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Mosrite Custom Guitar® Semie Moseley(1935-1994), the creator of the Mosrite guitars, lived in Bakersfield, California. He was a very influential and interesting guitar craftsman, and has had his share of working with other big names then, like Paul Bigsby and Rickenbacker. Moseley only made the Mosrite guitars on a small scale for his original customers. However, his big break came when he sold one to Nokie Edwards of the Ventures . The Ventures, who had a very large following then, had relied mostly on Fenders. When saw the Mosrite, they liked it so much that they decided start a joint-venture with Moseley. Their business skyrocketed, since every Ventures fan now wanted a Mosrite guitar of their own, making it the most successful instrument of the 60s. The guitar itself weighs 16 pounds ( now that's what I call a solidbody!) and its body is made out of walnut with maple center block and neck. The guitar's metal parts were made of bronze from wooden molds carved by Moseley himself. The frets were a single piece of metal, instead of individual frets. Mosrite blooming sales enabled Moseley  to upgrade from a one-man custom shop to a factory employing over 100 people, and took over the Dobro company. However. Moseley went bankrupt in the late 60s when the Ventures faced problems with a new line of Mosrite amplifiers. In 1977, a Japanese businessman agreed to back-up Moseley, and until today most Mosrite guitars are sold in Japan where they remain popular.