This is probably one of the last Maton’s I’ll be buying… the rare FBFX.

I mentioned in my last post that I’ve ticked off a lot of the boxes on my Maton wish list. What this means is slowly (and painfully) over 10 years, I’ve gotten the guitars that I was REALLY chasing… Wedgtails, an Ibis guitars and bass, Goldlines, Phil Mannings and of course… Fyrbyrds. I had my Fyrbyrd 620′s and 650′s… but the later FB series had me stumped. They’re so damn hard to find…

For a while I did own an FB70, but I had to sell it to get an even rarer Maton (which I’ll document soon).

So there was a big gap in my Fyrbyrd collection… I still needed an FB70 and an FBFX. Finally, fellow Maton collector Greg T tracked down a beautiful cherry FBFX  and so after selling another Maton (one for one!) it was mine.

Up until I actually bought it, I’d never even seen one in the flesh. I was instantly surprised how solid it is. This isn’t a little guitar like the original Fyrbyrd 620. It’s a BEAST. The body is really thick and heavy, plus it has a great neck. It shares a lot in common with the Wedgtail WX series, which came out the same time. Apart from my Wedgtail’s modded pickups, the resemblance is definitely there.

The hardware carries over both guitars. The tremolo is the Italian Eko unit, which unlike the one on my Wedgtail is in fantastic condition. It’s a pity Maton didn’t keep the authentic Bigsby on this model as the Eko unit isn’t exactly the best… it does the job though.

Pickups are Maton’s own, with the bridge being a single coil housed in the larger case. It’s a bit of a low output pickup so I may get that looked at in the future.

As mentioned, the finish is a beautiful transparent cherry, which is unusual for Maton. It’s similar to my 60′s Maton MS500 and shows the grain in the body very nicely. The neck is REALLY similar to my Wedgtail’s… profile is a little slimmer but definitely from the same family. Unlike my Wedgtail, this has the little notch taken out so it’s a bit less Strat like.

So I’m really stoked with this guitar. After years and years of FBFX’s popping up and me missing out, it’s great to finally have one. And it looks great in my red Fyrbyrd family. They’re all totally different guitars though, which is a good thing. No point having 5 versions of the same guitar!

Now I just need that goddamn FB70 and I’ll have the full set… fingers crossed.

After nearly 13 years, I’ve reached a Maton nerd milestone… one of each Fyrbyrd model. From FB620 to FBFX.

I’ve “officially” been a vintage Maton fanatic since 2003. That’s when I saw my first Fyrbyrd, being played by a guitarist in a support band at a Tremors gig at the iconic Annandale Hotel (which is now tragically a f*cking burger bar). Soon after I bought a Maton Phil Manning Custom Stereo at Swop Shop in Melbourne and then it went a little crazy from there. 13 years later and I’ve finally tracked down an example of each Fyrbyrd model. It’d taken so long as these guitars are so rare… three of these models there were only 70 guitars or less made. So what I thought would be cool would be to describe the differences of each throughout the stages of the Fyrbyrd name until it’s final form, the FBFX.

First up is the iconic “sharkbite”1963 FB620.

A friend of mine found this beauty in a junk shop in the Blue Mountains back in 2010. It had led a hard life… it’s neck had the dreaded Maton twist and most of it’s parts were loose in the original (very battered) Stanford case but Tim from Tym Guitars did an amazing job into making it player perfect. I’d owned a sharkbite before but it had been repainted in a horrible white poly finish with the wrong headstock decal (plus modern tuners) and I was after something more original… which this is. The neck on the early sharkbites are quite fat… sort of a ’58 Les Paul fat. Mine is one of the rarer examples with the Triumph dashboard flip switches… which while rare are damn awful and made it near unplayable. I changed them to smaller modern flip switches which help a lot. The Maton pickups are really loud, sort of like a cross between a P90 and a Dearmond and the Sound Barrier switch is really useable in cutting down some of that output and making the pickups more twangy. It’s a great guitar and one of my favourites.

Next up is my 1964 Fyrbyrd FB620.

This is a near mint, museum quality example of the non-sharkbite version of the Fyrbyrd. Literally every screw, solder joint and pot is untouched. The serial number is in the 900′s so it’s just before Maton slightly changed the model with a larger headstock and thinner neck (very similar to the Ibis neck). The neck shape on the 900 series non-sharkbites is a bit different to the earlier models… it’s slightly less fat and “quicker” to play plus a touch narrower. If a non-sharkbite has lost it’s serial number, I can usually tell a 900 series as they’re quite distinct. The pickups are slightly less hot than the sharkbite but these pickups are notoriously inconsistent .

Next is the first major change to the Fyrbyrd… the FB650.

The FB650 was part of Maton’s new range in 1965, which included the 12 string 1220 and the Maton Leaderman (which replaced the Flamingo). The body shape was completely different to the sleek offset FB620. With the FB650 Maton was starting to get more into Fender territory. The main hardware from the FB620 remains… the same pickups and Bigsby, but the cool “Sound Barrier” stalk switch has disappeared. The tone control has been spilt into two… one treble and one “bass expander” which is actually a great idea! Maton also fixed a common complaint of the FB620 and flipped the pickups switch so that they’re horizontal, which helps stop the guitarist switching pickups by accident when strumming. The neck is from the upcoming 1968 Wedgtail… really REALLY thin and sporting the stylistic 3+3 split headstock. This is actually my pick of the bunch as a player… the pickups are loud and fat and the neck is thin and really fun to play. So while it sounds similar to the previous FB620, it plays completely differently. Only 60 or so examples were made of this model so they’re very rare.

Next up is the 12 string version.

A friend of mine spotted this in a Brisbane guitar shop that had only opened up that week and then closed a few months later. The owner had owned a music hire business in the 80′s and had amassed a ridiculous amount of cool vintage gear, so he opened up his own shop to sell it all along with some new gear. I quickly sold my beloved red Maton Apollo and grabbed this rare Byrd. These 12 string Fyrbyrds rarely come up for sale and when they do the prices are crazy… due to the fact Neil Finn from Crowded House still uses one onstage. Mine is in the Jungle Green finish and came in it’s original Stamford case, along with the two pickup switch covers which I have to fit one day, along with the Bigsby arm. The original knobs are gone so I’m the hunt for some of those… the volume knob is a bigger version than the usual metal Maton knobs and rarer than rocking horse poop. As a player these things are amazing. I can see why Neil still plays his… the neck are crazy thin for a 12 string and pretty wide… you have quite a bit of room to make open chords and barre chords are no problem. The Maton pickups are beautifully fat but with heaps of chime. I lent this guitar to my band mate for his other band and the studio owner wanted to keep it. A great great GREAT guitar. I’ll get it completely set up and back to 100% in 2017…. as soon as I find those goddamn knobs!

Next is the rarest of the bunch…

The 1968 FB70 was pretty much a completely different guitar from the original FB620 Fyrbyrd. By now the Maton single coil pickups had become humbuckers, the individual pickup switches was now a Gibson style three way switch, and the USA made Bigsby was now a Japanese version. Oh, and the body shape was sort of a Fender Mustang meets Fender Jazzmaster. The Wedgtail style neck remained… but not for long. This is the Series 1 FB70. From what I can tell from the Maton Fyrbyrd build sheets, only 7 examples were made in this format, with this being #007. I only know of two guitars of the 7, so it’s a ridiculously rare guitar. Then in the next batch a few months later Maton updated the model into the Series 2, of which I owned an example for a short while (but sold it to get a vintage MS500) and hope to again soon.

The Series 2 had two single coil pickups instead of three humbuckers and a very Fender-like headstock. Maton made 60 or so guitars in this format… but back to the Series 1. The FB70 is a bit of a strange guitar… the body is quite small and thin, with the fretboard sitting quite high on the body. It has a little bit of a banjo quality to it… the previous FB650 feels more solid. The three pickups are quite warm sounding, the hot treble of the classic Maton single coils have gone. They’re more Jazzmaster than Dearmond Goldfoil. It’s still a great guitar and probably one of the coolest looking of the bunch. I’m very grateful to the previous owner Larry to let me be the next custodian of it. I’ll treasure it and play it a lot.

The final guitar in the Fyrbyrd family is the FBFX… a guitar I nicknamed the Hulk.

This FBFX is a beast. Big thick mahogany body with a fat 70′s Fender style neck. While the original FB620 was a cool garage surf guitar, this is a 70′s rock machine. It’s feels really solid when strapped on, and plays really easily. All the banjo-ness from the FB70 is gone. The trem unit is an Italian Eko and works fine… I personally prefer a proper Bigsby but I’m not modding a guitar as rare as this. The bridge pickup is pretty twangy but has enough power to rock out. The neck is the same mellow unit from the Series 1 FB70. I’ve seen Series 2 FB70′s and FBFX’s with different pickup variations… two single coils, humbucker in the neck – single in the bridge, humbucker in the bridge – single in the neck etc. It’s whatever was at hand on the day i guess. This guitar was found by a fellow Maton collector Greg T who knew how much I wanted one and sold it to me for a great price (same as the FB650). The Maton collector community is a good bunch of people (apart from when I got snaked on that Maton Vampyr deal by another collector. Still hurts. Thanks for that, you know who.) So there you have it. The (pretty much) complete Fyrbyrd family.

If I was truly crazy I could go after one of the original 19 fret sharkbites with the 14th fret position marker and the 20 fret shortscale Fyrbyrd (which I had one but sold to get my Sapphire 303/6)… and then there’s the Fyrbyrd Bass… and the New Zealand export Fyrbyrd with the Flamingo tremolo… and the New Zealand export Fyrbyrd Bass (which is basically a Wildcat Bass) but f*ck that. I’m done. It’s taken me 13 years of blood, sweat and trading and I’m way beyond stoked with these Byrds. Now I’m going to play them.

Some people (like me) think it’s sacrilege when a vintage Maton is modified. In this case, it’s created my dream bass.

If you’re both a bass player and a vintage Maton fanatic, options are pretty limited. You could grab  one of the excellent JB4′s or the new reisssue but I’m honestly not a huge fan of the JB4. Everyone who has one swears by them, but the look of them doesn’t really do it for me.

Initially to solve this I got Tim from Tym Guitars to custom build me a bass in 2007 that I designed to look like the Fyrbyrd. Over the last 9 years I’ve played it at probably over 100 shows and two Europe tours and it’s a great bass. Over the years the neck has cracked from an onstage bump in Madrid, Spain and been repaired a few times and the body has it’s share of knocks and bumps.

Recently, a fellow Maton collector had bought what he thought was a slightly modified rare Maton Ibis Bass. It looked in great condition so he grabbed it.

When he got it home he realised HOW modified it was. A previous owner had installed a fuzz pedal inside, using a screwdriver to route out the holes and pockets to fit in the home made pedal. To fit the battery, they dug out a hole ALL THE WAY TO THE BACK and screwed on a metal plate! It was an absolute mess under the scratchplate, which was a shame as the bass itself was in fantastic condition!

Soon after, he picked up a completely original Ibis Bass which was missing a few parts, such as knobs, pickup and bridge covers and the thumb rest… which this modified bass had. So he took all those parts off for his original bass and sold me the butchered Ibis for a great price, which I’m very grateful to him for. Thanks Jeff!

My original plan was to get Tim from Tym Guitars to take out the fuzz pedal and fit in a Rat pedal, as that pedal is 100% my bass sound. After a few months I changed my mind… I’d bought a 1984 USA Jackson Bass with EMGs that sounded absolutely amazing so I thought… I’ll combine the best ideas from the Jackson and put them into the Ibis. And here we are.

Steve from Tim Guitars did a fantastic job putting this bass together. The first thing he did was clean out that shit-tastic routing  a bit, and then cut a new guard for it. I wanted it really simple, so I got him to take off all the knobs and switches apart for the volume knob (which was an old Goldentone amp knob I’d found) and fit some new EMG pickups. Handily, the metal plate at the back gives easy access to the battery for the pickups, so it worked out well! People may think that putting active EMGs in a vintage Maton is crime against humanity, but this is a working bass and EMG P-Bass pickups are fantastic. I’m not a fan of their guitar pickups, but their bass pickups are goddamn awesome, especially through my bass rig.

Another necessity was to change the bridge. The original Maton piano hinge bridge is a truly awful design and meant that the action was a mile high. My other playing basses have Bad Ass bridges on them, so Steve tracked down a Bad Ass style bridge with no notches cut into the saddles so that he could custom fit it to the narrower Maton neck. Amazingly Bad Ass bridges are no longer available (what the hell?!) so this is the All Parts version, which looks exactly the same and adds a metric ton of sustain.

Next up, Steve replaced the original Maton tuners as one snapped when tuning up and like all vintage Maton parts they’re impossible to find. So a set of brand new tuners were fitted and they work a LOT better. Plus they still suit that amazing looking headstock.

Steve called me to say the bass was ready, just in time for my last gig of the year with Sixfthick. I gave it a quick play at the shop and was amazed how low the action and how quick it played. Steve had done an amazing job… this bass played like a modern Fender Bass.

When I got it home, I added a Maton trussrod cover I had spare along with the volume sticker… just to add that vintage Maton vibe to it.

I played it that night and was smiling through the whole show. The bass was perfect. The EMG’s was punchy and clear, with heaps of clear bottom end and the sustain was crazy. It was a light bass to begin with and with the extra routing it’s REALLY light which is perfect for me as I’ve been having a few neck problems from my basses. I absolutely love how this bass has turned out and I’ll be playing it a LOT at upcoming shows.

Remember a few years ago I was talking about doing a book with an amazing Maton collector from Sydney named Wadih Hanna?

Well, after 4 years work (and over 10 for Wadih) it’s done!  >You can buy it here!

A unique Fyrbyrd/Phil Manning Std hybrid.

So, you may have noticed that guitarnerd hasn’t had any Maton stories for a long while. This was after I noticed that guitarnerd was getting pretty Maton-heavy, to the point where I may as well have changed the name of the site to ‘Matonerd’…

So, for now on, instead of writing about every Maton I see, it’ll be every once of while and only on special/rare instruments. Like the one I’m about to talk about.

So what we have here is a 60’s non-Sharkbite Fyrbyrd… probably a 1963, that has most probably been modified by Maton in the 70’s. The story of my involvement with this guitar starts way back in 2005. I was playing a gig at The Annandale in Sydney with I think Sixfthick, but it may have been The Tremors… I’m not quite sure. I was admiring a red Maton Sharkbite Fyrbyrd that the support band was playing. This was the first Fyrbyrd I’d ever seen and I was in love…

Cec, my bandmate in The Tremors, mentioned that a friend of his had an old Fyrbyrd in parts under his bed and would probably sell it cheap. At the time I was saving my $$$ for the upcoming Sixfthick Europe tour, so I passed his details to Tim at Tym Guitars, who bought the guitar and quickly fixed it up to sell. The original scratchplate had disintegrated, so Tim cut a new one out of white perspex, plus he added a cheap Bigsby-a-like as the bridge and tremolo were missing, and added some machine heads he had lying around. This was just to get the guitar up and running to sell… not to be factory original.

The guitar was bought by the guitarist in my band, Dan, and did service in Sixfthick for a few years. The pickups sounded great… this was a Fyrbyrd on steroids… and the neck was slim and very playable. One night we played a gig with the Beasts Of Bourbon, and the Fyrbyrd’s original owner… Cec’s mate… saw his old Fyrbyrd and bugged out how cool it looked. He’d owned the guitar since he was 17 and seeing his guitar in action gave him severe sellers remorse. Fast forward a year and Dan sold it back to him.

Fast forward another 5 years and I bought it off HIM. I’ve always had fond memories of this guitars time in Sixfthick, plus now knowing some more about old Matons I knew how much of a strange example it was,  so I inquired if he’d be interested in selling it… he was and it’s now a part of my small Maton family.

The weird thing about this particular Fyrbyrd… well, weird things… were the pickups and the headstock. The pickups and wiring were straight from a Maton Phil Manning Standard, and the headstock had been reshaped into a ‘beak’, with a 70’s Fyrbyrd logo added. This led Tim and I to believe that the guitar had been modified by Maton in the 70’s, possibly because the headstock had been damaged. The key clues here are the pickups… if this guitar had been modified by a regular repairer and had humbuckers fitted, they would’ve used aftermarket pickups like Dimarzios. Maton humbuckers are REALLY hard to come by, unless you’re at Maton. Also, the wiring is pretty much the same as how Maton fitted these humbuckers, with the splits and phase switching. This makes this particular Fyrbyrd a unique sounding machine.

Next is the headstock. It was such a weird shape, unlike any other Maton I’d seen. This baffled me until it was put forward by Greg T that the original Maton Fyrbyrd paddle headstock probably got snapped vertically, which has happened to one of Greg’s Maton Flamingos. So Maton probably reshaped it slightly and added a current (for the time) Maton Fyrbyrd logo. You can see that the edges and the back of the headstock have been resprayed a LONG time ago, but the body paint is original as you can see the faint imprint from the original Fyrbyrd sticker which probably was removed when the guitar got modified. The headstock area looks a little glossier due to the respray from the repair, but the colour matches exactly, which again points to being a Maton factory repair.

My plans for this guitar are to get it a little more factory original. An original Bigsby bridge and tremolo are on the cards, as well as some nicer tuners. At the moment it’s sporting some rare black Fyrbyrd knobs that I found on eBay, but I think a set of metal Maton knobs would suit it better. I have a little NOS Maton trussrod cover that would fit nicely as well.

Apart from that I’m leaving it as is. There are probably a hundred or so non-sharkbite Fyrbyrds out there… but only one of these!

••• update.

I’m currently in the process of getting a replica Fyrbyrd sticker set made up for Fyrbyrd owners. Kieron in Adelaide has a machine with “lasers” that spits out these beauties. Here’s the first result. Look out for further details as they come!

A long lost Maton prototype? No! Another creation by Ian.

Guitarnerd has let me meet some pretty cool people, who love guitars almost as much as I do. (I said ALMOST.) One such person is Ian, whom you may remember as the creator of the original Flamingbyrd… a heavily (and tastefully) modified 60’s Maton Flamingo. (check it out here.)

In November, I received an email from Ian saying he was starting up a very ambitious project… a guitar based on 4 or 5 different classic Matons.

I was pretty damn excited. This wasn’t just a copy, this was something new. It was like a lost prototype from Maton’s golden era. Over the next few months, Ian sent me detailed progress photos, and each time I was blown away. This was such a cool idea.

First up was cutting out the body shape. The body is a mix of Flamingo, sharkbite Fyrbyrd, Wedgtail & Goldline. And I think it works. It’s kooky in a Maton Ibis kind of way.

Next up was starting the routing. One cool element was sinking the Bigsby into the body, like the Wedgtail. To achieve this, Ian extended the end out, which was pretty clever and adds another cool design element.

Ian prefers P-90’s, so this guitar gets routed for a triple set. Also, being a Maton, it needs a rotary switch, which is routed from the back. Ian had help figuring out the 6 position switching from Paul Gomes (USA)… a wiring guru. It runs Neck,neck & middle,neck & bridge, middle, middle & bridge and bridge.

The scratch plate design is part Fyrbyrd and part Flamingo. It suits the shape perfectly. You can start to see what the finished design will look like, and by this stage I was getting very excited. I was also amazed how quickly Ian was putting this together. I’m used to luthiers taking a year to build their guitars! This was all getting done within a month.

Now, the fun bit… paint. I asked what colour Ian was thinking of… I suggested white with a red guard, but Ian had decided on black with a white guard, which was also nice. The main element was that the edges were gold, as per the Goldline. Black & gold go great together.

It so happens that Ian owns a Goldline, so you can see what a great tribute this guitar is.

By this stage I was losing my mind. I couldn’t wait to see this guitar finished. It didn’t take long… A few weeks later and Ian sent me the following pics.

The P90 covers are just for until Ian tracks down some metal versions. That will really drive the Maton look into overdrive. For the headstock, Ian went for the Wedgtail design. Although a Fyrbyrd style might’ve been my pick, this design suits the overall ‘lost prototype’ feel of the guitar.

Ian is still sourcing some knobs that will suit. Those, along with the pickup covers and the guitar is done! Congratulations Ian on some really outstanding work. Instead of it just being a Maton clone, you’ve created something new that slots right into the Maton Byrd family tree.

Some rarer than rockinghorse sh!t Matons… story by Michael.

Part one: Wedgtail! Guitarnerd readers might recall a post about my old Maton V606 amplifier which I ended up selling on eBay some time ago. In the listing I cheekily mentioned I would be willing to trade it for a Wedgtail but nothing else. I didn’t get the Wedgtail unfortunately, but the amp sold and that was that.

About seven or so months ago now I was leaving the Music Swop Shop in Melbourne, and was walking past Fretted Instruments, (who had moved right next door to the Swop Shop some months prior from their previous location a few kilometers away) and had the odd thought to glance in as I walked past. (I say odd because I walk past the store about 25 times a week and never glance in).

As I briefly glanced whilst continuing to walk, I spotted what I thought at first to be a wild Japanese git-thang from the ’70’s, sitting on a stand next to the front counter. The shape caught my eye (thankfully), and on inspection, it turned out to be a late 70’s Maton Wedgtail (#78)! (The Serial is 178)

I was sooo stoked to see one! But the stoke-ness was somewhat bittersweet as I knew that Fretted Instruments were very well informed and that it would be clearly out of the reach of my financial capabilities. I went in anyway to ask about it and hopefully give it a play (this was the first one I had seen in the flesh). The owner was talking to a gentleman at the counter so I waited patiently for them to finish so that I could begin gushing over said guitar. As I was waiting and inadvertently eavesdropping, I realised the gentleman at the counter was the Guitar’s owner! What was far more amazing, was that the owner of Fretted was turning him away!!! The guitar was up for grabs!!! And at a price I didn’t have to think twice about… almost.

The owner had turned him away and told him to try eBay because the guitar looked like it had met head-on in a car crash with a Gibson Melody Maker. The elevated scratch-plate was gone, along with the pickups, and had been replaced with a mutilated dual-pickup melody maker pickguard, complete with Japanese single coil pickups. It had four tuners, one string, a nut with 9 slots, the flimsiest folded aluminium bridge I’d ever seen and a Masonite/vinyl cavity cover on the back.

It was clearly going to be A LOT of work, but the neck was straight, and it was a freakin’ Wedgtail, so I bought it!

Over the following weeks, I band-sawed up a new cavity plate, I studied MANY photos and cut a new scratch and I made CAD files for the pickup surrounds. I had new ones laser cut, to suit both the original and standard humbuckers. I hunted down some non-identical but suitable tuners to fit with the other four. The nut was surprisingly fully functional despite the bouzouki like slots. I splashed out and bought a Gotoh Bronze-Aluminium saddled bridge and re-tensioned the spring on the original (though kinda cheap looking) tremolo.

All that was missing now were the pickups.

So for months my project stopped… I could have chucked some nice humbuckers in there, but I was hellbent on finding some original Maton Humbuckers! And then one day I found a pair! Albeit they were gold originally and not silver, but they were a matched pair!

Unfortunately, they happened to be lodged in an even rarer Maton, which was in an even worse condition than the Wedgtail…

Part two: El Toro! Meet Maton El Toro #6.

I found the ad on Gumtree and sped over to the seller’s household as soon as I got his address. He turned out to be the Guitar’s original owner, and had owned it for nearly 50 years. I guess when you own something that long, considerations about it’s collect-ability never cross your mind, as unfortunately during the ’80’s, he had spray painted the ENTIRE thing metallic purple! (I’m still finding it on the hardware!)

Worse still, the neck had been glued in place. As such, he had sanded the thing back to the beautiful Mahogany underneath, and had removed the binding and decals. But it was fully complete bar one missing knob and the pickup surrounds.

So I had an even BIGGER project on my hands now! Plus the dilemma of having to choose which guitar got the pickups! I spent a solid two days applying new binding to the neck, and painstakingly shaping it around the frets. Now the guitar was playable… and it was VERY playable!

The El Toro was amazing! The long neck was perfectly straight, and it was a delight to hold with the new binding in place. The next few weeks were spent on the next big task… re-finishing!

Myself and my fellow gear-whore Tony (a different Tony to the dear operator of this site mind you), set up a somewhat sketchy shop outside his shed and began a frustrating game of ‘avoiding the rain and humidity’. After filling the grain and some of the more roughly sanded areas, we sealed the neck and body with good ol’ Nitro sealer. I went to Astra Paints and got a nice off-white cream (which was a tiny bit butterscotchy), and a good solid black.

This one would’ve been white originally going off the cavities, but after a test spray, I decided black would be the choice for the body, and that the head-stock would be white. I did two coats of black on the headstock followed by several coats of the cream white. After it was dry, I sanded back the white around the edges to create a black border as per the original colourscheme. For the body we only did two coats of black with no clear coat. I wanted this thing to age FAST. Worse come to worse, if my amateur re-fin ended badly, it would’ve been quite easy for a pro to redo the whole thing. But it came up pretty good! After a few months of gigging it’ll look nice and worn in and hide any defects I may’ve overlooked.

The final dilemma were the pickups. I had succumbed and put the Maton humbuckers in the Wedgtail because they looked oh so good together.

I decided I needed some wild pickups for the El Toro, so I hunted down a gold Ibanez Flying Fingers Super 80, and an original 70’s Ibanez Iceman Humbucker. To my delight, they absolutely SHRED! The tone is fantastic! Clean jazz (if you like that sort of thing…) Warm Blues, and of course, thundering Stoner Riffage.

I tune the El Toro to something like D Flat and it just resonates beautifully. The low tuning balances out the high tension from the long scale, and you can just bend and bend and bend and bend and bend. I even managed to find a Vintage Japanese made explorer case to fit it!

The Wedgtail plays excellently as well… but I found it’s tone somewhat lacking. Of course, after all the effort I put into finding some Maton Humbuckers, they just weren’t doing it for me.

I bought a pair of ’70’s Ibanez V2’s, which internet forums describe as “…70’s copies of DiMarzio Super Distortions”, and switched them for the Matons. I plugged him into a nice Vox AC-30…and, tone heaven. NOW it sounds like it’s sexy vibes suggest it should. Plus the pickups match the color!

All that’s left to do is to knock up the decals for the El Toro and then play both of them into the ground!

My Fyrbyrd Custom is now finished!

A while ago, I talked about my red Maton Fyrbyrd, which looked to have been modified by Maton in the early 70’s with Maton Phil Manning Standard running gear. When I got the guitar, it had horrible tuners, a cheap Bigsby copy and a white scratchplate. Plus the electronics needed looking at, as the switches were very hit and miss.

I thought this guitar deserved a lot better than this. Fair enough it had led a hard life, but it played great and was an Australian classic. It needed some TLC… fast.

Usually this means a trip to Tim at Tym Guitars, but Tim’s workload is pretty full on at the moment (as is mine) and I felt bad dumping him with yet ANOTHER one of my projects. I know what it’s like when you’re working 12 hour days and your friends ask you for quick favours on top of your real jobs. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to try out Matt from Matt’s Guitar Service. I’d heard a lot about him from Greg T, along with some other friends of mine. Being based in Morayfield, Matt’s shop isn’t exactly nearby… but Greg T was nice enough to pick up and drop off my ‘Byrd on his next trip up.

A few weeks later and here she is!

Originally I had on a black laser cut guard which fellow guitarnerd Kieron was nice enough to cut for me. But unfortunately it broke in half in transit, so Matt was nice enough to cut me a new one. He matched the original Fyrbyrd’s plate perfectly… even the rounded bevels! And then he used black screws to help them blend in. What great attention to detail.

I had an original aluminium Maton truss rod cover spare which I had been saving for this guitar and it looks great. It helps bring this guitar back to it’s 70’s modified vibe, as a lot of the 70’s Maton truss rod covers were aluminium, not brass coloured like the 60’s ones.

One thing I thought about were the knobs. I have a spare set of metal Maton knobs, but these were only used on 60’s guitars. As this guitar was a 60’s guitar but with 70’s parts… it needed 70’s Maton knobs, which were used on the Phil Mannings and jazz guitars. These knobs, like most vintage Maton parts, are impossible to get. But fellow Maton-nut Ian showed me that the knobs from Harmony Satellites are PRETTY DAMN CLOSE to the knobs Maton used in the 70’s. I found a seller on eBay who sells repro knobs and was pretty stoked with the result!

For the tuners, from the look of the screw pattern it looked like Maton in the 70’s fitted the same ones that are on my Wedgtail. Which are terrible, terrible tuners. Instead, I found a set of Gotoh’s which have tuning heads that have a square 70’s shape and they work perfectly. They’ll do for now until I find something else I like better.

Matt also ditched that crappy Bigsby copy and fitted a licenced B50, which is a huge improvement, along with a much better bridge. I also added a repro Fyrbyrd sticker which I designed and Kieron made for me.

And that’s it. Matt had set the guitar up beautifully so it plays like butter, and now with all the switches working, it’s a really versatile rock machine. It’s not the prettiest Fyrbyrd out there, and certainly not the most original. But with it’s Phil Manning gear and it’s playability to me it’s one of the coolest Maton’s I’ve seen. I’m going to play this one a LOT.

Yes! After years about writing about them… I’ve finally seen one in the wild.

Saturday is a pretty fun day for me. My little son has his baby swimming lesson at midday, and then for lunch afterwards I grab a Grill’d burger for me and my wife while he sleeps. Afterwards I relax at home and destress from the week… playing guitar if I get the chance. This week all that got interrupted when I received this text from Tim at Tym Guitars.

Before you could say ‘Guitarnerd emergency!’ I was in the car, speeding towards Tym Guitars. I wasn’t sure if this bass was for sale or what…. I just had to see it in real life.

It turns out, a Melbourne band called The Spinning Rooms were having an instore at Tyms and when Tim saw the bass players bass, he knew I’d want to know. I walked in just as they started playing, and that 50 year old bass through an 8×10 Ampeg bass rig sound monstrous. The band have a kind of early 80’s St. Kilda sound… think Birthday Party etc. The sax player ran his sax through guitar pedals and a guitar amp and it sounded epic. The bass had a mean, gritty sound which fitted the music perfectly. I was really impressed.

After the set I introduced myself to Noah the bass player and asked if I could snap some photos of his bass for this blog. He said sure, go ahead. This was literally the first time I’d ever seen a Big Ben in the flesh. First thing I noticed… they’re tiny. I guess they’re sort of like a Fender Mustang in size and sale, but without the Fender body ‘horns’ they feel more petite.

The neck is quite thick, but the short scale makes it really easy to play. The nut width is wider than a Mustang… more P-Bass I guess. It’s certainly got that thick 60’s vibe. I love the Fyrbyrd headstocks on these basses. From the looks of it, I think the tuners have been replaced as the other Big Bens I’ve seen have white plastic tuner knobs.

One feature I found funny were the fret notes all over the fretboard. I’m not sure these came with the bass when Noah got it… (his girlfriend found it at a garage sale!) but it’d be handy.

Another feature I found interesting was the Maton truss rod cover. I hadn’t seen this particular version before… it was a lot larger than the ones on my Matons.

The original pickup looked to be the same on my Maton Apollo, but it had four pole piece screws. I’d always suspected they used guitar pickups in these, but from the look of the screws, they’re made for bass. In any case… it sounded great!

Overall the bass was in good nick. There was some buckle rash on the back but apart from that there were no cracks or anything.

The bridge had been replaced by Bad Ass. I totally understand why… after months of struggling with my ’72 P-Bass, I fitted a Bad Ass and instantly I had more sustain, clearer tone and better tuning. The original Fender saddles kept sliding, which was a nightmare. So, for a bass that is being used regularly, this is a sensible upgrade.

I strapped on the bass and had a quick play. The body balance is great and it felt really comfortable. For a little guy like me, these short scale basses feel very playable… unlike full scale basses which are sometimes a bit of a struggle. It’s still my mission to track one of these down one day (at a decent price!)…. one because of the Maton guitar nerd factor and also after seeing Spinning Rooms, I know these basses are able to rock hard.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF9Gtiac5ZA

Finally! A relatively non-molested non-sharkbite Fyrbyrd has dropped into my little hands.

My recent article on collecting guitars has gotten a fantastic response. It seemed to hit a nerve with people whether they played guitar or not. Perhaps because so much of my friends and family are collectors, they could relate to the ‘red mist’ that overcomes you when you MUST HAVE THAT THING.

But there seems to be a slight mis-communication at the conclusion of my article. There is no way in hell I am stopping buying/trading guitars. I’ve been doing it for over twenty years and I can’t stop now. It still gives me joy and is a big part of my life. Plus guitarnerd would slow to a grinding halt.

So when I say ‘no more guitars’… I mean no “more” guitars. The amount I have now is more than enough. So if I come across a guitar that I’ve been after and it’s the right price… the rule is I must sell a guitar I currently have of the equivalent or greater value to buy the new one. That way I have to stop and think whether I really need that new axe, as everyone knows selling gear is a royal pain in the ass. For me to go through that and still want the guitar… that means I really want it and it’s not just an impulse buy. And that the guitar that is sold gets released into the general populace and is being played. Win, win.

I currently have a list of five Maton’s that fulfill this criteria. Instead of buying any and all Maton’s at random as soon as they come up (that dreaded red mist again)… I’ve made up a list of five that I’m concentrating on and so if any off the list come up… I can ignore them. Setting these rules on myself is needed so as to curb the impulse buying that collectors so often do. My list includes.

1. Red non-sharkbite 1964 Maton Fyrbyrd.
Now, I realise I have my red non sharkbite Fyrbyrd Custom, but that has been modified a LOT by Maton in the 70’s, and I want a relatively original example.

2. 1970-71 Maton Fyrbyrd FB70.
This is the Strat shaped Fyrbyrd with the Strat headstock and the last in the series. I want this for two reasons… the neck on 70’s Maton’s are second to none (my 70’s Wedgtail is a dream to play) and also this will complete my Fyrbyrd set. I will have one of each main model.

3. Maton Big Ben Bass.
My love of the Big Ben Bass has been well documented. While a few have come up, they’ve been too expensive for my tastes. Hopefully one will come up at the right price one day.

