Am I crazy? *Mosrite pics added*

[drbassman]

I've been chatting with the guys in the Mosrite forum.  It seems I bought the bass from Andy Moseley, Semie's brother!!  No one there knows anything about a 24.5" scale bass either.  Pics I've found online clearly show the body and pups are a Celebrity 3 guitar.  However, the serial number inside is that of a bass!!  This is really weird.  The neck is a real mystery.  I'll know more about that when I take it apart tonight.

[drbassman]

FYI, here's my Celeb on top and a 6 string version underneath.  See any real differences?





I'm pretty sure it's a Celebrity 3 guitar body with a shortened tail piece.  I can't explain the 24.5" scale neck (essentially a guitar neck) with what look like original bass tuners.  I'm thinking a possible custom neck job at the factory since the Mosrite logo looks legit and original?  Either way, it's a weird combination.

[Granny Gremlin]

Dave, you missed it; on Tym's site, a bit further down:

pics of another weird super-short scale Celebrity Bass

from pg5 of the "My Mosrites" section:

196 Mosrite Celebrity bass
Serial number Z0370
This is an odd one. It's a factory made short scale bass the same length as a guitar. It's a Celebrity guitar that was factory made into a short scale bass. No extra holes in the headstock for 6 tuners.

[Chris P.]

Great stories! And Granny seems to have found the answer! And the fact you bought it from it's brother, may be a good reason to think it's a one off or prototype.

BTW: I love the bridge cover, going from P width to J width!!

Great!

[drbassman]

Holy crap Batman!  There's another one and I missed it too!

[Granny Gremlin]

BTW: I love the bridge cover, going from P width to J width!!

If you look at other Mosrites, the cover appears to be mounted backwards - it's supposed to follow the offset pickup.

I like it better the wrong way.

[drbassman]

All of the design elements on these basses are funky.  That's what I like about them.  They weren't trying to copy Fender or Gibson per se.

Well, now I gotta decide what to do.  The neck, tuners and headstock logo are for real.  I think they must have made a small number of these for whomever.  I sure wish I could get some history on them.  A little voice in my head says "keep it, it's actually quite rare" and another says "'it's just too odd to hold on to."

[drbassman]

Here's what one of the Mosrite experts had to say about my "bass"

Bill,
Uncle Semie was notorious for building (custom built or special ordered) "one off's" throughout his career in guitar history. What I see is a very Rare Bird that you have in your possession. To answer your question, the similarity SHOULD BE ALMOST Identical between the guitar and the bass, for these were the Celebrity III Series. Your hardware (with exception to the tailpiece) should be identical, the pickguards, scratchplates for the pot and selector controls, and the body. The only difference would be the typical stuff like the Tuners, Nut, bridge, etc. However, the Scale Length on yours is vary rare, but it does look to be Original.

[Dave W]

Jake, thanks for uncovering that.

Bill, I didn't realize you bought this off eBay, since you didn't link to an auction. I found it here.

I don't want to influence you one way or the other, but IMHO this is misrepresented, Andy Moseley or not. True, he doesn't state a scale length, but "short scale bass" commonly refers to a 30-31" scale bass. This is a bass with a guitar scale length, and it should have said so. I'd feel the same way if I bought something described as a "long scale bass" and it turned out to have a 40" scale.

And if it is Andy Moseley, I wonder: is this is a 40 year old bass, or a bass recently assembled from his bin of 40 year old parts? Since you describe it as not fitting together too well, that just raises doubts with me.

BTW, remember on page 1 of this thread that John linked to a store with three Mosrite basses for sale. I just noticed that this one seems to be yet another guitar-scale example.

[drbassman]

I agree Dave and I essentially wrote him a note earlier this afternoon mentioning that.  I haven't heard back from him and expect this may turn into a long drawn out affair.

[Chris P.]

For that money... If you like it and it plays welll... Keep it!

[drbassman]

For that money... If you like it and it plays welll... Keep it!

You too have a point Chris.  I didn't pay a premium for it and I like the design and style.  I just expected a 30" scale bass and got something a little different.  I was the only bidder and I think part of the reason why was Mosrite collectors/aficionados probably recognized it was one of those odd one-offs that Semie used to do and they weren't interested and along comes Bill, looking for a good deal on a short scale hollow body.  Duh!   

So, I have to admit, I've played it for about 30 minutes and it doesn't sound much different that my 30" HB basses.  It's quite close to my EB-2, only not so muddy.  I think the guitar pups (which is what I think they are) give it a pretty clear voice, but the lows are there, just as you'd expect.  I don't know where he got the flats on it, but they sound pretty good and fit just right.  Can't figure out how he did that.

Speaking of the strings, does anyone here know or have short scale flats where each string is exactly 32" from the ball on the end to the bottom of the silk wrap on top?  These strings fit this "bass" perfectly and none of the short scale sets I have laying around will work on it.  Just another piece of the puzzle.

[Chris P.]

That sounds cool.

Of course there's a lot of extra string between bridge and tailpiece, so maybe normal shortscale strings will work? Or medium scales?

[Dave W]

What about D'addario short scales? I can't link directly to the entry in their FAQ, but here's the text, and it looks to me like this would mean their short scales have a 32" winding length. What do you think?

How do I determine which scale strings my bass requires?

You cannot always tell which strings you need just by knowing the scale length of your bass. Some basses are strung through the body, or have tailpieces. The best way to figure out the correct D'Addario strings for sure is to:

1) Assuming your bass has strings on it, mark the lowest pitched string (while tuned to pitch, and on your bass) at the nut with a marker.

2) Remove the string.

3) Measure the distance from the inner edge of the ball end to the mark you just made.

4 ) Record this length, and refer to the following chart:

Length String Scale Required

Up to 32" D'Addario Short
32 to 34 D'Addario Medium
34 to 36 D'Addario Long
36 to 38 D'Addario Super Long

[drbassman]

I hear you Dave. The Mosrite has flats that measure exactly 32" from ball to bottom of the wrap on all four strings.    I'm not clear about the D'adario strings.