The neck size of Mosrite guitars

[jtr654]

I personally think the necks size 1.5" by .5"was the MAJOR flaw IMHO in Semies guitars.The body was cool and unique, the pickups were wonderful, the trem was great and the speed frets took some getting used to but not the deal breaker. All players I talked to who have had Mosrites sight this as the reason they didn't keep them.( some of them like myself owned multiple Mosrite and one friend like the looks so much he didn't sell his but had them as wall hangings) This is why I ordered a Hallmark 60 Custom.

[Veenture]

John, in the beginning those 'slim and fast' features on a Mosrite must've been a new craze or fashion in the early sixties and Semie reckoned he had something special/unique in his line. Someone on the forum (Danny, Adam?) said that it took a long time for Semie to move away from this concept before he started making wider necks and using normal frets for his 70's designs which are more popular with most players.

BTW, you're on the same page with TimR who recently owns a Hallmark 60 Custom too and happy with it. The same goes for me and quite a few of the guys here on the forum now too...and the number seems to be growing steadily! If anyone hasn't read yet what Tim said, it deserves a second airing:

...Back in the 60's, those of us that discovered the Mosrites thought we had really found something cool. We didn't talk about the neck being skinny or the frets being low, we just said they have the fastest neck ever! But gradually, like Nokie and others, we all migrated back to the Fenders and Gibsons, and somewhere along the line we started saying the frets were too low & the necks were too skinny. If you were a rythm player and did a lot of bar chords up high on the neck (like Don Wilson), this was true. If you were a chicken pickin lead player like Nokie, it was not such an issue. But most of us "rockers" were actually blues players, and it seemed we needed something more substantial to hang on to, and bigger frets to bend against. Plus, how many blues players did you ever see play Mosrites? Admit it or not, we're all influenced by players we like. Then, after 30 or so years go by, and all of a sudden there's a Mosrite at a guitar show. You pick it up and, whoa -there's the same magic you felt in the 60's -something special, inspiring, unique -like the guitar became a whole new instrument all of a sudden. But you were having so much fun, you didn't notice that you were making a lot of mistakes you wouldn't have made on what you were used to. If you put it back and said, yeah, Mosrites are so cool! -but I can't afford one, and went on, the memory would be one way. If you had the bucks and actually bought it and took it home -after a day or two, you would begin to notice -hey, I keep screwing up, what's the matter with me? Eventually you would come around to blaming the skinny neck and small frets, and you would fondly hang that Mosrite on the wall so you could admire it's beauty, and go back to your Fenders and Gibsons. BUT -if you kept playing the Mosrite, no matter what -like I have recently done with my new Hallmark -somehow your playing would adapt, and it would smooth out. Yes, it takes some getting used to. Where most guys go wrong, though, is trying to put heavy strings on and treat it like a Jazzmaster. You've got to keep the light strings and develop a light touch. It's all a part of the mojo. You either get it, or you don't..........

see: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=1772&p=19005#p19005

[jtr654]

Semie came up and started making guitars in the early 50's little or no bends in country or country swing which is what JM basicly played. ( so these kind of neck probably great for that)The 60's came and he had the Biggest Instrumental band in the world playing his guitars he could have sold hunderds of thousand of them if he just offer a choice in neck size like Fender did.We (at least all us older guys remember what the Beatles did for Rickenbacker, Hofner and Gretcsh guitars) remember how we all wanted those guitars we saw on the records. There was no internet /GP/VG just TV & record covers,so what saw ther influance or choice of guitars.

[Veenture]

...The 60's came and he had the Biggest Instrumental band in the world playing his guitars he could have sold hunderds of thousand of them if he just offer a choice in neck size like Fender did.

Absolutely...if Semie had offered a choice in wider Mosrite necks also, I know of at least one person who I'm sure would have been more than happy to be playing on a Mosrite guitar. I believe he plays rhythm guitar in the "Biggest Instrumental band in the world"

Let me just add that Bob Shade has come up with an ideal compromise featuring in his Hallmark 60 Custom guitar (that Ventures model)

[brutus]

Come on guys thin neck and speed fret make it easier to play anything. It is hardly a design flaw. It's a just a personal preference issue

[thunderhead]

Absolutely Sometimes this "Mosrite Forum" wanders into this area of "anti speed frets" and "thin neck" land. Is not that two of the key things that made Mosrite unique???? I am glad Mosrite did not become the "In Vougue" guitar of the 1980's. I play my Mosrites proudly with their "thin necks and speed frets" and will never make them "wall hangers". Just my opinion.

[Veenture]

Hey guys, don't get too riled up now 'hear, those are simply some practical player's observations and personal opinions too; not at all an attempt to change Mosrite's "unique" features in any way.
You'll have to agree with me that not every guitar player is blessed with hands that are suitable to play a thin neck -or even has the ability to adapt to one, no matter how hard he/she may try.
Sure, for many the thin necks are ideal -especially for (Japanese) kids who can "grow up on them" but if you're used to Fender Strat necks all your guitar playing life, it's...well, different.
Thank goodness Hallmark has found the ideal compromise and I love my Hallmark 60 Custom -which will never be demoted to wall decorating purposes I can assure you. Furthermore I can see no harm in there ever being a choice (that was the word I believe) in neck thickness in my opinion, Mosrite or not.
I fully agree with Brutus; it's... "just a personal preference issue".

Now if only I could play like talented Bill Baugh...but that's another story

[Strat-o-rama]

I have never played on a real Mosrite "speed" neck, but completed 'get' the point made by TimR (as posted by Paul) and Brutus. I believe Mel has stated how once he became accustomed to the speedy neck, he found himself playing in a way he never did with his Jaguar. If I recall right, I think he said it took 6 months to adapt to it, and now he finds his Fenders to feel clunky.
As for playing chords up the neck...western swing requires ferocious chord chops.

[jtr654]

But it shouldn't take you 6 months to get used to a guitar. The Phil Baugh clip is from 1961.

[thunderhead]

But it shouldn't take you 6 months to get used to a guitar. The Phil Baugh clip is from 1961.

If you spend 20 years playing a Fender neck it may take a little time to adjust. What's for sure is it didn't take Nokie much time to adjust. No matter what he plays now, next year or five years from now, he is forever tied to a 1965 Pearl White Mosrite with Speed Frets, Vibramute, Thin Neck. with overwound single coil pickups!!!! I do understand the point made by Veenture and can appreciate a Hallmark neck, I own one. But I will always defend Semie's original "Magical" Mosrite Ventures Guitars. And by the way I played Fender Guitars Professionally for 20 years and have been on Mosrites for the last few years. I changed because I changed styles of music.It took a little time to settle in, the same with my Gibson Guitars. There is definately things I can play on the Mosrite that I couldn't play on the Fenders. My problem is I love them all!! and have many different Guitars to fit many styles of music. long Live Mosrite!!!!!