Mosrite Celebrity with Vibramute!

[Bigwave]

Thats soooo cool that you have located another prototype!! Love the story about the customers birthday as a serial number! Goes to show you that Semie probably was not at all that concerned about serial numbers. Great job Sarah...ain't the internet cool, people just pop up after reading something you post and adds more to the knowledge base. And lost & forgotten guitars pop back up into the public view again.

[Veenture]

Cool development Sarah, I'm just wondering about the bone/plastic string guide you mentioned; could it be the fruits of an attempted (private or "after market") replacement due to the loss perhaps of the original metal one
Yep, 'would love to see pictures if and when when they do come in.

[Sarah93003]

I'll share the pictures when I get them. He sent me one image but the resolution isn't high enough for me to zoom in. I have a ton of questions for him that I hope he answers.

He told me that Semie "gave" him the guitar when they met. He said Semie used a claw hammer and a numbered punch set to put his birthdate into the fretboard. This was at Livingstons Bait Shop at Lake Chiot in Lake Village, Arkansas. He said it was in 1966. I can't mention his name without permission, but he said he was the original guitarist for Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs and used this Celebrity when recording Wooly Bully and Little Red Riding Hood.

I can tell from the first photo that there are a lot of differences between his prototype and mine. For example, his has the two piece maple neck, whereas mine has the one piece mahogany.

His has a control panel with three little toggle switches to select between the bridge pickup, neck pickup, or both pickups, and one switch to change the polarity of one of the pickups. Mine does not have a control plate at all.

His has the smaller F holes and they were hand bound instead of the injection molded pieces. Mine has the larger F holes that were also hand bound.

His has two humbucking pickups, but evidently they came much later when Gene Moles sent them to him in the early to mid 1970's.

His guitar originally came with back skirted knobs with a chrome crown on top. Gene Moles also sent him a pair of the Mosrite M knobs. He does still have one of the original knobs and I've asked for a photo of it.

At first glance, I am thinking this may have been the prototype for the K series Celebrity-III's. I will know much more once I can study the photographs.

I am also thinking that there were more than the first five prototypes and that would make sense. As the Celebrity changed over time it would make sense that Semie would have made at least one prototype of it. So, in that line of thinking, there may be prototype Gospels, Mosrite Dobros, the humbucking models of 1973.

A man contacted me through my website and said he had a prototype Gospel. At first I dismissed it as a partsrite guitar, but maybe I should reexamine that. He also said he got it directly from Semie. So, were these "one off" guitars made by Semie, or were they truly prototypes. There may be a fine line there and I'm no expert to tell the difference.

[Sarah93003]

Here is a little update on how they met.

This man was a friend of a guy named Ronnie Bruce, a guitar player from Bakersfield. Ronnie is somehow related to Semie. So, this guy was visiting with Ronnie and Semie happened to pull up in his car. This is that place in Arkansas that I mentioned previously. Anyway, Ronnie and Semie start jamming on guitars and this guy didn't have one because his modified Duo Sonic had been recently stolen. When Semie heard this, he went to his car and came back with a Celebrity and told the guy it was a prototype and told him to check it out.

They played for a while and Semie left. He came back after a few minutes with his number stamp set and a hammer and said since it did not have a serial number that he would put the guys birthdate on the fretboard. This guy was just sort of stunned and Semie left. He told his friend Ronnie that Semie had just drove away and forgot his guitar. Ronnie said, "No he didn't forget, that's just what he does. It's yours now".

So, that is how he came about owning the guitar.

[Veenture]

What a wonderful story Sarah, that's what you get for having such an interest in Mosrite Celebrity guitars! Thanks

[stl80]

Good story.
Jim

[Dennisthe Menace]

Good story.
Jim

Ditto!