Hi Charlie,
How can any Guild player not love a Mossman, especially considering the shape of the headstock?
In 1979 I bought a brand new Mossman Timber Creek. I had not yet owned a dreadnought body guitar and this one was magnificent. I was so impressed with the instrument I wanted to talk to someone about it. Sometime in 1980, I think, I found a phone number and called, reaching Stuart Mossman's wife. She fetched him from the shop and we spoke for about an hour, me gushing about his guitar and him telling me all about everything. Apparently, I had just missed one of the Carradines, who had just stopped by for a visit (the brothers all owned and played Mossman guitars). He was really happy that David got him a bit part in a movie called Cloud Dancer, a story about competition aerobatics, and wanted me to watch it. I had flown Pitts Specials (no, not competitively), so that part of the conversation took up a good 15 minutes, or so. We talked about the matched set of a 6 and 12 string guitar he had built for John Denver. John had used those guitars on his self-titled album from 1978? '79? (Which is what had inspired me to recognize and purchase the Mossman, when I saw it in a music store). Stuart was quite a character.
I performed many a night with that guitar, alongside my trusty Guild F-50R (another John Denver-inspired purchase). Though both the Mossman and the Guild featured Rosewood back and sides and Spruce tops, that is where the similarity ended; they sounded worlds apart. A few years later, wanting something else more at the time, I sold the Mossman. I quickly realized that was a mistake and, to this day, consider that loss as my Single-Most-Foolish Guitar Transaction (Somebody want to do another epic thread, titled SMFGT ?
).
A friend of mine back then played a Martin D-45, and I recall more than one comparison between the Martin and my Mossman. My guitar, while lacking the bling of his D-45, was every bit as loud and balanced.
Curiously, as I write this, I see there is a '76 Timber Creek for sale on Reverb for $3200 (not that I was looking, mind you).