Standel Prototype (1962/63)

[MOSDAN]

I love pawnshops. Sometimes you can walk in and on display is a masterpiece. Several years ago I walked into a local pawnshop and saw a 1965 Fender Mustang hanging on the wall. I thought it was a reissue but upon checking the serial number I used my phone to check the serial number and found it was made in very early 1965, the first full year of production for the Mustang. The price: $325. All pawnshops will hagle on the price of items so I started to work on it. After about 45 minutes the guitar was mine for $275.00 no tax. The guitar was very good condition with a few nicks and paint chips but nothing drastic. The guitar was setup perfect and upon testing through an amp everything worked perfect. I was surprised when the girl working with me went to the back room. After about 5 minutes she returned with the original case for the guitar. It was silver with an orange felt type inside. Upon further inspection I found a original Fender strap, original bridge cover, and small amount of original paperwork. The case did have one of the clasps broke. I was ecstatic. When they put it out they must have thought it was a reissue. My gain their loss.

As for the Standel proto type, what a great find. This is more proof of why I like pawnshops.

[juan_10]

Same kind of thing happened to a friend of mine here in Hull, in his story, he found an old les paul gold top going very cheap in one of the local pawn shops... as he tells it he was off down to London with it in a flash .. sold it for a nice profit , me , I might have kept it .
So there you go .. these things do happen Hope springs eternal to the Mosrite hunter.

[MWaldorf]

my guess is it was semie trying out different neck angles until he found what made him happy with the design. the les paul model went through a similar transformation in the early years as well.

I've never seen a guitar with an acute neck angle before. Maybe there are some I'm not aware of? Seems like a strange design decision.

[Deke Dickerson]

Howdy gang--

Thought I'd post my two cents on this subject just because I've done a bit of research on this particular subject.

The original "Standel prototype" made by Semie Moseley was done around 1960-1961 and it looked like this:



These were not actually prototypes, but an actual small production run. I've seen two of these personally--so I'm guessing a small run of 20-25 guitars, perhaps?

I think somewhere around '61-'62, Semie must have made a prototype with the now famous "flipped over Stratocaster" body that later became the iconic Mosrite guitar shape. This particular guitar, the Standel prototype, has never surfaced.

The black guitar that's pictured at the beginning of this thread has always been referred to as "THE" Standel prototype, and the original guitar to feature this body style.

That's not the case, however. One of the little-known employees that worked for Semie during the early Bakersfield days (the same guy who made the "red flame--blue wave" custom guitars for Dave Myers) reveals that he accidentally sawed the top of the headstocks flat on about 6 or so Mosrites while apprenticing with Semie. Semie was supposedly pretty angry about it, but finished the guitars anyway and sold them around Bakersfield. THAT'S what this guitar is. I think it's basically a "standard" 1962-1963 Joe Maphis model (the predecessor to the Ventures Model) that the employee screwed up the headstock on, NOT the famed Standel prototype.

I know somebody is gonna ask who this employee was. I've got his name written down somewhere, but can't find it at the moment. In addition to screwing up 6 of the Mosrite headstocks, these are the guitars he created in the Mosrite shop, using Mosrite pickups & vibrato parts:



One thing's for sure, though--this black Mosrite is super cool, rare, and EARLY Bakersfield history.

Deke

[GattonFan]

This place is amazing! Someone (a joint effort maybe) really does need to write a definitive (if possible) book on the history of Mosrite guitars - even if some 'vanity' publisher is used. There is so much info on here that nees to be precerved. BTW - Dek, you got a little blurb in Vintage Guitar's newest issue (re: Scotty Moore's amp you now own).
Dennis

[Deke Dickerson]

Hey Dennis!

Thanks for the good word. I am writing a history of West Coast Guitars and the Mosrite chapter will be the most definitive history on Mosrite to date, especially involving the early years pre-Ventures. I think that somebody, perhaps myself, perhaps somebody with more free time than I have, should write a dedicated Mosrite book at some point.

the Japanese book that came out was very good and very detailed, but written in japanese and fairly myopic on the topic of Ventures models only. There is so much more to the history of Mosrite than just the Ventures models.

Deke

[dubtrub]

Wow, this is bringing back some old memories. Back in 1959 I was playing in a teenage rock and roll band with a kid named Jim Sanders, the son of Jelly Sanders. One Saturday afternoon Jims dad made arrangements for us to play live on a local TV show. There was a kid there about three years older than us (probably 16-17) that demonstrated a guitar he had just scratch built and I have never forgotten that guitar. It was so strange at that time yet to me very intriguing. It's body was shaped as a flame, in sunburst finish, very thin about one inch thick, and had one homemade pickup on it with fixed tail stop. He told me he had made it getting some help from Semie Moseley. During the late 90s when I got my first computer I searched the internet for something about that guitar. I did find an old achieved blog by a guy who lived in northern California that discussed building a flame shaped guitar during the late fifties. I sent him a message but never got a response. I often wondered if he was the same guy. Now I'm wondering if that flame shaped guitar above is a derivative of that same guitar I seen that day so many years ago.

[KRamone27]

Just a side note. This is why this site is so great, so much history and knowledge where else can you get this kind of information in one place.

[Nokie]

This place is amazing! Someone (a joint effort maybe) really does need to write a definitive (if possible) book on the history of Mosrite guitars - even if some 'vanity' publisher is used. There is so much info on here that nees to be precerved. BTW - Dek, you got a little blurb in Vintage Guitar's newest issue (re: Scotty Moore's amp you now own).
Dennis

That is certainly an idea whose time has come, Dennis, and I would actually much prefer if it were done by a vanity publisher. The likelyhood of editing in the name of commercial viability is much less an issue that way. I'm thinking of the all-encompasing Ventures story that Del Halterman put out a few years ago. Because it was self-published, he had virtually no pressure to restrict details.
-Marty

[Nokie]

Hey Dennis!

Thanks for the good word. I am writing a history of West Coast Guitars and the Mosrite chapter will be the most definitive history on Mosrite to date, especially involving the early years pre-Ventures. I think that somebody, perhaps myself, perhaps somebody with more free time than I have, should write a dedicated Mosrite book at some point.

the Japanese book that came out was very good and very detailed, but written in japanese and fairly myopic on the topic of Ventures models only. There is so much more to the history of Mosrite than just the Ventures models.

Deke

Now we're talkin, Deke! I'll be all over a West Coast guitar book. Those Harvey guitars from LaJolla at your Geek Fest were amazing.
-Marty