Morris Guitars Serial Number
Welcome to 6String Minutes. In this segment, we’ll uncover the truth about Japanese “lawsuit” guitars imported to the United States from the mid-1970s on. Gear hunters and enthusiasts around the world all claim to have seen them, but the true story may shock you.*
Morris 470065 TF-801 Acoustic Guitar Good Neck Condition From JP Free Shipping $797.43 Morris Serial Number 101413 MJ-401 Acoustic Guitar From Japan Free Shipping. 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. Premium Acoustic Guitars for. Morris Guitars I cannot find the serial number but the model number is w c06 n. I was looking at trading this guitar at a local pawn shop for another guitar i am interested in, but would like to know the value before i trade. Who can tell me anything about Morris guitars, especially steel string, model WJ 20S, no. Has Made in Japan sticker on the back of the headstock also Serial number 835678. Reply; Morris MG26. Posted by Philby Ramone on Mon, - 10:28. I have just inherited a MG26 from my brother who passed away, Its Serial Number is 852554.
(* If you happen to be plugged into an ungrounded amplifier and touch metal.)
Let’s take a journey back to the ’70s. Guitars and guitar-based rock ‘n’ roll music had reached a level of popularity that would last well into the early 2000s.
While heavy riffs and searing solos dominated the airwaves, the quality manufacturing of the classic instruments synonymous with the culture — guitars like Gibson’s Les Paul and SG, Fender’s Stratocaster and Telecaster — was beginning to decline significantly from a production standpoint. The careful attention to detail, superior parts, and meticulous craftsmanship diminished, while price tags remained high.
Harry Rosenbloom, owner of Medley Music in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, made his living selling handmade instruments. Sensing the domestic guitar market’s downturn, however, Rosenbloom’s company, Elger Guitars, became the sole North American distributor for Japanese guitar manufacturers, Hoshino Gakki Gen.
Hoshino began importing classical guitars from a small, Spanish guitar maker named Salvador Ibáñez in the ’20s to sell in Japan, and went onto launch their own brand under the name Ibanez, inspired by the imported guitars in 1935. Rosenbloom, sensitive to the domestic hostility towards Japanese products still prevalent in the late ’60s, used this as the brand name for his imported guitars. In 1971, Hoshino became profitable enough to purchase Elger Guitars from Rosenbloom and officially changed their name to Ibanez, USA.
Ibanez achieved US success when it began manufacturing copies of classic Fender, Gibson, and Rickenbacker guitars in the late ’60s. While Gibson and Fender guitars declined in quality, Japanese copies were, at least visually, markedly on par with the American originals.
Although not built to the same specifications as their American counterparts — many of which sported bolt-on necks, inferior electronics, and multi-piece plywood tops — the Japanese instruments were utilitarian, had personality, and were faithful to the original designs.
They were quickly embraced by novice players and those who didn’t want to shell out their hard-earned cash for a guitar of questionable quality. American guitar brands felt the hit.
In addition to Ibanez, other manufacturers started importing their own copies of the classics. Seventies Les Paul lookalikes featured names like Burny, Tokai, and Greco on their headstocks. (Notice that Greco’s font is nearly identical to Gibson’s.)
Fernandes created faithful recreations of Fender instruments; and Takamine and Suzuki both made acoustic guitars nearly identical to certain Martin models.
Interestingly, most Japanese copies of the time didn’t have serial numbers — a great way to tell if an instrument is truly a “lawsuit” guitar, even today.
Speaking of which, in 1977, Gibson’s parent company filed a lawsuit against Ibanez (essentially the Hoshino corporation) for copying their “open-book-style” headstock.
The lawsuit was settled out of court, and Ibanez replaced the headstock with a revised design.
Ibanez ramped up the quality of its own designs, including set-in-neck copies of solid body and archtop guitars. Soon after, it rolled out its own line of signature instruments like the Iceman and Destroyer, which set the tone for the company-defining instruments of the ’80s and ’90s. A tone befitting the international rise of heavy metal! Online lathe simulator.
So, what’s the salacious “true story” we promised earlier? Most instruments that claim to be “lawsuit-era” guitars simply aren’t.
That isn’t to say they aren’t cool, functional instruments with unique character — quite the contrary. The only technical “lawsuit” guitars are Ibanez models, or other branded guitars manufactured by Hoshino, that look nearly identical to Gibson or Fender guitars, save for the name on the headstock and some technical specifications. They mostly originated out of the FujiGen Gakki plant in Japan and were imported to the US.
At the same time that Japanese guitar factories were making copies of American designs, they were also tinkering with unique designs of their own. It’s not uncommon to see guitars from this period sporting wild body designs, as many as four pickups, and some curiously organized pickup selectors and knobs.
Are these “lawsuit” guitars? Absolutely not. Are they still cool? Most definitely. The Greco 950 is one of the coolest non-copied designs to come from Japanese factories.
What about all those copies you see online? Sellers on third-party sites like eBay win on a technicality by billing these instruments as “lawsuit-era guitars,” both expanding the range of guitars included to anywhere between the late ’60s to early ’80s, and implying the guitars are made in Japan without saying it outright.
Morris Guitar Models
But, buyer beware. There are a lot of guitars falsely credited to Japanese manufacturers that were actually made in China and Korea.
Responding to the market’s desire for lower priced instruments, Fender opened its own Japanese plant in 1982. The Japanese Fender guitars are not “lawsuit guitars.” But, they tend to be great, high-quality instruments.
