I spent the day with Robert McNinch in Denison, Texas, just over the border from Oklahoma. Robert aka Bob aka “Bobby” was a young kid whose father preached at a Pentecostal church in Bakersfield where Semie Moseley attended and performed in the early 1960s. “I was quoting scripture at the age of two—that’s how I learned the alphabet!”
In 1962, Semie made this solidbody Joe Maphis doubleneck for fifteen-year old Bobby, and in 1963, the teenager began working for Semie in the early tin shed workshop where he made Mosrite guitars by hand. (In the photo below, from a 1963 Bakersfield Californian newspaper article, that’s young Bobby on the right.) He’s now the only living person from the early Bakersfield era of Mosrite, and I was able to get some incredible quotes from him about who worked at the shop, how the shop was equipped, the financial struggles of the early era, and how everything changed when the Ventures financed Semie Moseley a bunch of money in 1963 to begin making their own signature model guitar.
Robert left Mosrite in 1966 to join the Marines (he was about to be drafted into the Army to go to Vietnam, so he chose to enlist in the Marines). He saw Semie a few times after that, but mostly gave up music. He pursued a career in the military, later installing mainframe computers at military bases on the West Coast and Okinawa. His 1962 doubleneck was stolen off the stage of the church in the 1960s, but he got it back fifty years later when it turned up in the Pacific Northwest (shout out to Damon Thomas, if he’s out there, for returning Bob’s doubleneck to him).
Mosrite nerds, there are some interesting things about this guitar. If you’re aware of the Mosrite Ventures model guitar, that body shape originated with a short-run solidbody guitar known as the “Joe Maphis Model” singleneck and doubleneck. These guitars were made in extremely limited quantities, by hand, in 1962 and 1963. There were anywhere from four to six “Joe Maphis Doublenecks” with the little octave neck made in 1962 and 1963, and “Bobby” is the first one (it’s so early, it even has carved wooden pickup covers and a totally handmade vibrato, predating the Vibramute), made in 1962.
Around this same time, the “Joe Maphis Model” singleneck solidbody was born, and there were perhaps twenty or thirty of the Joe Maphis model singleneck guitars made before the Ventures approached Semie Moseley, waving a big check, and the solidbody Joe Maphis model suddenly became the Ventures model. Bob’s guitar originally had the flip-up mute on it, the Vibra-Mute, which he has replaced with a roller bridge. But he still has the flip-up mute assembly, which is probably one of the first made, if not the first:
Bob’s guitar was also originally sunburst, then refinished to a sparkle-blue finish a few years later, which has now faded to a very cool emerald green sparkle. What a cool instrument!
Bob and I spent hours talking about music and Bakersfield music history, guitars, Pentecostal churches, and an impressive list of people he has crossed paths with over the years (he went to sixth grade with Linda Ronstadt in Modesto, then a year later he went to seventh grade harboring a big crush on Wendy Lucas, sister of George Lucas). I really appreciate all the time you gave me, Bob, thanks for helping fill in some gaps in the book with your personal experiences and stories!
[Bob Shade added in a comment]
I did a lot of work on this guitar Deke, before it was back in Bob’s possession. There were a lot of parts missing from it, as well as someone had painted the guard to cover the Bobby name. I had to carefully wet-sand all of the paint off of the guard and then re-polish the guard to make it look original again. One of the pickups had gone missing, so I had to replicate one wooden pickup to match the other two and wind a coil to fit the piece of wood I used. Those are pretty thin pickups. Also some of the vibrato was missing, and I replicated the parts by hand. I believe it was the bridge and flip-mute and possibly the arm but I would have to check to see what exactly I did. All the electronics were out of the guitar and I think it was missing some gears on it too. I don’t recall everything, but it was a lot of work. Someone told me they thought this was originally a sunburst finish on this before it was Bobby’s and it was used for that picture in the old Mosrite flyer with the two guitars with wooden pickups. Then the double neck got repainted as it sits now and customized for Bobby. I am not sure if that story is true, but someone passed that along to me at to me point. It is nice to see the guitar all together still and in Bob’s hands.
Read all the comments at Deke’s original post.
