The first 1972 Celebrity-III, maybe

[Sarah93003]

Here is a very interesting guitar to come into my possession. As far as I know of Mosrite history, 1972 marked the year that Mosrite started producing guitars again after the bankruptcy of early 1969. The Celebrity serial number prefixes changed at this time. 1c being for Celebrity-I's, 2c being for Celebrity-II's, and 3c being for Celebrity-III's. This era was also marked by a logo change whereas it now also said "BY MOSELEY" underneath the Mosrite of California logo. The 1972 Celebrities are the only "Celebrities" to sport the "banana" shaped control plate that was seen on the Dobro's of the 1965-1968 era. Also new for 1972 Celebrity-III's was binding on the neck and a "straight" headstock instead of the asymetical look. 1972 is also when I've noted that the pots used were CTS pots (like Gibson).

A gentleman contacted me via my website with this Celebrity-III, which is serial number 3c0001. I believe this to be the very first Celebrity-III for 1972. I took a quick look at the pots and the pot code is 1377106, which indicates CTS and the 6th week of 1971. This guitar is in immaculate condition (aside from needing a proper setup).

His people and my people are currently in negotiation talks to determine if this little beauty is going to find a home here in California. Yeah, it's already here so that is a very good sign!.

Front


Rear


Headstock/logo



The "diamond" tuners, (my first experience)



The serial number: 3c0001. It looks to me like the first who stamped the number had never done this before and let the stamp bounce which caused a "shadow" on each digit.



I quickly took these images to post here. If there is interest, I will take detailed pics, including the inside as I can tell from peeking in the F hole that the 1972 body is quite different on the inside than the 1966-1968 iterations.

[JimPage]

Hey, Sarah!

Hope you get to own that beauty! My '72 Celebrity III that I bought from Dennis the Menace is 3C0148, so they must have made 150 of those babies that year!

I really love mine, which, as you know, is the non-tremolo version.

--Jim

[Sarah93003]

I can't wait to measure the pickups to see what the output is. I am really GASin over this baby! By the way, I do have 3c's in the 200+ range. So they made at least 250 of them.

[JimPage]

Hey!

Semie must have been doing pretty well at that time to make that many of those Celebrities in one year.

--Jim

[MWaldorf]

Very cool! I'm surprised the 72 construction is different; I would have thought he was using up leftover bodies from the 65-68 era.

[olrocknroller]

Congrats in advance. This guitar looks like it has seen a lot of time inside the case...

[Veenture]

A very interesting Celeb, Sarah...I too hope it stays with you! There's evidence of Semie's typical headstock "add-on remedy" and then those diamond tuners also. My guess would be that the person who punched in the serial number was holding the punch digit at a slant -which is a natural tendancy of the hand to do. Also, I think the first attempt at the "3c" punch turned out inverted and a (failed) attemt was made to correct the mistake and then there's the last digit that looks a bit dodgy.
Picture 2 seems to show signs of possible indentation due to [heavy guage] string/bridge tention on the body?
I hope I'm wrong. Looking forward to a possible camera tour of the inside chamber!

[demorganjr]

I know I'm replying to a very old post...

I was researching a Mosrite guitar that I have and ran across this post. Attached are some pictures of a very dirty guitar that is clearly stamped with serial number 3c0001. I bought it from a guy named Dennis Sanders back around 1973. Dennis was the lead guitar player in a band I was in high school and 68 to 70.

Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn't a '72. It doesn't have the "banana" plate.

Well, I'll have to see what I need to do to post pictures...



peace, don

[dubtrub]

Right click on your image and save copy image address, then post that address in between the "Img" brackets here on the forum. It's a different URL address than the one at the top address bar of the site your images are being hosted.
.

[Sarah93003]

Well now. This one intrigues me. Are you able to post more photos? I'd love to see the back side as well. Also, if you'll take up the four screws that hold down the control panel I'd love to know what the pot codes are on your potentiometers. It will be a seven digit number beginning with either 134 or 137. For example, 1347135.