that the guitar was rerouted at some time.

Some of the others here are much more familiar with the construction details, and when they chime in you'll get a better idea of what you have there.

[Veenture]

I'm no expert at all but juging from the pictures, it looks like a real '65 Mosrite (made in USA) with the large "The Ventures model" logo on the headstock and it certainly seems to have a history of suffering and abuse. Looking at one pic in particular has made me a bit uncertain and that's the dot markers on the fingerboard; I would think they should be way smaller in size for the period. The guitar could be a 'Frankenstein' if the neck is one of those from a later (Mosrite) period

[MWaldorf]

Come to think of it, a Mosrite Ventures model should have a bound fretboard, as well as smaller fretboard markers. I'd guess we're looking at a partsrite.

[Mr. Bill]

There is binding, but it's 3-ply w/b/w as an accent strip between the fingerboard and the neck.

[MWaldorf]

There is binding, but it's 3-ply w/b/w as an accent strip between the fingerboard and the neck.

Oh, I see that now. Still not correct for a Mosrite.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Dave,
From what I can tell, the body looks to have the original finish and seems to be from the 70s with that type of 'burst finish.
I also believe that the controls cavity was done that way for a short time when Semie was building the V2s (70s). You had a choice
of either 1 vol and 1 tone OR 2 vol and 2 tones with the H'buckers. The reverse neck plate was also from the 70s. As for the
'funny'neck, you had mentioned that the guitar was smoke damaged (fire?). This is a WILD SHOT, but I'm wandering if the original
fretboard was replaced (due to some kind of damage). If you look again at the angle shot of the neck, notice the space gap where
the binding is. That's suggesting to me that this guitar at one time had the correct binding, but upon having a new oversized
fretboard (same width as the neck) glued on, whoever did the repair just decided that it was easier to fill in just that gap area
with the smaller binding......just my 2 cents .....

[Veenture]

......just my 2 cents .....

I think more that 2 cents, Dennis; what you say sounds quite feasible. Looking at the scorching effect the headstock has undergone, why would the neck section (the part nearest the headstock) have been spared the same scorching punishment? Another thing, I notice the frets don't appear to be Mosrite speedfrets but that does not rule out the fact that they could be period correct for a later Mosrite production (during the 70's and later?)


Perhaps the original tuning buttons were made of plastic, justifying the need for replacements.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Looking at the scorching effect the headstock has undergone, why would the neck section (the part nearest the headstock) have been spared the same scorching punishment? Another thing, I notice the frets don't appear to be Mosrite speedfrets but that does not rule out the fact that they could be period correct for a later Mosrite production (during the 70's and later?)
Perhaps the original tuning buttons were made of plastic, justifying the need for replacements.

Paul, I'm getting a strange feeling that the front of this Headstock was done 'on purpose' with Wrinkle (Crinkle?) type
of paint for a different look. This would also explain why the back of the neck nearest the headstock was not harmed.
The repairman (not from Mo' factory) made that fretboard with whatever frets he had. The fretmarkers are too big for
the 60s and too small for the 70s...well, maybe.... .
As for the original tuning buttons, they most likely were the Klusons with the nickel buttons. Supposedly back in the 70s,
everyone was going through this 'mod' era of making their guitars better than the factory. One of those mods was to
replace the factory tuners with either the Schaller or Grover machine heads.
But I'm convinced that this guitar is a 70s model. That would also explain why the shape of the headstock is a little
different from the 60s..............