MOSRITE BASS - SOME SUPERFICIAL OBSERVATIONS

[Haole Jim]

Man, this is a beaucoup hip thread. Thanks Veenture and all.

'Am church bassist and use an old lawsuit Ibanez Thunderbird IV clone-except-bolt-not-through-neck bought used in '82 (157 Masses and services to date in not quite 3 years), and really have a half-Jones for a Mosrite bass. 'See them at shows around Chicago maybe 2-3 instruments per year.

Any owners want to hum a few bars about thir playability, clean sound, all that jive? Are they all short scale?

Our church (modern wood and brick 1500-seat) seems to like the boomier 34" scale much mo' betta than short, tho.

[ChazDaSpaz]

OMG!! That is one of the most beautiful basses I've ever seen. Looks new old stock (I assume it's authentic). Just amazing.
Wonder how much it sold for?

[jfine]

In the early-to-mid-'70's I worked with a bass player who had a single-pickup Ventures bass with a toggle switch next to the volume knob--the only one I've ever seen like that. Neither of us could figure out what it did--it looked just like a normal Switchcraft 3-position pickup selector, but it only had two positions. The volume was cut slightly in one position--was it a coil tap? A tone control bypass? Neither of us knew--he always set it in the louder position, and kept the tone control up full. He said the switch was original, and that he'd bought the bass new in the mid-'60's. By '74, he was getting tired of the warmer (some would say "muddy") tone of the single neck pickup, and he bought a Mosrite Stereo 350 bass, but kept the Ventures Model too, and the following year he bought a new Fender Jazz Bass. Last time I had any contact with him, about 12 years ago, he still had the Ventures bass, but had retired it and was playing the Jazz. Somewhere, I've got some pics of our old band--if I can find them, I'll try to post them.

[Elliot Easton]

When we zoom in on the bass Bob Bogle is holding we not only see the two pick-ups on it but also a third (!) control knob -undoubtedly to serve as tone control for the newly added bridge pick-up. Notice too, the absence still of a tone switch near the treble horn.

i would have thought the third knob would have been a second volume, giving the bass separate volume controls, no?

[Elliot Easton]

Since Veenture's thoughtful thread became mildly hijacked, I thought I'd attempt to revive it. Within the past few months no less than TWO bound sidejack basses turned up for sale in Japan. The pics are definitely worth adding to the site's reference materials.

Adam

whoa. it's amazing how photos like these bring me right back to being a 10 year old in 1964. magical, really.

[JimPage]

Gosh, that bass is beautiful. I can't believe I used to own one, and then got POed when our band broke up that I sold it.

I keep bugging Bob Shade to start making a Hallmark 60 Custom bass, so maybe one day he will.

--Jim

[MWaldorf]

When we zoom in on the bass Bob Bogle is holding we not only see the two pick-ups on it but also a third (!) control knob -undoubtedly to serve as tone control for the newly added bridge pick-up. Notice too, the absence still of a tone switch near the treble horn.

i would have thought the third knob would have been a second volume, giving the bass separate volume controls, no?

I agree, it's probably wired like a Fender Jazz Bass. Of course, given the great driving sound Bob got from the single pickup models, the extra pickup was superfluous, really.

And that sidejack bass, wow!

[Elliot Easton]

Hey Mel, off topic, is that a Fender Bass VI that you're playing in some of your band's videos?

[MWaldorf]

Hey Mel, off topic, is that a Fender Bass VI that you're playing in some of your band's videos?

No, it was a Jaguar baritone that I "VI'ed up", below. Sadly, it was stolen at Bay To Breakers in 2008. I had installed a Fender floating tremolo, three AVRI Jag pickups and a thin switch, and had a Fender mute ready to install when it got swiped. I had it tuned B-B and it was a twangy machine. I've since switched to using an octave pedal for live stuff - it's one less thing to shlep, and to keep an eye on.

*edit* helps to put in the reference image...


Bringing this back to Mosrite basses, there are at least two Mosrite six string basses that I know of, wouldn't that be cool!

[Elliot Easton]

Bringing this back to Mosrite basses, there are at least two Mosrite six string basses that I know of, wouldn't that be cool!

I hope you're sitting down-bet you never saw this one!


Yes, Semie built this, the only 5-string Mosrite bass that I know of, for Ben Orr. Way. It was a matching set of 3 guitars-mine was a red 3 pickup hardtail! I wish I had a photo of that one and also the blue Mark I he made for me: on the shaded blue headstock, instead of a Ventures logo he created one especially for me. It had my name but the 2 E's of my first and last names were speakers with blaring sound waves coming out! Man, I wish I'd kept that one!