Damon67's 1963 Joe Maphis Doubleneck

[Damon67]

Hello all,

I never knew this forum existed. Very cool.

Here's mine. Recently restored by Bob Shade. I've had it for decades in unplayable condition.

1963 Joe Maphis Doubleneck

[brutus]

Wow..that is sweet! glad to hear it's back up and running.... welcome damon67's

[dubtrub]

Great looking guitar. As you have probably already concluded from the pm I sent to you, I moved this topic from Members' Music and Gigs to this proper location for Mosrite guitars. Welcome to the forum and please stop by the introduction forum and tell us a little bit about yourself.

Wow! That is fantastic to resurrect it from what is depicted in your photo album to the finished product. Very impressive. Mosrite photo album

[Dennisthe Menace]

OK, that should explain that I'm speechless......Welcome Damon 67.
How long have you owned her? Are you the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, ??? Owner?
What is the History or Stories (i.e. Who is/was Bobby?) on this "2 Headed Dragon?
I find it TOTALLY amazing that even the pots survived without getting
replaced for new ones at any given time over a 45 year period....
TOTALLY AWESOME MENG!!

[Damon67]

Thanks for the welcome all. I'm trying to get all setup here on the forum. Got the signature down now.

I am a member on a couple of other forums and in order to save time, I'm going to be lame and paste answers and history.

So you know, I have not touched it in it's present state yet. It'll be here Friday. Deke Dickerson played it yesterday though. I hear it's playing well.

OK, on with the pasting:

Who is Bobby?

Well it was a custom job for someone named Bobby. No serial, but we've all come to the conclusion that it's probably one of the first 10 made. Deke Dickerson was at Hallmark yesterday and played it. Thedre's a '63 (Serial 002) he used to own, #002, it's for sale at Jay Rosen guitars.

The guitar's name is officially Bobby now. It's the original pickguard, so it stays. It's actually engraved and painted from the back side

Isn't the color particularly unique?

It is indeed a unique color. Semie didn't really start doing sparkles until a few years later with the Ventures models. It's probably one of the first. There's only one I've seen that looks similar, but it was built nearly 15 years later, custom for Barbara Mandrell. Same color though. There are several things that make this one unique...

1. Pickup cases are mahogany, never seen before on a mosrite (but totally original)

2. No serial number anywhere. It was a total custom job for someone very special (or had loads of cash)

3. Binding around the top. Discontinued after '63

4. No metal guides at the nut. The stock itself was grooved beyond the zero fret to keep the strings in place.

5. Set necks. The later production models were bolt on like the Ventures model

6. Side jack instead of it being on top

7. German carve

There are other little details as well, but those are the main ones. The finish and the pickups are the most unique.

More details please ...What's the scale length? What are the switches for, what combos do you get? What about that whammy bar?

Not sure on scale length for either neck. I'll measure once it arrives. The full scale is 24.5" maybe?. The functions are pretty straight forward. The knobs are volume and tone, the toggle next to it is the selector for bridge and neck. The switch between the 2 necks turns the top neck on and off. That's a Mosrite Vibramute trem. They work great! The bridge was put back to original by Bob Shade from Hallmark Guitars. He actually carved the bridge by hand. The one I had on it before is a Mosrite roller bridge
that was added a couple years later. I'll probably trade them out as the roller performs better, but it's nice having the period correct bridge. THere's a mute that Bob made too, again to be period correct. Kind of like the old Ovation Magnum basses. It's all original except for the pickup up top which was again carved by hand by Bob, and built with antique and correct magnets (Carvin). Also the bridge as mentioned above, and the backplate, or what Semie used to call "The mistake plate" at the back of the tailpiece. Also the guts of the jack had to be replaced. Unfortunately, we couldn't find a period correct replacement for that. There weren't many side jack Mosrites made.

You may have told this story before, but how did you come to own it? and why was it in pieces for so long?

Back in 1982 I bought my first guitar, a Preacher that I traded up to a UKII a couple of months later, then a few months later came my second, a Gibson Flying V, then a few months after that, a Gibson Explorer Custom Shop. I had the Explorer on loan to some friends, the Lopez brothers. One of them had played with me in a few different bands. The Lopez's had this Mosrite for a few years and had won it on a $20 poker bet. It was in pieces, but it looked cool, and even though the electronics were not in it, we had it strung up so it could be played. I fell in love with the thing. Action like you wouldn't believe with that zero fret, and the fastest neck I'd ever played (very thin, don't know the radius of the board though). Anyway, the brothers one night got into a heated argument over a game of Risk, and my Explorer ended up being used as a weapon. The neck snapped off. I was pretty upset to say the least, and back in those days none of us really had the kind of $ available to replace it. Relations strained between the brothers and I.

