Mosrite was an American guitar manufacturing company, based in Bakersfield, California, from the late 1950s to the early 1990s. Founded by Semie Moseley, Mosrite guitars were made famous by many rock and roll and country artists, such as the Ramones, .…
Mosrite guitars were known for innovative design, high-quality engineering, very thin, low-fretted and narrow necks, and extremely hot (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.
Another important guitar was the Joe Maphis Doublenech guitar (also known as the Mosrite MARK XVIII) between 1961 and 1969. It was similar to the Joe Maphis single neck model except it had an extra 12 string neck. A 4 string bass neck was also an option on this model as was a mandolin neck. While working for Rickenbacker in the '50s, Mosrite founder Semie Moseley created a triple-necked guitar prototype. Eventually, he was approached by Joe Maphis to build a double-necked version, and the model that resulted was put into regular production in the '60s. The 6-string/12-string Joe Maphis Mark XVIII was similar the popular Ventures model, complete with dual high-output pickups for each neck, and a vibramute tremolo system on the 6-string portion.
