Editing Mosrite (section)

==History==

===Apprenticeship===
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Semie Moseley started playing guitar in an evangelical group in [[Bakersfield, California]], at age 13.<ref name="GP">Thompson, Art, [http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/mosrite-40th-anniversary/jan-07/24776  "Mosrite 40th Anniversary"], ''[[Guitar Player]]'' magazine, January 2007.</ref> He and his brother Andy experimented with guitars from their teen-age years, refinishing instruments and building new necks.<ref name="BC">Price, Robert, [https://web.archive.org/web/20080712034122/http://www.bakersfield.com/static/FP/baksound/mosrite.htm "The Man Behind the Mosrite"] (archived 2008 copy), ''[[The Bakersfield Californian]]''. Has biographical notes on Semie Moseley.</ref>

Semie 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, Semie 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 [[The Collins Kids|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 started their company, Mosrite of California. In gratitude to Reverend Boatright, Moseley named the company by combining his and Boatright's last names; the name is properly pronounced MOZE-rite, based on the pronunciation Semie Moseley used for his own name.<ref name=roberts>{{cite book|last=Roberts|first=James H.|title=American basses: an illustrated history & player's guide|year=2003|publisher=Hal Leonard|isbn=978-0-87930-721-9|page=128|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5lBKzcs746oC&pg=PA128}}</ref> Semie, 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.<ref name="BC"/>

[[File:Joe Maphis double-neck guitar by Semie Moseley - Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.jpg|thumb|left|170px|[[Joe Maphis]]'s double-neck by Mosrite]]
When they began, their production was all custom, handmade guitars, built in garages, tin storage sheds, wherever the Moseleys could put equipment.<ref name="BC"/>

In 1959, Andy moved to [[Nashville, Tennessee]], for a year to popularize the Mosrite name and sold a few, including to [[Grand Ole Opry]] entertainers and road musicians. Andy said: "And that’s how we kept the factory going at the time: custom guitars".<ref name="BC"/>

Moseley made guitars in Los Angeles until 1959, when he moved to [[Oildale, California]], just north of Bakersfield. In 1962, he moved his shop to Panama Lane where he designed and produced the first Joe Maphis model guitars, one model of which would eventually evolve into the "Ventures model" guitar and bass (Joe Maphis would later get a model of his own, similar to a Mosrite Combo model but without the [[F-hole]]). At this time, Mosrite made everything in-house, except for the tuners.<ref name=hunter/>

Mosrite pickups after the 50s usually came in several ways through Mosrite's history, none with metal casing; 1: the large single coil similar to (but not as long as) a P90, 2: a cheaper version of the first pickup that showed on cheaper models (Celebrity III, Mark V,) 3: a cheaper pickup only found on the first iteration of the Ventures II and 4: a Mosrite Humbucker mostly found on some 1970s models.

The full "The Ventures" line consisted of "the Ventures model" (as several versions: a 6 String Guitar, 4 String Bass, and 12 String Guitar - the "Mark I," "Mark X," and "Mark XII" versions, respectively,) "the Ventures II model" (of several versions,) and "the Ventures Mark V model." "The Ventures" line started in 1963 and ran through 1967 or 1968 when the licensing agreement with The Ventures ended.

At the peak of production, in 1968, Mosrite was making around 600 guitars per month.<ref name=roberts/>

===Bankruptcy and restart===
Mosrite of California went bankrupt in late 1968 after they contracted with the [[Thomas Organ Company]] to market their guitars. After this, they tried to deal directly with stores, and they sold 280 guitars in 1969 before they came to the shop one day in February and found their doors pad-locked.<ref name="BC"/> Two years after his bankruptcy, Semie was able to get back the Mosrite name, and in 1970 he started making guitars again in [[Pumpkin Center, Kern County, California|Pumpkin Center]] near [[Bakersfield, California|Bakersfield]]. He moved his factory three times in the next 20 years, to [[Oklahoma City]] in the mid-1970s, to the township of Jonas Ridge, in [[Burke County, North Carolina]], in 1981 (where a factory fire destroyed the operation,) and to [[Leachville, Arkansas]], in 1991.<ref name="BC"/>  Only one guitar was produced in Leachville and is now on display at the town's Melody Theater.

Though an acknowledged genius at guitar design and construction, Moseley lacked many basic skills necessary to be a good businessman, and thus the company fell on hard times repeatedly in the late 1960s and 1970s, 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, and since 2008 has been selling custom Mosrites via their website.

The company now has recently{{when|date=July 2011}} released the Semie Moseley Model '63 and '65, based on the Ventures models made in those two years. Both models are made to the exact specifications as the original models; they are 100% hand-made and were created to commemorate Semie Moseley.

Semie's daughter, Dana Moseley, is also a luthier and continues to build Mosrite guitars.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edroman.com/guitars/mosrite/dana-moseley.htm|title=Mosrite Guitars - Dana Moseley of Moseley Family|first=Ed|last=Roman|website=Edroman.com|access-date=3 October 2018}}</ref> She also helps kick off the monthly "Mosrite Jam" in Bakersfield.<ref>Munoz, Matt, [http://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/local/x914961517/Mos-rite-teous-Lovers-of-Bakersfield-guitar-ready-to-jam "Mos-rite-teous! Lovers of Bakersfield guitar ready to jam"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213052407/http://www.bakersfield.com/entertainment/local/x914961517/Mos-rite-teous-Lovers-of-Bakersfield-guitar-ready-to-jam |date=2011-02-13 }}, ''Bakotopia.com'', Wednesday, Feb 17 2010</ref>