semie moseley began building guitars in the los angeles area around 1952 or 1953. he began by apprenticing at the rickenbacker factory, where he learned much of his guitar making skills from roger rossmeisl, a german immigrant who brought old-world luthier techniques into the modern electric guitar manufacturing process. one of the most recognizable features on most mosrite guitars is the "german carve" on the top that moseley learned from rossmeisl. during the same time, moseley apprenticed with paul bigsby in downey, california, the man who made the first modern solid-body guitar for merle travis in 1948, and who invented the bigsby vibrato tailpiece, which is still used today.