Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Drums Week 25
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Guitar Amps
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Artist news
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Don't miss these
PRS Mark Holcomb: previously only a limited edition run, the Periphery guitarist's Core Series signature model is now part of the PRS Guitars catalogue, as the Maryland high-end brand continues its 40th Anniversary celebrations by keeping the releases coming each month.
Artists Mark Holcomb’s limited run PRS is officially added to the Core series – and it ships in Drop C
Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6 Plini Edition Mirage
Guitars Strandberg launches limited edition Plini Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
PRS Guitars' new limited edition Custom 24 Satin photographed at the brand's Maryland factory with wood blanks in the background.
Guitars PRS swaps maple for mango to give its “flagship” Custom 24 a 40th anniversary satin nitro makeover
PRS 40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 McCarty Sunburst
Guitars PRS pays tribute to a legend of guitar design with the limited edition McCarty SC56
Epiphone Inspired By Gibson Custom 2025: two men play a board game whole two others jam on Dove and J-45 acoustic guitars
Guitars Epiphone resurrects a 1963 Dove and five classic acoustics with help from the Gibson Custom Shop
PRS CE 24 Special Limited Edition: this run of 1,500 gives the CE Bolt-on platform its first HSH pickup configuration, and is pictured here on the PRS shopfloor, in McCarty Burst and Black Amber respectively.
Guitars PRS promises spanky Strat-esque tones and a lot more from its limited run PRS CE 24 Special
PRS Herman Li Chloe: the new shred-ready signature model for the DragonForce guitarist comes in two finishes and features an all-new body design.
Artists PRS activates total shred mode for Herman Li of DragonForce’s feature-stacked Chloe signature guitar
Charvel Angel Vivaldi Signature Pro-Mod Nova-7 NAT: The new S-style is eight years in the making and in some of the promo pictures it looks like Angel Vivaldi has been on horseback for much of that time.
Artists Angel Vivaldi and Charvel unveil state-of-the-art 7-string for levelling up your shred game
Orangewood Del Sol: the new offset is the brand's first ever electric guitar and it was designed in collaboration with Josh Forest of TreeTone Guitars.
Guitars Orangewood teams up with TreeTone for its first-ever electric – a baritone offset semi, priced $695
Gibson Marcus King ES-345 in Sixties Cherry: the NC soul/rock phenom's new signature model is based on his 1962 heirloo, Big Red, and offers a slightly different set of specs as his Custom Shop version.
Artists Gibson unveils new signature ES-345 for Marcus King, and it is the evolution of a family heirloom
Jackson X and JS Series Surfcasters: the long-awaited offset electric guitar is now being offered in white, satin black and metallic black, and and at the entry-level JS price point and the mid-priced X Series.
Guitars “A bold new take on a classic metal machine”: Having ridden the wave of popular demand, Jackson’s Surfcaster offset has landed – and it’s built for speed
Zach Myers of Shinedown is bathed in blue stage lights and plays his custom-relic'd Silver Sky.
Artists Shinedown’s Zach Myers on Paul Reed Smith, signature model updates, and that relic’d Silver Sky
Gretsch Limited Edition Jim Dandy Parlor Solid Top
Guitars Gretsch drops two limited edition Jim Dandy acoustics with solid spruce tops and off-the-charts mojo
The Gibson Les Paul Music City Special – 50th Anniversary is a limited edition hybrid that combines the old Marauder and Music City Junior, and offers them in wine, tobacco sunburst and ebony finishes.
Guitars Gibson celebrates 50 years in Nashville with limited run twist on a cult electric played by KISS
Jackson Pro Series Misha Mansoor Juggernaut HT7 and HT7P
Artists Misha Mansoor spills blood as a home shopping TV presenter to unveil new signature Jackson 7-strings
  1. Guitars

Introducing the Morgan Guitar Works Bird Of Prey

News
By Chris Vinnicombe published 30 June 2010

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Bird Of Prey

Bird Of Prey

Powys-based luthier and airline pilot Neil Morgan is a regular contributor to the MusicRadar forums. In his previous incarnation, Morgan Custom Guitars, Neil specialised in finely-crafted instruments with classic stylings that garnered a cult following and soon saw a long waiting list develop due to the sheer volume of custom orders.

2010 sees Neil rebrand with the launch of Morgan Guitar Works and the Bird Of Prey; a futuristic V-shaped instrument that has already found some very famous fans. Across the following pages, we take a look at the Bird Of Prey and find out how one found its way into the hands of Mastodon riffmeister Bill Kelliher. In addition, we get the inside story on how Morgan Guitar Works came about...

