The Best Mosrite-Style Electric Guitars and Baritone Guitars
by Evan Antonelli
Eastwood President Mike Robinson is a longtime guitar collector and one of his vintage obsessions is Mosrite Guitars—innovative 60s surf-rock rippers with a distinctive shape and a bit of a cult following. You can draw a pretty straight line between these sought-after guitars and who Eastwood is as a company, and why we make the guitars we make.
Mosrite Guitars
In 1948, 13-year-old Semie Moseley began playing guitar in a church group, but soon he became more interested in creating instruments than playing them. He and his brother Andy began building double- and triple-neck guitars that were unlike anything else being manufactured at the time.
Following stints working for Rickenbacker and Paul Bigsby, the Moseley brothers found a business partner in gospel minister Reverend Ray Boatright and Mosrite (“Moseley” + “Boatright”) was born. Andy Moseley was able to get some instruments in the hands of country musicians, most famously the double-neck-playing King of the Strings Joe Maphis. But Mosrite's big break came when Nokie Edwards of The Ventures fell in love with a Mosrite and convinced his whole band to begin playing the guitars in 1962.
Young Barbara Mandrell with her Mosrite Steel Guitar
Since then, Mosrites have been played by a variety of guitarists—Johnny Ramone, Barbara Mandrell, Kurt Cobain—but in the minds of guitar collectors like our very own Mike Robinson, they are synonymous with the jangly minor chord progressions and whammy bar wizardry of surf rock.
Mike Robinson Has a Dilemma
Which brings us back to our old pal/boss Mike. In 2001, he won an eBay auction for a new-old-stock, never been sold, vintage Mosrite Ventures guitar—a collector's dream! It didn't have a scratch on it. The finish and fit looked as if it had just left the factory and Mike wandered back in time to pick it up. The pristine nature of his new-to-him guitar haunted him—he didn’t dare risk putting a ding in this museum-quality guitar, but he wanted to play it!
Mike set out to try and find a Mosrite reproduction that could be an everyday player. He tried less-expensive copies of Mosrites from overseas manufacturers like Teisco and Univox, but nothing got the iconic reversed-Stratocaster look quite right. Plus, there were issues with the playability of vintage Mosrites; not every guitarist was dying to gig with a guitar that had teeny frets and thin necks with narrow nuts. What’s a guy to do?
If You Want Something Done Right, Do It Yourself
Mike decided to manufacture a guitar that was gig-worthy and retained the unmistakable style of vintage Mosrites, and the Sidejack Series was born! (“Sidejack,” get it? The jacks are on the side!) The Sidejacks had modern design enhancements like C-shaped neck profiles, roller bridges, and medium jumbo frets. In many ways, these instruments were improvements on the Mosrites they paid tribute to. And, not to toot our own horn, but the Sidejack Series is more popular than Mosrite was in its time, and more affordable too.
If you’ve ever been struck (in a good way) by the beauty of vintage Mosrites and then struck (in a bad way) by the cost of acquiring one, an Eastwood Sidejack guitar might be right for you! Let’s take a look at some of our favorites.
The best place to start is with the Sidejack DLX. At quick glance, this guitar could easily be mistaken for a vintage Mosrite Ventures model, but there are some key differences. For starters, the nut width is a modern 1 5/8”, compared to vintage Mosrites that can be 1 1/2” or even slimmer. That extra eighth of an inch makes a big difference in feel. Plus, the roller bridge and Fender-style tremolo offer more tuning stability.
But by far the biggest difference between the Sidejack DLX and vintage Mosrites is the price! A quick Google reveals Mosrite Ventures models listing for five, six, and even ten times what the Sidejack DLX costs. The Sidejack DLX is one of our most affordable models, and it’s the perfect entry point to vintage-style guitars that, in some respects, are even better than the real thing.
Not many Mosrites were made without vibrato arms, but not everyone likes playing with one! That’s why we made the Sidejack Standard. We took the design of the Sidejack DLX and replaced the Fender-style tremolo and roller bridge with a rock solid stop tailpiece. The result is a guitar that plays every bit as good, with even more tuning stability.
The Sidejack Standard is available with four pickup configurations: the Standard with two P90s, the HB with two humbuckers, the HB-1 with just a bridge humbucker, and the HB-P with a P90 in the neck and humbucker in the bridge. No matter what tones you’re after, you can bet there’s a Sidejack Standard that will fit the bill.
One of Eastwood’s most enduring models is the Sidejack Baritone. After 20 years in production, Eastwood decided to celebrate with the Sidejack Baritone 20th LTD. But if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! The Sidejack Baritone 20th LTD includes many of the specs that made the Sidejack Baritone a huge success: a set Maple neck with a comfy C shape, a Basswood body with a handsome German carve, and a Tune-O-Matic tailpiece that could easily be swapped for a Les Trem if preferred.
Save for a commemorative 20th Anniversary logo on the headstock, it’s a lot like the original. But the most striking thing about the Sidejack Baritone 20th LTD is the seven exclusive finishes it comes in. The lineup includes some finishes that don’t turn up on a lot of Eastwood baritone models like Metallic Emerald and Modena Yellow—perfect for the baritone player who wants to stand out from the crowd!
One of the rarest Mosrites is a 1966 Sparkle Blue Mosrite 6-String Bass. It was never included in the catalog and has the serial number 001. With no markings to indicate the model, it may well have been a prototype in the coolest possible finish. It’s changed hands a few times and is knocking on the door of being worth five figures.
Here at Eastwood, we wanted to make a Mosrite-style extended-range guitar that mere mortals could afford. Enter the Sidejack Bass VI! Like other Sidejack models, it features two vintage-style P90 pickups, a roller bridge, and a vibrato bar. But unlike the other Sidejacks, it is tuned a full octave below standard guitar tuning with a 30” scale length (a little shorter scale than your average bass guitar) and string gauges from .025 to .096.
Mosrite made more 12 strings than 6-string basses, but the 12 strings still command a pretty penny on the vintage guitar market. We decided to create a more affordable version with the Sidejack 12 DLX. It’s got familiar Sidejack features like simple electronics and vintage-style P90s, but it has a much wider nut than any Mosrite ever did: 1 7/8”. Plenty of room to maneuver with the six extra strings!
And the best part? It’s well under a grand. Good luck finding a Mosrite 12 string for anything near that!
The Future of Sidejacks
Today, the Sidejack series has grown to include dozens of models, with many left-handed versions as well. Even as the Sidejack line has come to have its own identity, with specs that were never seen on Semie Moseley’s guitars, Sidejacks have never strayed too far from the dilemma they were born out of: the need for a vintage-style guitar that plays even better than the original and is more suited to the needs of modern players. Who knows? Maybe someday the Eastwood Sidejack series will be considered valuable vintage instruments in their own right!
Thanks for reading! If you'd like to hear these guitars and learn more, check out this video: