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Mosrite has been
the guitar of choice for
Old School Country, Gospel, Rockabilly, Punk Rock &
Instrumental Bands !!
| The Ventures |
Barbara Mandrell |
Joe Maphis |
| Kurt Cobain |
Fred Sonic Smith |
Johnny Ramone |
| Dottie Rambo |
The B 52's |
Tom Petty |
| Elliott Easton |
Marty Stewart |
Alice In Chains |
| Little Jimi Dickens |
Deke Dickerson |
Ronnie Sessions |
| The Happy Goodman Family |
Ricky Nelson |
Jimmy Swaggart |
| Patty Smythe |
The Strawberry Alarm Clock |
The Chantays |
| Jay & The Americans |
Merle Haggard |
Larry Collins |
| Nokie Edwards |
Porter Wagoner |
Buck Owens |
| Jason Odd |
The Pyramids |
Don Rich |
| Brian Lonbeck |
Merle Travis |
The Singing Hensons |
| Duane Eddy |
Jimi Hendrix |
The Challengers |
| Johnny & The Hurricanes |
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Kurt Cobain Mosrite
Curt Cobain's Mosrite Sold for $135,000.00
Kurt Cobain With His Right Handed
Upside Down Mosrite Gospel Model.
Ed Roman has these available.
 The
Strawberry Alarm Clock was my psychedelic band from California
and reached the top of the charts with "Incense and Peppermints"
at the height of the flower power era in 1967. We were
originally called Thee Sixpence but decided to change our name
to something more...contemporary(?). When I got home from the
band meeting resulting in the name change, my mother simply said
"You've GOT to be kidding." The band consisted of me on lead
guitar (and a lot of bass on the 2nd, 3rd & 4th albums), Lee
Freeman (rhythm guitar), George Bunnell (bass), Mark Weitz
(organ), and Randy Seol (drums).
The story
behind the song, "Incense and Peppermints," is a fascinating
one...as well as a hard lesson learned! Mark Weitz wrote the
bulk of the music and I wrote the bridge. We didn't have lyrics.
Our manager
took our music track to a producer in Hollywood. In a month we
received our lyrics in the form of sheet music and a demo tape.
Neither Mark's name or my name appeared on the credits. Our
manager's explanation? "This is what you have to do to break
into the music business." What? Give away something you wrote??
No one in the
band could sing the tune so the vocal was done by a friend of
ours, Greg Munford, who also had a local band. Despite the
record going to #1 in November, 1967, Munford never joined the
band.
The
Strawberry Alarm Clock appeared on some of the top television
shows at the time (including The Jonathan Winters Show, Rowan &
Martin's Laugh-In) and a couple of movies ("Psych-Out" and,
later, "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls"). We recorded a
follow-up tune called "Tomorrow" which charted as high as #14.
The record company didn't like our next album so they brought in
some outside writers for our third album. By this time, internal
conflicts caused the departure of Bunnell & Seol. We tried,
through various incarnations, to revive the music but just
couldn't come up with another "Incense...".
Funny how
things work out. While the "Clock" was sitting at home and out
of work, we received word that our former manager had put
together a bogus "Clock" and had booked a 3-month tour of the
South. We were able to stop the bogus band in it's tracks and
then decided WE should do the tour ourselves. And THAT's how I
met Ronnie Van Zant and the rest of Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Skynyrd was
our opening act for most of the tour. We became good friends and
went through some interesting experiences together. (Remind me
to tell you about the riot at the Army Base in Albany, Georgia
where a lot of our equipment got stolen - we barely got out with
our lives!).
One day
Skynyrd was rehearsing at a club in downtown Jacksonville.
Ronnie called me and said "Come on down...we want you to hear a
tune we wrote." The tune was called "Need All My Friends" and I
was blown away. I wanted to play guitar behind that guy! It took
a couple of years but finally, in late '72, Ronnie called me
with an invite into the band....on bass.
