Maton is an Australian
musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make Music, musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person ...
s manufacturing company based in
Box Hill, Melbourne. It was founded in 1946 by Bill May and his brother Reg. The name "Maton" came from the words "May Tone" and is pronounced ''May Tonne''.
Products currently manufactured by Maton include
acoustic guitars and
guitar pickup
A pickup is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these t ...
s.
History
The company was founded in 1946 as the "Maton Musical Instruments Company" by Bill May and his brother Reg. Reg was a wood machinist, while Bill was a
jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
musician,
woodwork
Woodworking is the skill of making items from wood, and includes cabinetry, furniture making, wood carving, joinery, carpentry, and woodturning.
History
Along with stone, clay and animal parts, wood was one of the first materials worked by ...
teacher and
luthier
A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments.
Etymology
The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...
who had for some years operated a custom guitar building and repair business under the name ''Maton Stringed Instruments and Repairs''.
At first the company produced high-quality
acoustic instruments
Acoustic music is music that solely or primarily uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means, as opposed to electric or electronic means. While all music was once acoustic, the retronym "acoustic music" appeared after the ad ...
for students and working professionals, aiming at providing good value for money and experimenting with the use of Australian woods. In the 1960s they expanded into electric instruments and
instrument amplifier
An instrument amplifier is an electronic amplifier that converts the often barely audible or purely electronic signal of a musical instrument into a larger electronic signal to feed to a loudspeaker. An instrument amplifier is used with music ...
s, at first under the name
Magnetone. The early catalogues noted that the warranties on amplifiers and loudspeakers were void if used in situations of "
overload or distortion", reflecting May's jazz background but incredible to modern electric guitarists of any style.
Maton established itself early on the Australian rock scene in the late 1950s, assisted by Australia's tariff regime, which made imported guitars far more expensive than the local equivalents. Maton guitars were used by many well-known Australian pop and rock groups including
Col Joye
Colin Frederick Jacobsen (13 April 1937) better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur with a career spanning almost sixty-seven years, starting from the late 50s. Joye was ...
& The Joy Boys. The company also made one of the first sponsorship deals in Australian rock, supplying Melbourne band
The Strangers with a full set of the distinctive 'El Toro' model guitars and basses (notable for their outlandish 'horned' body shape) while the group was working as the house band on the TV pop show ''
The Go!! Show
''The Go!! Show'' (also known simply as ''Go!!'') was an Australian popular music television series which was produced before a live audience and aired on Network Ten ATV-0, Melbourne, from August 1964 to August 1967, running one hour three nig ...
'' in the mid-Sixties.
Maton earned international renown for their superb acoustic and electric guitars and basses, which have been played by scores of famous performers from
The Easybeats
The Easybeats were an Australian Rock music, rock band which formed in Sydney in late 1964. They are best known for their 1966 hit single "Friday on My Mind", which is regarded as the first Australian rock song to achieve international success ...
to
The Wiggles
The Wiggles are an Australian children's music group formed in Sydney in 1991. As of 2022, the group members are Anthony Field, Lachlan Gillespie, Simon Pryce, Tsehay Hawkins, Evie Ferris, John Pearce (entertainer), John Pearce, Caterina Mete ...
.
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
owned one of their MS500 models, which were introduced in 1957 and famed British session guitarist
Big Jim Sullivan
James George Tomkins (14 February 1941 – 2 October 2012), known professionally as Big Jim Sullivan, was an English guitarist.
Best known as a session guitarist, he was one of the most in-demand studio musicians in the UK in the 1960s ...
owned and used a Maton 'Cello' guitar for many years during the peak of his career, playing it on recordings with
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, ...
,
Sammy Davis Jr.
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician.
At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...
,
Johnny Keating and his Big Band and
Neil Finn
Neil Mullane Finn (born 27 May 1958) is a New Zealand singer-songwriter and musician. He is best known for being a principal member of Split Enz and for being the lead singer of Crowded House. He was also a member of Fleetwood Mac from 2018 ...
from
Crowded House
Crowded House are an Australian-New Zealand rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Paul Hester (drums), who were both for ...
.
Australian singer
Frank Ifield also owned and used a Maton guitar, which he later had fitted with a custom-made scratch plate, made in the shape of a map of Australia. Frank gave this instrument to his guitarist
Ray Brett when he returned to Australia, and it has been featured on an episode of the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
programme ''
Antiques Roadshow
''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...
''. Although these guitars are now normally worth around £2,000, expert
Bunny Campione valued Ifield's guitar at between £10,000 and £15,000, because Ifield had used it in songs featured in a compilation album alongside
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
' first two singles.
Easybeats lead guitarist
Harry Vanda
Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as Harry Vanda, is a Dutch-Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easybeats who wi ...
is probably the best-known Maton player of the Sixties, and his famous re
Maton Sapphire semi-acoustic 12-string(which he donated to the
Powerhouse Museum
The Powerhouse Museum, formerly known as the Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences (MAAS), is a collection of 4 museums in Sydney, owned by the Government of New South Wales. Powerhouse is a contemporary museum of applied arts and sciences, explori ...
in Sydney in 1999) was an integral part of the Easybeats' sound throughout their career, and features prominently on hit singles like "I'll Make You Happy".
Australian guitarist,
Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Aus ...
, owns many Matons and almost exclusively uses the BG808 acoustic model on his latest albums. Maton has even constructed a Tommy Emmanuel "TE series" according to Tommy's specifications. His understudy Kieran Murphy also uses Matons.
Joe Robinson plays Maton guitars and was the company's featured performer at the
Frankfurt Musikmesse in 2009.
Ben Harper
Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music, and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, liv ...
and
Jack Johnson use Matons. Renowned guitar instructor
Justin Sandercoe uses Maton acoustic guitars. Australian singer-songwriter
Vance Joy
James Gabriel Keogh (born 1 December 1987), known professionally as Vance Joy, is an Australian singer, songwriter, musician, and former Australian rules footballer. He is best known for his 2013 hit song " Riptide".
Joy signed a five-album de ...
regularly uses the Maton guitar The Maton Heritage ECW80
Products
Current products manufactured by Maton include
steel-string acoustic guitars and
guitar pickup
A pickup is an electronic device that converts energy from one form to another that captures or senses mechanical vibrations produced by musical instruments, particularly stringed instruments such as the electric guitar, and converts these t ...
s. Some of them are:
* Mini Maton: Maton's small body acoustic guitar. It uses Maton's AP5 pickup system.
*Maton EBG808TE: The TE series guitars are designed in conjunction with guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel. Other models in the TE series are EBG808TEC, TE1 and the TE Personal.
*Maton SRS70C: A hollow body single cut acoustic guitar with a tortoiseshell pickguard and a rosewood neck. The SRS70C comes in both 6 and 12 string form.
See also
*
List of acoustic guitar brands
*
List of electric guitar brands
This is a list of Wikipedia articles about brand names under which electric guitars have been sold.
A
* Alembic Inc, Alembic
* Tom Anderson Guitarworks, Tom Anderson
* Aria (guitar company), Aria
C
* Caparison guitars, Caparison
* Carvin ...
*
Manufacturing in Australia
Manufacturing in Australia peaked in the 1960s at 25% of the country's gross domestic product, and has since dropped below 10%. At one stage manufacturing employed almost a third of Australia's workforce. Automotive manufacturing in Australia ...
References
External links
Official websiteAndy Allen InterviewNAMM Oral History Library (2017)
{{Guitar brands
Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Australia
Guitar manufacturing companies
Manufacturing companies based in Melbourne
Manufacturing companies established in 1946
Australian brands
1946 establishments in Australia
Family-owned companies of Australia