I know hardly anything about this instrument, but I own it.

Ghow65

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So, I really don't know anything about this instrument. I found it at a Thrift shop and thought it was cool so I picked it up. The brand is Morris, but from all the basic searches I've done recently, nothing comes up. I cant figure out if its just a forgotten brand, or its so old or under produced that it just isn't on the radar.

I did at one point find a page that is now lost to me, that said that the Morris brand was produced in post-WWII Japan, but I could never find the page again.

So is it an ultra vintage Uke? Is it a modern knockoff? who knows! its still a fun little instrument.

If anyone does know something about it, feel free to contact me.
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Morris is a Japanese company still located in Nagano, founded by Toshio Moridaira. He imported Fender and Gibson guitars in Japan, and on a visit to Kalamazoo in 1964 an Gibson employee shortened his name to 'Mori'. It stuck as his nickname. Three years later, in 1967, he founded his own workshop named Morris (see the connection?), producing mainly dreadnought and jumbo styled guitars, in rather small quantities but with a high level of quality. In the 1980s and again in the 2000s he also exported to the US, although his main market always remained Japan. The company's still very much in business, so you can ask them directly about your ukulele: morris-guitars.com.
 
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Morris is leading company in Japanese guitar.


U-22 (top left) is $550, U-33 (centre) is $1100, U-2 and U-1S (bottom) are $210
 
I just bought the same model ukulele. Did you ever find out more info about it?
 
Boy, that really looks small in the picture with your hand. Unless the photo is fooling me, it's smaller than a standard Soprano. What are the measurements, overall length, nut to saddle, body upper/lower bouts, and depth?
 
It looks like one of the cheap Kamaka knockoffs made in Japan back in the day. Looks neat.

Morris classical guitars are quite highly regarded in the guitar community. If the ukulele is anything like the guitars, it would be very well constructed using high quality tonewoods.

I had the opportunity to try a few Morris guitars (alongside other nice vintage guitars) and found them to be delightful and sweet-sounding :)
 
Nice to find a mystery uke. Is that a wooden nut? It will be fun to find out more about it like type of wood, etc. Hope it plays well for you.
 
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