Mosrite questions

[philharmonic]

Hello,

I have a few general questions about Mosrites. I am new to this forum, and to the whole Mosrite / vintage guitar world in general. I recently inherited two 67' ish Mosrites, and I am already in love with them. I feel like I pulled the sword from the stone - like these instruments were meant to fall into my hands. They have been sitting in a closet for 10 years or more.

One of the guitars is a Combo and the other is an original Ventures model. The Combo is with me and the Vetures model is a thousand miles away. The Combo is in great shape. I cleaned it up and I am playing it, very gently I might add. I feel that something of beauty should played and not stuffed in a closet. I would even eventually like to use it on stage, but for right now it's a couch guitar.

First question, should I get insurance for these guitars? I'm not even sure what they are worth but just from browsing ebay it seems like they are not cheap. Who offers this sort of insurance?

Second, I know that refinishing lowers the value of these guitars, but what about touching up? There is a world-class luthier close to me that can do it. Also, the Venture's model is in peices. I want to restore it to playability. Do I need to only buy 1967 vintage parts to stay virtuous or what's the standard there? I know it needs a pickup, which means electrical work. Any advice will help here.

I bought a humidifier for the case. Do I need it? I flew the guitar from the swamps of Chicago to the arid plains of Colorado. I didn't want the the wood to suffer a shock. The guitar was so damp when i got it that the strings were rusting. Strings don't rust out here in Colorado.

What's the deal with truss rod? Is it on the body side? I don't think I will touch it but I want to know.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to being part of the Mosrite club.

[oipunkguy]

hey,

congrats on the mosrites. I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can. I have never gotten insurance on any of my guitars, but it might be a good idea. I'm not sure what insurance company you would go with. if you keep them at home, maybe include it as part of your home owners insurance but I'm really not sure.

as for touching up the finish, it just depends on what it is. generally my feeling is if it aint broke don't fix it. I'm a refinisher myself, and I'd rather save a finish on a vintage instrument every time before I refinish. if the touch ups aren't real noticeable I would just leave it be. can you post up pics on here for members to see???

as for the missing pickup, really there is no standard. I would think it would be worth more as a guitar if you replaced it with an old pickup but it might take you some time to find one. there's other places to get mosrites pickups too, like Ed Elliot on this forum is a former mosrite employee and he makes replacement mosrite pickups. he's as good as any place to get a pickup. installing the pickup would be easy, your luthier should be able to handle that no problem if you didn't want to tackle it yourself.

as for the humidity issue, generally solid body electrics don't have as much of an issue with this as acoustics, but I would be a little concerned about the change as well. in the meantime i would use the humidifier, but I'm a little concerned about the rust. you don't want the metal parts on the guitar to rust as well.

access to truss rods on 67 mosrites are under the truss rod cover on the headstock, generally this cover is a thin piece of black pickguard material shaped like a spade held on with two small screws. if you don't have access there, it will be at the other end of the neck, and you'll probably have to take the neck off to access it. if this is the case, and if it's a real semie made mosrite (not a japanese version) then this guitar dates closer to 1965.

hope this helps. and please post pics!!!

[philharmonic]

Thank You Aaron,

Here are some pictures of the combo. I will be getting the Venture's model in about a week.







Here are the only problems with the guitar - small cracks in the finish

[Veenture]

Thank You Aaron,

Here are some pictures of the combo. I will be getting the Venture's model in about a week.

Good pictures philharmonic and what a BEAUT she is, cracks 'n all... (now where's my magnifying glass?) heh, heh
...look forward to pics of the Ventures model!

[oipunkguy]

hey phil,

sweet combo model. it looks like it's in great condition for it's age. the redburst was a rarer color from mosrite, which may make this guitar more valuable in the future. I would definitely use a humidifier with a guitar like this.
as for the scratches, what I would recommend is for you to just color them in using a black sharpie marker. when you use the marker on the crack make sure you have a soft and clean cotton cloth on your hand so you can wipe off the access while the marker ink is still wet to not have any dry on the finish. this is a simple cosmic fix that anyone can do, and I use it in my shop all the time. considering you have a 40 plus year old guitar I would say the finish is at a 9. so if it was me, I would not attempt touching up the finish other then what I mentioned with the marker.
also I noticed you were missing an acorn nut on the low e bridge saddle. you can get replacements at home depot for a set of six for a buck. I'll get back to you with the part number tomorrow, I have at my shop written down
keep the pics coming, hope I've helped.
cheers,
Aaron

[oipunkguy]

hey phil,
here's that part number, i found a pic i had saved on my computer.

[philharmonic]

Thanks again Aaron,

I've since abandoned the idea to mess with the finish of this guitar. There's really not a whole lot that needs to be done with this one - other than the part that you mentioned. The Venture's model however is in peices and needs a lot of TLC. Like I said I will post photos as soon as I get it. Unfortunately, I am thinking about selling the Ventures model because I lost my job as a carpenter and I can't seem to find another one. I hope things turn around for me before I am forced to do that though.

[philharmonic]