Guitar
guitarz.blogspot.com:
The "upside-down Strat" body shape of this bizarre looking guitar may look familiar, especially following from Bertram's recent blog posts featuring Mosrite guitars. This 10-string Melobar is indeed a Mosrite-built instrument, one of a quantity of 500 that Semie Moseley produced circa 1965 for the Smith Family, the company behind the Melobar name. Apparently 500 of this design were built: 50 finished in white, 50 in blue, 100 in black, 100 in red, and the remaining 200 in sunburst finish. We previously looked at a sunburst example here.
One very quirky feature is the out-of-place 10th machine head (see photo, right). Forgetting the fact that the Melobar pictured has been strung with 6 strings, these were originally designed as 9-string instruments, but were then quickly altered at the factory for 10 strings. So, that odd looking extra machine head is factory original, and is not a later addition by some former owner. It's not the most elegant solution, it must be said.
This intriguing instrument - I'd love to have a go on one but never really got on with slide guitar - is currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $875.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
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Guitar
Smith Family 10-string Melobar in white finish built by Mosrite
guitarz.blogspot.com:
This intriguing instrument - I'd love to have a go on one but never really got on with slide guitar - is currently being auctioned on eBay with a starting price of $875.
G L Wilson
© 2011, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!
- Eat My Short(s)-scale Bass: Mosrite Celebrity Iii Model 221 Mark X
guitarz.blogspot.com: Most modern bass players wouldn't entertain the idea of a large-bodied hollowbody instrument with a short-scale length. I'd imagine it would produce quite a boomy tone. However, I can't help like this Mosrite Celebrity...
- 1969 Fender Custom A.k.a. Maverick - A Thinly Disguised Chopped-down Fender Electric Xii
guitarz.blogspot.com: Just like the Fender Swinger from the same era, the Fender Custom (or Maverick as it was sometimes known) was another cunning ploy by the then CBS-owned Fender company to clear out unused parts of guitars that hadn't exactly...
- Soares'y Left-handed Acoustic/electric Piccolo Bass
guitarz.blogspot.com: Here's a very specific instrument for a player with a very specific list of requirements. It's a Soares'y left-handed acoustic/electric piccolo bass, one of a number of unusual instruments, primarily tenor guitars, built...
- 1960 Bartell Doubleneck - Looking A Bit Mosritey Perhaps?
guitarz.blogspot.com: We've looked at the creations of Paul Barth before here on Guitarz. This Barth 6+12 doubleneck does not have the elegance of his celebrated but hard to track down Black Widow guitars but is no doubt even rarer. There is more...
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My latest infatuation is the Melobar, a portable lap steel guitar conceived in the 60s by Melobar and released a.o. by Mosrite - and revived lately by Manson for John Paul Jones. I think that this instrument is probably less difficult to build...