Morris W-40, made in Japan 1973, natural finish. Morris guitars were huge in Japan in the seventies and eighties, they were great quality acoustics styled after Martin and Gibson models, made to an excellent standard and affordable to regular joe players. This one is a bit more fun than the average Morris, being a higher end model and made pretty early in the piece. These early 70s examples were made at the famed Terada factory, the same place high end Gretsch guitars are made today. I've played a lot of Terada guitars in the last few years and I've got an ever-increasing soft spot for them (help)... they produce such wonderful instruments. This borrows styling from the Martin D-35, so it's a traditional square shoulder dreadnought with the fancy three piece back. It's a laminate body, but not a five or six ply like you get today: it's a two-ply construction, which really makes it more similar to an all-solid build. The rosewood on the back and sides is holy-crapola-gorgeous, it's seriously pretty. Strum it, and it only gets better: it's full, thick and loud, with a fine balance of sweet clear treble and weight, warm bass. It's remarkably balanced across the strings and responds enthusiastically to varied attack, you can get all sorts of gorgeous tones out of it. I'm a big fan of this one, it's unassuming but very convincing indeed.

Model: Morris W-40
Made: Japan, 1973 (serial 383174)
Finish: natural, gloss poly
Body: dreadnought style shape; laminate spruce top, laminate rosewood back and sides
Neck: mahogany, rosewood fingerboard, dovetail joint, 25.5" scale, 15" radius
Weight: 2.110kg
Pickup: none
Mods: bridge pins replaced
Case: basic non-original hard case

Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has some light scuffs all over, but no major marks. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, minor dimples on the back and glossing from play only. The back has widespread light scuffs and surface scratches but no major marks. The sides have minor dimples and scuffs around the whole body, but again, no major marks. The front has some clouding in the finish on the back edge, widespread light dimples and some play wear on the guard and both shoulders. Overall: good condition (7/10).

Playing condition notes: action is moderately low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. Frets look pretty even and in good shape, 8/10 for fret life left. Wearing fresh 12/54 Moonshiners strings.