Today I’m with one of my favorite people on the planet, Jay Rosen. I’ve known Jay since he had a band in Omaha called the Muskrats. He’s one of the top vintage guitar dealers in the world, but still just a real down-to-earth guy with a great sense of humor and even better taste in guitars!
The Mosrite “Johnny” guitar he let me photograph today is one of the earliest Mosrite guitars I’ve ever seen. It could possibly be the first Mosrite guitar that Semie Moseley made for someone other than himself. The letter of provenance is pretty unclear. If I had to guess, I would say this guitar is one of the very first, if not the first, Mosrite guitar. Based on the headstock design and the overall crudeness of the construction, I would date it between 1953 and 1955. The gold finish and the Gibson knobs make me believe he was doing his own variation on a Les Paul Gold Top. Not sure that we will ever know the real history on this guitar, but it is a fascinating, VERY early Mosrite.
Jay had some other neat guitars that I photographed, and then we just sat around talking about the state of the world, shows that happened twenty-seven years ago, bands we forgot about, and the most arcane vintage guitar details you could possibly imagine. Jay is a great guy.
One of my favorite Jay Rosen stories: Many years ago he found an original Fender Broadcaster from the early 1950s that had been hideously modified. Someone had sawed off three parts of the body to make it look like a Bo Diddley square guitar. Incredibly, though, the “Space Saver” (as Jay nicknamed it) was still an incredibly great-playing and -sounding guitar and very comfortable to play. He saw an opportunity there, so Jay has been reproducing the “Space Saver” as its own model for several years. They are really great instruments! You should buy one!
I’m glad to get this “Johnny” guitar photographed for the book, and to spend some good time with my friend Jay.
See more photos at Deke’s original Facebook post!
