Mosrite Johnny Ramone Signature Model

This model is not the "Signature" model, but the "standard" Johnny Ramone model....it does not have "Ramones" and Johnny's signature on the headstock. Everything else seems to be the same. So, by now everyone interested in these knows the deal. These are the made in Japan, Fillmore Mosrite clones, and now they appear to only be sold thru Ed Roman Guitars. Supposedly some of them are made in USA (the signature models??), but not this one.

What can you say, it sounds great when cranked thru a Marshall. But I would guess that a mexican strat, equipped with the Duncan pickup used here, would give you the same sound for $1600 less. It just wouldn't LOOK as cool.

Very pleased. The action is super low and it plays like butter.
If you look very closely at an angle, you can see some very small divets in the paint. Otherwise, gorgeous pure white.

Bought it more as a collectible. I mean, hey, i'm as old as Johnny was when he quit.

Don't know. Was shipped promply and definitely was set up because it played great right out of the case.

The bottom line is that these are WAY WAY WAY overpriced for essentially a Japanese knock-off. It's the novelty of them. I saw even the CASE, which is a cheapo $70 case but has "RAMONES" on it, is selling for $475. An equivalent MIJ Jackson Rhoads I bought for $1000, which is where this should be. I wonder what the real McCoy's go for...I haven't seen ANY anywhere..ebay, Gbase..nada.
But the thing is, if you want the guitar Johnny Ramone played, this is the only game in town, and you gotta pay the piper, who in this case is Ed Roman! It's also cool that there are very few of them around...and who knows how much longer they'll be around. I go to guitar shows and there are thousands of strats and Pauls, I don't see one Mosrite, old or new. It's just a cool axe, so I went for it, and hopefully it will keep it's value....but since it's not a "real" Mosrite...I doubt it. Every axe I buy, I say it will be the last one...25 axes later, who am I fooling??

Purchased from Loudguitars.net which is one of only
3 or 4 dealers in the the USA that carry these guitars.
Before ordering this guitar I did a lillte bit of Mosrite
Research and determined that if you are going to buy one
of these or any new Mosrite Guitar for that matter visit
Loudguitars.net or Edromanguitars.com. Most of the other
dealers are selling unauthorized cheapo ba lepo copies.
(See Edromanguitars.com then got to Mosrite and you
will understand). This guitar was purchased from
loudguitars.net the guys name is Paul Grimes and he will
go out of his way to get you the mosrite that you want.

This is SN0019 out of 22 White Body W/Black Pickgaurd
Basswood Body, Maple Neck, Rosewood Fingerboard W/Chrome Nut
Seymore Duncan Minihumbucker at the neck
Dimarzio FS1 at the bridge, 1 volume, 1 tone, 3 way switch
Mosrite roller bridge W/stop tail piece
Real Grover Tuners.
The Case is pretty cool, black tolex W/Ramones Eagle Logo
on it, also included is a Ramones Badge, Pick, and Certificate

This guitar Rocks and the range of tones is pretty
darn wide. I have never played aguitar with such a
unique tone control. The thing to note here is that
there are 2 completly differnt pickups and I have
found that when using the neck pickup the tone can
get very bright with the tone turned up. At about
2-3 the tone is very smooth and plays pretty clean,
sort of like a Tele Custom Sound, great for clean
to moderate gain sounds. Switching over to the Bridge
pickup things change, the Bridge pickup starts out
as a Dimarzio FS1 but i'm told that they do some kind
of james bond stuff to it, and I believe it. This
pickup wants distortion and high gain, however the tone
does not get shrill when turned up. In fact the tone
control seems to affect this pickup much differently
than the neck pickup. The trebble rises more gradual
and the sound is fuller at both ends of the tone knob.
I have never heard a single coil Bark like this puppy
does, Great thru my Plexi (Non Master Volume). Throws
out quite a bit of bass too, which I have never heard
in a single coil before. I have 3 main amps right now
with my fourth being built. They are as follows
Stock Matchless HC30 W/Matchless 2x12 Cab
Modded Marshall 1987x W/Marshall 2x12 Cab
Modded Mesaboogie DC5 1x12 W/1x12 Ext. Cab
The guitar sounds quite unique through all of
my amps, I think the best sounds are with the
bridge pickup through my T-Rex Mudhoney or my
Fulltone Dist. Pro.into the Plexi using the volume
knob to control the amp and the dirt. The DC5 setup
is just guitar-chord-lead channel. The DC5 hates
pedals in front of it, where the Marshall loves them.
However I was able to get some smoking, deep, thick
sounds out of it, and of all the guitars that I have
ever played through this amp kind of left me wanting
something, but this mosrite (being as bright as it can
be), wakes up darker amps (pretty much any DC or Recto
in my opinion would fall into this catagory). With the
Matchless its strickly clean and cream. No pedals, just
pure class A amp overdrive. It is here that I find myself
using the neck pickup more. With the normal channel and
the guitar tone at 2 I am able to get a really nice tele-
kind of jangle that I don't get with my other guitars.
On Channel 2 I get a very nice woman tone, and with
moderate volume a rich medium overdrive, sort of strat
like but with more presence. Again the bridge pickup
just seems to work better with the higher gain amps
and did not inspire me as much with the C30 as I thought
that it would. Funny because with my Les Paul I never use
the bridge pickup with this amp either.

