❌SOLD❌ Morgan OM Maple Natural, 1997

Here we have a Morgan OM Maple with clear gloss natural lacquer finish built during 1997, featuring a Sitka Spruce top and Flamed Maple for the sides and back. 

Morgan guitars are built in David Iannone’s shop in North Vancouver, British Columbia. Iannone has been building on his own since 1985, following an apprenticeship with Jean Larrivee. Many now-prominent Canadian builders learned and developed their skills in Larrivee‘s shops in Toronto, Victoria and Vancouver.

The Morgan OM Maple is based on the classic Orchestra Model design adapted from the 000 body by the Martin guitar company between 1929 and 1930 for Perry Bechtel, a popular band leader and banjo player who was, like many other banjo artists, transitioning to guitar. The OM design offers a more balanced tonal output than the Dreadnought design that also began appearing in the early 1930s (though Martin had built its first Dreadnought guitars for the Oliver Ditson company around 1916). It also was the first design to use a 14-fret neck. Until the great migration by banjo players to guitar, most guitars had 12 frets to the body. Banjo players were used to more frets, and this was one of the key drivers of the OM design.

This 1997 Morgan OM Maple example features a Sitka Spruce top and bracing with bookmatched Flamed Maple sides and back, Mahogany for the body blocks and neck, Ebony for the bridge and bound fingerboard, and Indian Rosewood for the head plate. The head plate also sports the stylized Morgan M logo in Mother of Pearl and Abalone or Paua shell. On the top, the rosette carries a ring of M’s around the soundhole. An undersaddle L R Baggs pickup system has been installed, with the preamp and battery mount installed to the inside of the back, accessible though the sound hole. The top was re-sprayed some time ago following repairs to a crack, visible in the photos from the treble side of the bridge to the tail block, and some small dents which are not really visible anymore. There are some newer small dents that do not break the finish around the body of the guitar. Fret wear is very light and all around this guitar is in good shape.

This guitar plays very well and has a rich, well balanced tone with the extra treble emphasis, clarity and separation that Maple provides.  

This Morgan OM Maple is sold with its original black, arched top hard shell case.