4. Maton George Golla GG22.
This is the epitome of Maton’s craftmanship. They are stunning guitars that beat nearly any Gibson jazz box. And it’s my 40th this year so I think one of these would be a nice present to myself.

5. Maton Ibis. Simply to complete my Maton ‘bird’ set. And that crazy headstock.

And after some quick selling of a bass,bass amp and vintage Rat pedal… number one on my list was crossed off yesterday. Thanks to fellow Matonerd, Greg T, I now have a very sweet playing non-sharkbite Fyrbyrd to keep Old Yella and the Red Rat Rod company.

The Fyrbyrd has been resprayed recently, and the neck may have been shaved a little which suits my small hands fine. It’s a real players guitar… fast neck and drop dead looks. The narrower neck has meant that a modified bridge has been made. I think a regular Bigsby would work with new slots so that’s on the cards. The previous owner drilled holes into the Bigsby moustache bridge base and the guitar body to screw it into place. I just have to make sure this is the right position and I may do the same.

The original Bigsby tremolo is all there. The string pins have been removed to make restringing easier, which is a great idea. The spring has seized up, so a new strong spring will have this guitar string wobbly nicely.

The pickups are in sparkling condition. They’re REALLY clean. And they sound really fat… probably partly due to being so close to the strings. I’ve actually been using the ‘Sound Barrier’ to choke back the output a little and get some more under powered twang tone. I do this on my yellow Sharkbite as well.

The knobs are off an old 1940’s bakelite radio and are actually really comfortable and cool looking. I have a set of vintage metal Maton knobs that would be perfect for this guitar, but I have to unseize the tension screws. No big rush…

As mentioned, the guitar has been resprayed. It’s pretty close to the original Maton Fyrbyrd Red, but a touch more pink. It’s bright and looks a million bucks with all the chrome and stickers. Speaking of which, the Fyrbyrd sports the rare ‘Maton Quality’ sticker which seems to go missing on most examples. As with the case with 50 year old glue, they’re starting to come off. I think some strong double sided tape may be needed.

The headstock has been left unrestored, which is great. It’s crazed and yellowed and it’s a nice window into the history of this guitar. I’m guessing the guitar’s body was just as crazed which is why a previous owner resprayed it to make it look near new again.

The fretboard is the usual Black Bean Wood and has the typical wear marks which is common on old Matons. I did some research and apparently a characteristic of this wood is that the fibres compact into themselves and cave in… hence the finger sized divots in hundreds of old Maton fretboards.

I’m really happy with this guitar. Apart from looking amazing, it plays like butter. With a bit of work it’s going to be perfect for me. I’ve got two gigs coming up with the Arcolas and the Horrotones and this guitar will be starring in both.

Well this is it. The guitarnerd story of the year… I’ve got a GODDAMN SERIES 1 MATON WEDGTAIL!

As regular readers have probably noticed, the stories have slowed right down here at guitarnerd. I’m really sorry about that… it’s not laziness… I’ve been working my butt off and haven’t had the time. Part of that is due to my new ‘one for one’ policy with buying guitars as this adds a whole lot of work to when I want to get something. Plus, instead of buying less guitars… I’ve bought and sold more guitars in the last 3 months than I have in the last 3 years! I’m exhausted.

The story of this particular guitar begins on a Sunday at the Wellington Point Hotel, where I was having lunch with my family overlooking the beautiful Moreton Bay. Chowing down into my massive chicken parmigiana my phone beeped and I saw someone had sent me a message. It was from John, a guitarnerd who I’d sold my G&L SC3 to was looking to buy another G&L SC (they are VERY addictive) so he was selling a couple of old Matons. And one of them happened to be a Series 1 Maton Wedgtail… would I be interested in it? I nearly choked on my chicken.

I replied straight away that “Yes. Yes… I’m very interested in the Wedgtail” and in a few hours photos were sent, a price was agreed on and money transferred. Done and done.

A week later a guitar shaped case arrived at my work. Inside was a guitar I’d wanted for nearly 10 years… a big horn Maton Wedgtail.

In it’s life it had been resprayed black and had a Telecaster bridge pickup added, which meant a little routing had occurred. At one stage it also had a wrap over BadAss bridge added.  Also the headstock had been chopped to look like a Gibson. But it was ALL there. Pickups, the rare chopped Bigsby and aluminium bridge. Even the Maton trussrod cover. And the Stamford case was near mint.

I was over the moon. I couldn’t believe it… I had a Series 1 AND Series 2 Wedgtail! I quickly sold a guitar that was dear and near to me… my 1976 Ibanez Iceman in the rare ‘Korina’ finish. All my friends and family thought I was insane, but I hadn’t played the guitar at a gig since 1997 and it was the EXACT amount to cover the purchase price and restoration. And at the end of the day… I’d rather a Wedgtail than the Iceman, so off she flew to a collector in Germany. Auf Wiedersehen, Iceman.

As it was unplayable as is, I sent the Wedgtail straight to Matt at Matt’s Guitar Service in Morayfield. After seeing the work he had done on Greg T’s Maton’s, I knew Matt was the guy for the job. He is ‘Dr. Maton’.

I briefly considered to get Matt to do it in black as it looked so mean, but decided against it. It was only really an option on the Series 2 shape (though they only made one lefty in that colour) and I wanted this to be all original. So I decided on my favourite Maton colour scheme… the red/black half burst… also known as FireBurst. Along with the Wedgtail, it also appeared on the El Toro. This photo had been posted on my Maton facebook page and I knew this was what I wanted.

After 2 months, all the woodworking had been done and the body was ready for paint. Matt sent me a pic to check if I liked what he’d done…

Holy crap! He’d done the burst slightly higher than the example in the photo I’d sent which I loved as it was an equal split of black and red. Also, the 4 Series 1 Wedgtail’s in the colour I’d seen all had the bursts done differently. Some had a tiny strip of black at the bottom and some had the black on the top and the red on the bottom! There wasn’t a set pattern… it was however the dude holding the spray gun was feeling on the day. Very Maton!

Another few weeks and she was done. I was so stoked with Matt’s service… 3 months to completely restore a vintage guitar to perfection.

I had to wait until the weekend until I could pick it up which was pure torture. But when I finally held it finished in my hands it was a surreal experience. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I’d own on of these guitars. They just never come up for sale. Never. Records show they only made 30 Series 1 Wedgtails, and of those only 10 or so have popped up in the Maton collectors circle. It’s not a guitar you can go… “Oh, I want a Series 1 Wedgtail” and go out and buy one.

Matt had done an AMAZING job. It looked as if it had come out of the Maton factory back in 1968. The paint work was faultless and looked stunning in real life. And the hardware had been polished to perfection. I couldn’t stop looking at it… still can’t!

The headstock was a work of art. Matt had grafted on a piece of maple to the top and reshaped the horn so that it was back to factory original. That shape suits the rest of the guitar perfectly. Plus he’d sourced the correct Maton transfer and even had a spare correct tuner to replace my missing one. Matt’s attention to detail is second to none.