The Factory setup was very very good. Right there where I like
it. Sort of a medium action, the inotation was spot on, in fact
all I had to do was tweak the tuning keys and play. Maybe I just
got lucky in this regard, because every other guitar that I have
ever bought new need something else done to it. The reason for
the 8 was there was a small little ding in the body, that appears
to have been there before it was painted. This is the only flaw
that I have noticed on an otherwise near perfect guitar. The Neck
and frets feel great, if you like the feel of a strat, then you
should love the feel of these guitars. Note: This is a Rock Guitar
if you like large frets and do alot of bending then this my not
appeal to you as much. This guitar is built to be played Loud,
Hard, and Fast.

I am not worried about reliability too much.
This guitar was purchased as a collection piece
and not something that I'll play out with, That
said, I will be ordering a MK II standard soon.
I will replace the pickups and tweak it to suit
myself without worry of ruining a very cool and
collectable guitar.

Spoke to the Distributor in California just before
it arrived and he was friendly. I understand that
the Fillmore / Mosrite buisiness is still fairly young,
so any service or parts have to come from Japan, not
really a problem, unless I needed something right away.
I'm told that in time this will improve.

BEEN PALYIN FOR ABOUT 7 YEARS AND HAVE QUITE A BIT
OF GUITAR EQUIPMENT, BUT HAVE NEVER REALLY BEEN
INSPIRED BY ANY ONE GUITAR. THE MORE THAT I PLAY
THIS GUITAR, THE MORE I WANT ANOTHER ONE, THIS
IS A COLLECTOR GUITAR IN MY OPINION AND SO I PLAN
ON BEATING UP A MKII STD. INSTEAD. FOR THIS CATAGORY
I GIVE IT A 9, NO GUITAR IS PERFECT, THE LITTLE DENT
IN THE BODY IS THE ONLY VISIBLE FLAW, YOU NEED TO
LOOK CLOSE TO SEE IT, REMEMBER ITS A WHITE GUITAR.
HOWEVER EVERYTHING ELSE WAS AS PERFECT AS IT
COULD BE, HECK I HAVE HAD MINE FOR OVER 2 WEEKS
NOW AND IT STILL PLAYS GREAT WITH THE ORIGIONAL
STRINGS ON IT!

This Ramones Mosrite is a 2001 Japanese model which was purchased new from guitarpunk.com. It came with a nice hardshell case with a gold Mosrite logo painted on it. I needed it for a Ramones rock-theater project. It was basically an expensive prop. On that level, it is a relatively faithful representation of the original. (Mismatched tone and volume nobs, swapped out pickups, etc. See other reviews on this site for specifics.) The attention to detail probably went unnoticed by the majority of the audience but true fanatics did take notice.

For the show, I played through a 100 watt Marshall tube amp and if pretty much nailed the Ramones sound. (Note: this is not that hard of a sound to nail.) Since the run ended, I have been using it tuned to "DADGAE" for "experimental art music" with digital loops and delays. I can see why surf guys liked Mosrites. I get better tone on the low D (lowered E) than my Strat or Les Paul. Overall, very clean sounding and accurate.

