Mossman Winter Wheat Reviews 
5 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI bought this guitar new from a store in '76, the same year it was made. It listed for about $1300 I was told, and the store discounted it to $900.I was committed to finding the best sounding, best made guitar I could at the time. In the course of my search I looked at hundreds of guitars in several cities - all of the usual maufacturers - with an emphasis on Martin. I'd played a shaved brace, prewar Martin owned by an aquaintence and loved it - it was awesome sounding. However, he was not interested in selling the guitar - ever, at any price ,and was terrified of even taking it out of the house (fragile, valuable). I could not have affored it in any event - $3K mid seventies dollars being my absolute maximum. I was seriously disappointed in the newer Martins of the time. Martin had become very popular and they were cranking them out with little of the craftsmanship they had been previously noted for. Most Martin aficianado's still avoid them from this era. I understand they are much better these days, but don't care now. I had never heard of Mossman. I walked into a store and they had just received this guitar. It was gorgeous, but my first concerns were tone an playability. They gave me the whole story of Mossman, how well they were built, etc., etc., all of which I have found to be true for the last 28years, but what sold me was the sound and playability. I played professionally back then, so the guitar had to step up to some rigorous standards.
This guitar sounds wonderful. It has both a clear chimey top and a powerful bottom. The volume across the strings is even - single notes are full and chords are full, clear and the notes are all distinct. It is very dynamic and does not become "compressed" when you play it hard. I use medium gauge phospher bronze strings to get a bit more of the deep "piano" tone on the bass strings. The intonation is pretty good. ( I'm never thrilled with intonation on any acoustic guitar).
This guitar has not had one problem in the almost 3 decades I've owned it. The only flaw is has to this day is a single line of finish check in the top, which occured when it was brought in from the freezing cold and my wife took it directly out of the case to show a friend in a very warm room with no time for it to warm up. It does not look bad, and did not affect the sound. I decided to let her live.
This guitar has a dreadnought style body - ie; a pretty large body, and large tone to go with it. I'd love to be able to get this kind of tone from a small body guitar (more comfortable), but that won't happen until some new design/materials development. Buy then I won't care ,'cause it won't have this guitars hard won Mojo.
The construction of the guitar is excellent. The exterior joints and finish are flawless. It has a good deal of abalone - and the inlsy on the body, fretboard and headstock are excellent. It has now stood the test of time for 28yrs, and shows no sign of distress. The more its played, the better it sounds, like all guitars. Gold plating on tuners not as shiny, but looks good.
Love it. It will go to my son - if he is worthy - in 20yrs. I would recommend to anyone to consider a 70's era Mossman. To replace this guitar today - with its materials and inlay - would take a very high end, very fancy Martin or similar for major money - and they still would not have passed the test of time or broken in for the last 30yrs. Mossman made different levels of ornamentation. I would buy one based on the tone and playability. If you like the looks, that's icing.
Happy owner rated this unit
on
2004-02-12.
