To me, the demarcation line of “early“ Shadows music, the music I knew as a teenager, was the shift by our heroes from Fenders to Burns. That was I think about November 1962, but please correct me if I am wrong.
I have a similar demarcation line for the Ventures, and that one is drawn by the band’s move from Fenders to Mosrites. I believe that took place in the fall of 1963. The last Ventures album I bought was “In Space,” which was probably largely recorded with Mosrites.
Here is a Mosrite, circa 1992 or so, probably made in Japan. It is not mine, but also has been in my care for more than a decade. It has very thin strings, as Nokie Edwards used thin strings (banjo in the very early days), and also a very narrow neck. I find it hard to get used to it actually, and the lack of fretboard markers is sometimes a problem for me.
The owner, my Japanese friend, considers Mosrites the Ventures guitar. He explains Japan first saw the Ventures as a group in 1964, and it was the raw sound of the Mosrites that caught their attention. He has a metallic red one, too, so I am hopeful he will bequeath this to me.
Andy