Mfgeng
Joined: Oct 09, 2018
Posts: 16
Texas
|
Posted on Oct 19 2022 02:37 PM
Here is what I think is a mid 60’s post ventures Mark I with a strange anomaly. I would expect a mosrite of this era to have it’s neck attached with 4 screws that go all the way through the neck plate and into the neck.
This one has 3 screws holding the neck on, which are hidden under the neckplate. I don’t believe it’s an early mark I, which might have had 4 screws under the plate, I believe it to be 67 or later. I did find a ventures 2 that had 3 screws but no plate.
Has anybody ever seen anything like this? What’s going on here?
|
JohnnyMosrite
Joined: Jun 14, 2006
Posts: 858
New York City area
|
Posted on Oct 19 2022 04:48 PM
Mfgeng,
Without seeing the rest of the guitar, it's hard to tell what you have.
Be that as it may:
Semie started putting 3 screw necks on Mosrites in the late 1960s. I had one and the neck was inherently unstable - one of the few Mosrites I ever sold/traded. Four neck screws are really best. It may be that someone at the factory (or after the factory) put the 1964 neck plate on with the smaller screws. I say this because the neck screw head trim washers - and they were absolute garbage and would fall apart/break - are missing. So, some resourceful factory worker or former owner covered up the mess.
Best I can surmise with the pics provided so far.
Hope this helps
J Mo'
|
Mfgeng
Joined: Oct 09, 2018
Posts: 16
Texas
|
Posted on Oct 19 2022 06:34 PM
That makes sense JM. I have seen some 68's but those had what looked like standard plates and 4 screws. The only other one I've spotted with the 3 was the late 60's Ventures II I mentioned. Mosrites weren't very consistent during this time period I take it...
I'll see what other photos I can come up with. Thanks so much for your response!
|
chiba
Joined: Sep 02, 2022
Posts: 369
Central VA
|
Posted on Oct 20 2022 02:07 PM
JohnnyMosrite wrote:
Semie started putting 3 screw necks on Mosrites in the late 1960s. I had one and the neck was inherently unstable - one of the few Mosrites I ever sold/traded. Four neck screws are really best.
I don't know anything about Mosrites, but Fender gets this criticism about their 3-bolt era as well. 3 bolt or 4, we can argue about it all day long but the instability comes from poorly machined parts - necks that don't fit neck pockets properly. If the neck-to-body fit is smooth, tight and properly done, it won't matter if you have 3 or 4 bolts holding the neck on.
— --
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!
|
JohnnyMosrite
Joined: Jun 14, 2006
Posts: 858
New York City area
|
Posted on Oct 20 2022 04:12 PM
Chiba,
On the subject of 3 bolt necks:
It's stictly a cost cutting measure when you are counting pennies - in Mosrite's case.
It's a question of "What's good enough?" - in Fender's case.
"Let's maximize profits with less construction material."
I worked at CBS in the late 1970s/early 1980s. They were cranking out defective junk and cutting corners to get the maximum profit margin.
Such is the direction of corporate empty suits.
More force is holding the neck to the body with 4 neck screws.
Remember Yngwie Malmsteen? He loved Stratocasters (pity.. but oh well) but made it a point to convert his 3 bolts to four-bolt from articles I've read.
J Mo'
Last edited: Oct 20, 2022 16:13:23
|
MelWaldorf
Joined: Mar 03, 2006
Posts: 646
|
Posted on Oct 20 2022 04:58 PM
FWIW, Mosrites sometimes have extra screws mounting the neck to the body from the front, under the neck pickup. Not sure if that's the case here, but I've seen it before wondering why the heck the neck wouldn't budge after I removed the screws on the back of the body.
|
chiba
Joined: Sep 02, 2022
Posts: 369
Central VA
|
Posted on Oct 21 2022 07:23 AM
JohnnyMosrite wrote:
I worked at CBS in the late 1970s/early 1980s. They were cranking out defective junk and cutting corners to get the maximum profit margin.
Such is the direction of corporate empty suits.
On that, you get absolutely no argument 
— --
Project: MAYHEM by Hypersonic Secret now available!
|
DrakeSequation
Joined: Nov 22, 2016
Posts: 77
PNW
|
Posted on Oct 21 2022 02:34 PM
JohnnyMosrite wrote:
I worked at CBS in the late 1970s/early 1980s. They were cranking out defective junk and cutting corners to get the maximum profit margin.
Such is the direction of corporate empty suits.
Too bad Fender learned nothing from this well-documented period as they have taken a hard turn back to this business model and corporate mindset.
— Makai
|
synchro
Joined: Feb 02, 2008
Posts: 4127
Not One-Sawn, but Two-Sawn . . . AZ.
|
Posted on Oct 21 2022 04:42 PM
DrakeSequation wrote:
JohnnyMosrite wrote:
I worked at CBS in the late 1970s/early 1980s. They were cranking out defective junk and cutting corners to get the maximum profit margin.
Such is the direction of corporate empty suits.
Too bad Fender learned nothing from this well-documented period as they have taken a hard turn back to this business model and corporate mindset.
I’m afraid you are dead right.
— The artist formerly known as: Synchro
When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.
|
JohnnyMosrite
Joined: Jun 14, 2006
Posts: 858
New York City area
|
Posted on Oct 23 2022 08:34 AM
Catching up on business here -
Mfgeng -
I answered your PM.. good luck to you
Chiba -
I reread your original post. There would be some element of good theory in what you initially stated but we are dealing with this Mosrite. Take another look at Mfgeng's first pictures. Notice the "concentration" of those 3 neck bolts under the 1964 neck plate (that got there, somehow).
Being installed so closely together, the three neck bolts essentially form "1 (large) point of contact" between the body and the neck. The bolts are not spread out in the area covered as they would be on a 3 bolt Fender neck. It's a smaller "triangle" formed by the neck screws. Hence, neck instability.
I had a Mosrite like Mfgeng's and it's one of the few I got rid of. I would have kept the thing and had a good luthier fix the neck problem - but the pickups were also weak. They were potted in epoxy and a rewind would be all that more expensive. So - Adios time as there is only so much turd polishing I want to undertake. I've seen other models where Semie either saw the neck bolt problem (or was hit in the head with it by his dealers with instrument returns) and did a quick fix:
He installed additional wood screws into the top of the neck tongue into the body cavity - all covered up by the neck pickup.
A defective fix for a defective guitar <= And Semie made a lot of them, too. Seen them, had them, got rid of them.
But - as discussed - the big manufacturers also cranked out their share of firewood.
Hope you can appreciate the counterpoint made.
J Mo'
Last edited: Oct 23, 2022 08:43:13
|
April Birthdays 
