DON MO GUITARS: THE GUITAR MAN
When you walk into Don Morrison's backyard, the unique weather vane on the top of the shed is proof that music is in the air. Don's sound check on his latest creation is the final stage in a creative process which starts in this Tranmere shed, with his little feathered friend Coco never far away. And if Coco gets a little ornery at times, then the daily grind of churning out hand made metal guitars may help explain this bird's mood swings.
Whether it's grinding a new base for a brass dobro guitar, or hammering out another custom made design, the technology remains brutally simple.
"Most people think that making musical instruments that I should wear a white coat and nice wood and everything, but this is my favourite tool. Huh, this is about as high tech as it gets, and just start hitting it basically".
When he's not here in the shed, Don spends two days a week in the public service paperwork, but over the past four years he's gradually weaned himself off the security of a steady job.
"It sort of suits my resources, which are basically zero".
Now his guitars are bound for buyers in Australia, Europe and of course the place where they originated, the US.
"So who taught you to do it?"
"Ah, nobody, no I just sort of used to lay in bed dreaming about how to do it".
"Like I said, I don't think it's a one hundred percent original idea, but I've never seen it done before, so I've made the back, and the one I've prepared earlier, as they say in the cooking shows, is the top".
Now the soldering begins, in a job, which sees Don fuse two passions, a love of the guitar and the music it makes.
"When I was in my early teens, I used to play electric guitar, and uhh I used to flog away doing twelve bar until my mother would pull the fuse, the fuse out of the fuse boxes to shut us up".
For such a beautifully crafted piece there's a fair degree of hard work involved, especially on the hands.
"Lucky I play bottleneck and not proper finger style".
Don also makes mandolins, but as with the guitars, the internal workings of these pieces are very different to a wooden instrument.
"What we're basically making is the speaker box, the cone is the speaker, the guitar or the mandolin in this case is the speaker box".
Metal guitars were first made by John Dopeyra, a Czech immigrant to America, who was asked to make a guitar loud enough to be heard over the orchestra. In the 1920's, Hawaiian music was all the rage, and as troupes of musicians travelled through the Deep South, the black guitarists adapted the sound to their own needs.
"To suit the wooden style guitars they had in the South, then they played it this way. With open tuning and put the broken bottle neck whatever, a bit of pipe, bit of copper tube, anything on your finger, a lot of people use it there, but I think its better on the little finger".
"And then they get that mournful bluesy sound".
But there's nothing mournful about Don's other passion, the Hill Billy Hoot. Every Monday evening a band of musical gypsies, heads to the porch of an old villa in Stepney, the verandah of community radio station 3D FM, and from here the regulars gather by the firelight as listeners tune in for another live broadcast. Here, everyone has a nickname, and so Don Morrison, the bloke in the shed, becomes Hand (Bowdelare) the singing Bessa Brick.
The Hill Billy Hoot is held every Monday night on the steps of 3D Radio and is broadcast live on 93.7 FM from 8pm until 9. And if you're looking for a custom built metal guitar then mozzie on over to Don's place. You can contact him on 8332 4737 or email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Don Mo Guitars
Contact: Don Morrison on 8332 4737
Hill Billy Hoot, Three D Radio, 93.7FM, 48 Nelson St, Stepney.