The body is pure 60’s pop-art. Maton’s designers were at the top of their game back then… it’s such a unique looking guitar with the cut down Bigsby and twin scratchplates. I was in love the first time I saw one in 2006… and now I have one?! Crazy.

The neck on this guitar is really thin and narrow… it’s nearly exactly like a Mosrite but with bigger frets. And the whole guitar is light. Even though it’s mahogany, it’s actually pretty thin so it’s a really comfortable guitar. I’ve only had a chance for a quick play through an amp… but one word I’d say to describe it is ‘spanky’… it’s a very Fender sounding guitar. I play rhythm on the neck pickup a lot and then go to the bridge for solos and a bit of twang, so it’s perfect for that. My other Wedgtail on the other hand is a 70’s rock machine… very Gibson sounding. They make a great pair.

I’m absolutely thrilled to have the chance to own one of these Australian classics. A big thanks to John for allowing me to be the custodian of this magnificent bird, to Greg T for delivering her to Matt, to Marcus for supplying the headstock tracing to help bring her back to perfection and finally to Matt at Matt’s Guitar Service for his outstanding work. Now, excuse me…I’m going to shut up now and play my dream guitar.

••• update: Chris has sent in a photo of his Dad playing a Wedgtail back in 1970/71. Photo’s of Wedgtail’s from back then are rare, so I slightly freaked when I saw this. Thanks Chris!

My self imposed rule of cutting down on my Maton ‘habit’ has failed…. dismally.

I’ve always dismissed the term G.A.S. (aka Gear Acquisition Syndrome) as a bit of a joke. “I’ve got GAS”… tee hee. BUT IT’S REAL, PEOPLE! I understand it now… it’s the inability to say “No” to a guitar/amp/pedal that you don’t really need as you already have ten or so. With me it’s vintage Matons. I’m obsessed with them. My rule of no “more” guitars is still in effect… from the time I wrote that guitarnerd article to now, I own the same amount of guitars as I did back then which for me is amazing. But in that time I’ve sold many, many amps, pedals, guitars and whatever else I hadn’t used live to buy that latest awesome vintage Maton that has popped up. I’m exhausted, guitarnerds. Wrung dry by that temptress with the squiggly M logo.

So the latest in my uncontrollable urges is this absolutely stunning 1971 Maton George Golla GG22A. I sold one of my treasured axes (not a Maton!) for this beauty and the slight sting of that sale has been forgotten as this guitar is THAT good.

This guitar is just pure class. These were totally handmade by Maton and were the epitome of their workmanship… no CNC, no after market parts. (apart from the tuners), the best quality materials. It’s just a totally in every way beautiful guitar. Sorry, I’m getting quite emotional *sniff*.

The body is white flamed maple, with the sides and neck being maple. It has a beautiful flame front and back, and the three colour sunburst is superb.

The pickups are Matons own which were used in the early 70’s. The neck humbucker has some wear on the tip, where the previous owner carefully strummed his jazz chords. This is the only wear on the whole guitar. Apart from some small nicks here and there, she is near mint… which is amazing for a 43 year old guitar.

The tailpiece is also Maton’s own, adorned with a graceful stylised ‘M’. It adds another element of class to this classiest of classy jazz boxes. It’s a shame the 60th Anniversary Maton Sapphires don’t have the same tailpiece. It think it would’ve been that extra nod of the cap to their past.

One feature I absolutely love is that the body has two tiny bookmatched knots on the front and back. I personally think it celebrates the hand-made nature of this guitar. The same tree was used to create this whole guitar’s body. It wasn’t pieced from various wood blanks. It instantly makes it unique. It’s like a birth mark.

The fretboard is jet black ebony, inlayed with some nice abalone. The neck profile is classic late 60’s/early 70’s Maton… thin and narrow, just the way I like it. It’s extremely playable and just a joy to make music with. The frets are in great condition with no wear at all.

The headstock has an overlay of what looks like rosewood and features an inlay design that is reserved for the higher end Maton’s of this era. The tuners are stepped USA Grovers with Kluson style buttons and work beautifully.

When I got it, I couldn’t stop looking at it. I love Jazz guitars. Don’t get me wrong… I can’t play Jazz at all and only have started to really listen to it. But from a guitar design point of view, they really are an important key to the development of the electric guitar as we know it today. The Les Paul was basically a solid body arch top Jazz guitar.

I’m really glad I got this guitar. I have quite a few solid body Maton’s now, so this is totally different to all of them which makes it very special. It’s like the posh, private school cousin of my scrappy Maton Apollo.

So, with the Wedgtail, the non-sharkbite Fyrbyrd and this George Golla… I’ve had an amazing year for Matons. And that isn’t even all of them. There’s more to come. Stay tuned… like I said, I’ve been busy. DON’T JUDGE ME!

You may have noticed my guitarnerd blog has been very quiet for the last six months. The reason is I’ve been working on a HUGE exciting project which is nearly finished… a book based on the amazing Maton collection of Wadih Hanna, who has most probably the best collection of vintage Matons in the world. It’s been an absolute honour working on this book and I’m really excited to finally be able to share this with everyone. I know I’m biased but it honestly looks amazing. The guitars featured inside are works of art. The final printed book will be ready in November but we’ll be starting up a crowd funding campaign soon to help with printing. (This is a totally independent book… no publishers or sponsors.) I’ll keep you informed as things progress. Cheers – Tony

Move over Maton. I’ve got another obsession now.

Recently my Maton obsession has subsided a little. Partly this is due to the Maton book I’m working on, as I realise there’s no point buying/trading everything that moves with an old Maton logo… as there’s always someone else out there with more than you. So my collection over the last 12 months has been refined to guitars I want to have, not need to have. A lot of guitars I’ve featured on  this blog have moved on to new owners.

All that means though is that my attentions have been diverted to a new obsession… Rama Guitars. A guitar company so obscure that the only info I could find on them was a lot of second hand accounts (“oh yeah… I think my bass player had one”) and nothing else.

I first came across Rama in a post on the Aussie Gear Heads forum. Someone had posted a photo of a cool SG-type guitar looking for more info. A  few people piped up and said that Rama Guitars was started by “two guys called Barry & Leo, both ex-Maton”. Someone then uploaded an old badly scanned magazine ad that someone had collected back in the day from the Journal of Australian Music (JAMM) magazine. It featured an absolutely stunning BC Rich looking guitar.

I posted “If ANYONE knows where I can get one of those BC Rich looking guitars, please let me know!” This was in 2010. Fast forward to 2014 and no less than THREE Rama Guitars turned up at Melbourne’s Swop Shop at the same time, all from different owners. One was the SG type guitar I’d already seen…

Another was a pretty intriguing left handed white SG with a very Maton Wedgtail style recessed Bigsby which sold very quickly. I was devastated it was a lefty.

And the last was the fabled Rama Explorer that I had coveted years before. I ummed and aahed about the guitar for over a year as the price was a little high for my tastes for a guitar I didn’t know much about. Then out of the blue I had a look at that badly scanned magazine ad and I noticed from the visible woodgrain that it was the EXACT same guitar that featured in the ad! To me that made it a bit more special and I became more interested. The SG had sold for a reasonable amount so I thought I’d put in a similar offer for the Explorer. The owner agreed and after 5 years, the guitar was finally mine!

