Vintage Bass Guitar – Mosrite Basses
Posted By admin on
The Mosrite saga is a rags to riches and then back to rags again story. Their major claim to fame was a vintage bass guitar called the Ventures Bass.
In The Beginning…
Mosrite was founded by brothers Semie and Andy Moseley in 1956 and they set up shop in Bakersfield, California. Prior to that, both brothers had worked at repairing guitars with Semie also working at Rickenbacker for $1 per hour.
Then, in 1954, Semie gained some notice when he built a triple-neck guitar (the shortest neck was a mandolin, the longest neck a guitar and the other neck was an octave guitar (one octave higher than normal tuning).
A friend of Semie’s, Reverend Ray Boatright, was impressed enough with the design of Moseley guitars that he invested in them. In appreciation, the company was named Mosrite (pronounced MOZE-rite) a combination of the last names of Boatright and Moseley.
In the beginning all their instruments were custom built and handmade and were known for high quality, narrow low fret necks and high output pickups. But a certain Mosrite guitar was about to hit the big time.
Walk, Don’t Run
The Moseley’s biggest break came when Semie sold one of his custom guitars to Nokie Edwards of Ventures fame in 1962, which led to a unique marketing and distribution deal.
From 1963 through 1968, not only did the Ventures exclusively use Mosrite instruments, they also became its global distributor. They even sold these guitars at their concerts. Considering that they were one of the most popular instrumental groups of the day, it’s no wonder why guitars and basses they played, endorsed and sold were so popular.
Unfortunately for Mosrite, its deal with the Ventures ended in 1968 and late that year they went bankrupt. The company would relocate, restart and close several more times throughout the following years until Semie’s death in 1992.
Today, The Fillmore Company, which is a Japanese firm, has the rights to the Mosrite trademark and produces reissues of vintage Mosrite models.
Basses
Without question, the Ventures Bass was Mosrite’s most successful vintage bass guitar. It was designed by Semie but even he admitted it was the same shape as the Fender Stratocaster except it was flipped around so that the longest horn was on the bottom.
The unique headstock had three notches carved into it to form an M. It was a short-scale 30 ¼” solid-body with a slanted single pickup (also available with two pickups) with a maple neck and rosewood fretboard.
Another vintage bass guitar was their Celebrity Bass which was also a short-scale 30 ¼” but with a double cutaway semi-hollow body with two f holes and two pickups. There was also the Joe Maphis Bass with specs similar to the Celebrity Bass except there were no f holes.
1966 Ventures Bass
1967 Celebrity Bass
1966 Joe Maphis Bass
But Mosrite also made unique custom guitars like the ones below that were made for the group Strawberry Alarm Clock.
Collectibility
A vintage Ventures Bass should run you anywhere from $2,000 – $2,500, although I’ve seen some dealers asking for $3,500.
A Celebrity Bass will run anywhere from $1,000 – $1,200 while a Joe Maphis Bass can go for $1,800 – $2,200.
As with any collectible, a vintage bass guitar is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. On average, however, these prices are what you can expect to spend on a vintage Mosrite bass in excellent condition with original parts.
[...] Read all about Mosrite at Vintage Bass Guitar. [...]