Vintage guitar of the week #5 - 1966 Mosrite The Ventures Model

This week's feature vintage axe is a mighty Mosrite.

For most who read my blog regularly, you probably don't know the Mosrite brand, but they do have a... how should I say... "interesting" history.

Here's the short version of the interesting part:

The Ventures, who had a steady stream of surf rock hits in the 1960s, originally played Fender Jazzmaster and Stratocaster guitars. Mosrite comes along with the "Mark 1" model and specifically named it "The Ventures Model." Above is one of those guitars.

When you look at the listings for this guitar, you will see in plain sight a decal right on the headstock that states it definitely is a The Ventures Model Mosrite guitar.

From '63 to '68, The Ventures very prominently stated on their album covers that yes, they "exclusively" used Mosrite guitars. Whether they actually did is a source of debate.

However, after the contract agreement ended with the guitar company, they went straight back to using Fender guitars...

...but that doesn't mean that the Mosrite isn't a fantastic guitar.

This is what a Mosrite is supposed to sound like:

A Mosrite is one seriously gritty, seriously twangy, seriously awesome sounding axe. It doesn't sound like a Gibson with P90s, it doesn't sound like a Strat, it doesn't sound like a Jazzmaster. It sounds like a Mosrite.

You can push a Mosrite through a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp and it will totally have a "golden tone" to it. Just the guitar and the amp are all that's needed.

Also, a Mosrite axe works insanely well with a fuzz effect.

The nice thing about the guitar mentioned above is that even though it's a '66, it is a pick-up-and-play guitar. Said another way, you can actually play the thing and not worry about it.

Yes, it has a wacky body shape, but it's a real easy player. And if you know how to wield its hot-output pickups properly (yes, they were high-output, even in '66) and push it through the right amp, this guitar sings.

On a final note, there is something about a Mosrite that's absolutely true: It is very difficult to recreate what one sounds like using aftermarket parts. While it's stupidly easy to recreate the vintage tones of Strat, Tele, Les Paul or what-have-you, recreating the Mosrite sound is, at best, a challenge. Sometimes you just need the real thing to get the real sound. And Mosrite is one of the very few electrics where I can say only a Mosrite sounds like a Mosrite.

Published 2015 Aug 8