About Us
Neal Moser was an independent contractor for BC Rich Guitars from 1974 to 1985. Neal originally got involved with BC Rich because of his electronic designs. Bernie Rico (Founder of BC Rich Guitars) saw Neal’s electronics work and asked him to join forces. Neal designed the BC Rich “Rich Bich” and the “Virgin” guitars and basses. His original electronics are still being offered by Neal Moser Guitars along with many replacement parts for vintage BC Rich guitars and basses. They are also being supplied to the new BC Rich Custom Shop
Neal Moser was associated with GMW Guitar Works from 1986 to 2003. Neal Moser was the head luthier for Moser Custom Shop (MCS) from 2003 until his move to Arizona in 2010 where he opened Neal Moser Guitars.
Neal Moser’s Music Industry History.
In 1965 Neal Moser worked at Warwick Electronics Inc./Thomas Organ Company in the guitar and amp department of Vox Guitars & Amps. He did QC of new instruments and warrantee work. He also did guitar and amp demonstrations at annual company meetings.
In 1966 Neal Moser enlisted in the Navy for a 3 year tour.
In 1969 Neal Moser went to work for West Coast Organ & Amp doing guitar repair and customizing. This was one of the guitars Neal worked on while at West Coast Organ & Amp.
https://www.groundguitar.com/jimi-hendrix-gear/jimi-hendrixs-1960s-fender-stratocaster-telecaster-neck-newport/
This is a list of some of the artists and bands Neal did work for at West Coast Organ & Amp:
Jimi Hendrix, Steven Stills, Vanilla Fudge, Neil Young, David Crosby, John Lennon, Jim/Roger McGuinn, The Who, Steppenwolf, Vanilla Fudge, Three Dog Night, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Ventures, Iron Butterfly, Love, Flying Burrito Brothers, Canned Heat, Janice Joplin, Mammas and Poppas, Buffalo Springfield, BB King, Creedence Clearwater, John Mayall, The Byrds, Poco, Electric Flag, The Doors, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Leon Russel, Dr. John (Mac Rebennack), The James Gang, Ten Years After, & The Rolling Stones
After leaving West Coast Organ & Amp, Neal Moser set up shop at Barney Kessel’s Music World, a small music store located next door to the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, CA. There he continued to do guitar repair and custom modifications.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_Kessel
Neal Moser left Barney Kessel’s Music World in 1970 and decided to work from his home. Neal worked from his home from 1970 to December of 1973.
Just some of the artists Neal did work for while working from his home:
Terry Kath – Chicago/CTA
Jeff Hannah – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Domenic Troiano – Bush, The James Gang
Prakash John – Bush, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper.
Danny Weiss – The Rose band, Funk Attach,
Steven Stills – Crosby, Still & Nash. Buffalo Springfield.
In December of 1973 Neal Moser was contacted by Bernie Rico from Bernardo’s Guitar Shop. Neal Moser joined forces with Bernie Rico as an independent contractor in January of 1974.
“Bernie contacted me after he’d seen my electronics on one of the guitars he was painting at his shop. I believe it was a double neck that belonged to Domenic Troiano from the Canadian band BUSH. Dom was a good friend of mine and he asked me if I knew a good place to get his guitar panted. I called Milt Owen, a 63 year old LA guitar guru at that time, and he told me to send Dom to Bernardo’s Guitar Shop for paint. Bernie saw my electronics and gave me a call. Bernie invited me to the shop so we could discuss using my electronics in his NEW Seagull guitar. Later that evening he invited me home for dinner to meet his wife and kids. After dinner we talked and I laid out the electronic design for the Seagull. Within a year it morphed into the Mock circuit and then the Eagle circuit. These electronic layouts are still used today in the present BC Rich Custom Shop and at Neal Moser Guitars.
Soon after I started working at Bernardo’s Guitar Shop, Bernie handed me a Seagull guitar and asked me what I would change to make it more accepted in the guitar community. You must remember that Bernie was a pretty good Flamenco guitarist, but didn’t know that much about electric guitars. So I changed the Seagull specs from a very wide, flat fingerboard, much like a Flamenco acoustic guitar, to a cross between a Gibson and a Fender. 1 5/8” nut width, 12” to 16” board radius, medium jumbo frets with a 24.75” scale length. These were the most accepted specs in the industry at the time. 99% of all BC Rich guitars built between 74 and 85 had these board specs. Soon after Bernie met me he realized that guitar electronics was just one piece of my guitar knowledge and soon he had me doing many other things.
My basic job was running the assembly setup shop. I supervised the shop as well as training the assembly shop employees. I laid the bridges, made the nut bones and did the final setup work on over 12,000 BC Rich guitars. I also did designing and template making. I chose the components, such as DiMarzio pickups and Badass bridges and eventually Kahler bridges. Gary Kahler came to me one day with his Kahler flat mount trem bridge proto and ask me to put it on a guitar and let him know what I thought. I loved the Kahler Flat mount trem and we started using them. Bernie and Gary designed the Quad bridge and while it was still on paper they asked me to take a look at it. I made some saddle modifications and they went with it. Recently, Gary Kahler has re-introduced the Quad bridge and he sent me all the parts to check out and we collaborated on the final design. Bernie and I co-designed the Seagull II and the Eagle. I designed the Bich 10, Bich 8 and the Bich double neck.
