MADE IN JAPAN 1979 - MORRIS W40 - TERRIFIC - MARTIN D41 STYLE - ACOUSTIC GUITAR

Morris W40 acoustic guitar

Most acoustic guitar players around the world know that since late 1960s Japanese makers were creating wonderful “copies” of Martin, Gibson and Guild guitars. Many experienced players know that many of these “copies” sound better than the “originals”.

This guitar was handmade around 1979 by best Morris’s luthiers at their Matsumoto workshop. It was a part of regular Morris W line, sold without letters TF added to the label and Martin style vertical logo used by Morris since 1975.

The construction and looks of this wonderful guitar are based on Martin D41 blueprint. I won’t however call it a “copy” of Martin D41. The word “copy” suggests a product of somewhat lower quality than the “original”, while this guitar can easily beat many brand-new Martin guitars.  

Even though it is "all laminates" model it was priced at the same level as solid top Morris W39M. It is important to understand that these "laminates" are also made from wood. 

So, even though this vintage W40 1979 is an “all laminates” body guitar, it produces truly amazing sound, beating great majority of "all solid woods" guitars currently sold for $3500+ on US market.  Yes, you'll hear it too.  

This guitar's sound will impress every experienced player. That player may also understand why Martin co. wouldn't be very happy if Morris’s guitars were widely distributed in USA.

Although this W40 guitar was priced 20% lower, it sounds as good as C.F. Mountain W500D 1977:

https://reverb.com/item/85422725-made-in-japan-1977-c-f-mountain-w500d-superb-martin-d45-style-acoustic-guitar

It offers impressive volume and superb response. Its sound is ultra-rich. Basses are deep but very “clean”. Trebles are metallic but very sweet at the same time. All notes have their unique colors, all are super clear and super well separated. When chords/arpeggios are played guitar releases great deal of overtones and harmonies. With its current action it plays ultra-easy.

Overall condition of this guitar can be described as "practically mint". 

What is quite common on vintage guitars, the pickguard on this guitar is slightly off its original position. Any guitar repair shop can can move it back to original position at low cost. They will use a hair dryer to soften the glue under the pickuard. You can try it too.

Most importantly guitar doesn't have any structural flaws, its fingerboard and frets look "unused". 

Specification:

Top: Spruce "laminates" /Martin style X bracing with not scalloped braces /lacquer

Back & Sides: Andean Rosewood “laminates” /lacquer

“Laminated” is quite unfortunate term regarding Japanese made guitars. These plates were made from 2 layers of solid wood glued together with natural resins. They were made so well that they performed as good as solid woods while being far less expensive in guitar production and far more resistant to cracking in regular use. In recent years many guitar makers around the world adopted a new term "semi-solid" to describe these plates.

Neck: Mahogany with 2-way truss rod

Fingerboard: Ebonized Rosewood

Nut width: 43mm

Scale: 655 mm

The action is set to 2.30 mm under E6 and 1.80 mm under E1, with practically no extra room on the saddle.

This guitar will be shipped in used hard shell case.  

THE ONLY PURPOSE OF THIS CASE IS TO PROTECT THE GUITAR DURING SHIPMENT. I WILL NOT PROVIDE ITS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OR MAKE ADDITIONAL PICTURES, NOR I WILL ACCEPT ANY COMPLAINTS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE THIS CASE YOU WILL NEED TO BUY A DIFFERENT ONE.      

IF YOU BUY A GUITAR, YOU MUST ANTICIPATE TAKING IT TO YOUR LOCAL GUITAR SHOP FOR FINAL ADJUSTMENTS CALLED “SETUP”. STRING BUZZ DOESN’T MEAN THAT GUITAR IS DEFECTIVE.

My posted for sale guitars are stored in climate-controlled vault already packed into shipping boxes, with loosen strings. Because the strings are loosened, they don’t pull the neck or soundboard, and the neck may relax (straighten more) and the soundboard flatten a bit, which may result with the string action being lower than my it was with my original settings and lead to buzzes and/or dead notes after guitar arrives to you. Such a change in neck curvature can also happen just because of vibrations during the shipment and/or temperature fluctuations. Therefore, you must be ready to make final action adjustment yourself and or have it done by professional. All that really needs to be done is the simple neck adjustment by using the truss rod (turning the truss rod counterclockwise will relief the neck and strings will move away from the frets).

THAT IS WHY TRUSS RODS ARE INSTALLED IN THE NECKS OF ACOUSTIC GUITARS!!!     

Moridaira (Morris Guitars)

Founded in 1967 by Toshio "Mori" Moridaira, the Moridaira factory produced high-quality guitars, including the infamous Morris badged guitar. Moridaira also produced badged guitars for Hohner including Coronado, Futurama, H.S. Anderson, Lotus (some) and Sakai.

The Morris Guitars company has been building quality handcrafted instruments in Nagano, Japan for a long time. Mr. Toshio Moridaira, the founder, was the first distributor in Japan to carry both Fender and Gibson lines. In 1964, due to his working relationship with Gibson, Mr. Moridaira was able to visit the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. An employee at Gibson nicknamed him “Mori” at that time.

In 1967, he founded the Morris Guitars company. He named it Morris, taken from the nickname given to him a while back. Morris produced copies of dreadnought and small jumbo models based on Martin and Gibson designs. Since then, Morris Guitars have enjoyed an outstanding reputation in Japan and other countries for making high quality guitars.

In 1974, Morris introduced their guitars at the NAMM show. In 1978, Morris introduced the Tornado line, thin body acoustic-electric guitars inspired by the Ovation design. Up until the early 80s, the U.S. market saw a variety of guitars that Morris imported from Japan.

In 2001, after a lengthy absence, Morris Guitars re-entered the U.S. market. They participate in the annual Winter NAMM Show in Anaheim, CA. Morris Guitars currently offer a wonderful line of fingerstyle guitars with a middle price range. Custom hand-built models are also available. Today, Morris Guitars are played by some of the world’s finest fingerstyle guitarists. Our products are available through a small number of dealers here in the U.S.

Real Value of Japanese Vintage Guitars

The key to understand value of vintage Japanese guitars is to acknowledge galloping price inflation throughout the late 1960s and 1970s with its peak of 25% in 1974.

During 1960s and most of 1970s model numbers of Japanese guitars were strictly connected with their prices in Japanese yen.

The same class guitar sold in 1970 for 100 000 yen (labelled as model 10), would be sold for 150 000 yen in 1972 (labelled as model 15), 200 000 yen in 1974 (labelled as model 20) and 300 000 yen in 1978 (labelled as model 30). Therefore, you shouldn’t be surprised that two Yamaha GC10 guitars made 10 years apart are two instruments of totally different class. The same rule applies to all guitar models made by all other Japanese makers.

Japanese inflation slowed down in the 1980s. By the early 1980s and during following decades model numbers were no longer strictly associated with their prices. Some Japanese guitar makers introduced model names instead of model numbers. For several economic reasons, since 1980s Japanese made guitars were becoming more and more expensive, while their exports slowing down. Today (2025) Japanese high end classical guitar models are priced at $20000USD level.