There was a few minor buzzes on the E string when I first bought it but it is a very good player. A $30 setup fixed any slight misadjutments and it has been working fine ever since. No cosmetic flaws that I can see.

The "guitar snob" in me has a bit of a problem with having a Japanese guitar in my collection. However, the very first guitar I ever bought was a 63' American Mosrite back in the early 80's and that thing was alway falling out of tune. I'm not sure if that was due to the Mosely tremelo or the crummy machine heads. I used to buy obsure vintage guitars exclusively but have sold them all in favor of Gibsons and Fenders since I have very little pateince for non-functional instruments... especially regarding tuning. I'm pleased that this Japanese copy retains pitch much better than the vintage American Mosrite I sold years ago. The Ramones model has a stationary bridge so that might have something to do with it. Overall, I feel more confident on stage with this Japanese copy than I ever did with my 63 Mosrite. This has withstood a number of gigs which featured pretty agressive playing. I broke a string once so I wouldn't consider playing it without a back up. That's probably due more to my playing than the quality of the instrument.

guitarpunk shipped very promply allowing me plenty of time for my opening night. A very smooth transaction.

I've been playing for over 20 years. Lot's of styles... punk, post punk, new wave, math, quirk, heavy rock, fake jazz, artrock, etc. I currently use an Orange AD1510 tube amp with Rat overdrive, Vox Wah, Dan Echo, Big Muff and Volume pedal. I also have a Strat, Les Paul and a Jerry Jones electric sitar. I like this Mosrite as a "guilty pleasure". Although it plays and sounds great, there's something about a Japanese guitar that says "Mosrite of California" on the headstock that doesn't sit well with me. If it were built in the USA and it played and sounded this good, I'd be totally happy. If stolen, I'd collect the insurance money and pocket it... but that's because I'm poor. That's another thing... I'm not sure I'm okay with paying $1,100 for a copy of a pawn shop gem.

well this is an 2002 johnny ramone model,the guitar i have tried to track down for 5 years its a 22 fret(also has a zero fret)its a basswood body and much heavier than a mk1. it came with a duncan sm1 and a dimarzio fat strat just like johnny's. mine came in metallic blue and is serial #1 of 2 the finish is decent but not as good as a prs or some gibsons but good overall it came with gotoh non locking tuners the neck is fast and very thin but the neck is slightly offset in the pocket i will fix when i change the strings and came with a rollernut bridge(also included was a mosrite cable and case)

i play punk this is perfect for it,i play it through a mesa triple rectifier (no effects) the bridge pick up is really bright almost too bright (but great for solo's)so i actually use the rythym pick up alot. it screams when needed but does kinda sound hollow,not like les paul,but it does have a better tone than a fender

the action was good low as hell(could stand to have a fret leveling)the pickups adjusted fine.but the neck pocket was off set not alighned properly

i think this will stand years of abuse,hardware will be hard to find due to copyright laws and there being only a few places in the use that have carry the guitars,the finish is kinda thin i think but its still nice also needs more metallic flake but this guitar seems dependable enough to play with out a back up

i got this from ktmguitars.com and kevin mazz as a retailer just plain sucks.the guitar was over 3 months late arriving (wouldnt return emails,asking where it was)when it did arrive to him he said hed ship it the next day a month later still no guitar in my hands or return contact.until i threatened to file fraud charges did he finally send. so buyer beware with him upon checking his ebay sellers acct i found he has stolen from people before (taken money and never shipped the item) so watch out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i own numerous les pauls a few mosrite copies,and right now this is my fav guitar if it were stolen id kill them and would be very hard to replace due to the rarity of this guitar ktm guitars does sell them cheaper then other retailers but...his customer service is non existent

The guitar was one of 100 Johnny Ramone Signature Models produced by Fillmore (http://www.fillmore-japan.com) for the Japanese Market in 2001. The guitar is very similar to the Mark II Deluxe previously sold by Fillmore.

