My wife would kill me, then divorce me, then kill me again.

[Greg_L]

I don't understand why you are so gaga over Mosrite guitars.

Then just keep on not understanding. No big deal to me.

[ocnor]

I don't understand why you are so gaga over Mosrite guitars.

Then just keep on not understanding. No big deal to me.

No big deal to me either. I was just having a bit of fun and friendly banter same as you.

[vomitHatSteve]

Does some famous punk weirdo play one of those or something?

Did... did you read the thread? Or listen to any of Greg's recordings ever?

[miroslav]

I'll never spend that much on a guitar.

This is where my head is at too.
It would take a serious lottery win for me to start dropping that kind of cash on guitars...even if they were owned by someone famous...

...but yeah, I can appreciate the appeal of something that defines a lot of what you do and how you do it.

[Greg_L]

This is where my head is at too.
It would take a serious lottery win for me to start dropping that kind of cash on guitars...even if they were owned by someone famous...

...but yeah, I can appreciate the appeal of something that defines a lot of what you do and how you do it.

Well since it came up, here's my deal with Mosrites...

When I was a kid, my dad had these surf records, some of them being The Ventures. I was completely enthralled with these surf guitar instrumentals. My friends listened to Quiet Riot and Van Halen. I listened to The Ventures and Dick Dale. I didn't know they were "oldies". I didn't understand the concept of oldies. To me it was just a record. It could have been brand new music for all I knew at the time. I just knew it didn't sound like spandex big hair rock. So I'd sit and listen and look at the album covers. My knowledge of guitars at that point consisted of Strats, Les Pauls, and Angus Young's devil-horn guitar. I didn't even know it was an SG. Anyway, back to The Ventures, they all played these weird backwards looking guitars. They definitely weren't Les Pauls, but they kind of looked like melted Strats to me. I thought they looked cool and definitely different. They weren't pointy or tiger striped like all the shit I saw on MTV. Again, I didn't know the stuff I was looking at and listening to was already 20 years old at that point. I was just a kid. Anyway, fast forward a few years and I discovered punk rock and the Ramones. The Ramones grabbed me by my soul just like those oldies records did. So I got into the Ramones and loved the guitar sound so much. It was different. It was powerful. I'd been into the Ramones for a long time before I ever saw a picture of Johnny's guitar, and goddamn it was another one of those oddball looking backwards guitars. It had to be a sign! The two types of music that had the biggest impact on me featured the same weirdo fucking guitars. Mosrite. So from that point on I just understood that there's something about those guitars that resonates with me on some deep level and I really like them. As time went on I found that the Mosrite was used on a lot of other stuff I like. MC5, the Stooges, other punk weirdo stuff, etc. It's just that simple.

[rayc]

Cool Mosrite guitar but silly price.
Stev Vai's heart? Well, I need only repeat Steve Vai.

[Lt. Bob]

of course, for me, that's not the Mosrite I would want.
I would want the regular with the german carve (right name? ) that was like the bass I had.

To me they're beautiful .... this one that greg likes because JR played one is like Mosrite said, "What would be a cheap way of turning out our guitars?" .... just a slab with no woodworking involved.
I like it ok but it doesn't trigger my desire glands.

whereas a Mosrite like the one greg has makes me drool.

[ocnor]

This is where my head is at too.
It would take a serious lottery win for me to start dropping that kind of cash on guitars...even if they were owned by someone famous...

...but yeah, I can appreciate the appeal of something that defines a lot of what you do and how you do it.

Well since it came up, here's my deal with Mosrites...

When I was a kid, my dad had these surf records, some of them being The Ventures. I was completely enthralled with these surf guitar instrumentals. My friends listened to Quiet Riot and Van Halen. I listened to The Ventures and Dick Dale. I didn't know they were "oldies". I didn't understand the concept of oldies. To me it was just a record. It could have been brand new music for all I knew at the time. I just knew it didn't sound like spandex big hair rock. So I'd sit and listen and look at the album covers. My knowledge of guitars at that point consisted of Strats, Les Pauls, and Angus Young's devil-horn guitar. I didn't even know it was an SG. Anyway, back to The Ventures, they all played these weird backwards looking guitars. They definitely weren't Les Pauls, but they kind of looked like melted Strats to me. I thought they looked cool and definitely different. They weren't pointy or tiger striped like all the shit I saw on MTV. Again, I didn't know the stuff I was looking at and listening to was already 20 years old at that point. I was just a kid. Anyway, fast forward a few years and I discovered punk rock and the Ramones. The Ramones grabbed me by my soul just like those oldies records did. So I got into the Ramones and loved the guitar sound so much. It was different. It was powerful. I'd been into the Ramones for a long time before I ever saw a picture of Johnny's guitar, and goddamn it was another one of those oddball looking backwards guitars. It had to be a sign! The two types of music that had the biggest impact on me featured the same weirdo fucking guitars. Mosrite. So from that point on I just understood that there's something about those guitars that resonates with me on some deep level and I really like them. As time went on I found that the Mosrite was used on a lot of other stuff I like. MC5, the Stooges, other punk weirdo stuff, etc. It's just that simple.

Ok, now I get where you are coming from. I'm quite a bit older than you so I grew up listening to much different music. The bands that I listened to played traditional style instruments. The weirdest guitars that I saw as a kid were the flying v and the explorer. I had never even heard of Mosrite until I saw your posts about them.

[Greg_L]

Ok, now I get where you are coming from. I'm quite a bit older than you so I grew up listening to much different music. The bands that I listened to played traditional style instruments. The weirdest guitars that I saw as a kid were the flying v and the explorer. I had never even heard of Mosrite until I saw your posts about them.

See, I really like Vs and Explorers because I can look at them now with their history in mind. They had to be shocking as hell in the 50s. They were way ahead of their time. I dig that.

The history of Mosrite is very strange and kind of sad and tragic. Semie Mosley was seemingly a nice, genuine good dude that had the worst business sense ever. Poor guy struggled for decades. He made one bad business move after another. But he hand-made iconic guitars played by iconic people that lurked just outside of the mainstream. Most of his guitars were used for country pickin and surf music, but they also found their way into 60s garage rock and punk. Nowadays any original Mosrite is worth a pretty penny.