Joe Maphis 'The King of the Strings' Mark 1…Signed by Semie Moseley in the Neck Pocket.

1966 Mosrite Joe Maphis Mark 1.

This first year, rather unusual 'Joe Maphis Mk 1' guitar weighs just 8.20 lbs. and has an offset asymmetrical, chambered 15 3/4 inch wide, 2 inch deep, walnut body with a 'German' carved single-bound spruce top. Two-piece bolt-on neck (secured by four screws) with a nut width of 1 9/16 inches, a very fast 'thin' profile, and a scale length of 24 1/2 inches. Specific shaped headstock with black decal "M Mosrite / of California"  "Joe Maphis / Model" and single-layer 'conical' shaped black plastic truss-rod cover with two screws. Individual dual-line Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. 'Slab' rosewood fretboard with twenty-two small 'speed' frets and single, double and triple small clay dot position markers. Serial number "D 381" blind-stamped onto twenty-second fret. Two Mosrite single-coil pickups with black plastic surrounds and outputs of 10.23k and 4.23k. Four-layer plastic (tortoiseshell over white and black) pickguard with seven screws. Two controls (one volume and one tone) plus a three-way pickup selector switch with white plastic tip and jack input all mounted on pickguard. The potentiometers are stamped "134 6614" (Centralab, April 1966). Silver plastic control knobs with ribbed sides with "Volume" and "Tone" stamped on top, numbered from 0 to 10. Mosrite bridge with six individually adjustable saddles and chrome-plated die-cast Mosely type vibrato tailpiece. The neck-pocket is stamped in black JUN 15 1966 / 0009" (signed in blue ink by Semie Moseley) and the underside of the neck is stamped in black "JUN 27 1966 / 0004". There is some edge wear on the body, a few marks on the back and top, and some finish checking on the top, but certainly this guitar is still in (8.75) excellent plus condition. Housed in a late seventies 'Kramer' three-latch brown hardshell case with black plush lining (9.00).

Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis (born May 12, 1921 Suffolk, Virginia – died June 27, 1986), was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1948. One of the flashiest country guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s, Joe Maphis was known as The King of the Strings. He was able to play many stringed instruments with great facility. However, he specialized in dazzling guitar virtuosity. Working out of Bakersfield, California, he rose to prominence with his own hits such as "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke (and Loud, Loud Music)" as well as playing with acts like Johnny Burnette, Doyle Holly, The Collins Kids, Wanda Jackson, Rose Maddox and Ricky Nelson. His playing was an influence on such greats as Merle Travis, Jimmy Bryant and Chet Atkins. He was known for his use of a double-neck Mosrite guitar, specially built for him by Semie Moseley, which was a boon to Moseley's fledgling career as a guitar builder. He was a band member and featured soloist on Town Hall Party television broadcasts in southern California during the 1950s and a regular guest on the Jimmy Dean television show in the 1960s. Joe's guitar hero was Mother Maybelle Carter, matriarch of the Carter Family. Her daughter June Carter Cash and husband Johnny Cash so admired Joe's guitar playing that Joe is buried in a Hendersonville, TN cemetery next to Maybelle, her husband, Ezra Carter (A.P.'s brother), and daughter, Anita Carter.