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New Member and Mosrite Owner

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 12:10 pm
by DeleteDelete
Greetings,

To my surprise I was just given a Mosrite Celebrity guitar that used to belong to my Grandfather. It was in the care of another family member who decided to give it to me (I am the only member of the family who plays the guitar now). We live in the Bakersfield area and I remember my grandparents talking about Semie Mosely and Ed Elliott when I was a kid. My grandfather loved bluegrass and gospel music, and I remember him playing the Mosrite and his Gretsch throughout my childhood. I have owned his Gretsch for many years, but am now thrilled to have his Mosrite as well. I discovered this forum and would love to share and learn more about this unique guitar. Thanks for your consideration.
EM

Re: New Member and Mosrite Owner

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 5:07 pm
by 101Volts
Welcome. Which version of the Celebrity do you have? There are Cleebrity I, II, and III models in the 60s. There are also at least Celebrity I models in the 70s. Sharing a photo would help.

- Austin

Re: New Member and Mosrite Owner

Posted: Fri Apr 09, 2021 8:13 pm
by DeleteDelete
Hello Austin,

Thanks for the reply. I am not sure what Celebrity I have. It has a couple of odd features that are keeping me from identifying it (odd serial # and tailpiece). I will post some pics soon in another thread when I get time, hopefully later this evening or tomorrow morning. Thanks again for the reply.

Re: New Member and Mosrite Owner

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2021 7:59 am
by Sarah93003
Welcome to the forum. There are actually 6 Celebrity models altogether.

Original - The "original" Celebrity was the first hollow body offering from Mosrite and came in two phases. There were also at least 12 set necks made. These are serial numbers A0001 through A0012. Then the "original" Celebrity was built with mortise and tenon neck joints with two screws. The earliest example of that style that I have in my records is A0027. At this point in time, I can't say what A0013 through A0026 actually are. i do know that Mosrite built in lots of 25 in the early days so I'm hopeful there may actually be 25 set necks out there some where.

Celebrity-I, -II, -III - Around late 1967 or early 1968 it was decided to split into three models. The Celebrity-I had a thicker bout than the original Celebrity and it got multi-layered binding on the bout and binding on the neck. It also had the best tuners, electronics, etc. The Celebrity-II ws the thinline version of the CE-I with all of the nice appointments but a thinner bout. The Celebrity-III was a thinline, entiry level guitar with less expensive components. After 1972 the CE-III was no longer built.

Dobro Celebrity - After Mosrite bought Dobro they built quite a few with the Celebrity body and resonators.

Gospel Celebrity - The "true" Gospels are the creme of the crop. Semie was a Gospel singer/player and made a premier Celebrity which was tagged "Gospel". Then we have the give-away version where Celebrities bearing the Mosrite name had a brass plate with the word "Gospel" printed on it. These are simply Celebrities with a brass name plate and no different than their Celebrity counterpart.

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When you post up photos we can better identify your guitar. If you don't have a way to do that, feel free to email me and I can post them here. My email is: sarah@MosriteCelebrity.com

On the fretboard between the last two frets should be a serial number and inside the guitar through the left F hole there may still be the original label.