Emanuel Ravelli Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 I'm an old dude (61), but as soon as I got out of the Marines, I bought a starburst Mosrite "Ventures Model" guitar. To this day, I believe that except for the stupid ultra-narrow "speed neck" that Semie Mosley put on those guitars, they were designed beautifully! They would never stay in tune, which is why everyone, including myself, sold theirs for Strats and Teles. I bought a '68 Tele, which I play today, and just ordered a Squier Telewannabe ($150) to play while I locate someone that can perform surgical magic on my tele neck, which needs fret work so bad, the 1st "e" actually slides off the edge of the neck, to the point where I almost have to "bend" notes to keep the "e" on pitch. In any event, I'll always miss owning a Mosrite, if for no other reason, they were cool looking! I love the look of Teles, because they are the opposite of Mosrites, in that they look like they're made from a couple pieces of plywood glued together. I was playing my Tele in a music store one day a couple hundred years ago, and a dude and his mom came in to rent an electric guitar for th' kid. After a few seconds of hearing me play, I heard her say to her son something about: "Playing like that, you'd think he'd own a good guitar. Her son said "Mom, that IS a good guitar!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butnut Posted September 2, 2003 Report Share Posted September 2, 2003 Great story...I got bit hard by the Tele bug and now I'm obsessed with modding them...check out www.telemodders.com The profiles has stories and pics of some great Tele mods. Is your low E and high E the same distance from the edge of the neck? If the low E is hoggin' some space, you can loosen the 4 neck screws, push or pull the neck towards the direction to give more neck under the high E and tighten the screws. This is the first thing I do after painting and putting together the neck and parts after throwing on a new set of strings. Could be your neck just shifted over time...'68 Tele? Man, I'd love to own a nice original...BTW, that kid had great tastes...Tele's have a special appeal. I always compare the Strat to Ginger, sexy, curvy...Tele is Mary Ann, solid body country gal.. could never decide, so I got 'em both. I never got into the Mosrites, they seem to have a strong loyalty and following too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emanuel Ravelli Posted September 3, 2003 Author Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 Butnut: Thanks for the advice. Certainly worth a try. And thanks for the Tele website. I'd say Johnny Atomic is definitely "out there!" His Tele reminds me of the control knob labels Bo Didley has on his Rocket V: "Turbo Thrust" and "Power Take Off" which he probably peeled off the dash of a Caterpillar road grader, but hey!...That be Bo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
butnut Posted September 3, 2003 Report Share Posted September 3, 2003 No problemo...yeah, Johnny is a mod maniac and has inspired my mod fever. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted September 5, 2003 Report Share Posted September 5, 2003 I found a '60s Mosrite Ventures model Bass during a dumpster dive a few years back. It had a broken truss rod nut and the electronics didn't work. I threw it in the closet for a year or so, then I decided to put it on ebay for the hell of it, It sold for just a hair shy of $1300.00 US. Pretty profitable piece of junk I'd say Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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