I recall that in 1969-70 Gene had a shop on Niles St. here in Bakersfield where he had a showroom full of his 'Mosrite parts guitars' on display. Gene, as with Semie, struggled to make a living building and repairing guitars. He moved around Bakersfield over the years and his shops kept getting smaller and smaller, but he kept it up until the end. His last shop was about the size of an average bedroom. He was a super nice guy to talk to and was an outstanding musician.
In these photo's we see that he retained the 'M' shaped headstock, used the Gibson style volume and tone layout and apparently Fender amp knobs. What puzzles me is the fretboard. Using Mosrite left over stock the fretboard would have the overall length for a 24 3/4" scale, but on this guitar there appears to be plenty of room left to add a 23rd fret. This would indicate to me that he reduced the scale length to 24 1/2". Also I think the white dots on the body near the bridge would indicate that this guitar originally had a vibrato and the was removed and the holes plugged after it was finished.
