Mosrite was an American guitar manufacturing company, established in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, He and his brother Andy experimented with guitars from their teenage years, refinishing instruments and building new necks.

Moseley began building guitars in the Los Angeles area around 1952 or 1953, apprenticing at the Rickenbacker factory. There 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 most recognizable features on most Mosrite guitars is the "German Carve" on the top that Moseley learned from Rossmeisl. During 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.

Mosrite founded

In 1954, Moseley built a triple-neck guitar in his garage (the longest neck was a standard guitar, the second-longest neck an octave higher, the shortest was an eight-string mandolin). He presented a double-neck to Joe Maphis, a Los Angeles-area TV performer of country music. He also made several similar twin-neck guitars (with the performer's name inlaid into the neck) for Maphis' protegé, the child prodigy guitarist Larry Collins, who still owns his three Mosrite twin-necks. By 1956, with an investment from Ray Boatright, a local Los Angeles Foursquare Gospel minister, Semie and Andy Moseley started their company, Mosrite of California. In gratitude to Reverend Boatright, they named the company by combining their last names; the name is properly pronounced MOZE-rite, based on the pronunciation of Moseley. Moseley, who built guitars for the L.A.-based Rickenbacker company, told his co-workers that he was making his own product and was fired by Rickenbacker.

  • Merle Haggard
  • Joe Maphis
  • Buck Owens

References

Further reading

  • Landers, Rick; Brennan, Tim, "The Story of Mosrite Guitars, Part One". Modern Guitars magazine, January 18, 2005
  • Price, Robert, "The Man Behind the Mosrite" (archived 2008 copy), The Bakersfield Californian. Has biographical notes on Semie Moseley.
  • Official website (archived, March 12, 2013)
  • Mosrite guitars on Ed Roman website
  • The Mosrite Gospel guitar, North American Instruments, 2000. With some personal notes on its builder.
  • "Mosrite History", Tym Guitars, Australia.
  • "Mosrite Forum" (Fan site for Mosrite enthusiasts)
  • "Mosrite Celebrity" (Fan site for the Mosrite Celebrity models)
  • Andy Moseley Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (2012)