Bluegrass Instruments Reviews - Morgan Monroe Fine Guitars, Banjos, Mandolins

Morgan Monroe has provided a line of fine acoustic instruments, for more than 10 years, with only one simple philosophy; to put high quality acoustic instruments in the hands of musicians without any compromise.  Morgan Monroe has not deviated from this committment since day one. The mindset of bringing an original product with beautiful designs and the use of the finest tonewoods together creates instruments that keep and play wonderfully for a lifetime.  

Morgan Monroe's critical team of specialized luthiers utilize superior craftsmanship skills and the trusted names of Grover Tuners and Fishman Electronics to create something special. They stand behind each of their instruments with a legendary lifetime warranty because the craftsmanship process is so well believed in by the people that produce these instruments.  Only a select few instruments are worthy the name, Morgan Monroe.


         


Morgan Monroe offers a hand-crafted line of acoustic guitars, bass guitars, and 12-string guitars that are built for the ages. Triple Ought (000) models that are faithful to the instruments built during the turn of the century, but they are updated with advanced electronics and hardware demanded by today's modern player.  The Creekside series guitars are a flat pickers dream!  Soft feels, solid tonewoods, and a great factory set up make this series a favorite in the Bluegrass music world.  The Creekside series 00 Blues '32 guitar is a tribute to the instruments that dominated the Blues Music movement prior to World War II.  Every detail from wood selection and neck profile, body contour, depth and finish have been meticulously orchestrated to create a playable work of art worth of a collectors vault but priced for just about any player's budget.

Morgan Monroe combines aesthetic beauty with precision craftsmanship to bring a world class line of banjos that are truly a pleasure to see, hear, and own.  With Mother of Pearl inlays on dark ebony fingerboard and flamed resonators, these instruments really stand out from the crowd.  The Rocky Top series of najos have 3-ply maple rims and bell brass tone rings that bring home a tone that distinctly says, Morgan Monroe. The Gold Pro is Morgan Monroe's finest banjo.  This instrument is a dazzling presentation of gold plated hardware, flamed maple woods, a tone that is simply jaw dropping.

A Style and F Style mandolins are increasing in popular music across many genres.  From Bluegrass roots to Blues to Country Music, Indy Rock, and even Heavy Metal music, the mandolin has its own voice.  Morgan Monroe's Rocky Top MMA series are vintage A Style mandolins made with premium woods and feature world class hardware by Ashton Bailey.  In the land of F style mandolin Morgan Monroe's MDM are antique style mandolins with factory distressed finishes.  Value priced classic reproductions include the MM-100 series of mandolins.  These mandolins lie in the Rocky Top series and combine select tonewoods and beautiful finishes with great tone and playability.

With world class acoustic guitars, banjos, and mandolins that are backed by a 99 year warranty, Morgan Monroe offers musicians a truly versatile instrument that is extremely well made.  These instruments will not only stand the test of time, but are built with tonewood recipes that are proven to sound and feel better over time.  Take advantage of these instruments and see for yourself why not only bluegrass players, but musicians from all genres are choosing instruments built by Morgan Monroe.

Electric Guitars from Today and Yesteryear.....How far have we come along?

Electric Guitars from Today and Yesteryear.....How far have we come along?

The very first patent for the electric guitar was issued in 1937.  The first electric guitars differed greatly both in appearance and overall engineering from the modern guitars we know of today.  Other than the concept of electrifying the signal and amplifying it, what was first known as an electric guitar and what is now known as an electric were pretty different instruments.  

The trend of electrifying an acoustic guitar with a piezoelectric transducer type of pickup is similar to the way the first electric guitars were amplified.  In essence, the vibrations from the strings would resonate to the wood of the bridge and these sounds were "picked up" by transducers and transferred to an amplifier to deliver the sound.  This techonology was used in some of the first hollow-body electric guitars.

The rise in popularity of the electrified hollow-bodied guitar brought on a desire to engineer an electric guitar that has a solid body.  The advent of the magnet/coil pickup would be introduced.  This would open up a new world of design and innovation in the engineering of the electric guitar.  By the late 1950's, an electric guitar pickup that helped to eliminate "ambient noise" was introduced.  This noise became known as the 60-cycle hum and the fix for that became known as the "humbucker." From these early roots, an industry almost as creative as its artists began to evolve in to the billion-dollar industry it is today.  

As the future has come to follow, luthiers and engineers have been experimenting with different combinations of electric guitar pickups, body styles, woods and more.  Innovative designs are now available to musicians. All of these instruments reach different price ranges and qualities, and most importantly, each have a tonal recipe of their own.  Modern techniques are now employed like using CNC machines to make intricate and precise cuts and carves, along with some basic old world craftsmanship principles, hand-detailed components, custom tone circuitry, and custom wound pickups, the musician today can enjoy a guitar that will look and sound like no other.