Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

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Swept57
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Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Swept57 » Mon Feb 15, 2016 1:13 pm

I introduced myself over on the Introduction thread, but I thought I would show my Mosrite over here. First, here is a picture I took the day I took possession:

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In my search for a mando/6 double neck, I ran across what I eventually bought on Reverb. It was listed by a guitar shop in San Diego "on sale" for $8K. Now I wanted a quality guitar and I knew Mosrites had a reputation for quality, but $8K for a guy that had only be playing a few years, coupled with the fact that vintage instruments can come with a host of problems, was a bit steep. After months of searching I couldn't come up with anything besides the cheap MIC kits so I called the shop to see what I could learn about it. The shop owner told me that he bought the guitar, along with another Mosrite, from the original owner, John Hall. He told me that John and Judy were country artists originally from Bakersfield. He also told me that according to John, this guitar was the third one built by Semie. Clearly it was not THE third guitar, so I assumed he meant third mando/6 guitar. After the call, I set out to find out what the value of this might be. I searched this forum to see if anyone had noted the Reverb listing and found this link which showed it on eBay for over $12K!

http://www.mosriteforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=4766

A few months ago I went on a business trip to San Diego and found time to stop and look at the guitar. It appeared to be all original with the exception of the mandolin pickup. It was a very comfortable guitar and not nearly as heavy as I thought it would be. At this point, I'm interested. I noted a few minor issues with it (one of which is a later nut on the guitar neck that left the "E" strings dangling in space!) to the owner and told him I would be in touch.

After a number of calls to the San Diego owner, we finally agreed on a price and I took possession.

Next, I wanted to see who John and Judy were. My search yielded several John and Judy duos that were together in the early sixties. One hit led me to a Facebook page for "Sideman Jamboree":

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=sideman%20jamboree

I learned that John and Judy Hall have been hosting a Western Swing Music Jamboree in Arizona for the last 32 years. "Sideman" referring to the session musicians that played on major artists recordings. I posted a picture of the guitar on their Facebook site and received confirmation that my guitar was owned by the same John Hall. They also posted this picture:

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The guitar looks to be unchanged since the picture was taken, with the exception of the over sized nut! The picture, it turns out, was from the cover of a record they recorded in Nashville in the mid 70's. I went online and found a copy which I promptly purchased:

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Unfortunately, John Hall passed away last year, but Judy is alive and well, knocking on her 90th birthday. Judy confirmed it was the third one made by Semie. She went further and said that a total of four were made for the following musicians: the first went to Joe Maphis, the second went to Larry Collins, the third went to John, and the fourth to Roy Nichols.

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Swept57
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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Swept57 » Mon Feb 15, 2016 2:25 pm

After I received the guitar, I took it apart to clean and setup. I bought the correct guitar nut online and cleaned the pots. The guitar neck has "Johnnie," presumably for John Hall, penciled on the top of the tongue before the finish was applied:

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The mando neck has "Gene M.," presumably for Gene Moles, penciled on it:

Image

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Swept57 » Mon Feb 15, 2016 3:07 pm

While inspecting the mando neck I noticed something interesting. The headstock had originally been drilled for six tuners (look closely, it was hard to capture in a photo):

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The closer spacing of the mando tuners required trimming of the Kluson tuners:

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Further, the guitar body looked to be a standard Joe Maphis octave/6 body that had been modified to reposition the "forward" slant pickup location to a "reverse" slant pickup location. This modification was clearly done by hand after the guitar had been finished:

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The mando neck was shimmed on both sides to fill the octave neck pocket:

Image

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The patina of all components are compatible so it appears that this mando version was created by modifying an octave/6 guitar. The mando neck was either mistakenly drilled for six tuners, or the neck was converted from an octave neck to a mandolin neck.

The modified mando pickup was likely done after it was originally built as the top pick-guard piece is single ply white, rather than the multi-layer "green" of the rest of the pick guards. But this mod was clearly done prior to the mid 70's when the album was recorded.

Does anyone on this site know anything about these mando/6 guitars? The pots are dated 1963, so I am assuming this is a 64/65 model?

Dave

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby dubtrub » Mon Feb 15, 2016 3:54 pm

If I was to make a guess I'd say the guitar was modified by Gene Moles. It surely looks like his work on the mods and especially the pickguard add-on plate over the original. Contact his son Eugene Moles via facebook and see if he remembers anything about this guitar. https://www.facebook.com/eugene.moles?p ... nds.search
Danny Ellison

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Swept57 » Mon Feb 15, 2016 4:22 pm

dubtrub wrote:If I was to make a guess I'd say the guitar was modified by Gene Moles. It surely looks like his work on the mods and especially the pickguard add-on plate over the original. Contact his son Eugene Moles via facebook and see if he remembers anything about this guitar. https://www.facebook.com/eugene.moles?p ... nds.search


Thanks! I sent Eugene a PM. Dave

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Bob Shade » Tue Feb 16, 2016 7:34 am

I agree, this looks to be a Moles-Rite to me as well. Gene was known for doing things like this.

Yes please post the Swept-Wings!! I love those cars too!

Bob

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Swept57 » Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:28 am

Bob Shade wrote:I agree, this looks to be a Moles-Rite to me as well. Gene was known for doing things like this.

Yes please post the Swept-Wings!! I love those cars too!

Bob


Bob, or anyone else, can you direct me to another example of a Moles-Rite? I'll post my Coronet down in the "What are you guys driving?" thread.

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby Bob Shade » Tue Feb 16, 2016 9:36 am

Deke Dickerson has a double neck Moles-Rite..........my Buddy used to have one too. E-mail Deke and ask him for a photo.......he most likely has one is his pictures file.

Looking forward to the Swept-Wing car photos. Now we need to build you a double neck 6/mando Hallmark Swept-Wing guitar :D

Bob

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby jailfox200 » Sun Apr 03, 2016 6:50 pm

this LP! he plays the mandolin?
and please up mp3

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Re: Joe Maphis Mando/6 Double Neck

Postby jailfox200 » Mon Apr 04, 2016 7:51 pm

John play mandolin?


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