1967 Mosrite Melobar [*1 of 4 in Red!]

This Mosrite Meloboar is 1 of 4 produced in red finish. This funky stand-up design was invented by Walt Smith with a convenient 45-degree neck tilt so you can hold the guitar with a strap and play at an ideal angle. This example is currently set as a 6-string but it was a ten-string with an added tuner which we believe was done at the factory as we have seen other examples with an oddball tuner like this one! Great overall condition with the usual dings/scuffing for an instrument of this vintage and sounds amazing with a rich and full sound from the stock PUs! Rare as hens' teeth, and so damn funky! Includes gig bag.

 Check out the feature from our luthier Tyler in the ECG Newsletter:

"Have you always dreamed of being a working steel guitar player, but can’t risk the deep vein thrombosis inevitable when sitting for a full three hour set? Look no further. Before there were miracle socks, there was the Melobar. Invented by Walt Smith for some reason in the mid 60s, this hybrid Spanish/steel instrument solved an age-old problem that nobody knew existed. While practical for performance, the unique 45 degree angle of the playing surface made gripping a standard lap steel bar a difficult task, but Walt had a solution for this too. He dreamt up and attempted to patent the 'Ringbar,' a short metal cylinder with a finger-sized hole running through its length. If this design sounds familiar, it’s because he attempted to patent pipe. A similar design to the Ringbar has been found in ancient Egypt and was dated to as early as the 25th century BC, used naively in their case for fluid conveyance. Talk about a lack of vision.

When Walt decided to put these axes into production he unsurprisingly ended up at the doorstep of Semie Moseley, Southern California’s own Willy Wonka of solid body electric guitar manufacturing. Over the course of the late 60s, around 300 Melobars were built and sold before Mosrite’s untimely and completely unrelated bankruptcy. Extremely low production numbers make these guitars highly collectable among the straight-legged steel community, and this custom color red example is rarer still. Apparently only 4 of these Mosrite Melobars were ever finished in red, making this a once in a lifetime instrument for the musician and right triangle-enthusiast alike."