12 Facts About Semie Moseley

Semie Moseley was an American luthier and the founder of guitar manufacturer Mosrite.

Semie Moseley's family migrated to California along a path similar to many Bakersfield Okies, first moving to Chandler, Arizona, in 1938, and two years later to Bakersfield, California.

In Bakersfield, Semie Moseley started playing guitar in an evangelical group at age 13.

In 1954, Semie Moseley built a triple-neck guitar in his garage.

Semie Moseley presented a double-neck to Joe Maphis, a Los Angeles-area TV performer.

Semie Moseley, who built guitars for the Los Angeles-based Rickenbacker company, said to his co-workers that he was making his own product, and he was fired by Rickenbacker.

In 1959, Andy Semie Moseley moved to Nashville, Tennessee for a year to popularize the Mosrite name and sold a few to Grand Ole Opry entertainers and both studio and road musicians.

Andy Semie Moseley said: "And that's how we kept the factory going at the time: custom guitars".

Two years after his bankruptcy, Semie Moseley was able to get back the Mosrite name, and in 1970 started making guitars again in Pumpkin Center near Bakersfield.

Semie Moseley moved his factory three times in the next 20 years, to Oklahoma City in the mid-70s, to the township of Jonas Ridge in Burke County, North Carolina in 1981, and to Booneville, Arkansas in 1991.

Six months after moving to Arkansas, Semie Moseley became ill with bone cancer.

Semie Moseley helped kick off the monthly Mosrite Jam in Bakersfield.