Maton Factory Melbourne
Enter Maton Guitars. Maton Guitars is an Australian, iconic, Family Owned Company. Founded in 1946 (The same Year as Fender) they have been building incredible guitars, all in their Melbourne state of the art factory, selling them all over the world for over 60 years. You can read more about what we did and are doing for Maton in this case study. Jun 28, 2020 Maton guitars have been hand-crafted in a factory at Box Hill since 2003 and the company, which employees 70 people, is still family-owned and operated. New Zealand born country-pop singer Keith Urban, who began learning to play guitar aged six, is pictured on stage with a Maton. He usually plays a Model EBG808 or EMD6.
Our client, Maton Guitars, is very dear to my heart. In a previous life before I went back to University and got my design degree, started my first design business and worked on the web - I was a musician.
Australia's leading guitar manufacturer began in a Melbourne backyard workshop in 1946 when jazz musician and woodwork teacher Bill May formed the Maton Musical Instruments Company with his. Maton, Founder in 1946 is an Australian musical manufacturing company based in Melbourne. Maton meaning 'May Tone' manufactures a varying collection of products such as ukuleles, guitar pickup, electric and acoustic guitars. Gladesville Guitar Factory proudly stocks and sells a selection of handmade Maton products.
I got lucky during my musical career (if you can call it that) and played with people that were better and more talented than me. Vex 3 game download. I did get a Gold Record, I toured all around the world a few times playing through Europe, The UK, The USA and Japan and made some great friends (and had some really bad haircuts).
I still play a lot and have a few nice guitars. I am now a passionate dorky amateur. Nothing can make my kids, wife or non-music playing friends eyes glaze over quicker than if I start on a rant about guitars and the merits of something not many other people care about.
Enter Maton Guitars..
Maton Factory Melbourne Park
Maton Guitars is an Australian, iconic, Family Owned Company. Founded in 1946 (The same Year as Fender) they have been building incredible guitars, all in their Melbourne state of the art factory, selling them all over the world for over 60 years.
You can read more about what we did and are doing for Maton in this case study.
After the launch of the Maton website David Steedman, Maton's GM told me they would like to do something for me personally - and build me a guitar in their Custom shop. The Maton Custom Shop is like a dream factory for nerdy guitarists like me. They build one off guitars for everyone from Jimmy Page, John Fogerty, Neil Finn, Tommy Emanuel, John Butler and… me!
Last week I received the finished guitar built by Andy Allen the head of the Maton Custom Shop. I picked the premium grade woods (Maton were one of the pioneers of alternative, sustainable timbers in the 1970s), played multiple “example” guitars while Andy hovered around taking it all in and advising me. The end result is an absolute work of art, sounds incredible plays like a dream… and is mine. There is something about having an instrument made especially for you that is very special.
I like to think that the approach and technology we use to build our websites and apps is similar in some way to the bespoke nature of the Maton Custom shop. We listen to our client - evaluate the opportunities - and then build a custom designed and developed application for them.
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Maton Factory Melbourne Fl
| Private | |
| Industry | Musical instruments |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1946; 74 years ago |
| Founder | Bill and Reg May |
| Headquarters | , |
| Worldwide | |
| Products | Electric and acoustic guitars, ukuleles, guitar pickups |
| Website | maton.com.au |
Maton is an Australianmusical instruments 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 electric and acoustic guitars, ukuleles and guitar pickups.
History[edit]
Maton Factory Melbourne Beach
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 musician, woodwork teacher and luthier 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 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 amplifiers, 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 & 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 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 to The Wiggles.[1]George Harrison owned one of their MS500 models, which were introduced in 1957 and famed British session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan owned and used a Maton 'Cello' guitar for many years during the peak of his career, playing it on recordings with Sarah Vaughan, Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Keating and his Big Band and Neil Finn from Crowded House.
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 programme Antiques Roadshow. Although these guitars are now normally worth around GB£2,000, expert Bunny Campione valued Ifield's guitar at between GB£10,000 and GB£15,000, because Ifield had used it in songs featured in a compilation album alongside The Beatles' first two singles.[2]
Easybeats lead guitarist Harry Vanda is probably the best-known Maton player of the Sixties, and his famous red Maton Sapphire semi-acoustic 12-string (which he donated to the Powerhouse Museum 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, 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.[3]
Ben Harper and Jack Johnson use Matons. Renowned guitar instructor Justin Sandercoe uses Maton acoustic guitars.[4] Australian singer-songwriter Vance Joy regularly uses the Maton guitar The Maton Heritage ECW80[5]
Products[edit]
Current products manufactured by Maton include electric and steel-string acoustic guitars, ukuleles and guitar pickups. Some of them are:
- Maton JB6: a 1970s guitar that features a thin solid body, short scale 24 fret design, two humbucking pick-ups, two tone controls, one volume, in/out phase toggle for bridge pick-up and standard three way pick-up selector toggle switch. The body has double cutaways, set neck and heavy metal base plate supporting a stop piece and bridge for increased sustain.
- Mini Maton: Maton's small body acoustic guitar. It uses Maton's AP5 pickup system.
References[edit]
- ^Michel Bourgeau. 'Play your guitar with Murray'. Guitar Player Magazine]. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
- ^'Frank Ifield Photo Album'. Frank Ifeild.com. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
- ^'Maton website Musikmesse 2009'. Archived from the original on 14 June 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
- ^http://justinguitar.com/en/GG-001-JustinsGuitars.php
- ^http://maton.com.au/artists/vance-joy
External links[edit]
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to Maton Musical Instruments. |
Maton Factory Melbourne Hotel
- Andy Allen Interview NAMM Oral History Library (2017)
Maton Factory Melbourne Vic