Mosrite V3 info?

[Strat-o-rama]

That is a beauty! Love the flamey neck. The two light colored strips along the edges of the fretboard, are those wood inlays or binding?

[dorkrockrecords]

Those are strips of maple.

[dubtrub]

I just noticed that the radius of the fretboard appears very flat. Plus, it appears that the neck is a little wider than the slender necks common to the earlier Mosrites. I really like the idea of the maple strip binding, I may have to try this on a future project. Another cool looking guitar, Adam.

[Strat-o-rama]

Danny, I noticed the same thing. the neck appears a little wider at the nut to me. Also, the frets seem a bit larger/taller. Did Semi change his neck specs on these later guitars?

[Dennisthe Menace]

Danny, I noticed the same thing. the neck appears a little wider at the nut to me. Also, the frets seem a bit larger/taller. Did Semi change his neck specs on these later guitars?

......Yep......

[Strat-o-rama]

Care to elaborate, kind Sir?

[dorkrockrecords]

Yup. Big frets (AWESOME in my opinion), kinda weird fretboard radius but comfortable nonetheless, and a HUGE neck heel. The neck profile is very slim though (up until the heel). 1 5/8" at the nut. The neck is actually bound in rosewood; those maple strips are inlayed into the board. Railroad tie style inlays like this first appeared on Mosrites in the form of the Brass Rail I believe, but a few companies did similar things either with strips of wood or pieces of herringbone binding, etc, in the 1960s (Grammer, G.L. Stiles, etc).

[Dennisthe Menace]

Bob Shade told me that Semie called these the American model. I think VIII came into the Mosrite vernacular simply because of the V (Ventures/Victory) body shape and the 3 (III) pickups.

The wiring scheme is simple and very versatile - excellent for a studio guitar, not great for live changes on the fly. Each pickup has its own three-position mini-switch: On-Off-Phase. Basically like a Strat but with many more permutations. Unfortunately, many of these guitars left the factory miswired, which I believe led to the Phase position being dropped altogether - just On-Off. Too bad. Being able to reverse one coil to cancel the hum of its neighbor (or not) was what made these so genius.

This is the After Fire serial prototype for what would become the American/VIII production model. Note the large dot inlays and mini-switch placement, in addition to the more intricate German carve. The color is California Grape.

Adam, thank you, that is some VERY interesting info.....Do you by chance have any info on what it means when the inside Neck pocket is stamped "C-93?" We're seeing that showing up lately on E-Bay with sellers selling just the Bodies, or in parts.......

[Strat-o-rama]

Thanks Adam and Dennis. This stuff is fascinating.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Bob Shade told me that Semie called these the American model. I think VIII came into the Mosrite vernacular simply because of the V (Ventures/Victory) body shape and the 3 (III) pickups.

STOP THE PRESS!!!! LOL!
Adam, you had mentioned the V (Ventures/Victory) body shape and the 3 (III) pickups.
1) Was there a V (Ventures/Victory) besides the III? Like a V-I, and a V-II as well during this model? We know there was a V-I and V-II in the 70s, but that was STILL a different model/series. What a bunch of us are trying to find out is whether there was a V-I and II to go with the V-III of this era, in which it might of had a different P'up configuration....e.g. V-I (one pickup), V-II ( 2 pickups) and then of course the V-III......
2) OK, so I'm assuming there WAS a "Victory Model," NOT associated with the "Gospel Series?"
p.s. "Enquirer, errr Mosrite minds want to know.".....