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The Ventures
Ronnie Sessions
The Legendary Dottie Rambo
Joe Maphis
Fire On The Strings
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens Jr. was born in Sherman, Texas, on Aug. 12,
1929, and nicknamed himself “Buck” at a very early age. His family moved to Mesa
Arizona in 1937 and by 1946 he was performing on a radio show called Buck &
Britt. Buck married Bonnie Campbell in 1948 and moved to Bakersfield, CA in
1951 forming a band called the Schoolhouse Playboys (he played saxophone and
trumpet). Bakersfield is of course the city made famous because Mosrite
Guitars were made there.
By the mid-1950’s, Owens had become a capable guitarist and
played lead guitar in sessions for Tommy Collins, Sonny James, Gene Vincent and
others. He also recorded a rockabilly single for Pep records under
the name Corky Jones. In 1957, Buck signed, as a country artist, with Capitol
Records but his initial recordings didn’t attract much attention. In the late
1950’s, he spent time in Washington state where he met a young fiddle and guitar
player named Donald “Don Rich” Ulrich. Rich would become Buck’s bandleader,
collaborator and best friend.
With his band (supposedly named The Buckaroos by Merle
Haggard) Buck Owens had his first national hit in 1959 with the self-penned
“Under Your Spell Again”. In 1962 Owens’ cover of Johnny Russell’s “Act
Naturally” became the first of 20 number one country hits. In the mid sixties,
Buck began to invest in publishing and broadcasting and produced The Buck Owens
Ranch syndicated TV show starting in 1966. Buck began co-hosting the television
series, “Hee-Haw” in 1969 and though he disliked the format, it exposed him to
an even wider audience.
In 1974 Don Rich was killed in a motorcycle accident. Buck
was devastated and effectively turned the control of his career over to others.
Hee-Haw continued in syndication until 1992 but Buck left the
show in 1986, convinced that the corn-pone humor had tarnished his legacy. In
1988 Owens teamed up with Dwight Yoakam on a duet version of Buck’s old hit
“Streets of Bakersfield”. It would be Buck’s final number one hit.
Buck Owens was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall
of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. Also in that year, he opened
The Crystal Palace in Bakersfield which he operated until his death in 2006.
Buck Owens is regarded as one of the most influential
and ground-breaking artists in country music.
"Hee Haw"
Buck Owens Owned The First Mosrite Guitar Ever Made
1971 Buck Owens American
Red
White &
BlueThe original
Buck Owens guitar which was used on the show was a custom built by Semie
Moseley of Mosrite Guitars.
Here are quotes from Buck Owens website.
In 1966 Buck and The Buckaroos had their instruments painted red, white and
blue, an extension of Buck’s innate patriotism. When these instruments were
seen on Hee Haw, guitar manufacturers began making offers to him to market a
guitar in those colors. Though Buck used a red, white and blue acoustic guitar
built for him by Semie Moseley of Mosrite Guitars, his business sense told him
an expensive model of that type wouldn’t sell to the public."
He finally licensed Chicago Musical Instruments (makers of
the Gibson guitars) to market a $99 acoustic model, and received a $2.50
royalty on each sold. He knew that Sears would market them but had no idea
they would sell as well as they did --until the first royalty check came. "The
very first statement, they sent me $15,000," he laughs. "I said, ‘Oh, you mean
THAT Sears!"
I have one of these guitars but it needs restoration. It is also a complete
guitar that has never had the neck broken, has original pick guard and has had
no modifications whatsoever. The back of this guitar has a dry crack that
seams to be an easy fix.
Harmony Sovereign had made a reissue of this guitar called the American Pride
which sold in 2005. It was a limited edition guitar and are starting to become
a collectible because of the short production run. The colors of this guitar
are a little different from the original Buck Owens. Red is deeper and not as
bright and the blue is deeper as well. More like a navy blue than a royal
blue.
I also have one of these in mint condition which as a bartolini 110 pickup and
the input jack is in the strap nut not to molest the guitar.
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