Stuart Mossman
| Stuart Mossman | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Stuart L. Mossman |
| Born |
May 13, 1942 Hinsdale, Illinois |
| Died | March 2, 1999 (aged 56) Winfield, Kansas |
| Occupation(s) | Guitar Makers, Singer-songwriter, entrepreneur |
| Years active |
1968–1984 Business = S. L. Mossman Guitars |
1968–1984
Stuart Mossman (May 13, 1942 – March 2, 1999) was an American guitar maker, entertainer and entrepreneur who built 6,000 guitars from 1968 to 1984 that were played by several professional guitarists, including John Denver, Eric Clapton, Albert Lee, Doc Watson, Hank Snow, Cat Stevens and Merle Travis. Mossman's work is seen as the foundation for today's generations of Luthiers who build guitars from fine tone woods.
Mossman was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, on May 13, 1942. He began making nylon-string guitars in 1961 and spent several years designing 40 to 50 prototypes in his garage in Winfield, Kansas. Mossman took his first steel-string flat top to legendary acoustic singer/songwriter Doc Watson and asked for his "brutal" opinion. Watson gave it to him, and Mossman took his advice and applied it to his next design. He took another guitar to Watson at the 1969 Philadelphia Folk Festival, where, this time, the guitarist used it on stage, and reportedly told Mossman it was the "second best guitar he'd ever played." In 1970 Mossman moved his operations to Strother's Field just outside Winfield and it was there that he established S.L. Mossman Guitars. Using old-world building techniques, top-quality woods, and a proprietary bracing structure, Mossman guitars entered series production in the early 1970s.
Mossman felt that the boom in folk music during the 1960s/70s pushed a popular demand for acoustic instruments. While Gibson, Martin and Guild were increasing production, imports from the Pacific rim countries were beginning to exploit the lower end of the market. He had a strong disdain towards the use of plywood and insisted on solid-wood construction for the production of his guitars. In an early catalog for Mossman guitars he stated: "The vile abomination is currently being perpetrated on the unsuspecting guitar-playing public on a grand scale. There are so many of these plywood things on the market at this writing that there is a possibility you may not have even heard a real guitar. We at Mossman considered plywood briefly one day, and unanimously decided that plywood makes the best cement forms available. We do not now, nor will we ever, stoop to the level of plywood construction and we apologize for our contemporaries who have lowered the station of our craft by using laminated backs and sides."
Since the Mossman shop was small enough for Mossman to oversee every model, he was able to offer a variety of custom options for his customers which included: an extra-wide neck, 12 strings and custom inlay and engravings. Also, customers were able to order a specific type of voicing for their guitars described in the catalog as "overbalanced bass, overbalanced treble, or balanced bass and treble." One of the unique features on the Mossman guitars are their thin neck arrangements, which were carved by a worker at the factory who played banjo and preferred the feel and playability of "lower-profile necks."
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