Maton

Maton is an Australian manufacturer of guitars and other fretted string instruments.

The company was founded in 1946 as the Maton Musical Instruments Company by Bill May and his brother Reg. Reg was a carpenter and Bill jazz musician and Instrumentenreparateur, and he also had experience in dealing with wood. Bill introduced also for some years a business for repairs and personalized guitar.

The name Maton is composed of the words May and clays.

History

At the beginning Maton produced high quality instruments for students and professional musicians with the aim of a good value for money to offer. In addition, the company experimented with the use of Australian timbers. In 1960 began the construction of electric instruments and amplifiers under the name Magnetone.

Maton soon established itself in the Australian rock scene in the late fifties. One contributing factor was the high price of imported instruments. Maton guitars were played by many well-known Australian rock and pop groups, including Col Joye & The Joy Boys. The company also sponsored the first Australian manufacturer of instruments the band The Strangers from Melbourne with a full set of distinctive El Toro guitars or basses while the group in the mid-sixties in the TV show The Go! Show occurred.

The most famous guitarist playing a number of different Maton guitars, Tommy Emmanuel is.