Mosrite M88 1988 #00588 (5th one for 1988) Rare sandlewood see thru burst Semie told me that he only did two that were shaded as a burst. Back in late 1987 I noticed adverts in guitar magazines that Mosrite was then located in Jonas Ridge, North Carolina. In February 1988 on a whim I called the Mosrite Company number. A man answered the phone and said "Mosrite International". I asked who was speaking and he replied "Semie" in a tone that sounded like well just who did you think would be answering the Mosrite International phone. After regaining my compossue and telling him what a huge Mosrite fan I was he asked me if I would like to order one. He said he was working on the 1988 M88 and V88 models and I would get a fairly low serial number. He told me about a new color he had just done he called "sandalwood" He told me had two shaded sandlewood burst finished bodies that were "diamondized". He added sparkle to the paint to get what he called a diamondized finish. I ordered a guitar from him that day and made payments till June when I drove down to Greensboro to see David Lee Roth (w/ Poison) and then to Jonas Ridge the next day to meet Semie, make my last payment and pickup my new non trem model M88 in a very rare color that I had paid on for nearly six months. I thought I may get a serial number in the low teens but instead I got #5. 
I spent the whole afternoon there with him. It was a great day and Semie was a wonderful host. I asked him about things I had read like the story about him working for Rickenbacker and getting fired for working on a guitar for himself. It was cool to hear this from him. He told me other stuff about those early guitar days. Back in the day it was Leo Fender, Les Paul and Paul Bigsby, they were the guys that were working this new thing known as the "solid body" electric guitar and Semie Moseley was right there too. I became a Mosrite dealer for a couple of years. Very nice guitars. I was in Los Angles at the NAMM show in Jan 1989 wnd ran into Semie several times that weekend. I also found the only other diamondized sandalwood burst M88 too. Number 00888. It was hanging in "Guitars R Us" on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Ran into Jim Marshall in there too. I told him I had a 25/50 Silver Jubilee Micro Stack setting in my living room back in Virginia. He smiled and with his English accent said "That's nice, everyone should have one there". 
Here's the picture I took within seconds of Semie opening the case to show me my new Mosrite for the first time. He said he wanted to see the look on my face when he opened the case 
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