I was also responsible for working with the endorsees on their guitar orders. Often endorsees would come back over time for setups and modifications, like when Tony Iommi brought in his Ironbird for me to do a scallop job on it. When we would get new designs from our customers, like the Stealth from Rick Derringer and the Widow from Blackie Lawless…….etc., it was my job to lay out the “math”, create the electronic layout and the cavity sizes and shapes.
At some point in 74 we decided to build a less expensive Seagull so I changed some of the Seagull specs to create the Seagull Jr. My hands were the last hands to touch a BC Rich guitar before it got polished and sent to the shipping department, unless Mal Stich grabbed it to jam for a minute. ;-)
I keep referring to BC Rich as “Bernardo’s Guitar Shop”, because that is what it was when I got there. Not long after I arrived, Bernie hired Mal Stich. One day when answering the phone, Mal answered it “BC Rich” and that’s how it started. ïŠ
I’d been a working musician since 1969 and was playing in night clubs 5 nights a week. I continued to play night clubs for the entire 11 years I worked with BC Rich and many years to follow, 30 years straight in all. My band also played a few BC Rich “occasions”. This is the best R&D you can ask for.
BC Rich endorsees whose guitars went through my hands over the 11 years I was there.
BC Rich Player listed in 1980, 1982, 1985 Catalogues:
John A.
Carlos Alomar (David Bowie)
Ron Auevochs ?
John Avila – Bassist with Wave Band “Oingo Boingo” 1084-1995
Arnie Badd – Musician/song writer
Jimmy Bain – Rainbow/DIO Bassist
Bob Barth
Gene Barkin – “Grass Roots
Brad Billion
George Biondo - “Steppenwolf”
Bill Bodine - “Olivia Newton John”
Tim Bogert – Bassist – Vanilla Fudge, Cactus, Beck
Dane Bramace
AB Bryant - Founding member of Canadian roots/folk band “ Headwater”
Ben Bridges - Song Writer
James Burton - “Elvis Presley/John Denver”
Geezer Butler - “Black Sabath”
Frank Carrillo – “Doc Holliday” - “Peter Frampton” – “Sticky Fingers”
Mike Chapman – Australian Record Producer and Song Writer
Craig Chaquito (Starship)
Donny Chesilback
Gene Cornish “The Rascals”
Cindy Cota (Backdoor Angles)
Jimmy Crespo “Lead guitarist for Areosmith” “Rod Stewart” “Lita Ford” and many others
Jamie Crompton “Played with Suzi Quantro, Wishbone Ash and others”
Nite Bob Czaykowski (Areosmith)
David Diamond (Berlin)
Rick Derringer - “The McCoys”, Edgar & Johnny Winters, “Steely Dan”, “Weird Al Yankovic’
Mick Dyche - British Folk Bank “Sniff n the Tears”
Bernardo Edwards “Big Apple Band”, “Chic”
Jimmy Espinoza “Thee Midniters”
Eddie Estrada (Calif. guitarist. Owns Seagull #2)
Don Felder (Eagles)
Brian Fedesna
French
Lita Ford
Steve Friedman
Bill Friss
Clark Garmen (Local. Owned one of the original 16 Seagulls, probably #1)
Neil Geraldo (Pat Benatar)
Tsugutoshi Goto - Bassist for “Sadistics, Bread & Butter and Shiro Kishibe” Also songwriter
Mary Ann Graham
Rob Grange – Bassist for Ted Nugent
Sal Guglielmi – Recording artist
Josh Hanna Funky – Singer/Songwriter
Carl Harvey – Guitarist for “Crack of Dawn” “Aggrovators”
Jimmy Haslip – Bassist, Composer, Producer “Yellowjackets”
Billy Haynes
Enrique Heredia
Rene Heredia
Toby Holmes - Performing Muscian – Frank Zappa, and the Disneyland Band etc.“
Jon Huemme
Steve Hunter - Lou Reed and Alice Cooper, Mitch Rider, Areosmith
Tony Iommi – Pre Black Sabbath, Earth, Jethro Tull, Black Sabbath
Randy Jackson – bassist “American Idol, American Best Dance Crew” Studio work
Prakash John – “Alice Cooper, Bush, Lou Reed”
Fats Johnson
Leon Johnson
Ray Jones
Paul Kantner – Founder of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship”
Carol Kay – World renowned Studio bass player
Danelle Kern – Leather Angels
Kerry King - Slayer
Larry Klein – Played with Willie Bobo and Freddie Hubbard
Al Kooper – Organized “Blood, Sweat & Tears”, Studio backup for Bob Dylan
David Kreiner
Jim Krueger - “Dave Mason”
Bob Kulick - “Meat Loaf”, Kiss, Wasp, etc.
Bruce Kulick - “Kiss, Union, Rosetta, etc.”
