Newbie, with some Celebrity questions

[JoeWP]

Hey All,
My name is Joe, I've been playing guitar for 14 years now, and may soon be the proud owner of a Celebrity semi-hollow. Now, I've never even seen the guitar but when I started playing guitar, I told a friend of my mothers, who is kind of a father to me, and he told me had a guitar in his parents basement that he bought in the 60's and didn't play much. Recently we talked about it again and decided it was a celebrity model. Today I was told I would be getting it soon, but that it has been in a basement for 40 years, and will probably need some repair. So the questions I have are:

1) He told me there was a lifetime warranty on the neck, should it be pulled out of the basement, with a warped neck, how would I go about getting this replaced?

2) The electronics could be in bad shape as well, where could I get new pickups if I cant just have the electronics cleaned?

Knowing that these are great guitars, I'm more than ready to sink some cash into getting it back into good shape, and would love any info I can get!

Thanks!
Joe

[Bushers]

I think you'll have to forget about the warranty! You have come to the right place to get all the info needed to get this 'back on the road'! There are many members that know a heck of alot about Mosrites and I think that as soon as you get your new aquisition, you should post pics and go from there, it'll be difficult to assess rework based on assumptions!

And before Danny or Dennis get to chime in, drop by the Introduction section of the forum and tell us a bit about yourself!!

Welcome to the forum Joe!

[dubtrub]

Unfortunately Semie Moseley the builder of that guitar passed away back in '92, otherwise he would certainly honor that warranty. I would bet that with a little trussrod adjustment, that neck could be made as straight as an arrow.

Pickups if needed are readily available from Ed Elliot who normally sells on eBay, is also a member of this forum and can be contacted via our personal message system.

Once you have it and are able to check it out, let us know and maybe we can help you get it up to standards.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Joe, any luck on you adopting the Celebrity???

[JoeWP]

Not yet, but soon, it's an odd situation, my friend needs to get basement access from his landlord, and the landlord doesn't live in town, but it should be just a few weeks.

I called Ed Roman the other day with a question about the nut, and weather or not I would be able to switch it around, because I'm left handed, and he told me "those are bad guitars, I've given them away for free, and I'm a store" Anyone know why he would say that? All the reviews I've read are more than positive.

Joe

[Dennisthe Menace]

Joe,
If Ed has any more left, tell him we will be glad to remove all remaining Celebrity's from the premises at no charge to him .
I myself, currently own a Celebrity I and a Celebrity III as well as a Combo (in case he meant hollow bodies ). Ocasionally,
I'll take these out on a Gig. I've never had any problems with them other than the Combo will sometimes "scream" feedback if
I'm too close to the amp. The Combo still has the Single Coil Pups and will be replaced with the Mosrite Humbuckers when I find a set.
The Celebrity I and III have the Mosrite Humbuckers........

[zak]

I called Ed Roman the other day.......and he told me "those are bad guitars, I've given them away for free, and I'm a store" Anyone know why he would say that?

Yeah, I know why he would say that. Ed Roman is a pompous butt, that's why. His name is synonymous with "feces" in at least a dozen languages. You shouldn't pay attention to anything he says, it is part of his adolescent fantasy about being George Gruhn.

As for the Celebrity, they're cool for what they are. I think the pickups are just too hot for those particular guitars, with my setup they just want to feed back at stage volume. I think that hollowbodies with bolt-on necks are an inherently flawed design, structurally the neck/body joint is always going to be a weak spot. One good hit can push the block of wood that the neck screws into through the back, popping the back off the sides or worse - splitting the back open. A hollowbody with a glued-in neck is more likely to break at the glue joint, particularly older guitars held together with hide glue - it is very unlikely that they'll take any wood with them when they break. Having said that, Ed Roman is still an butt.

[JoeWP]

Well, thats good to know! Some of the music I play live is finger style, but with loops and delay (think John Fahey, or Leo Kottke with effects) so the delay may pose an issue, but I like noise and feedback too. I will probably also be changing out the pickups, if they are in bad shape, with the E.F. Elliott's.

And yeah, Ed did sound a little pompous, glad it wasn't just me.

[Dennisthe Menace]

Joe WP posted:

I will probably also be changing out the pickups, if they are in bad shape, with the E.F. Elliott's.

Joe, if you are going to change them out, MAKE SURE you order the Humbucker Version from E.F. Elliott.
Because there's nothing wrong with the Mosrite pickups other than they are Single Coil, and changing them
out to Elliotts Single Coil actually will not change a thing. There's nothing wrong with feedback, as long as it's
a "controlled" feedback (Feedback that you want).
The Single Coils and a Hollow or Semi-Hollow Body combined do not make 'great neighbors' at a loud volume.
Just my two and a half 'sense.'

[JoeWP]

Thanks for that, I'll do that! I guess I can just find them on Ebay?