Why Mosrite Struggled.

[panther]

I'm not stating this as fact, just an observation, and curious.
It seems to me that Semi spent too much time on variations of his guitars. If He had stuck to the more conventional models, I feel He would have been much more successful in the long run. It seems he attempted to make a version of almost every guitar available.
Any ideas ?
Dan

[Sarah93003]

We should be able to generate an interesting discussion on this topic. I'm pretty sure it has been covered in the past though. There are a couple of things that jump to mind to me. I think the deal he struck up with The Ventures ultimately ruined the company and specifically I think it was the Award line of amps with high warranty costs. These cost undoubtedly hampered cash flow and the ability to pay creditors and payroll. Once that gets off track a business is doomed. I know for years people have said that he was not a good business man and I don't think that is entirely true. I think there were some bad decisions made regarding the deals with The Ventures.

Lack of distribution was also a factor. I grew up between Arkansas and Michigan and never heard of Mosrite until I happened to visit California in 1987 and accidentally met a man playing a Celebrity. That guitar caught my eye and my ultimate devotion to the Celebrity line of guitars. Gibson, Guild, Fender, Gretsch for example had much better distribution across the country. He was trying to compete with them and I think in some instances his prices were even higher than theirs. Trucking over the Rocky Mountains has always been burdensome for small companies.

[oipunkguy]

From things I've read on the forum here it sounded like the ventures in part got a little greedy and the amp line up ruined them. Semie was also not the business man he probably needed to be. Fender got big because they had people that went across the country selling the product. Marshall amps got big because they struck up a distribution early with other countries.
Using fender as an example, think of how many different models they came up with. Semie was certainly a better builder then he was a business man. Just imagine what could have been though. I hope that in years to come, that Fillmore honor Semie's legacy.

[Greg_L]

I'd always heard that his prices were too high, his distribution was too poor, and besides The Ventures, not many big names played his guitars.

But that's just what I've read and heard. For me, The Ventures and Johnny Ramone are why I know what a Mosrite is.

[Mastermold]

I'm just speculating, but seems to me a lot of smaller guitar makers didn't have near the success that Mosrite did. Competing with Fender, Rickenbacker and Gibson in the 60's and 70's would have been pretty hard. Ibanez emerged in the 80's and took another pretty good size of the market share. Maybe if he were starting today, with the internet and ability to reach a wider market more easily, he would have had a longer run.

[Mr. Bill]

I thought that the Ventures deal gave the Ventures the exclusive distribution of the Mosrite guitars, so Mosrite built them and the Ventures sold them. While they were not available everywhere, they were around in most parts of the country back when the Ventures were really popular. Sarah, you're too young to remember those days.

After the big boom in guitar bands, the lack of a strong dealer network and the lack of a lot of popular bands using Mosrites, kept the brand from becoming one of the bigger players in the field. By the end of the '60s when all US manufacturers faced a high level of competition from cheaper foreign imports and a dwindling marketplace, it didn't take much of a push (like the Award amp deal) to get things rolling downhill for Mosrite.

I think that all of the different models were an attempt to diversify the line and expand the market into areas that didn't know the brand. Other than the Ventures, I doubt that anyone here can name more than a handful of Mosrite players from the mid to late sixties.

Mosrite guitars were more expensive partly due to the distribution deal and partly due to the complexity of the build (German carve). It took a while until they came out with a lower cost model, but it was probably too late to save them from the inevitable bankruptcy.

[panther]

Bill;
you mention the Amp deal starting the slippery Slope to bankruptcy, That indirectly goes with what I proposed. Just too many irons in the fire, one of them had to start the slide, and as you pointed out the Amp deal was it. Stick to the basic guitar models, and cut all the added bling to the line of related guitars and accessories. For example getting into the Dobro line ? I had one and sold it, just was not a very useful addition to the line, but I bet he spent a ton to get the Dobro copyrights. Did Semi really sell a lot of double neck guitars ? Plus didn't he venture ( No pun intended) into acoustic guitars also. A very different creature for an electric guitar company. Add up the total out put of cash for just those 3 examples, I bet bankruptcy would have been avoided. Allowing for maybe just a restructuring of the business.
JMHO.

Dan

[Mr. Bill]

The Award amp deal was just one of many factors that I mentioned and I don't disagree with you that perhaps there were too many irons in the fire. That being said, I think that if Mosrite had stuck to only building Ventures model guitars the end would have come just the same if not sooner.

[dubtrub]

For those that read Del Haltermn's book 'Walk Don't Run the story of the Ventures', you may recall the interview with Don Wilson describing what happened with the Ventures split from Mosrite and the demise of Mosrite as a result. Semie was spreading himself to thin by venturing off into other areas of the Mosrite empire. As a result Mosrite couldn't keep up with the demand to supply the Ventures Distributing company with instruments. This resulted with Semie suddenly finding himself in a pickle as he had no way to get his merchandise to market. That's when he tried various other companies for him to build guitars and be a Mosrite distributor. Nothing worked. Semie owed the Ventures a ton of money because they had financed his Mosrite factory. After that, not having the business savvy nor the contacts to push his product he went bankrupt and again became a one man band. BTW, the Dobro deal fell into his lap as it was going belly-up. He purchased the Dobro inventory and the copyright for a song.

[AZ Mike]

I agree with both Greg L and Mr. Bill. Not many famous players were using Mosrites at that time, and the amp deal and making other models might not have been a good business decision. But maybe he had to do something after the Ventures contract expired, and sales weren't expanding.