Survey of Mosrite serial numbers ***Please read***

[johnnyboy1234]

Hey Rocco; Do you have pics of your slab body and how does the sheena compare?

[zarfnober]

There is a link a few posts back. The Hallmarks look fine but, when you have the holy grail...
actually, I think they did a nice job but have never seen one.

Rocco

[Dennisthe Menace]

Bigwave, not quite sure why you omitted 'the Ventures Models' prior to the serial number range #3206 thru #3591,
however I think this could possibly also serve as another function with everyone participating . By everyone
getting 'involved,' you also will now have your guitar registered(?) with the Forum. If somehow or another, should
something terrible happen to your instrument (God forbid-stolen), and you don't remember what you did with your
info at home (it happens), all you need to do now is simply look it up on the Forum.....maybe start our own Registry
with everyone's MOSRITES (all models period) ........any thoughts on this?

[Bigwave]

Hey Dennis, that might be a good idea. I have a list of serial with features, maybe we can figure a way to do it.

Now regarding the Mk I's prior to 3200's

I was trying to get an idea when changes happened (ie around the serial # the change occured. On the Mosrites prior to serial 3500, it seems Tym Guitars has narrowed down some of the changes pretty well. I may have missed a few though so look at my list of early changes and see if people on the forum can refine it anymore.

MK I changes: (I'll list the last serial with its feature, and the next serial with the new feature on known mosrites) If you have a serial that falls within the range of the change, please list serial and which feature, old, or new it has.

Sidejack serial #216 Topjack #236

Bound body Serial #251 ( a few before this one may be unbound) unbound body serial #377 anyone with a earlier unbound body?

Set neck serial #216 Bolt on neck serial #251

Large Ventures logo serial #491 Small logo serial #664

Bolt on neck with a cover over bolts serial #377 Bolt-thru the cover neck serial # 1037

3 screw pickguard serial #172 8 screw pickguard serial # 216

Can anyone help in finding the Latest MK I with smooth pickups and first MK I with "Mosrite" stamped on Pickups

Any other changes on early Vibramutes I missed?

[Dennisthe Menace]

All right, this will take a little time (and thought) to process this info in which I will start another Thread, but again this will
need to be thought out for it to be effective.....OK, so now I have a Homework Assignment ................................

[woodchuck30]

Tests and quizes to follow

[dorkrockrecords]

Unfortunately I think pinpointing Mosrite transitions by serial number is going to turn out to be a fool's errand. For example, Artie owns an almost identical 63/64 transitional model to #251 which was referenced here, but his is in the high 100s. In fact, I've seen countless examples of Mosrite serial numbers proving to be less than serial. But whatever floats your boat...

[Bigwave]

Just trying to get general transistion ranges. I've already seen that transitions occurred over a large range for some of the earliest changes, but on some later changes the transitions were fairly quick. I also know that prior owners also often change out parts, (mosley's swapped out for Vibramutes etc), which confuses things even more, but there is so much mis-information out there, I thought a general timeline for changes with approximate serial ranges would be useful. A "Fool's Errand" Possibly. Has anyone tried to pinpoint the many changes during Mosrite Venture production? With the advent of the internet, its now easier to do a project like this, and the expenditure of time is quite small. Unfortunately the response for information and serials from the Mosrite Ventures owners has been poor to this point. Maybe that will change, but I think the thread will die soon without any new info
I made a general timeline for changes for myself which I'll plan to post. There was alot more changes than I realized. Hopefully I can get a few more responces to the survey to narrow some of the ranges a bit.

[Sarah93003]

I think Adam is probably right in trying to nail things down by serial number. So far I've catalogued about 110 Mosrite Celebrities and I'm finding serial numbers totally out of sequence. For example I've found a few that had lower serial numbers than earlier years by 2-3 years. I was talking with Artie about this yesterday and he said basically the same thing. He mentioned that there were plenty of guitars with even duplicate numbers, or no number at all, etc. We have to keep in mind, particularly during the lean years, that they grabbed whatever parts they could to get the order out the door. Having a background in manufacturing I can totally symphasize and have seen the same thing in other industries. The approach I'm going to use for my Celebrity project is to simply document as many as I can and have an ongoing registry on my website. In time, useful information will be occur. We'll just do the best we can and learn to appreciate these quaint little anomolies.

[Bigwave]

Yeah, I think you and Adam are right about the sloppy way serials were done on the guitars. Too bad they didn't do a neater job of it, but who would have thought it would matter 40+ years later. I had heard that during the heyday when they were producing alot of guitars, the pot numbers and serial numbers were fairly consistent. Makes sense, but its just heresay on the net and may not be actually have any basis in fact. Judging from the wide range of estimates on the number of slabbody Ventures II models produced during the "heyday", makes me wonder if we'll ever pinpoint anything!!
Regarding the sloppy way serial numbers were applied, does anyone know if serial numbers were required by law?? I mean, why bother even putting serials numbers on, unless required, and if required, are records required as well? Just a few random thoughts.