News Flash...

The real Ventures Model Mosrite was extremely short lived. In fact  "The Ventures" supposedly didn't get paid their royalties on the few that were made.

Question
So how come there are so many Mosrite guitars out there that say "The Ventures" on them?

Answer
Dealers actually affixed decals on guitars that were already sold to them. In fact some of the Ventures models predate the original contract with "The Ventures".

Mosrite is probably one of the most copied brands of guitars out there besides Fender & Gibson!!!

I have seen over 50 brands names like Dillion, Madore Aria, Wosrite, Excellent, Fernandes, Guitar Punk, Moserite, Mosrita, Mosright, Tokai, Jay Turser, Wilson Brothers, Univox, Eastwood, Sunsmile, and many others too numerous to mention and there are many who actually go right ahead and actually copy the name.  Every year at NAMM I see yet another couple of Mosrite copies.

The Kings of the copy guitars is of course Ibanez, They copied hundreds of companies during the 70's. Many of their copies were better than the originals. I believe their Gibson copies (At least 100 different models were far better than the originals) For some unknown reason I don't think Ibanez ever copied Mosrite.

The only copy I have seen that I thought was decent was the one that Nokie Edwards is making "The Hitchhiker" That guitar feels and plays like a real Mosrite it also sports Seymour Duncan custom designed Nokie Edwards pickups.  (I have decided to carry it myself) I don't feel it will compete with Mosrite because it costs a great deal more.

Most of the copy brands are pretty poor. occasionally someone comes out with a direct forgery. currently there is one coming out of New York & our New York Attorneys are getting ready to serve this little maggot papers so be careful if you see one on ebay because real Mosrite dealers are not allowed to sell Mosrite on Ebay new or used. 

Ed Roman's Childhood Musical Experience

The first band I ever saw in my entire life was a band called "The Shades" it was the early 60's, They were playing outside on the baseball diamond at Veterans Park School in Ridgefield Connecticut.

The members of this band were Gordon Springer, Chas Wergeles, Richie Haight and Eddie Sossei. They all wore these really cool wraparound dark sunglasses hence the name "The Shades."

They were a Ventures cover band at the time and I was transfixed in total awe with the sound of those guitars. If I live to be 1000 years old I will never forget that sound, the expressions on their faces., It was then I knew that I wanted to be around music and guitars my whole life. I didn't even know how to play at the time but that night as I sat there watching them play I was totally mesmerized and completely taken with what I was seeing and hearing.

The next time I saw them they had changed their name to the Gospel Truths and Eddie Sossei had been replaced by Gino Zenobia I think, but they were still great. They were singing and doing Dave Clark 5, Beatles and Searchers music but I never forgot that first night when they were playing, Peter Gunn, Walk Don't Run, Pipeline, Outer Limits, Sheba, Perfidia, No Trespassing, Space Race etc etc....

If any of the members or friends of this band happen to read this I would love to post a picture of them here.

Sentimentally

Ed Roman

As long as I'm talking about childhood experiences I might as well post a picture of myself as a child.... Yeah right,   I was 19 years old in this photo and I thought I was the coolest thing on 2 wheels. I would give my left nut just to get back 1/4 of my hair.