New arrivals

[Sarah93003]

Also, what's the scoop on the Celebrity, I know it's the 1st GEN, does that have a story as well?

The Celebrity was a bit of a project bought over eBay from a guy in New Jersey. The pictures were enough to ensure that is was indeed a Mosrite, so I hopped on what I thought was a good BIN price. And yet, you get what you pay for. The frets were worn out and repairs were necessary as the neck began to separate where the unsupported fingerboard extended beyond the joint. After rehabilitation including a fret job (preserving the serial no.), it plays very, very nicely. Cosmetically, there are a couple dings and so on. That includes a half-trem with the wrong spring (too narrow, gets grabbed as the arm rotates--working on that) and the telltale signs of a trapeze tailpiece. However, it is a handsome piece of luthiery and my player of choice.

How did you date your Celebrity? I read some Celebrity history on tymguitars.com and it said that they did not do binding in 1965 for the Celebrity II's & III's. In 1966 they did however do binding. I'm just curious and always anxious to compare to another Celbrity of the same ear. thanks, Sarah!

[dorkrockrecords]

Sarah -

Unfortunately there is a good deal of bad information on Tim's site mixed in with the good. I have NEVER seen a Celebrity without binding (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), and know for a fact that the Celebrities with the large F-holes (like handbrake's) are the earliest iteration of the model made with prefab import bodies.

Adam

[Dennisthe Menace]

Sarah -

Unfortunately there is a good deal of bad information on Tim's site mixed in with the good. I have NEVER seen a Celebrity without binding (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), and know for a fact that the Celebrities with the large F-holes (like handbrake's) are the earliest iteration of the model made with prefab import bodies.

Adam

Adam,
I have only seen one, but there were 2 mistakes with it...
1) It was a '67-'68 (Tall Knobs)
2) Careless ReFin
.............. ................

[handbrake]

How did you date your Celebrity? I read some Celebrity history on tymguitars.com and it said that they did not do binding in 1965 for the Celebrity II's & III's. In 1966 they did however do binding. I'm just curious and always anxious to compare to another Celbrity of the same ear. thanks, Sarah!

Okay, well I had just been shooting from the hip on that date. The serial tells me it was among the first 100 made of the Celebrity A-series. I believed it was 1965 based upon some pretty good assumptions about the history of the guitar.

However, I finally peered in the f-hole to see if I could locate a code on one of the pots. And as luck would have it, I could. And as it turns out, I was wrong. The volume pot code reads 1346647. This revelation suggests the guitar is from 1966, possibly even 1967 (since the pot code reads the 47th week of 1966).

Reading the pot code is pretty easy, but this site makes it effortless.
http://www.guitardaterproject.org/potcodereader.aspx

More info about potentiometers here.
http://www.provide.net/~cfh/pots.html

[handbrake]

Sarah -

Unfortunately there is a good deal of bad information on Tim's site mixed in with the good. I have NEVER seen a Celebrity without binding (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), and know for a fact that the Celebrities with the large F-holes (like handbrake's) are the earliest iteration of the model made with prefab import bodies.

Adam

Hi Adam, can you tell us more about the imported prefab bodies? Your hint above is the first I've heard of this. Thanks!

[dorkrockrecords]

Sarah -

Unfortunately there is a good deal of bad information on Tim's site mixed in with the good. I have NEVER seen a Celebrity without binding (someone please correct me if I'm wrong), and know for a fact that the Celebrities with the large F-holes (like handbrake's) are the earliest iteration of the model made with prefab import bodies.

Adam

Hi Adam, can you tell us more about the imported prefab bodies? Your hint above is the first I've heard of this. Thanks!

Sure. It's been discussed before in passing, but according to Bill Gruggett there was an importer in Los Angeles that had a lot of Italian and German prefab guitar bodies, finished and unfinished. Joe Hall and Bill Gruggett bought their Epcor bodies there, and Semie Moseley bought Celebrity bodies there until Mosrite began producing its own.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=534
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=698

[handbrake]

Sure. It's been discussed before in passing, but according to Bill Gruggett there was an importer in Los Angeles that had a lot of Italian and German prefab guitar bodies, finished and unfinished. Joe Hall and Bill Gruggett bought their Epcor bodies there, and Semie Moseley bought Celebrity bodies there until Mosrite began producing its own.

Hmm, I'd always wondered about the absence of a Mosrite label inside the body of my Celebrity. I figured it had become dislodged somehow, but maybe it never existed?

[dorkrockrecords]

Sure. It's been discussed before in passing, but according to Bill Gruggett there was an importer in Los Angeles that had a lot of Italian and German prefab guitar bodies, finished and unfinished. Joe Hall and Bill Gruggett bought their Epcor bodies there, and Semie Moseley bought Celebrity bodies there until Mosrite began producing its own.

Hmm, I'd always wondered about the absence of a Mosrite label inside the body of my Celebrity. I figured it had become dislodged somehow, but maybe it never existed?

Hate to disappoint, but looks like it existed...
http://www.gbase.com/files/store_images ... sqr_so.jpg

[handbrake]

Sure. It's been discussed before in passing, but according to Bill Gruggett there was an importer in Los Angeles that had a lot of Italian and German prefab guitar bodies, finished and unfinished. Joe Hall and Bill Gruggett bought their Epcor bodies there, and Semie Moseley bought Celebrity bodies there until Mosrite began producing its own.

Hmm, I'd always wondered about the absence of a Mosrite label inside the body of my Celebrity. I figured it had become dislodged somehow, but maybe it never existed?

Hate to disappoint, but looks like it existed...
http://www.gbase.com/files/store_images ... sqr_so.jpg

Guess I'm back to thinking it disappeared! Thanks for your responses, Adam.

[dorkrockrecords]

In fact, I believe the earliest, prefab German bodies used on the Mosrite Celebrity are the very same bodies used on the Ovation Tornado...