"As Morgan Custom Guitars I got to design and build a lot of very highly spec'd unique custom guitars using exotic woods and finishes," Neil explains. "[This was] very exciting and rewarding but each one was effectively a prototype requiring a lot of test set ups and proof of concept mini-builds which ultimately took a lot of time, required multiple suppliers and a lot of stock holding for the size of the endeavour at hand.

"This in turn led to a huge backlog of several years which whilst I was obviously happy at attracting the customers, meant I spent a lot of time communicating with them and managing their expectations and frustrations at such long lead times. I also believed that you can only truly refine a design by building multiples thereof."

The Bird Of Prey also seems to hint at a love for all things rock: "I work to music, all the time I'm in the workshop the music is playing, I can't always hear it but it's there. It's loud and hard, some classic rock but mostly hard rock and metal. This is where my heart lies and where I'd like to my instruments to make their music."

Page 1 of 8
Page 1 of 8
Background

Background

"The Bird of Prey came about because of a friend's need for a guitar that looked the part but could perform the very highest level," says Neil. "I noticed most of the really technical players were playing versions of a Superstrat for one reason or another - upper fret access, scale length, the way they sat in the mix etc.

"So I took an Iconic shape that screams 'rawk' and evolved it into my vision of what such a guitar should be - Fender scale length for clarity and separation especially when using for down tuned heavy riffing. Woods chosen to help the guitar sit in the mix and cut through without overpowering etc.

"Huge stainless steel frets for durability and feel. Minimal controls, just a volume knob and selector switch - this is metal, right! Custom-voiced handwound pickups, bridge from TonePros, tuners from Steinberger and all other metal parts machined in house from 6061 aircraft grade aluminium. All supplied in a pro flight case fitted with a toolkit supplied by Packhorse UK."

Page 2 of 8
Page 2 of 8
Sci-fi lines

Sci-fi lines

Neil: "I wanted to build a Rock/Metal guitar that could perform at the very highest levels straight out of the case. I also wanted to make it different, light and comfortable to play on stage all night and that's where the shaping and contouring came in.

"Once I started to give the upper wings anhedrel to make more comfortable on the forearm I got carried away with the whole spacey thing and it's a cross (in my mind anyway) of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and those huge battle cruisers in the opening sequence of the first Star Wars movies - Which leads me nicely on to Bill Kelliher..."

Page 3 of 8
Page 3 of 8
Bill Kelliher

Bill Kelliher

"I'm a big fan of Mastodon," explains Neil. "I was introduced to them by a really good, guitar-playing friend and never looked back. I was showing said friend my designs for the guitar and its sci-fi feel and he reminded me what a huge star wars fan Bill Kelliher is; tattoos on his arm, massive figurine collection etc...

"So it seemed to me like kismet - Bill's interests, my starship guitar, me a huge Mastodon fan and believe or not my wife's grandfather, Stuart Freeborn, designed and made Yoda, Chewbacca, Jabba The Hut etc. Emails were sent and I managed to hook up with the band on the opening date of their UK tour in Wolverhampton, Bill checked the guitar out during the soundcheck, playing it for what seemed an age and pronounced that he loved it and he'd use it during the show..."

Page 4 of 8
Page 4 of 8
Flying high

Flying high

"The band kindly invited me to spend the rest of the day with them and we retired to pub with Bill, Brent and both of the guitar techs - Warren and Paul.

"A few Guinesses later we went back to the show and true to his word Bill used it to open the show - which goes back to my wanting to supply a guitar that could perform to the very highest levels straight out of the case. I talked some more with Brent and Bill after the show and I'm working on a couple more, different style, guitars for them at the moment."

Page 5 of 8
Page 5 of 8
Fretboard

Fretboard

The Bird Of Prey's ebony fretboard, featuring hugo jumbo fretwire and Bird Of Prey inlays.

Page 6 of 8
Page 6 of 8
Headstock

Headstock

Locking Steinberger tuners don't disrupt the headstock's elegant lines.

Page 7 of 8
Page 7 of 8
Take it to the bridge

Take it to the bridge

Along with a TonePros tune-o-matic-style locking bridge for rock-solid performance, there's another nod to spaceage aviation in the outline of the aluminium stringplate.

The Morgan Guitar Works Bird Of Prey starts at £2875 for the 22-fret six-string version, with 24-fret and seven-string versions available at a premium, alongside custom options such as gold hardware and custom colours. Visit Morgan Guitar Works online for more information.

