New Morgan Concert Series Guitar

Back when I was 18, my mom asked me what I wanted as a present for successfully completing high school with honours. My friend Matt at the time had just started playing guitar, so I decided at that moment I too wanted to be a guitar player. A few weeks later we found ourselves down in Tom Lee music in Vancouver, and my mom purchased my first guitar for me, a Fender Stratocaster.

Since that time I’ve probably gone through three or four acoustic guitars, each time upping the ante in terms of cost and quality. That said, most of the guitars I’ve used over the years have been fairly unremarkable, usually whatever was on sale at the time that still played relatively well for the cost.

Last year I went out with the intention of coming home with a new Larrivee guitar, which is a well-known guitar that’s made in Vancouver and also California. Many people compare Larrivees with Martins and Taylors, they are that good. An entry level Larrivee usually runs you around $1,000 if you can find one on sale, and many of the nicer variants are closer to $2,000 on sale.

Given that there are no Larrivees out in Chilliwack, I ran into a fairly nice Takamine electric/acoustic at the Long and McQuade out that way. It played nice, it sounded nice, and it was fair less expensive that a Larrivee. So, I did something I always end up regretting – I cheaped out and bought it.

While it’s been a good guitar for the time I’ve owned it, I’ve always regretted not getting a nice Larrivee guitar. So a few months ago I decided that sometime this summer I would go out and buy a guitar that sounds great and makes me really want to play it.

Paul and Lisa from Mojave, playing Morgan guitars

At that point in time I started soliciting advice from some friends of mine who play guitars regularly. One such person is Paul Jarvis from Mojave. I was asking him on Skype what he thought of Larrivees, and what he thought I should do. He thought Larrivees were great, but also mentioned that he loves Morgan guitars, which are made in Vancouver. I’ve heard of Morgan before, since Sarah McLachlan uses one as her main guitar, but I’ve never played one.

Not long later, Paul pinged me and told me he was about to acquire a completely custom Morgan guitar and asked if I was interested in purchasing his Morgan Concert Series Mahogany guitar. The guitar in question is probably worth around $3,000 new, and the price Paul wanted was definitely within my budget. So I jumped at the opportunity to own such a nice guitar.

Last night Paul played the final song from their set, then packed up Morgan guitar number 1715 and sent it on its way with me. I spent about an hour last night playing it when I arrived at home, and it’s definitely one of the nicest guitars I’ve ever heard, let alone played.

So a big thanks to Paul and Lisa from Mojave for letting me take their Morgan to its new home. That particular guitar has traveled with Mojave across Canada and has been one of their main guitars on stage for nearly 300 shows. Normally I don’t really take to used items, but knowing that this guitar has been loved, cherished, and has entertained people all across the country just makes me treasure it in my collection that much more.