On ebay: Used! MOSRITE Electric Bass Blue Rare Color - My questions

[Eduardo Aguilu]

On ebay, now, there is a listing for a Mosrite bass. It isnt a THE VENTURES model. The year is not listed but I'm guessing '66. It has a curious logo on the headstock. Where between the tuners it says M mosrite of California, the capital M is missing but it's shown where THE VENTURES model logo goes in a double-line circle with the words: ROYAL (above the M & clockwise) SUPER CUSTOM VICTORY EXCELLENT. It ships from Osaka, Japan.

Instead of asking questions please post anything you know about it. It will, definitely, be very interesting.

Used! MOSRITE Electric Bass Blue Rare Color
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Used-MOSRITE-E ... :rk:9:pf:0

[101Volts]

It looks like a Japanese reissue to me. Most Mosrite Ventures Basses made in the 60s were Sunburst, Red, White or Blue and custom jobs might have been available but this finish looks too new for a 45+ year old Mosrite bass.

Ventures Logo info: 1966 models always (or tended to*) have the Ventures logo. I'm not sure when the Ventures contract ended (and thus, the logo) but it seems to be 1968 though I'm not certain. There may or there may not be 1967 models without the Ventures logo, I don't know for sure.

*: Mosrite is a company with occasional outliers. Sometimes (though I'm not sure how frequent this is) employees ended up being paid in guitar parts so there may exist a few otherwise Mosrite spec basses without the logo.

- Austin

[Eduardo Aguilu]

It looks like a Japanese reissue to me. Most Mosrite Ventures Basses made in the 60s were Sunburst, Red, White or Blue and custom jobs might have been available but this finish looks too new for a 45+ year old Mosrite bass.

Ventures Logo info: 1966 models always (or tended to*) have the Ventures logo. I'm not sure when the Ventures contract ended (and thus, the logo) but it seems to be 1968 though I'm not certain. There may or there may not be 1967 models without the Ventures logo, I don't know for sure.

*: Mosrite is a company with occasional outliers. Sometimes (though I'm not sure how frequent this is) employees ended up being paid in guitar parts so there may exist a few otherwise Mosrite spec basses without the logo.

- Austin

The Mosrite guitars and basses, etc., situation has gotten so out of hand I find it difficult to tell an original from a reissue, a clone, a copy and everything else out there that has a Mosrite shape. I thought I could tell by trying hard to see some details such as if the pickup covers have the right image but one never knows if the covers are original or replacements. Some headstocks say just "M mosrite of California", some include "Made in U.S.A.", and "BY SEMIE MOSELEY". (GOSPEL).

Mosrite Wikipedia: "The full "The Ventures" line consisted of the Mark I, Mark II, Mark V, Mark X (bass) and Mark XII (12 string). "The Ventures" line started in 1963 and ran through 1967 when the licensing agreement with The Ventures ended."

[101Volts]

Japan does have much enthusiasm for Mosrite guitars though enthusiasm for them is (comparably) non existent nearly everywhere else and they're very good at making near exact replicas anymore, at least from looking at them (I haven't played any so I'm not going to comment on how they play or sound though I'd imagine it's been long enough for them to nail it all right.) I'm not the most knowledgeable member on Mosrite clones but here are some of the bigger names in the Mosrite clone and reissue community; this may help you distinguish at least some of the reissues out there:

Companies;

Fillmore (makes "ranger" models among other models; )
Kurokumo;

Other names:

Avenger (usually 1960s-1970s clones with a square/rectangular neck plate)
Blue Jade;
Excellent (I'm not sure where this name fits.)
Super Custom (This is a name going around with reissues. Mosrite, up to 1992 when Semie died, didn't ever name their guitars "Super Custom" to the best of my knowledge.)

Some other companies make copies or Mosrite-influenced models:

Danelectro (easy to tell based on the Dano lipstick pickups; )
Eastwood;
Fullerton;
Hallmark (and I've heard very good things about these but they're not exact copies; the scale length's a little longer and the neck's wider, for one.)

Other names on clones and influenced copies that were made but now are no more:

Guyatone;
Silvertone;
Univox.

- Austin

[101Volts]

One more copy name I had forgotten:

Firstman (Another Japanese associated name.)

- Austin

[Eduardo Aguilu]

One more copy name I had forgotten:

Firstman (Another Japanese associated name.)

- Austin

My favorite Mosrite copy is the Dillion DMB7504. I owned 2 of them and in my never-ending quest to buy another Mosrite sold both of them and I'm sorry I did. Now, they're as rare as hen's teeth! Back in 2010 when I was posting under my real name (Edward Lopez, I had a problem logging in and changed my name to my maternal family name) I posted about my acquisition of a Dillion, here:
viewtopic.php?t=3078

I had my 2nd one serviced by Luthier Evan Gluck, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naalyW7-CoI