Morris W-619 Tree of Life 1975 Martin D45/ D60 Taylor Style Acoustic + Ultra Rare Case

This is a seldom seen opportunity to own a Custom-ordered Tree of Life guitar from the Morris company, made in the Terada facility, Nagoya, Japan circa early to mid 1970's. 

It is an incredibly rare acoustic - looks, sounds and plays wonderfully well. It is just a stunning instrument all round. Also has the incredibly rare original stunning Morris hard case, which is probably worth £250 on its own as well.

It has been professionally set up by my guitar technician so she plays and sounds great, as well as looking superb! Just had a full service and fret level so she's playing like a dream now!

Morris W-619 Tree of Life info:

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

This guitar was handmade around 1975 by best Morris luthiers at their Matsumoto workshop. It was a part of regular Morris line with letters TF added to the label and to Martin style vertical logo used by Morris since 1975. By early 1980s TF series models replaced produced in earlier years W models.

The construction and looks of this wonderful guitar are based on Martin D-60 blueprint. It would be harsh to call it a “copy” of Martin D-60. The word “copy” suggests a product of somewhat lower quality than the “original”, while this guitar can easily beat nearly all brand-new Martin guitars.  

This guitar provides impressive volume and superb response with an incredibly rich sound. Bass notes are deep but very “clean”. Trebles are metallic whilst being very sweet at the same time. All notes have their unique colours, all are incredibly clear and very well separated. When chords/arpeggios are played the guitar releases a bounty of overtones and harmonies. It is easy to play with a low action.

It's very hard to find better sounding Martin guitar priced below £5000.

The overall condition of this guitar is good for its age. See photos.

Some more info on Morris Guitars / Moridaira:

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.