For over 80 years, Maton Guitars has been dedicated to creating the highest quality, handcrafted guitars in Australia. Our timber suppliers cut specifically for us, which ensures that every piece of timber cut from the log has a use within the manufacture of our guitars.
Today marks the beginning of a new era at Maton: the new Master Built range of instruments is born!
After 80 years, Maton guitars are still handmade for the world stage!
Four instruments made without compromise, with the best materials selected, and with attention to detail and craftsmanship at the highest possible level!
Crafted by Maton’s most experienced luthiers, the Maton Master Built Range are the finest instruments ever created in Maton’s 80-year history. Since 1946, Maton has constantly strived to build instruments that serve the player, exploring the sonic possibilities of tonewoods from Australia and around the world. Refining every part of the build process, each piece of timber is hand selected by our master builders for its unique tonal properties and then voiced accordingly, ensuring the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts. This deep knowledge rooted in a long history of guitar making, culminates in truly unique instruments that speak to the dedication and passion of the Maton team.
MASTER BUILT T.E. PERSONAL
The latest iteration of the Tommy Emmanuel Personal model – with updated bracing, more refined construction, and a better sound than ever before!
The T.E. Personal has an even frequency response that provides body and sustain on even the highest single notes. Playable at extreme amplified volume levels without producing unwanted frequencies, it has a low action and a rich acoustic tone. This is achieved with a unique combination of soundboard thickness and bracing dimensions. The bracing is ‘A’ shaped as with the other Master Built models, but is taller and has deeper scallops.
The Maple bridge plate is wider than standard and the guitar has two transverse bars above the sound hole compared to the conventional one bar on all our other models. The soundboard and bracing is all AAA Sitka Spruce and is chosen for maximum stiffness. All of this provides a solid base for a bright, sustained treble, while the scallops open up the lower midrange of the guitar providing the overall balanced response needed by ‘the Master’!
MASTER BUILT L.E. MAY
The Master Built L.E. May is a tribute to the long history of Linda, daughter of founder Bill May, and Maton director for 30 years.
The Master Built L.E. May guitar is a tribute to Linda’s long history with Maton, and is the successor to our Custom Shop W.A. May model which was named after Linda’s father, Bill May. The L.E. May is a sleeker version of the W.A. May and features a full depth Traditional cutaway body as well as a slightly smaller headstock, which is modelled on the original Maton headstock from the 1940s but replaces the raised centre piece with a pinstriped centre profile.
The L.E. May soundboard is carefully selected and thickened European Spruce and the back and sides are figured Victorian Blackwood. The body is bound with Satin Box outer binding and BWB inner binding, and the soundhole features a timber rosette that perfectly complements the rest of the guitar. The Art Deco inspired pearl inlay remains, and the Ebony headstock is bound with Yellow Wood Ash. The neck is figured Queensland Maple and the fretboard and bridge are Ebony. The European Spruce soundboard is braced with European Spruce and has a Maple bridge plate. The bracing is ‘A’ shaped for maximum performance and scalloped to achieve the exact tonal response and deflection we are looking for. The guitar has a gloss finish and is stained to bring out the best in the figure of the body and neck, and comes with an AP5 Pro pickup system and Ratio (gold) open back tuners.
MASTER BUILT CLASSIC
The Maton Classic is an evolution of the previous CS Classic model.
The Maton Classic is a continuation of the former CS Classic model. The guitar has been revoiced to take full advantage of the tonal properties of European Spruce and Indian Rosewood. The tone is sophisticated, rich and clear delivering the sounds we’ve come to expect from an elite instrument comprising these classic woods. The Maton Classic body and fingerboard are bound in white, with classic herringbone inner binding and rosette. The guitar is finished in clear gloss, which highlights the natural beauty of these quality materials.
As with all Master Built models, the bracing matches the soundboard material and each soundboard is thicknessed, shaped and scalloped to achieve the tonal and mechanical responses we are looking for with this instrument. The Maton Classic also comes with a Maton AP5 Pro pickup system and nickel Ratio open back tuners.
MASTER BUILT DREADNOUGHT
A further step in the grand tradition of this iconic and distinctive sound box shape.
Maton has always made a great dreadnought guitar, but with this model we wanted to go one step further and make a guitar that could ‘take on all comers’ in the great tradition of this iconic body shape. Of course, being Maton, we could not just settle for copying the classic dreadnoughts of the 1930s, so we chose to use Australian Red Cedar (Toona ciliata) for the back and sides to achieve that magic presence and punch of the great dreadnought guitars. We opted for Adirondack Spruce for the soundboard and bracing which delivers a bright, fast attack, and is the same wood used on many of the great dreadnoughts.
The mahogany neck complements the Australian Red Cedar body perfectly, and the simple Ebony fretboard and bridge finish off this guitar nicely and sit well with the Ebony binding on the body. The Master Built Dreadnought is fitted with a Maton AP5 Pro pickup system and nickel Ratio open back tuners.
