Guitars

Morgan Concert Cutway

Date: 1991
Top: Sitka Spruce
Back and sides: Quilted Maple
Headstock inlay: Horse Morgan
Physical dimensions are identical to a Larrivee C10
Builder: David Iannone - Morgan Guitars

Notes from David Iannone

It was my 40th guitar and built in 1991. Quilted maple back and sides with a sitka spruce top. We retired the horse inlay sometime in the mid 90s. It is one of only a handful of guitars that have had abalone inlaid around the top, back and sides.

Dimensions
Lower Bout	16.00"
Upper Bout	11.675"
Waist	10.25"
Depth at end pin	4.75"
Scale	25.5"
Nut Width	1.75"

Morgan Concert Cutaway Headstock

Top

Maple back

With Larrivee C10 (left)

Larrivee C10 (left) Morgan right

A Brief History of Morgan Guitars

Source: http://morganguitars.com/History.aspx

Jose Ramirez was born in Madrid in 1858. His passion for guitars found him at the age of 12 and he began working as an apprentice at the workshop of his soon to be maestro, Franscisco Gonzalez. He excelled in his craft and went on to develop a means of efficiently producing high quality guitars. This led to the founding of the great classical guitar making dynasty. It is by following this path that we reach Morgan Guitars.

Ramirez's son, Jose Ramirez the 2nd, inherited his father's love of the instrument and spent his youth touring South America with his guitar. He learned the craft of guitar building and passed his knowledge and love of the art to Marcello Barbero while working with him in Spain. Barbero accepted German Edgar Moench as an apprentice in Europe just after the Second World War. Moench moved to Canada and settled in Toronto where he met and trained Jean Larrivee. In the late 70s, Jean moved his workshop to Victoria, BC, where a couple years later, David Iannone met him and became his apprentice.

In 1985 Morgan Guitars was born. David named his company after his first child, after the sleek beauty of the Morgan thoroughbred horse, and true to the locale of the workshop, in Welsh Morgan means "works by the sea". Passed down through the lines of the great guitar builders mentioned above is the attention and love for detail of the craft, a constant vigilance and reassessment of the building process, and a knack for and pursuit of the finest materials.

David expanded on his rich heritage and created the designs and foundations to produce the line that has given Morgan Guitars their worldwide appeal. His simple elegant designs, discriminating and knowledgeable wood selection, exacting attention to detail and responsive and balanced sound has led to a dealer network around the world. The Morgan philosophy has always been to continue to improve the precision and aesthetic beauty without any sacrifice or compromise in design, sound or playability.