The Mosrite Guitar Company

Mosrite's were well known for design, engineering, and very thin, low-fretted and narrow necks, and high output pickups.

Moseley's design for the Ventures, known as the "Ventures Model" (later known as the "Mark I") was generally considered to be the flagship of the line, but all of his guitars bore his unmistakable touch.

Mosrite also produced an unusual double-necked guitar, which was the type favored by Collins and Maphis; this design was also used by Nick Nastos, lead guitar player for Bill Haley & His Comets, during 1968.

Semie Moseley began building guitars in the Los Angeles area around 1952 or 1953. He began by apprenticing at the Rickenbacker factory, where he learned much of his guitar making skills from Roger Rossmeisl, a German immigrant who brought old-world luthier techniques into the modern electric guitar manufacturing process.

One of the recognizable features on almost all Mosrites is the "German Carve" on the top that Moseley learned from Rossmeisl. Around the same time, Moseley apprenticed with Paul Bigsby in Downey, California, the man who made the first modern solid-body guitar for Merle Travis in 1948, and who invented the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece, which is still used today.

Moseley made guitars in Los Angeles until 1959, when he moved to Oildale, California, just north of Bakersfield. He moved his shop to Panama Lane in 1962 where he designed and produced the first Ventures Model guitars.

The red Mosrite in the photo is an official Ed Roma/Mosrite, USA 2009 reissue. A real Mosrite. I can't sell you one of these but Ed Roman can! Look for a price tag when you call, in the neighborhood of $3500 to $5500 depending on the model.

Though a genius at guitar design and construction, Moseley lacked many basic skills necessary to be a good businessman, and the company fell on hard times repeatedly in the late 1960s and 1970's, but continued to produce Mosrite guitars until 1993 in North Carolina and Arkansas.

Most of them were exported to Japan, where their popularity remained very strong. The quality of the instruments always remained very respectable. Semie Moseley died in 1992. His wife Loretta continued to produce Mosrites a year or so after his death.

Kurt Cobain's Mosrite Gospel Guitar (one of only two 'Mark IV gospels', the other is owned by his daughter Michelle Moseley) was featured in an online auction by Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas, TX, fetching $131,450.00.

Davie Allan - Davie Allan And The Arrows
Kurt Dräckes - The Sewergrooves & The Royal Cream
Nokie Edwards - The Ventures the guitar is on the front page!
Johnny Ramone - The Ramones
Tommy Tedesco
Joe Maphis - Wanda Jackson, Ricky Nelson and others.
Arthur Lee - Love
Buck Trent
Nick McCarthy - Franz Ferdinand
Kurt Cobain - Nirvana
Jimi Hendrix - Used a Fuzzrite pedal.

Vibramute Tremelo
The Vibramute Tremelo consists of a solid cast metal base, a string stop connected to a tremelo arm lifted by a large spring. There is also a Roller Matic bridge. Each string sits atop a raised post with individual string rollers. This allows for the tension between the string stop and bridge to stay equal to the tension between the bridge and nut which helps with guitar stay in tune and reduces string wear when using the tremelo.

Body
The body of Mosrite guitars are shaped so that the lower horn of the body is longer than the upper. Many Mosrite Guitars have a beveled edge around the body called a "German carve". The Gospel models have a unique flat face body with rounded edges.

Neck
Mosrite necks are narrow and thin. They have thin frets and a "zero fret." The head of the neck has a the lower outline of the letter "M" towards the top of the guitar.