1980s Morris Global Sound solidbody electric guitar

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Of course Japanese guitar builders really hit their stride in the 1980s... Here's a Morris Global Sound guitar being offered for sale for €400 on a French website. It features the faux thru-neck body finish popular on Japanese guitars of this era, plus the usual DiMarzio humbuckers and hardware. Morris guitars have been built in Nagano, Japan, since 1967. The company was named after the nickname for company founder Mr Toshio Moridaira, and today concentrate on producing fine acoustic guitars for fingerstyle players.

Thanks to Hervé for bringing this guitar to my attention.

G L Wilson

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H.S. Anderson Kite - pointy 1970s Japanese guitar made by Morris

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This pointy guitar looks like it could have so easily have come from the 1980s, but perhaps the lack of a locking trem - or actually a trem of any kind - gives the game away that it is actually an earlier creation from 1970s Japan. It's actually an H.S. Anderson Kite, H.S. Anderson being a brand name of Morris who also made guitars with other brandnames such as Hurricane.

Other H.S. Anderson guitars included the "Houston" (a.k.a. The Beatles Apple, although it was never played by any of The Beatles, Abba's Björn Ulvaeus was known to use one) and the "Madcat" Telecaster-style guitar favoured by Prince (before they were re-branded with the Hohner name).

The Kite looks as if it could be quite an ergonomic guitar; although not quite so curvy, its shape is not a million miles away from that of the Ovation Breadwinner and Deacon guitars. This example looks as if it has seen a lot of action over the years, bearing a lot of battle scars. It is currently listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $1,200.

G L Wilson

© 2012, Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 10th year!

Moridira Hurricane EXB-01 Bass

guitarz.blogspot.com:
Tyler Beard has been in touch again:

Well, after my Futura, I realized I had something else you might like! I have included decent pics this time!

Anyhow, got this for $90 at a local Pawn Shop. I have searched, and have found little reliable info: Produced in the 80s, predecessor to Morris Guitars, made in Japan and/or Korea, and 80s speed metal band Cacophony (featuring Marty Friedman) used Hurricane guitars for a bit.

What I can tell you, is that this is a really good and solid bass. The tuners are Gotohs, and stock as far as I can find out. They definitely don't let you down, holds tune very well. And trust me when I say that, I play with an aggressive fingerstyle just short of tearing the bass apart, haha.

The neck has a Jazz Bass feel, with a good taper and it's pretty thin. The neck is maple, so far as I know, and finished to match the body, as you can see. The fretboard is rosewood with small dot inlays. The body, though, is plywood. Luckily, plywood is not synonymous with junk. Pretty thick finish on it, to hide the plywood, I suppose. But the body material is easily made up for. The pickup, although with low output (although it seems like it's just my amp for some reason), has a very nice sound, and is pretty versatile for a P-style. The pots are full size, which surprised me. I need to clean them, as they are pretty dirty and have a tendency to cut out (volume). Pretty high pickguard, weird shape too, like someone did a good freehand. Same with body. Like a warped P-bass. The bridge is just the factory one, nothing bad but nothing special. For $90, I can't complain, not bad. Has that 80s look and it starts a conversation, as no one seems to recognize it. Any readers who have info can contact me.

Thanks again, hope you like!
~Tyler

(Apologies for the weird "cut & paste" Photoshop effort above - I was trying to fit as much into one image as possible.)

Looking at the body shape, I am reminded of the Fender Mustang, but the pickup and pickguard are more Precision-like and the narrow neck is more Jazz Bass-like. Looks like it is long-scale, and not short-scale like the Mustang. The logo on the Aria-like headstock is very oddly positioned with a string retainer right in the middle of it. I wonder if that was added later?

It's an interesting bass - thanks for sharing it with us.

G L Wilson

Guitarz - The Original Guitar Blog - now in its 9th year!