1966 Ventures Mark l in Ink Blue…

1966 Mosrite The Ventures Mark 1.

This exceptionally rare, custom-color 'Ink Blue' Ventures Mark 1, weighs just 8.10 lbs. and has a nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 24.75 inches. Solid alder body with 'German' carved top. Two-piece thin-profile rock-maple neck with a bound rosewood fretboard with metal nut, zero fret and 22 thin 'speed' frets and small white dot position markers. Specially shaped "Ventures Model" headstock with "Mosrite of California", the Mosrite "M" logo and "The / Ventures / Model" decal in black. Individual "double-line" Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons (stamped on the underside "D-169400 / Patent No."). The serial number "V 5240" is stamped into the twenty-second fret of the guitar. Four-bolt neck plate. Two Mosrite single coil pickups with black plastic covers with "Mosrite of California" embossed on the lower edge and outputs of 10.97k and 10.21k. Three-layer (white/black/white) plastic pickguard with seven screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) plus three-way selector switch, all on pickguard. Mosrite 'hat type' control knobs with "M" stamped on top, numbered from 1 to 5 with V and T (the volume control knob is a little 'pitted'). The potentiometers are stamped "134 6647" & "134 6651" (Centralab November & December 1966). Mosrite bridge with six individually adjustable saddles and chrome-plated die-cast Mosely type vibrato tailpiece. The Ink Blue finish is fresh and totally unfaded. Apart from a few very small and insignificant surface marks on the edges of the body, this rare custom color guitar is in near mint (9.25) condition. Housed in it's original three-latch brown imitation Crocodile hardshell case with brown leather ends and red plush lining (9.00).

With over 110 million copies sold worldwide of well over 100 studio, live, compilation and box set album releases, The Ventures, founded in 1958 as The Versatones by Don Wilson and Bob Bogle, remain unsurpassed for their impact on music and musicians.

“The Ventures – the quintessential guitar combo of the pre-Beatles era -influenced not only styles, but also a generation’s choice of instruments” (Guitar Player, Jan. 1987).

Over thirty star guitarists have named The Ventures as an early influence. The list includes George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Rory Gallagher, Joe Walsh, Stephen Stills, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, Peter Frampton, Stevie Ray Vaughn, John Fogarty, Mark Knopfler, Roy Buchanan, Ted Nugent, Gene Simmons, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Steve Howe, and even Elton John; they’ve all testified to the importance of Walk Don’t Run, amongst other Ventures hits, to their early musical education.

Walk Don’t Run, a rearrangement of Chet Atkins’ version of jazz guitar great Johnny Smith’s composition, was their first hit. They rerecorded it again in 1964, and it became a hit once more. The group remains the only act to win Top Ten spots for two different versions of the same song. After a few personnel changes in the very early 1960s, the classic lineup of Don Wilson on rhythm guitar, Nokie Edwards on lead guitar, Bob Bogle on bass, and Mel Taylor on drums was established. The guitarists would often switch roles.

Over the last forty-eight years, through various musical trends and changes in taste, the band has played non-stop and thirty-eight of the Ventures albums made it onto Billboard's Top 200.