Semie Moseley(1935-1992). Born in Oklahoma, he ended up in Bakersfield, CA with his family. That’s when he joined a gospel group at age 13.
He and his brother, Andy began building and refinishing guitars while he was a teen.
He built a triple neck guitar while he was still in his teens.
He got his guitars on TV by giving a double neck to Joe Maphis who hosted a regular variety show with big names.
When he was 21, The Rev. Ray Boatright gave the brothers enough money to found the company Mosrite of California. Mosely was working for Rickenbacker at the time. When they found out he was a competitor, they fired him.
His early guitars were all customs. When he was 24, he moved to Nashville to make customs for country stars.
The brothers formed Mosrite Records and signed several artists, including Barbara Mandrell. She was the teenage daughter of a music store owner who sold Mosrite guitars.
In his 30s, he had 107 employees making 1000 instruments per month. The company cut a deal with a competitor for marketing and that ended in bankruptcy.
Mosrite did make a comeback in the 1970s until Semie died of bone cancer.
Mosrite guitars were played by many rock and roll and country artists such as Jimi Hendrix, The Ventures, The Ramone's Tommy Tedesco, The Strawberry Alarm Clock, Davie Allan, Kurt Cobain, Joe Maphis, Buck Owens, Larry Collins, Buck Trent, Nick McCarthy, the MC5, Iron Butterfly, Dottie Rambo.
“Every Guitar Has A story” found a famous custom guitar made by Semie Mosely at The Indiana Guitar Show.
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