mosriteforum.com

Hey--

I was talking on the phone last night to FatDawg, who owns Subway Guitars on the West Coast, about what makes Mosrite Guitars special. Like many store owners in the guitar world, this fellow is opinionated and vocal about his opinions, but the conversation was interesting.

I contended that the Mosrite speed frets, which I think are useful in my style of playing, are part of the equation, but I think there is more to it than just that.

There is a thickness or shape to the Mosrite necks, underneath the nut heading into the back of the headstock, that assists me, at least, when playing nut chords. It sort of allows the top of your left hand to know where it is and helps you control that hand.

Whether this was intentional on Semie's part, or a happy accident, I can't say.

But it is there on the old Mosrites, and it is there on the Hallmarks, and I see it on some of the recreations, like the double-neck that Danny so successfully just completed.

I don't see it on photos of some of the other Mosrite-inspired guitars.

So this FatDawg guy says to me last night, "Hey; just spend $40 to have a tech mill down the frets on any guitar and there you will have the Mosrite speed-fret neck." I disagree. There not only is that thickness I just mentioned, but the action on the fretboard is way different on a Mosrite than on the other electric guitars that I have played, and I have played a bunch of 'em.

That action is also on the Hallmarks. I can't say whether it is on the other Mosrite-inspired guitars, since I haven't played any of them.

But I contend that there are elements of the Mosrite neck that are very useful and assist a player, and they are worthy of notice.

As an experiment, I am bidding on an old Teisco guitar-- very clean, very simple-- and, if I get it, I plan to ask Bob Shade to either mill down the frets or show me how to do it, if it isn't all that difficult. I am a clutz at mechanical things. But I want to see if how much the speed frets-- or something close-- alone work in comparison to a real Mosrite neck.

The Teisco necks I have known are nothing like a Mosrite's and the frets aren't skinny, either. So this may be an interesting thing to do.

Some of the posts on this forum-- I'm thinking of Mel's Partsrite and a couple of others-- show great photos of that milled-fret procedure. Don (LostVenture) and I have been discussing this offline, as he had a tech mill down the frets on one of his guitars, though not quite to the speed-fret level.

Any thoughts, anyone?

--Jim

JimPage wrote:...Some of the posts on this forum-- I'm thinking of Mel's Partsrite and a couple of others-- show great photos of that milled-fret procedure. Don (LostVenture) and I have been discussing this offline, as he had a tech mill down the frets on one of his guitars, though not quite to the speed-fret level.

Any thoughts, anyone?

In the nineties I once bought a brand new Fender American Standard Stratocaster with medium jumbo frets. Now I was not familiar with these frets but thought they looked cool and besides, reasoned that they'd last longer!!! (silly me ). It turned out to be a misjudgement on my part and so I filed the frets down myself (!) but not to 'speed fret' level though.

It was an improvement, but I was never really satisfied; see, the frets in effect actually became wider now which is not a good thing if you want spot-on intonation. And it remained a bumpy ride on that neck, even with milled down frets...I much rather prefer the old Vintage frets on Fenders and both my Strats have 'em . (yes, I sold the American Standard on to a happy buyer).

BTW, dressing the Hallmark's frets would make 'em come close to the Mosrite speed frets I think; they are quite narrow as it is, so there wouldn't be any potential intonation issues hiding around the corner.

Just my 2 cents...

You need a long flat file and make sure the neck is as free of relief as possible. Then file away. Try to make sure you're pretty even in the amount of time filing on the different parts of the neck. At least on a guitar with a zero fret, that's really all there is to it. On a guitar with a nut, you'd also have to lower the string grooves in the nut to get the full effect of the speed frets.

JimPage posted:

There is a thickness or shape to the Mosrite necks, underneath the nut heading into the back of the headstock, that assists me,
at least, when playing nut chords. It sort of allows the top of your left hand to know where it is and helps you control that hand.
Whether this was intentional on Semie's part, or a happy accident, I can't say.

That is the Volute 'part' on the back of the headstock. I'm pretty sure Semie did this intentionally to strengthen that part of the neck.
Just take a look at ANY Gibson that fell off a guitar stand . Starting around late '69-early '70, Gibson started making their headstocks
with a volute on it. Why they quit (other than to make them look like the originals) has me dumbfounded .......

JimPage wrote:...that assists me, at least, when playing nut chords. It sort of allows the top of your left hand to know where it is and helps you control that hand.

Keep it clean, mister. This is a family forum.

Dorkrockrecords wrote:
>>Keep it clean, mister. This is a family forum.

Oops. We Dapper Dan men get carried aways sometimes!

--Jim

DennistheMenace wrote:
>>Just take a look at ANY Gibson that fell off a guitar stand . . .

Ain't it the truth! The first time that happened to me, with a 1974-or-so Gibson Gospel, I was horrified!

I bet that type of break NEVER happens with a Mosrite.

--Jim

JimPage wrote:Oops. We Dapper Dan men get carried aways sometimes!

And stay out of the Woolworth's!

That vicious DorkRockRecords commanded:
>>And stay out of the Woolworth's!

All of 'em or just this one?

I'm not very technical when it comes to these things, however, I have played a lot of different guitars over the years. I think there is a formula to the neck. Almost mathmatical in a way, like an equation. The wood, the shapes, the frets and all the geometry combined into a formula that Semi figured out. I don't think it's any one thing.