Mosrite Combo 6

Made in 1969, Bakersfield, Ca. 22 frets, Spruce Top, I suppose the body is maple or alder. one tone, one volume, two hot single coils, like p-90's on steroids, 11k ohm and 13k ohm. The body style is identical to the Joe Maphis, adding the f-hole. This one was made at the beginning of Mosrites first death, no Klusons here, but those "other" 1969 Mosrite pegs, screws diagonally opposed. 24.75(Les PAul) scale. skinny neck like a Ventures, but with more girth. Maple neck, Brazillian rosewood board. Mine pickups are wired out of phase, but will have this corrected soon.

*** Let me make this point: I don't just give "10's" because I bought something. 5 is average, 8 is above, 9 is exceptional, 10 is perfect. As we all know, nothing is perfect.

I play alt rock ala Dinosaur Jr., Urge Overkill, Afghan Whigs, mid-90's type. I became intrigued with this guitar after seeing an emerald-burst Combo featured in the 1995 UO album "Exit the Dragon". I was familiar at the time with only the Ventures model. I have now owned five Mosrites - two Ventures MK I, a combo, a brassrail and a Ventures bass. The Combo's pickups are wound slightly hotter than the Ventures, and it has a beefier sound, consequently. It sustains a little better as well. Spruce tops, while a norm on acoustic guitars, are rather unusual for semi's. This is the base of the combo's personality, along with it's unique shape. I wouldn't describe it as a "surf guitar" as I would a Ventures, Teisco, jazzmaster, or jaguar. It is hot, but more thickness in tone. It is such more suitable to pairing with el-84's (Vox). I have an Elk custom 30, with which it sounds great. When played through my Matchless clubman, it tends to be flabby and indistinct, when the volume and master aren't dimed out. Much of this is owed to the character of the clubman. It sounds solid with the volume at ten, but I would recommend not using this guitar with a high-gain amp, unless you have an attenuator, or the amp utilizes the el-84's in the power section. The Fisher design (trainwreck) is the attenuator that I use. An amp with alot of headroom is better, like the elk. As with most amps, the fulltone full drive is the driver of choice. The guitar gives powerful driving mids, good bass response, treble lacking at the neck position. Still, it is by far my favorite instrument and sounds better than the Ventures for nearly everthing, except "surf", that is to say, that it is more full than bright, at least in comparison with other Mosrites. The guitar will function as a jazz box and works great for blues once refretted. It is a relatively noisy guitar. Bottom line - el34's are not the best pairing for this amp, use the el84's or 6V6 - better yet, KT66's.

ALL MOSRITES NEED TO BE REFRETTED< PERIOD> they didn't have much frets to begin with, and after 30 plus years, you are destroying your irreplaceable Brazillian board by not refretting. Use Dutch wire - It fits well in the fret channel, is the same width as the original wire, yet has the height to protect the board. It is also EXTREMELY hard, and will not wear out nearly as quickly as cheaper wire. If the person who is refretting your Mosrite tries to talk you out of the Dutch, take it to someone else. THis wire is hard to work with and requires more patience with end dressing, crowning, and polishing. Other than Moseley's short-sightedness in regards to fretwire, the guitar is functionally a superior concept than a Fender or a Gibson. The binding and finish are still in great shape, other than the obligatory belt rash and checking.

My guitar has been well loved and played for many years prior to it coming into my possesion. The original hardware has some pitting, but remains fully functional. The original pots are gone. If you ever took a strap button off of a Mosrite, you would be amazed at the size of the screw used to anchor it. It is nearly the size of a neck bolt. The button isn't going anywhere. Never gig without a backup unless someone in the band is a stand-up comic.

Semie Mosely is gone, some off the old timers, like Bill Gruggett, Ed Elliott and Andy Moseley, are still around. Although I doubt that they will honor the warranty, they have a few parts and always answer questions truthfully and honestly. Gruggett was the supervisor of painting and is the master of refinishing.

I have owned 15= Les Pauls, about as many Fenders, a Teisco and a couple of PRS. THE PRS is a lifeless piece of wood. It does 100 things decently and not a single one great. Mosrites are one trick ponies, but it's a great trick. They turn heads, both visually and sonically. I have a friend who never will touch my Mosrites, he just looks at them and says "surf guitar" in a sarcastic manner. He also wears leather pants. You won't find a less-paul wielding, leather pants wearing dork playing one of these because they are too cool for these mindless drone poseurs to play. Let them keep on wanking while you play a real guitar. I protect my guitars with security dogs and firearms and as such don't worry much about theft - but be wary, people will try to steal these guitars, escpecially if you make it easy for them at a live venue.

This guitar was made in Bakersfield, CA in 1966. The neck of the guitar is quite thing and it has 22 frets which sit extremely close to the rosewood fretboard. The guitar has a solid top, 1 volume knob, 1 tone knob, a 3-way selector and two Mosrite humbuckers pickups.

The sound is awesome!! We play mostly alternapunk songs but some of our stuff is "folkish" and borderline country. Any style is great on this guitar. Its at its best when your using it to play 60's surf style music and blues/jazz. I'm currently using it with a Fender '65 twin reverb combo amp and a digi-tech RP-12 processor. When I turn the volume knob past 7 there seems to be short in the connection. Sometimes there is sound....sometimes not. This is not good when playing live but is easily corrected by leaving the volume at 4 or 5 and turning up the volume on the amp and processor. The dual humbuckers give the guitar a rich, warm sound but you can become a "trebel rebel" by changing the settings on the tone knob and the 3-way selector.

The action on this guitar is completely amazing. I have only played one other guitar that has even gotten close to this and that was a mosrite ventures model. The low frets allow you to fly over the neck. My cousin (a much better soloist than I) loves to play my guitar. I believe mosrites are not suitable for inexperienced guitarists or guitarist who don't have a good ear. If you are used to relying on the frets to tell you where you are instead of listening...you probably wouldn't like these guitars. Hamer-ons are simple and so are bends with the .10 gauge d'Addario strings. The only flaw I've found with this guitar (besides the short in the volume knob) is that the neck is loose. This...however...is due to it being knocked over by my nephew.

I use this guitar and this guitar only (no backups) when playing live. I assume the hardware will last...the guitar is over 30 years old and it still works great. There are some nicks in the finish now. I purchased the guitar at a pawn shop several years back and it hadn't been taken very good care of. The case was missing and there was a small chip in the paint. The strap buttons are solid and I feel that I can probably depend on this guitar for quite some time.

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