Anyone know the value of a 1974 Morris W-601 guitar!

[DHughes]

I have a guitar that I bought at an estate sale. It's a '74 Morris W-601. I bought it to see if my kids would like to try playing but it's a little too big for them. I don't play and I'm just looking at trying to re-sell it. I had a musician friend of mine take a look at it and he said it's in good shape, needs tuned and new strings but other than that it's really nice. I listed it for $75 on Craigslist and not a single response. So I'm guessing I'm asking too much. I'm wondering if someone could tell me what a reasonable asking price would be? Also, my kids are young, 8 is the oldest, does it matter what kind of guitar I buy for them to start practicing on? I just want to see if it's something they would be interested in and possibly take some lessons if they do enjoy it.
Thanks!

[ship of fools]

At $75.00 that is a steal, can I recommend that maybe you de-tune it and keep it in its case in the closet for another couple of years and then give them a shot at it, its a Japanese model guitar of average value between $200-to up to $400 depending on the shape and honestly if one of your kids is interested they will pull it out and start to noodle with it. You don't have a lot of money into it so keep it and see what happens down the road.ship

[Wade Hampton]

All of the Morris guitars from that era that I've seen have been decent quality, with all-solid wood construction. But as you can tell from the lack of response to your Craigslist ad, they're virtually unknown to most Americans.

Morris guitars arrived in North America during the 1970's, around the same time as many other Asian-made guitars. They never made any discernible dent in the market, despite being of generally higher quality than many of their competitors. So they never sold all that well.

If you choose to sell the guitar, you have a better chance of finding a knowledgeable buyer for it online, whether on this guitar forum or others around the web. But you should probably have the guitar looked over and adjusted if need be by a guitar repair tech before you list it. If nothing else, get it restrung with a fresh set of strings. But the chances are that it'll need at least a truss rod adjustment, as well.

While you're at the guitar repair shop, find out whether the guitar is all solid wood, or whether it's built from laminated woods. As I mentioned, the ones I've seen have been made from solid wood, and if this is the case with yours, this is something you can mention in your ads.

If it is all-solid woods, that alone should attract more interest.

So my advice is to replace the strings, get it spruced up and tweaked and as playable as possible, then decide whether you're going to keep it or sell it. If you do sell it, you have a much better chance of finding someone who knows what it is online.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Misifus]

It may also be that, since many US buyers are not familiar with Morris guitars, the $75 price put them off. The unfamiliar name and very low price may have led them to conclude it was junk, which is certainly not the case. This discussion and others like it online, may generate some interest, and clarify the value of the guitar.

-Raf

[Scootch]

List it here.

[ship of fools]

From what I can see its going to be a solid wood guitar, and like he suggested have it set up and then decide what it is you are going to do with it, by chance could you post some pictures always love looking at them.ship

[ksj]

Don't know about your Morris, but as far as the kids go there are a number of "baby" guitars out there that would be a better size for a child. Most of the larger manufacturers make such a guitar.

The good thing is the higher quality ones generally hold their value pretty well, so if it doesn't work out you can get much of the cost of the guitar back.

[DHughes]

Thank You to everyone for replying and providing some information. This has definitely made me more interested in guitars. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, maybe sell it and see if I can find a guitar for my kids to learn on. I appreciate everyone's help.

Thanks Again,

Dan