60’s pearl white Mosrite Mark 1

A guitar so cool, if you play it your fingers will snap off.

The last few months I’ve been on a MAJOR ‘Man Or Astroman?’ fix… I’ve been listening to nothing but ‘Experiment Zero’ every waking hour. It’s pretty much the perfect combination of 2 of my favourite things… surf guitar and the Hot Snakes down stroke punk frenzy. I’ve loved it so much that I’ve started a band with some friends playing some reverb drenched Astroman influenced music. My main tools for this are my fantastic Mesa Boogie Mark 1 combo, my SoulMate reverb spring tank pedal and my Robert Poss G&L SC1. The MFD pickup in the SC1 is without a doubt the best single coil pickup I’ve ever heard, so I’ve been having a great time.

Tim from Tym Guitars heard I was getting into MOAM so he asked if I’d be interested in borrowing his 60’s Mosrite for a band praccy, as this is MOAM’s guitar of choice. That’s an offer I couldn’t pass up!

I’d played heaps of japanese Mosrites over the years and while impressive, they never really grabbed me. I’d owned a 70’s japanese Mosrite Avenger, but the neck was a bit of a club and it weighed a ton so I traded it. When I picked up Tim’s 60’s Mosrite, it was like night and day. While being a HUGE guitar, it was really light. And that gorgeous neck… narrow width and deliciously flat.

The colour was absolutely gorgeous. Pearl white, which shimmered different colours in the sun. The finish had cracked over the years, but I thought this made it look even cooler. Tim said this guitar had been collecting dust in his workshop for years until Lee, his set up guy, found it and cleaned it up. Straight away Lee said this was one of the best guitars he’d played. I believe him. It’s pretty great.

The pickups are nice and bitey, but with a little power. They’re different from a P-90 which I’ve always thought were a little dark sounding. The Moseley tremolo is great… very subtle and it stayed in tune well. The roller bridge is a clever design and adds to the authentic surf sound this guitar puts out. And that’s the thing with this axe… it sounds AUTHENTIC. The notes die that little bit earlier than a Strat or Tele, and the tremolo is a lot subtler than a Strat tremolo so this guitar makes you play in a particular way. Also, with how tight the string spacing is, you won’t be doing any long blues runs on this… but for spaghetti western twang it’s perfect.

You can pick up one of these 60’s Mosrite’s for about 3 grand, which is ridiculous value. Think how much a 60’s Gibson or Fender would cost you! Tim’s been saying for years and years how awesome Mosrite’s are and I’ve finally started seeing what he means.

So it’s safe to say… I didn’t want to give it back. But I did. Eventually.

And for those who are interested, this is my new band ‘Boy Or AstroBoy?’ with our song ‘Blind Tiger’…