In 1984, Fender’s parent company sold it to new owners, and in the following years, production in the US slowed as management transitioned. Most of the instruments sold during this period were old-stock American guitars and imported Japanese guitars, which gave the market time to adjust to the presence of these new, low-cost instruments bearing the Fender name.
The results of “lawsuit-era” guitar making are still felt today. Most high-end guitar manufacturers have overseas plants that produce lower cost versions of their instruments for hobbyists, students, and professionals alike. Gibson bought Epiphone, and Fender created the Squier line, further proof of these lower cost instruments’ success.
For anyone in the market for a vintage instrument, the Japanese guitars from the ’70s and ’80s are great choices that don’t command the outrageous price tags of their American counterparts. Just be wary of sellers using the word “lawsuit” to drive up the asking price of their vintage Japanese instruments, and try to ask a lot of questions.
If you’d like to learn more about the story of Ibanez, this book covers it, well, cover to cover! For 6String Minutes, I’m reporter Elyadeen Anbar, signing off.
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Fallout 3 rh ironsights. In the late ’70s and then in the’ 80s, Japanese brands making copies were afraid of a possible lawsuit from Gibson. Indeed, Gibson had previously filed a lawsuit against Ibanez in 77-78. As for Fender, the brand had preferred to follow the saying “If you can not beat them, join them”.
Fernandes has almost never used a serial number on his guitars and basses, except on the first models released by the brand or on models manufactured by Tokai in the late 70s. This strategy was certainly intended to prevent an exact count of guitar and bass sales in the case of US trademark lawsuits.
In addition to the serial numbers, there are a few things that can help define the manufacturing date of a Fernandes or Burny instrument.
Behringer um2 installing drivers on windows 10. Examples:
- the logo design (example: Stone logo = 1978-1980)
- date or symbol on the pot
Consult the catalogs!Les catalogues sont disponibles dans la section Fernandes - Burny Catalogues
- Westone mid 70’s Acoustique Guitar Catalogue - April 28, 2020
- Morris 1998 Acoustic Guitars Catalogue - April 20, 2020
- Orville by Gibson 1991 Acoustic Guitar Catalogue - April 18, 2020
| Product type | Musical instruments |
|---|---|
| Owner | Hoshino Gakki Co., Ltd. |
| Country | Japan |
| Introduced | 1974 |
| Discontinued | 1978; 42 years ago |
| Related brands | Ibanez |
| Markets | Japan, United States |
Penco was a brand of guitars owned and manufactured by the Hoshino Gakki Co. in its factory of Nagoya, Japan. Ibanez guitars was another brand owned and manufactured by Hoshino Gakki. In the United States, Penco guitars were distributed by the Philadelphia Music Company.
Braums employee w2s. Penco line of products consisted of electric and acoustic guitars, most of them were copies (also known as 'lawsuit guitars') of renowned US guitar like Fender or Gibson, produced by Japanese companies in the 1970s).[1] The term 'lawsuit guitar' origininated after a lawsuit filed by Norlin (Gibson's parent company) against Elger (owner of Ibanez) over trademark infringent in 1977.[2]
History[edit]
The Penco brand was of relatively high quality. Their acoustics were usually but not always made with laminated back and sides and often laminated tops. Penco made Martin and Gibson style acoustic guitars. Reverse engineered and built to spec, Penco produced some of the closest replicas of the Martin D-28, D-41, D-45, and D-45 12 models in existence today. Penco also made bolt neck copies of Gibson's Les Paul and SG guitars and basses, Rickenbacker 4001 basses, Fender Stratocaster/Fender Telecaster copies, Fender Jazz Bass copies; and the odd mandolin and banjo.
They also made 12-string acoustic guitars. The Penco brand was also put on 'lawsuit' Korina-finished Gibson Explorer-styled guitars. These were identical to the Ibanez Destroyer and the Greco Destroyer of the same period. The Ibanez line was distributed on the West coast of the U.S., while the Greco was exclusively for Japan, and Penco was distributed on the East coast of the U.S. There is bit of variance between the Penco acoustic models depending on what year the guitar was manufactured. A Penco A22M may or may not have an adjustable saddle via thumbscrews. Also some of the models have book matched backs while others maybe tri-backed.
Penco acoustics had solid spruce tops and laminated backs and sides of maple or rosewood depending on the model. The A24 is a 12 string acoustic guitar, with a solid –but relatively thin– spruce top, rosewood sides and back and a mahogany neck with rosewood fingerboard. They had a zero fret and a screw adjustable bridge modeled after the Gibson Heritage Jumbo bridge of that period. They sold new for around $140 in the mid 1970s. The A10 was a solid top AA or AAA size Rosewood Laminated back and possibly their first acoustic model.
Models[edit]
Some of the models commercialised with the Penco brand were:
- 5502N Strat,
- A-8M
- A-12
- A-13
- A-14-JD
- A-14-M
- A-15-JD
- A-16
- A-170
- A-18
- A-19
- A-19-JD
- A-20 12
- A-22-M
- A-230
- A-6
- E-70
- ES Copy
- Howard Roberts ES-175 copy
- J-200
- Les Paul / Les Paul Custom copy
- SG Copy
- SG Bass copy
- Strat copy
- Rickenbacker 4001 copy
- Telecaster copy
- Jazz Bass copy
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Lawsuit guitars by Dick Laukenz on JazzGuitar website
- ^Penco A-15-JD by Michael Wright on Vintage Guitar magazine, December 2009
