Thanks for the "bass-player love". We deserve it!
While I'm waiting, here's some back-story, mostly to help me kill time during the horrendous waiting period for my Mosrite Bass!
I'm hoping that the UPS truck gets here before it's 7PM deadline-my driver has a habit of making my house last on his route- so I'll post here to help kill the pain, if you don't mind.
The Ventures were in full-swing when I was Junior-High (middle-school) age back in the 'burbs of Chicago- I've been living in SoCal for a long time now...
Along with their brand of instrumental music, I remember them using VERY cool looking guitars and bass- You know who!
As I grew and developed as a player, and went on to work professionally and tour, etc. my basses followed the "standard" route- Fender, Warwick, G&L, Rickenbacker, etc.
As my fortunes increased, and having more $$ and Credit Card limit than restraint, I've begun in the last few years, acquiring instruments that interest and speak to me. No need to explain; that's why these forums exist!
I've recently got much into "retro-style" and throwback-era bass guitars. These include the Gibson SG RI, a Jerry Jones ShortHorn (high-end Danelectro copy), the amazing Ampeg Dan Armstrong RI (built in Japan by Alvarez), and (2) Gretsch basses- the G6128B ThunderJet and the now-discontinued G6145 SpectraSonic.
All fo them coincidentally (except the SpectraSonic at 33" scale) are short-scale basses.
Now along with my surfing the 'net for kicks and giggles, somehow- I forget how exactly- I saw info on MOSRITE, and that was IT- I had to get one-
You all know why, even if you are saddled with the onus af being a guitarist!!
SO- as you know, there are so many versions and models around-
The Wilson Bros, there's some link to "Mosrite" that gives little info but directs to PayPal for their models, Eastwood has a guitar model, and then of course the one and only Ed Roman...
I started having Google translate the Fillmore pages from Japan, and got really interested in them- I know that the quality of Japan-built instruments can be extraordinary. Both of my Gretsch basses as well as my Ampeg ADA4 RI were built in Japan, Gretsch at their Terada factory, and Ampeg built by Alvarez. These basses are awesome.
Really top-end fit and finish, and sound first-rate.
Now I HAD to have one of these- NOW!
I called Ed Roman's shop- even after hearing lots of negativity about the operation and how they do business.
They had in stock the Ranger Mark I model I wanted, a recreation of the Ventures single pup model.
In short, the salesman himself was easy enough to deal with (Not Ed Roman) but frankly, after doing some more research after the fact, they are WAY overpriced- I think I paid a fair amount over what I should have- However:
They HAD the Bass ins stock- I'm not in Japan, I can't imagine what might be involved in shipping/export etc. even if you were able to order on-line from a Japanese vendor.
Now that I'm here, I've read and heard about FrontPorch being a source, spoke with Artie the other day for info- He told me that the Mark I and II basses were all that were available bass-wise, and that an order could conceivably take several months-maybe longer.
His price again WOULD have been appreciably less than Roman's, but, they had the bass in stock.
I'm a "gotta-have-it-now" kind of person, so as we speak the instrument is on a UPS truck; hoping it gets here soon so I can validate the fact that it's a quality instrument that sounds awesome as well.
I have a very good feeling about that...
FWIW, I seriously considered a real Vintage Mosrite and even saw a few nice ones on G-Base- But I'm a new bass afficianado except for my
'69 P-Bass restored to a real "player's" bass condition.
When the Ranger Mark I bass arrives, I'll post my thoughts about it in the Modern Mosrite Section here; and try and get some pics on board.
ANd finally- I think it's great that this forum is here and it's a real trip tp read the posts from you fans of the Mosrite vibe! (even if the vast majority are guitarists!
)
I wasn't aware of the illustrious history of the Mosrite name and legacy, and of all the many operations vying to recreate the instrument and it's vibe.
Wow- the photos of the one Poster's collection (forgot name; sorry) Unbelievable, especially (to me) the Basses! Jeesh!
So to all involved- thanks for the cyber-space and doing what you do-
Very cool!
