One of Australia's First Solid Body Electric Guitars

Weighs just 6.00 lbs. and has a very fat nut width of over 1 11/16 inches and a short scale length of 23 1/2 inches. Cream-colored solid Australian mahogany body with scalloped top edge hand-painted in gold, one-piece Australian mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and clay dot position markers. Headstock with two wings and with "Maton" logo hand-painted in gold. With the original Maton label ("Guaranteed steel reinforced neck") just above the nut. Six-on-a-side strip tuners with open backs and white plastic oval buttons. Two Maton pickups with balanced outputs of 5.37k and 5.36k. Red plastic pickguard with seven screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and a three-way rotary pickup selector switch. Cream plastic knobs with ribbed sides (the pickup selector with a silver ring on top). Combination "wrap-over" trapeze-style bridge/tailpiece. The pots are stamped: "L205ME67ACTS45." With the original black circular Maton label on the body just below the controls. Apart from some body checking and a few small surface marks, this very rare guitar is certainly in excellent plus (8.75) and totally original condition. Housed in a late 1960s or early 1970s Gibson black hardshell case with orange plush lining (8.50). The Maton name is a derivative of the words “May” and “Tone.”

Only 210 Maton Gold Line 750s were made between 1962 and 1963. The serial numbers were 609-819.

Maton is Australia's longest established guitar manufacturer. The Maton trademark was established in 1946 by British emigre Bill May, a former woodworking teacher. His trademark name was a combination of his last name, and tone - just what every luthier seeks. In the 1940s, it was a commonly held belief among Australian guitarists and musical instrument retailers that American guitars were the best in the world. While Bill May may have subscribed to that general idea, it didn´t stop him from questioning why Australians shouldn´t build their own guitars. As May related in a 1985 interview, "I wanted to make better guitars, beyond what people thought you had the ability to do. People asked ´How do you think you can do it? You´ve never been to see how it´s done and what do you know about it. And it´s Australia. You don´t know anything here. If you want good instruments, you have to wait and get them from America´. But I didn´t believe that." May was raised with craftsman skills and a positive attitude, both for his own self esteem and for his country. Bill May originally completed his apprenticeship in cabinet making, and later an honors course in art and graphic design before he spent ten years as a woodwork teacher. When May couldn´t find a decent sounding guitar in a reasonable price range, he began building guitars in the garage of his Thornbury home. While there was no wealth of guitar building information back in the 1940s, May learned from the various guitars that passed through his hands. Production tools for the time period were the same sort used by furniture craftsmen, like chisels, planes, or the occasional belt-sander or bench saw. Rather than knock out copies of American models, May produced designs that were distinctive in appearance and sound - and featured Australian woods and distinctly Australian names. After the humble beginnings in his garage, a factory was established outside of Melbourne in 1951. Maton guitars began to be offered through local stores; by the mid 1960s Maton instruments had established a solid reputation throughout Australia. May passed away on his 75th birthday in 1993, but the company continues to produce quality acoustic guitars. The modern factory located in Bayswater is certainly different from Maton´s original site in Canterbury, but the traditional use of hand craftsmanship still co-exists with the new CNC router at the plant. While the focus of current production has been on acoustic guitars, the company also promises that there will be a return of production electrics later on.

Until the mid 1930s an Australian guitar manufacturing industry was virtually nonexistent. Good quality guitars were hard to find and at this time the best guitars came from the U.S.A. Bill May, a Melbourne-born jazz musician, woodwork teacher and luthier decided to change all that. During the early 1940s Bill established a custom guitar manufacturing and repair business known as “Maton Stringed Instruments and Repairs.” This enterprise was so successful that Bill was able to convince his older brother, Reg, to join him as a full time guitar maker and in March 1946 the “Maton Musical Instruments Company” was born.

Maton is still a 100% family owned Australian company, now operated by Linda & Neville Kitchen (Bill May’s
daughter and son in law).