Raylinds,
Good news - You got a pretty good deal.
because -
Maybe-not-so-good-news - Kurokumo has gone out of business.

I've recently bought a few bodies, necks, etc. from an American agent who has a line on their left-over stock which is being liquidated.
Kurokumo and Fillmore were the better Mosrite manufacturers in Japan.
At present, I have a '64 Mosrite under construction from a leftover Kurokumo body and neck. So far, it's looking pretty good. My American Mosrite parts retrofit very well. The neck is a tight fit into a well routed body neck pocket - the wonders of modern CNC machinery. Things have really progressed in 50-60 years of guitar manufacture.
I doubt you have an "Excellent". Your tailpiece has the five-hole Vibramute, which is quite desirable on a Mosrite. It's the tailpiece to have.
If perhaps the pickups sound a bit weak, seek out replacements with impedance in excess of 10.5K ohms. And when you can, replace the electronics. There's not much involved - a Switchcraft selector and jack, a .05 disk Capacitor, two 250K (or 500K if you like) potentiometers and some wire. Try to use coax wire between the selector switch and the pots.

Hope this helps -
- J Mo'

Last edited: Nov 05, 2023 18:24:05

Ray,
To avoid unnecessary expense, it's first things first. Get hold of a multimeter or a friend with a multimeter and measure the resistance of each pickup. Anything over 10.5K ohms should be OK. The Japanese have done a pretty good job in recreating the Mosrite "raunch" sound.
If you go on EBAY and search "Mosrite pickup", you'll see some innovative guys from Spain selling an innovative take on the Mosrite pickup with some different materials.
Most other pickup sources are Japanese - which means you might end up with what you already have. The others are Ed Elliot and maybe Dana Moseley, herself. Mosrite pickups are not cheap so again, make sure you really need a set. And, of course, getting the ones you have rewound by someone who knows what they're doing might give you what you want at reduced expense. And if it's a rewind, it should be scatter-wound in construction.

J Mo'

Last edited: Nov 06, 2023 04:27:52

JohnnyMosrite wrote:

If you go on EBAY and search "Mosrite pickup", you'll see some innovative guys from Spain selling an innovative take on the Mosrite pickup with some different materials.

I've seen those on ebay - any idea how good they sound?

Ed Elliott builds excellent Mosrite pickups (he was a Semie Mosely apprentice and builds custom replicas). I have a set in my Hallmark "Les Fradkin" C60-style. Here's a link to a current sale: (http://https://www.ebay.com/itm/126068323138)

How're you digging the neck? I've always adored how Mosrites sound but could never get used to that thin, flat neck profile.

pavlovsdog wrote:

How're you digging the neck? I've always adored how Mosrites sound but could never get used to that thin, flat neck profile.

I actually like the feel of the neck and frets very much and was honestly a little concerned about it. I find it easy to play fast!
I can see this becoming possibly my favorite guitar, but time will tell. I will still love my Jazz Master for songs that work better with it's mellow tone, but for anything loud and raucous, I think this will be my go-to.

The cool thing is I also love psychedelic fuzz music, and Eric Brann used a Mosrite guitar and Fuzzrite for In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. I have the reissue Fuzzrite, so now...

J Mo', boy are you in my wheelhouse! A friend turned me on to "Heavy" a few months after it was released. When I first was the Iron Butterfly live in the late '60s, both Eric Braun and their bassist, Lee Dorman were playing Mosrites. I used to use the "Iron Butterfly Theme" as background music on my phone answering machine!

Patrick

I have all of the Iron Butterfly albums and Heavy is really great- an underappreciated gem.

Hi Ray -

“action pact” from the Hoffman Forum here. Good to see you over here.

I have a very similar Kurokumo Mosrite, and yes, the it is brighter and less aggressive than what one typically expects from a Mosrite. I personally like its tone, but I also own a Hallmark that is better at achieving the authentic Mosrite sound, so it’s just another flavor for me.

The vintage Mosrite I used to own had 300k pots (or was it 350k?), so you’re defintely on the right track by replacing the 500k pots. My Hallmark is an older one (2008), made when Bob Shade was still doing them with 250k pots. That, combined with the Hallmark’s overwound pickups, gets it very close to Nokie Edward’s growly, hairy tone on “The Ventures Live in Japan 1965.” I expect you’ll get similar results with Ed Elliot’s pickups and 250k pots in your Mosrite.

I have also found that pure nickel strings in .009-.042, with the action set as low as you can get it on a ruler-flat neck, will also get you close to Nokie’s tone. My favorites are Ernie Ball Rock’n’Roll Slinkys. (I read somewhere that Mosrite actually used Ernie Ball as their OEM strings supplier in the ‘60s, so there’s another compelling reason.)

THE HYDRONAUTS…Surf Music from the shores of old Cape Cod.
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Last edited: Nov 14, 2023 17:32:42

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Last edited: Feb 01, 2024 02:37:51