Greg Lee
Carter Lalogue
Blackie Lawless – “Wasp”
David Lindley – Founding Member of “Kaleidoscope”
Mario Luna
Kenny Marquez
Mick Mars – Lead guitarist for Motly Crue
Lori McAllistor
Mike McBay
Funky John McClaine
Kevin McCormick
Barry McGuire – New Christy Minstrels – songwriter (Eve of Destruction)
Craig McMullen - guitarist on soundtrack (Superfly)
Neil Merryweather - recorded and performed with Steve Miller, Dave Mason, Lita Ford, Billy Joel and Rick James
Lenny Michaels
Kimio Mizutani - Japanese Guitars with band “Out Cast” Sessions Guitarist
George Murray – David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Jerry Harrison
Dave Mustaine – Metallica, Megadeth
Loz Netto – guitarist with “Sniff “n” the Tears”
Tony Newton – Bass player with Smokey Robinson, Tony Williams, Steve Wonder, & Michael Jackson.
Ric Ocasek – “Cars”
Eddie Ojeda – “Twisted Sister”
Michael Osbourne – “ Black Sabbath”
Michael Osuna
Robertino Pagliari (Pag) – “New Yorker”, “Megadeth” etc.
Robert Palmer – Singer, Songwriter
Joe Perry – “Aerosmith”
Randy Piper – “W.A.S.P.”
Chris Poland – “Megadeth”, “Lamb of God” etc.
Suzi Quatro – “Happy Days – actress- singer”
Lou Reed – “Velvet Underground” (Glam Rock Singer), “Berlin”
Jim Rodford - “Argent”, “Animals II”, “Kinks”, Zombies”
Nile Rogers – Co Founder of “Chic”, “ Sister Sledge” in Rock n Roll Hall of Fame
David Rule
Stewart Samuelson
Barry Scott
Spencer Sercombe
Scott Sheets – “Pat Benatar”
Niki Sixx – “Motley Crue”
Ismael Soto
Derek St. Holmes - “Ted Nugent”
Steve Stabile – “Street Players”
Paul Stanley – “Kiss”
Tim Stevens
Wally Stoker – English Rock Guitarist “The Babys”, “Rod Stewart” etc.
Greg Tawa – “Streets”
Trey Thompson - Played with Larry Carlton, Joe Cocker, Jose Feliciano, Steven Stills, Graham Nash, Cher, Les Dudek, Mike Finnigan, Jim Krueger, David Foster, Amy Holland, Michael McDonald, Linda Thompson
Domenic Troiano – “Mandela”, “Bush”, “ James Gang”, etc.
Len Tuckey
Michael Turpin
Rol Varanese – “Spice of Life”
James Volpicelli
Dick Wagner – “Alice Cooper”, “Lou Reed”, “Kiss”, “The Frost”, “Bossmen”
Danny Weiss – Founding member of “Iron Butterfly”, “Rhinoceros”, “The Rascals”, “Blackstone”
Jim West – Canadian Guitarist, worked with "Weird Al" Yankovic
Brad Whitford – “Aerosmith”
John Wilkinson – Rhythm guitarist for Elvis Presley
Skip Wise
Mike Woldt
Makio Yasuta
In 1985 Neal met Wayne Charvel while Wayne was consulting with Bernie Rico on the ST III bolt-on line. Wayne and Neal quickly became friends. Wayne and Lee Garver were also friends, so when Lee asked Wayne about someone to help him, Wayne suggested he call Neal. Neal Moser left BC Rich in 1985.
Soon after Neal left he was contacted by Lee Garver who was looking for someone to help him put some guitars together. Neal and Lee got together and created Neal Moser Guitars/GMW Guitar Works. Dan Lawrence was also involved with Lee and Neal and created amazing graphics for this new line of guitars. Lee Garver, Neal Moser and Dan Lawrence worked together for many years creating some of the most sought after guitars in the industry.
Lee Garver is the owner of GMW Guitar Works. Dan Lawrence is the owner of DRL Graphics and GMP Guitars. Both still in business.
The artists and bands we did work for at NMG/GMW is too long to list, but here’s a couple.
Dweezel Zappa
Michael Anthony
Neal tried to retire in the late 90’s, but by 2002 he was convinced that he should start building again. Moser Custom Shop was born and continued to build high quality handmade guitars until 2010 when Neal and Earlleen decided to move to Prescott Valley, Arizona. When they opened the new shop in Prescott Valley Arizona, they changed the name back to Neal Moser Guitars. Neal Moser Guitars continues to build high quality handmade guitars. Neal also supplies his legendary electronics to the NEW BC Rich Custom Shop run by Ron Estrada.
Neal Moser designs:
Rich Bich
Scythe/Virgin
Wraith
Spawn SV
Moser V
Siren
Phoenix
Scimitar
Genesis
Blade Runner
Other Neal Moser Guitars models.
Bastard V Designed by Rodney McGlothlin
Morpheus Designed by Rodney McGlothlin
Arachnid Designed by Rodney McGlothlin
Basilisk Designed by Dave Fox
Faststar Designed by Dan Fastuca
Starblazer Designed by Dan Fastuca
Samurai Designed by Ty Weldt
Reaper Designed by Chris Rapier
Wrath Designed by Randy Waltuch