Now another member of our previous band (Mike DeMartin) had loaned Mark Lopez some $ and Mark gave the Mosrite as collateral. Please note, none of us knew the value or potential value of this guitar back then. I believe the loan was less than $50.Then something terrible happened. That money was probably spent on the drugs that killed Mark. Mike didn't want the guitar. He knew I loved it, and he felt if anyone should have it, especially after the Explorer incident, it should be me.That was about 1990.The
guitar was missing one of it's 3 pickups.That was the main holdup. I had no idea the value, but I didn't want to put any old pickup in, it would have ruined the look. Eventually, I went to a local music store that specialized in vintage guitars and was given the name of the foremost Mosrite collector in the US, Bob Kothenbeutel. Bob just
happened to live in the next town over.Bob dated it, and pointed out some of the unique features, and then steamrolled me over with what he thought the value to be.So
it's been years of research (also enter the internet which helped out tremendously!) trying to find parts and or someone who I felt was qualified to do the work. I found Bob mid last year, and finally shipped it out to him back in January. Deke Dickerson actually turned me on to Bob. If you all haven't heard or seen Deke play, he's great. An old sould for sure doing all the old surf/country/rockabilly stuff, and one of the foremost experts on doublenecks (has written articles for Vintage Guitar Mag) Mosrites especially, and Standel amps.Anyway, Deke visited Bob yesterday and gave rave reviews on it.

Please note: My comments are based on other people's recollections and info. If there are inconstancies, well, who knows. If there's one thing Semie was not, it was consistent.

[ElTwang]

W O W! Amazing guitar, cool story and, yes, Deke Dickerson is incredible!!

[Mr. Bill]

Oh man! Another guitar I want to own.

Really cool guitar. And a great restoration too. Everyone be sure to look at the before photos to see what it looked like.

Let me see if this is right, the name Bobby was cut out of the white pickguard. Then it was filled in with the blue sparkle glitter and epoxy (maybe). Or is the blue sparkle material a sheet stock, like drum covering?

Again, really cool guitar.

[Damon67]

It's purple, and big flakes, not like a granular type glitter. And yeah, It looks as though it was cut out, then some sort of adhesive tape was put on the back side, then from the top, they put the glitter then filled with some sort of resin. It didn't look good at all until Bob Shade polished it up. Here's what it looked like both before and after:

http://www.damon67.com/guitars/mosrite/ ... oubleneck/

If I didn't make it clear before, Bob Shade from Hallmark guitars did this restoration. A stellar job!
If you need a restore done, or custom part made. Don't hesitate or wonder, just call Bob Shade.

SO......

It showed up yesterday. So sorry for not updating, but it was a very special day. Whe I heard it had arrived, I took the rest of the day off work (it was only 10am!). I didn't say why, cuz nobody would have understood. After playing this guitar for 25 years without electronics in it, well, I think I'll remember 9/11 for 2 reasons now, a bittersweet day.

THe first thing I did was plugged it into the '65 Standel. It was fanastic and sounded like NO OTHER guitar I've ever played. I really liked the tones from those vintage pickups. THen I plugged into my Carvin X100B's clean channel. WOW! Though I like the whole vintage combo with the Standel, the tubes really brought forth some warmth and presence that the Standel's SS construction just couldn't match. I think I'll eventually have to get an old Standel tube (after robbing a bank or refinancing the house). Really though, the clean channel and reverb on the Carvin did quite well.

Then I turned the overdrive up a bit. Great growling tones coming from them thar pups. I can't believe how hot these pickups are.

Can't wait for the day to end so I can get back home to my baby.

[Mr. Bill]

Ooh, I love to hear a good homecoming story! Glad to hear that it's all you hoped it would be.

In the before photo of the pickguard what is the white covering on the Bobby name?

[Damon67]

Bill, it's just a haze. All Bob did was polished it, and the sparkle came through again. Actually, I believe that was the very first thing he did when it showed up.

Deke Dickerson just sent me a note. I guess he liked it too. I won't argue this one with him at all, it really does play easy...

Damon--

That guitar turned out GREAT! It's one of the ones that really looks
primitive in so many ways, but then just plays itself. I seriously couldn't
stop playing on it! I think you'll be really happy with it. Bob did a
great job on it, I really couldn't tell the difference between the old
pickup covers and the one he made. A super cool example of one of the
earliest production model doublenecks...I think it's a winner.

I had a '63 that was basically the same guitar, but slightly later
pickups/vibramute etc. and that one played like crap...so I sold it. But
yours is magic.

Deke