Wilson Bros. Guitars

[TimR]

Don Wilson has always been a great rhythm player. But he has big hands and plays a lot of barre chords high up the neck. -and he plays hard, he flogs that guitar. Not only did he need a wider neck, but he needed it to be more substantial to take the abuse he gave. Even the low action was probably not great for his style, as he would beat those strings so hard. I never understood why Semie would not accomodate his needs, but apparently it was a point of issue between them.

Like it or not, though, the Ventures will always be associated with Mosrite. The unique look of those guitars was part of their "mojo." So I think the fact that the Wilson Bros. guitars look so Mosritey, is a nod to what they felt their guitar buying fans would appreciate. But Don definitely had them make the necks more to his liking, which no doubt makes them more marketable anyway, to the non-Mosrite purist.

I had a VM-65 model myself. It was ok, but I agree with what has been said about strat type vibratos -they just don't do it for me. I would probably have kept it, if it had had the Jazzmaster type setup like the more expensive ones.

[raygun85]

I've been pretty good friends with Tim Wilson since I was about 15. I've known Don about the same amount of time. Don actually told me once that he requested Semie to make the neck more to his specs many times and Semie just ignored his requests. The other complaint that Don had was that he hated the pickups. He said it was frustrating to never be able to get a clean tone from their guitars.

But I think the real problem was that I guess Don and Bob never really saw a return from their investment into the company and ended up losing money in the end, which they blame Semie for. It only seemed to exacerbate matters when Semie started putting their logo on guitars in the 80s. From what I've heard, I would definately speculate that Don Wilson's ill feelings toward all things Mosrite is rooted more deeply in personal issues rather than with the guitars themselves. Thats why it doesn't bother them to do the Arias and Wilson Bros in a similar style.

[jtarbutn]

I just bought one on ebay for $205.00. I like, especially for the price. I took it to a guitar tech to have it set up. He had to do some fret work and work on the nut but he only charged $40. Now I really like it!!! I am using it with a Line 6 amp. I still think I'm going to buy a Hallmark.

[Veenture]

Thats why it doesn't bother them to do the Arias and Wilson Bros in a similar style.

Good to hear your account raygun85

[TimR]

There was an interview once in Pipeline magazine with Don, that I read _(I probably still have it somewhere) --where Don really told the whole story of his less than favorable relationship with Semie. ...his feelings about the guitars, business dealings, using their name w/out permission, etc.
What sort of surprised me was the Wilson Bros. logo -which is a "W" with a circle around it. Looks exactly like an upside down Mosrite logo. I laughed when I saw that. I figured Don must've said, "if you can steal our logo, then I'll steal yours..."

[Veenture]

There was an interview once in Pipeline magazine with Don, ...//...where Don really told the whole story of his less than favorable relationship with Semie. ...his feelings about the guitars, business dealings, using their name w/out permission, etc.

That should prove interesting reading TimR, thanks for your input.
You know, this whole business of the relationship between the Ventures (Don & Bob) and Mosrite makes me think of what my good ol' parents often told us kids: "where two have a fight, two have guilt" and indeed, there are always two sides to every story and every coin has two sides.
It is sad that things went bad the way they did but never mind that now, I shall always appreciate and love the sounds that have been recorded of the Ventures playing on Semie's wonders. Mosrites have been so inspiring for many including the Wilson Bros. Guitars .

[raygun85]

I think the Wilson Bros capture more of the tone of The Ventures pre and post Mosrite era. The P-90 pickups sound a bit closer to Jazzmaster pickups. And neither of those sound anything like Mosrite pickups. I love the Wilsons. At first I was really put off by their looks. I don't know why but the reverse Mosrite, er...Stratocaster/Mosrite/Vox Bulldog/Sharp 5 look just kinda put me off at first. But it grew on me over the years until I ended up with 4 of their guitars and a bass. The only other problem I have is that, being a Ventures fan, I also like to emulate the tones of Nokie and Gerry McGee. For my Nokie tone I play a Telecaster and for my Gerry tone I play a Clapton Strat - which is pretty versatile.

It has always seemed kinda silly to me that the new Ventures models represent the whole band when neither of the prominent lead guitarists in the band actually play one. I wish Nokie and Gerry would switch to Wilson Bros and have their own signature models built with all of the hardware and electronics that they prefer. Then Wilson Bros will be a more accurate representation of ALL of The Ventures. But I guess Nokie and Gerry are kinda in their own little worlds, guitar-wise. I think if you're trying to sound like Don on rhythm or Bob Bogle on lead (or even Bob Spalding on lead) then the Wilsons can get pretty darn close. They also make for a great all-around surf/instro guitar. Probably even more versatile than Mosrite or Hallmark...etc...since the tone is clean and the P-90s also respond well to overdrive. If you turn the tone knob down a bit you can get some good controlled feedback as well. But I think if you want Nokie's classic tones you need a Telecaster or a Mosrite. If you want Gerry McGee's tone just grab a Strat and start scratchin....

[thunderhead]

I owned three at one time, before I got my Mosrites and Hallmarks. I had the VM-65, VM-75, and the VM-110. I liked the 110 the best, a little thinner body depth and Jazzmaster Trem. They really are Great Guitars for the Dough. Mine were easily tweaked and set-up into fine playing Axes and the Tone of the Pickups is not bad. I out grew them once I got the Mosrites, it was hard to pick up the Wilsons after that!!!! I also think for a little more Dough than the VM-110 a Hallmark 60 Custom is the way to go and very hard to beat in it's price range. And one suggestion on the Wilsons, take out the cheap tone cap and install a good oiled filled cap from AllParts, sweetens the pickups and makes the tone knob usefull.

[raygun85]

Hahaha...you noticed that too? I'm not a big fan of the electronics in any of the Wilsons. A bit too bright for my taste. The cheap switches are a problem too. JC (Nokie's nephew) told me that he is always doing repairs on the Wilsons for broken switches. When Bob Spalding had some custom Ventures models made by Aria he had his favorite tech in Texas look 'em over and upgrade anything that he considered "cheap." Bob said the switch was the first thing to go. I put Switchcraft components in mine. I also got rid of the 500K pots if favor of warmer sounding 250K and put in an .022 Orange Drop cap. I think the cheaper pickups in the 65's and 75's sound better than the Seymour Duncan pickups. They have more life in their tone. The SD's in the VM-110 just sound dead to me. I guess they're supposed to be hotter (like Moseley pickups) but to me they just sound louder. You can't that crunchy tone that Mosrites are famous for and you can't really get the vintage tone that Jazzmasters are famous for. To me, its an otherwise useless pickup, unless I'm playing classic rock or blues. I'm right in the middle of a new project in fact. We're modifying the maple bobbin that we make for our RH-100 Mosrite-style pickups to fit inside a P-90 cover and mount the same way. I'll be putting a set in one of my Wilsons to try out. If it works out right (and theres no reason it won't) I want to offer these for sale on our website. I'm sure there a lot of people out there with Wilsons and Dillions...etc...that wished their guitars had the classier Mosrite tone.

[raygun85]

Something that I wanted to add, though, was that I couldn't help but notice the electronics I pulled out of my Wilsons were nearly identical to the Dillion and the Eastwood that I used to own. Same cheap switch, 500K pots, and a .033 cap. Since they're all made in Korea it kinda makes you wonder. I have heard that there are actually 3 major factories in Korea that manufacture about 90% of the Korean-built instruments. I wouldn't be a bit suprised if most of the Mosrite clones are coming from the same factory...

Oh well...I've known people that would never own a Buick but they sure loved their Chevys!