The body appears to be a three-piece basswood body. The pure white finish is very good, but not flawless. I have to take a point away for the use of generic rectangular pickup routing under the pickguard. The body is bolted to the neck without a neck plate. The holes for the bolts were drilling, left rough and painted over. It would have probably taken someone only a minute or two to sand the holes smooth before painting, so I take away another point.

The neck is a 22 fret maple neck with a rosewood fretboard and zero fret. The finish on the neck is amazing. The neck is very thin and the frets are small, keeping in the original Mosrite tradition. Johnny Ramones's signature and a Ramones logo appear on the headstock, rather than a Mosrite emblem.

The bridge is a Mosrite style roller bridge with a stop tail piece. The roller bridge was designed for the Vibramute and Moseley tail pieces, but Fillmore used it on this model with a stop tail piece in order to replicate Johnny's guitar. The roller bridge has a tendency to tilt slightly forward due to string pressure. I'm told the old Mosrites did this too. The roller saddle on the high E string had a tendency to buzz, but a very small piece of duct tape applied to the bottom of the roller saddle fixed that. (I'm checked with a few people and I'm told the old Mosrite roller bridges buzzed terribly. One luthier told me that musicians sometimes wedge toothpicks into the rollers to stop the buzzing!)

The bridge pickup is a generic mini-humbucker. Johnny's guitar had a Seymour Duncan mini-humbucker. Why they chose to use a generic one, I couldn't tell you. Actually, the generic mini-humbucker runs a little hotter than the Seymour SM-1, so I can't complain too much. The bridge pickup is a DiMarzio Fat Strat mounted to the pickguard without springs. I keep the pickup adjusted all the way up. If you didn't, the lack of springs would be an issue.

Unlike Johnny's guitar, both pickups are actually wired to the 3 position switch. The switch is on the cheap side and sometimes losses contact when switched quickly. I think I'll be replacing the switch. While Fillmore pays a lot of attention to detail in replicating Johnny's guitar, I was suprised they used a black switch cap instead of white, like Johnny's. The output is controlled by a master volume and master tone control. Both pots appear to be very good and the tone control is very responsive. The input jack is on the face of the guitar.

The tuners are Gotoh Grover-style tuners that do a good job of keeping the guitar in tune.

The guitar came with a decent all-black hard shell case.

I play the guitar through a couple of different Crate amps with a minimum amount of effects. It's a Johnny Ramone model so, of course, it's used to play punk music! I have no problem replicating the Ramones sound with this guitar. When full cranked, there is some hum due to a minimal amount of cavity shielding. My only complaint is that the generic mini-humbucker produces a much higher output than the DiMarzio Fat Strat, so it makes switching pickup positions during a song somewhat difficult.

Other than the buzz on the high E roller saddle, the set-up was amazing. The action is very low thanks to the zero fret. Because of the zero fret, you get a occasional "tinging" sound when the strings are bent hard. Not a big deal, because the pickups don't detect the tinging.

The guitar is solid. Other than the cheap 3 position switch, all of the hardware appears to be more than road worthy.

Fillmore unconditionally warrants guitars purchased directly from them for defects in workmanship. However, since they're in Japan, you have to bare the cost of shipping if I ever had to send it back. Since I bought this guitar through an auction, the warranty is void. Mr. Yusa from Fillmore was very helpful in answering many questions for me via e-mail before I purchased the guitar. Fillmore was also able to make a spare pickguard for me -- it cost an arm and a leg, but they were able to help me out.

I've had the guitar for about 6 months now and I love it. I've played guitar for 17 years and for most of those 17 years I wanted a Johnny Ramone model guitar -- I finally got it. Since producing these models in Japan, Fillmore produced 22 white and 22 blue Johnny Ramone Signature Models for the U.S. As far as I can tell, the only difference is that they used real Grover Tuners and used a Seymour SM-1 in the bridge position. I haven't seen one of these sell for less than $1700. Why? I couldn't tell you, but I definitely wouldn't pay that much. If you don't have a friend in Japan who can purchase one for you directly from Fillmore (they won't export direct into the U.S.), consider purchasing a JRM-100 model made by Mosrite Japan (Nihon Dentsu) through Ishibashi Music (http://www.ishibashi-music.com).