I thought I would take a stab at explaining the evolution of the Mosrite Celebrity. At this time I’ve collected and studied photographs of approximately 225 Celebrity based guitars as in, the prototypes, The Original Celebrity, CE-I, CE-II, CE-III, Dobro (The Californian), The Gospel, and their 6 string, 12 string, and bass models. In addition to studying the photos and finding differences, I’ve talked with a lot of people including members of this forum, former Mosrite employees, Andy Moseley, to name a few.
I’ve always thought in terms of there being three basic Celebrities. The Celebrity-I, a full 2 ¾ inch deluxe acoustic/electric. The Celebrity-II, an 1 7/8 inch thinline version of the CE-I with all of the deluxe features, and a Celebrity-III, the economical or entry level thinline.
I did not understand that in the very beginning there was just the Celebrity. In talking with Andy Moseley he told me that in 1964 Semie decided to make a hollow body electric guitar and contracted with Framus to supply the bodies. Framus sent a variety of materials to Semie and he and Andy built five prototypes. One of the prototypes was cut apart to study the glue joints, etc. That left four prototypes that eventually disappeared. It is believed that two were bolt on and two were set-neck.
One thing to keep in mind about prototypes. I’ve worked in manufacturing for many years and with my background in Quality Assurance I’ve worked closely with design Engineers. Prototypes are often kept around to experiment with different ideas. Typically they are NOT left alone as first created. Therefore, my expectation of finding prototype Celebrities is that they would have a mish-mash of parts.
Semie ordered the bodies in lots of 50 or 100. These were thin bodies with a mortise and tenon neck joint as seen below. This body is one of the originals that was never made into a guitar. Note that there are no holes drilled for controls so it’s basically a blank slate. The F holes are hand bound with four pieces on each. It has a spruce top and maple back and sides. My prototype has the same body as this.
Spruce top, maple back and sides.
Mortice and tenon joint
You can see the bracing on each side of the pickup holes.
The maple back
I falsely assumed that the prototypes would all look like. Interestingly they do not. I had assumed that Semie made guitars with the mortise and tenon neck joint first and then went to the square neck heel. With the second prototype
Below are both types of necks, mortise and tenon heel, and square heel.
So far two of the prototypes have surfaced. The one that I have has a Vibramute half tremolo, large F holes, one piece mahogany neck, no control plate, mortise and tenon neck joint, bolt on neck with two screws, and pickup selector on the treble horn.
Front
Mortice and tenon neck joint.
The Vibramute half tremolo.
The second prototype to surface is in Tupelo, Mississippi. The owner has had it since 1964 when it was given to him by Semie Moseley. I was surprised to find it was significantly different than my prototype. It has a two piece maple neck with no truss rod cover. The truss rod adjustment is at the end of the neck at the neck pickup. The neck is a bolt on with four screws. It is not a mortise and tenon joint, but rather, the neck has the squared off end to it. It has smaller F holes that are hand bound with four pieces each. This shape F hole appears to be the precursor of the injection molded F holes that followed. There is no tremolo. It has a control panel. It has a bone string guide instead of the metal ones we are used to seeing. The owner said the bone string guide was on the guitar when Semie gave it to him. When it was given by Semie in 1964 it did not have the “M” knobs, but rather they were black and chrome, as seen in the picture. It also had the standard pickups. In 1970, Gene Moles contacted the owner and told him Semie was making new humbuckers and wanted to send him a pair. GM sent them along with a new pickguard and a new control plate with M knobs and three toggle switches that I’ve never seen on another Celebrity.
This photo was taken in 1964 after Semie gave the guitar to the current owner. Note the knobs are not the "M" Mosrite knobs. The knobs you see were on the guitar when Semie gave it to the owner. Gene Moles sent two "M" knobs in 1970 so they were installed. The current owner still has one of the original knobs and I've asked for a photo of it.
The photo was taken after 1970 when Gene Moles had sent new pickups and control plate. Note the lack of a truss rod cover.
The control layout that Gene Moles sent with the humbuckers. Note the three small toggle switches.
The serial number that Semie stamped into the fretboard before giving the guitar to the current owner. It is his birthdate.
Andy Moseley told me that they made these thin bodied Celebrities for a while and then Semie wanted them to be thicker bouts. So, the thicker bout, 2 ¾” became the Celebrity-I, and the thinline versions became the Celebrity-II and Celebrity-III. It was the operators discretion what was put on the label. Most simply say “Celebrity”. Some will say “Celebrity-III” and some will say “Celebrity 3”. And some will simply say “Archtop”.
According to Andy Moseley the prototypes were made in 1964. This is substantiated by the man who contacted me as the owner of a prototype given to him personally by Semie in 1964.
I think there were Celebrities made in 1965 but not many and most likely not being mass produced. These would be the “original” Celebrities.
The “original” Celebrities seem to be serial number “A”. So far I’ve documented A0001 through A0885, with lots of serial number gaps in between. Beginning with A0001 they seem to be set neck models. I know that A0010 is also a set neck, but A0037 is a bolt on neck with two screws. A0001 through A0741 have the mortise and tenon neck joint. A0809 through A0885 have the square ended neck joint. Perhaps the first 800 were the mortise and tenon joint and then square neck thereafter. I’m inclined to think these were produced from 1965 into 1966.
It appears that the 2 ¾” thicker bout Celebrity-I began around A0809. A0885 is as far as I’ve documented in the A series. These had the square heeled necks with four mounting screws. The mortise and tenon neck would only accommodate two mounting screws and I’m guessing it was not as strong the square heel neck with three or four screws. There was an early Celebrity 12 string that had a “C” series serial number. It also had the mortise and tenon neck joint and is a thinline body. I’ve only documented one example from the “C” series. The early basses were designated as “L” series and were 30 ¼” scale. I’ve documented L0006 through L0175 with the mortise and tenon neck joint.
During this time the Dobros were being made and assigned “D” series serial numbers and the Gospels had “G” series. The first Dobro, serial number D0001 was built in 1966 and it has the square end neck, not the mortise and tenon joint. The Gospels also had the square end neck.
The early thinlines then became the “M” series for Celebrity-II and “K” series for Celebrity-III. The basses became “LL” series for Celebrity-I with 30 ¼” scale, “N” Celebrity-II with 30 ¼” scale and “Z” Celebrity-III with 24 ½” scale. The 12 strings became the “P” series for Celebrity-II and “W” series for Celebrity-III.
After the bankruptcy and closure of Mosrite, Semie focused on his Gospel music and did not make very many guitars until he got the name back in 1972. He made smaller batches of Celebrities from 1972 through 1974. The serial numbers for this time period begin with 1c for the Celebrity-I, 2c for the Celebrity-II, and 3c for Celebrity-III. The Celebrity-II Deluxe had a serial number prefix of 2DL.
I don’t know if any Celebrities were made after 1974. So far I have not seen any company literature that would indicate this. I have seen one Celebrity that was made in 1977. It is a very cool guitar with a brass rail neck, Gospel logo, humbuckers, no F holes, deluxe control layout, and it is heavy! It is likely the last Celebrity based guitar made by Semie. I’ve talked to former Jonas Ridge employees and they tell me that no Celebrities were produced there.
I have run across some serial numbers that I have yet to explain. They are SPK, SPM, ST, and SP.
So, there it is. If anyone can contribute any information to this evolution I would greatly appreciate it.
