Morgan Monroe Journeyman

Body is birch which is an excellent tone wood.
Mahogany neck.
Bone nut and saddle.
Bound neck with diamond shaped inlays.
It is a dark blue transparent finish that looks black at different angles.
Top is very pretty.
No bridge pins.
Tuners are either Grover or Grover rotomatic copies.
Oh...the biggest point....
It is a plastic bowl back.
Some people see this to be a negative thing but it is not at all.
It is designed for maximum tone and volume.
It is a little bigger than a folk guitar "F" size.
One rounded cutaway.
9 volt preamp with 4 band EQ (notch filter).

I have been playing on stage for decades and play rock, blues, country, jazz, even a little metal...but not heavy.
I always practice with this guitar, even with electric parts.
It plays very nice and sounds great.
I can feel the body vibrating.
I bought this guitar used from ebay 6 years ago and I assume it to be 10-15 years old.
This guitar has been played for hours every day for over 6 years not to mention how much it was played by it's prevous owner.
People have been telling me how much they like my guitar for years but I never paid much attention till recently.
I use Elixir nanoweb 11's.
My strings now are about 4 months old and they sound better than new.
The other day I was practicing and I heard these pretty overtones.
Almost like harmony.

I sanded down the bone saddle a little.
Man, that stuff is hard!
I have had a lot of guitars which include Martin, Tacoma, Gibson, Guild, Fender, Ovation, and a couple hand made guitars.
I didn't think much of this guitar till recently.
It played good but I never paid much attention to its sound.
I'm not afraid to slam the strings when needed and this thing just sounds better.
I don't think any other guitar could match the sound.
It has a very unique but pleasant sound.
Plugged in....
Well that depends on what you plug in to.
There is pleanty of tone control and a presence control.
You can dial in any tone you want.
I'm surprised that this guitar has such a good preamp.
Anain nothing fancy.
Just a 4 band EQ/volume.
Plugged in to a bass amp I'm losing a lot of the highs.
Into my Marshall with EL-34's it sounds too compressed.
Through my PA with 15" cabs it sounds good but the speakers are too big for an amplified acoustic.
It sounds best through my 1965 Epiphone 12 watt tube amp.
I mic it on stage.
Because this is smaller than a dreadnaught or a jumbo you have to play hard to be heard over the big guitars but that is where this thing really shines.
The more you push it the better it sounds.

Like any guitar I made the adjustments that I wanted.
The quality is very good.
This thing has been gigged with, rehearsed with, practiced with, jammed with, it has been knocked around, dropped, fell off the stand etc.
The top looks perfect
Fretboard is oil stained from my fingers but there is minimal wear.
Frets are still ungrooved.
Only problem I had was the jack coming loose but that happens on most guitars.
Just tighten it back up.
I replaced the battery once in 6 years but only because I felt guilty.
Duracell Alkaline.
It is a nice guitar.
Not fancy at all but attractive.

This is a work horse and it just gets better with age.
Most dependable acoustic I ever had.

???

One thing cool about this guitar is that nobody ever heard of Morgan Monroe.
It could be a hand made botique guitar or it could be a cheap Chinese copy of something.
It is a very impressive looking guitar.

I've been playing for over 40 years.
Still rockin'!
Had a lot of guitars and amps.
I have quite a few now but this is my only acoustic.
I was thinking about getting another acoustic but it would go unplayed because I like this one so much.

I never thought I'd buy a made in Asia guitar (Korea in this case)but this is a good instrument no matter where it is made.
I've been a buy American guy all my life but times got rough and I needed an acoustic guitar.
I am one of a few people who actually know about Morgan Monroe.
They make primarily bluegrass instruments.
They have been around for many years.
Their headquarters is located on the boarder of Morgan and Monroe counties in Indiana.
Thus the name Morgan Monroe.
Cool huh?
They are noted for making fine bluegrass instruments but their prices were way over my head.
This model was not made long but it was very popular among the pros and Nashville guys.
They make some beautiful guitars but no bowl backs.
It would be a mid bowl by Ovation standards.
Like a 'Ledgend'.
Blows the best Ovation's away and I like the older US made Ovation's.
I used to wish it had abalone but it looks very sharp as it is.
A lot of thought went in to designing this guitar.
It is made to play and sound good.
It is an upgrade on Ovation's bowl back design.
The inside of the back is carved for different frequency resonance.
I really like birch as a tone wood.
When I gig and rehearse to an acoustic song I almost always plug it in.
It is an entirely different guitar plugged in.
It doesn't just amplify the acoustic sound.
But it is the most controllable elec/acoustic guitar I ever played.
I love the simplicity.
I can't compare this to an Ovation even though it has a bowl back.
This is just an excellent acoustic guitar with a very good preamp.
You can't beat it for any price in my opinion.
I see them on ebay occasionally for around $200-$300.
If you see a nice one 'go for it'.