Liked this? Now read Mastodon's Bill Kelliher: The MusicRadar Interview

Connect with MusicRadar: via Twitter, Facebook and YouTube

Get MusicRadar straight to your inbox: Sign up for the free weekly newsletter

Page 8 of 8
Page 8 of 8
Chris Vinnicombe

Chris Vinnicombe worked with us here on the MusicRadar team from the site's initial launch way back in 2007, and also contributed to Guitarist magazine as Features Editor until 2014, as well as Total Guitar magazine, amongst others. These days he can be found at Gibson Guitars, where he is editor-in-chief.

Read more
PRS Mark Holcomb: previously only a limited edition run, the Periphery guitarist's Core Series signature model is now part of the PRS Guitars catalogue, as the Maryland high-end brand continues its 40th Anniversary celebrations by keeping the releases coming each month.
Mark Holcomb’s limited run PRS is officially added to the Core series – and it ships in Drop C
Strandberg Boden Standard NX 6 Plini Edition Mirage
Strandberg launches limited edition Plini Boden Standard with glow-in-the-dark Mirage graphic finish
PRS Guitars' new limited edition Custom 24 Satin photographed at the brand's Maryland factory with wood blanks in the background.
PRS swaps maple for mango to give its “flagship” Custom 24 a 40th anniversary satin nitro makeover
PRS 40th Anniversary McCarty SC56 McCarty Sunburst
PRS pays tribute to a legend of guitar design with the limited edition McCarty SC56
Epiphone Inspired By Gibson Custom 2025: two men play a board game whole two others jam on Dove and J-45 acoustic guitars
Epiphone resurrects a 1963 Dove and five classic acoustics with help from the Gibson Custom Shop
PRS CE 24 Special Limited Edition: this run of 1,500 gives the CE Bolt-on platform its first HSH pickup configuration, and is pictured here on the PRS shopfloor, in McCarty Burst and Black Amber respectively.
PRS promises spanky Strat-esque tones and a lot more from its limited run PRS CE 24 Special
Latest in Guitars
Deals of the week
MusicRadar deals of the week: Here are the best Labor Day sales for musicians from across the internet
Boss PX-1 Plugout FX: the white compact series pedal has blue knobs, digital display, and is a platform for 16 digitally modelled Boss effects, one of which is available at a time.
A compact series stompbox you can turn into any one of 16 classic Boss effects? Meet the Plugout FX
Don Felder plays his iconic white Gibson doubleneck electric guitar onstage. Note the double jack: that mod is crucial when playing Hotel California, which he surely is in this picture.
Don Felder on why he had to mod his white Gibson doubleneck to play the Eagles’ biggest hit – and how he got the idea from Chet Atkins
Third Man Hardware x Black Mountain Roto-Echo: the roller wheel equipped delay pedal is a compact and performance-friendly stompbox that's available in black or limited edition white. Jack White has used it onstage and in the studio during the sessions for No Name.
Jack White’s Third Man teams up with Black Mountain for the Roto-Echo, a delay controllable by foot
Gibson Tony Iommi Humbucker: the all-new humbucker, a reissue of its first-ever signature pickup.
Gibson goes back to the beginning with reissue of its first-ever signature pickup for Black Sabbath icon Tony Iommi
John Fogerty wears a blue plaid shirt and plays his Fireglo 'Acme' Rickenbacker live onstage in 2022
“Dumb idea to give a guitar away that meant so much to you”: John Fogerty explains why he let go of his iconic guitar
Latest in News
Sebastian Bach performs on Day 1 of the Heavy Montreal festival at Parc Jean-Drapeau on August 6, 2016 in Montreal, Canada
“I could kick 'em right in the balls”: Ex-Skid Row man goes on a rant about Youtube armchair critics
Composer John Williams
“I never liked film music very much”: World famous film composer makes startling admission
Josh Freese performs onstage with The Vandals during day 1 of Warped Tour at Shoreline Waterfront on July 26, 2025
“It wasn’t music that I really resonated with”: Josh Freese lifts the lid on his exit from the Foo Fighters
Zak Starkey and Axl Rose composite
“C’mon bro... It could generate $2M for teen cancer”: Zak Starkey pleads with Axl Rose to give the go-ahead for charity cover of Bolan classic
Emily Portman of the Emily Portman Trio performs on stage during Kings Place Festival 2012 at Kings Place on September 14, 2012 in London, United Kingdom
“I'll never be able to sing perfectly in tune. But I don't want to": Meet the real artists that are victims of AI fake tracks
Marek "Ashok" Šmerda wears corpsepaint that makes him look a little like Hellraiser's Pinhead as he performs live with Cradle of Filth.
Cradle of Filth guitarist Ashok fired mid-tour, days after keyboardist wife quits citing low pay and “toxic” atmosphere

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...