I now had to find out more about this mysterious guitar brand. All I had to go off were the names Barry & Leo along with the address on the magazine ad. It wasn’t much to go on.  I typed the address featured in the 1982 magazine ad into google and found it was the address of “Leon Bronson Video Production Hire”. I wondered if Leo was Leon, so I did some more searching and found an email address. I contacted to Leon and we had a great chat. He was very surprised and delighted that someone was interested in Rama so much as to track him down and was kind enough to get together with Barry and put together the following background for me, along with sending me some AMAZING never before seen photos:

Hi there, my name is Leon Bronson and I am a part of the RAMA GUITARS story. Back in the Late 1970’s Barry Cowen was a leading-hand at MATON GUITARS, in the Melbourne suburb of Canterbury. Having worked there for 16-years, Barry had a wealth of experience, know-how and was a hands-on crafts-person. He had long-service leave due to him and a desire to make stylishly crafted electric guitars – it was the perfect opportunity to go for it .

Barry and I were already friends and one day he asked me if he could start making guitars in our ‘mostly unused’ garage. My wife, Christine, and I were fine about it – and so the setting-up began. I think none of us knew where this was going.

Back in the 70’s tools and machinery were expensive – not like now with cheap imports. Barry new what was required to get things up and running. I was a natural at sourcing things on the phone, engaging with equipment suppliers and retailers and had a keen desire to be somehow involved – so together we made up a team. In January 1978 the business name RAMA GUITARS was registered.

You also have to remember that this was a time before modern PCs – and the internet hadn’t appeared. So everything took more time and effort to research and come together.
After a few sometimes frustrating months, Barry had purchased all of the tools and machinery, as well as made the jigs required. We had also decked-out my old fibro-cement garage and a shed. One was for guitar construction and the other as a spray-booth and for case-making.

The first guitars were born. The late Matt Sanford of Flying Colours, a very talented young player (who had also worked at MATON), purchased the very first completed SG style guitar – he loved it and made it rock!

All RAMA GUITARS SG and ANGEL guitars had a 24” (two foot) scale and were fitted with a zero-fret. This zero-fret replaced a conventional nut – and gave a more natural open-sting sound – this concept made a lot of sense.

A ‘no compromise’ approach to construction was adopted by Barry – top-of-the-line hardware was selected – DIMARZIO dual-sound pick-ups (or on request, BILL LAWRENCE pick-ups), SCHALLER mini machine-heads and BADASS bridges. The woods used in the necks were either Tasmanian Myrtle Beech – with Indian Rosewood on the fingerboards. In the bodies we used African, or Brazilian Mahogany, or very old Tasmanian Celery-Top Pine (just the ANGEL model featuring that blonde, natural wood, finish).

After the final design of the SG model and bass guitar were finalised, the bodies were generally made & sprayed five at a time – then finished-off on demand. This was the best way to be cost-effective and manufacture on a small scale. Barry could produce only one hand-made guitar a week. These hand-crafted guitars were aimed to be ‘affordable’ – at prices around $414 through to $750, at that time.

For me, being involved with Barry and RAMA GUITARS was a creative side-line. Barry did all of the guitar design, crafting, spraying and final assembly. I had a basic knowledge of electronics – so I did all of the pick-up/switching wiring. I also designed logos, did artwork and copy for advertisements and hand screen-printed all of the head-pieces, with the RAMA GUTARS insignia. My hardworking wife, Christine, and I also made the brightly coloured fibre-glass flight-cases that I designed. This was a thing that we tired of after a while – due it’s messiness, health reasons and the irritation we experienced in working with fibreglass.

At that time I worked full-time, doing shift-work for ABC television – at their Melbourne ABV2 studio/transmission complex. One of the shows I very regularly worked on, as a videotape operator/editor, was COUNTDOWN. The production crew knew that I was also involved with RAMA. So occasionally I was asked to supply a guitar for an artist, or an act who required a guitar for a studio performance – acts such as Max Merritt, Bob Geldof’s ‘Boomtown Rats’…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qup6zeY0H6o

Even as props for Robert Palmer’s hot backing dances. It was great for Barry, Christine and I to see the guitars on the nation’s premier pop music show.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRWCo50hPRQ

I managed to get the guitars into DYNASOUND – a then very prominent music store, right in the main street of Melbourne. A little later we also had a Sydney outlet, EBONY MUSIC – but that store was not able to move a single guitar. This was very disappointing for us, as we had expected much better results from this boutique guitar shop. It was always a battle to actually compete with American iconic brands that had status. Our only advertisements were in TAG, JUKE, or JAMM – the only popular music magazines at the time. Occasionally we would get responses and deal directly with guitarists.

There was kudos in knowing that Rodger Hart of Little Heroes had won the Battle of the Bands using one of our SG style guitars.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdCfJ2Oi49A

Even Split Enz bass player had a RAMA. And in a recording session their producer liked the sound of a RAMA bass over both a GIBSON and a FENDER. We also lent guitars to artists so they could try them – Ian Moss, Ross Wilson, Ross Hannaford and more. I think it was FESTIVAL RECORDS who commissioned a guitar in the shape of Australia (complete with a separate small piece in the shape of Tasmania) as a TV prize for an album promotion.

There were numerous other good guitarists who loved these instruments – and over time we met many enthusiastic, eccentric, gifted and pedantic players. Over about a two year period Barry produced almost 90 fine instruments. Many live on I am sure.

So what happened to RAMA GUITARS?

After a further 10-years with the ABC television (and other side ventures), I then went out on my own in the early 90’s. I saw an opportunity and started Bronson Video production Hire – renting equipment to freelance camera operators, production firms and television stations. This lead to also starting a boutique video editing facility; and to then becoming a director/producer as well. I have now retired.

And as for Barry, well after a couple of years of manufacture he found it was just too difficult financially to continue with RAMA GUITARS. He moved on to a position as the guitar technician for TROY MUSIC, at their South Yarra store. The income was regular and he was meeting and engaging with a larger number of players – many very well known and some international artists. Today Barry still puts in two days a week at FIVE STAR MUSIC in the Melbourne outer suburb of Ringwood. So after a lifetime of guitar crafting, repairing, modifying, set-ups and sales, Barry is still a part of the music scene – and loves it!

Importantly, Barry and I are still good friends.

————

I received my Rama “Angel” and after chatting to Barry discovered it was the only one made with this wood as it was so rare, and only two Angels were made… Barry owning the other one which is Mahogany. I was also shocked to discover the tree that was used to make my guitar was over 3,000 years old! That means this tree was already around 500 years old when Julius Caesar & Cleopatra were alive. That certainly qualifies it as a vintage guitar.

I am honestly in love with this guitar. For one thing it’s got that Neil Moser-era BC Rich vibe which I’m a huge fan of, and it’s also unique and such a beautiful design. Plus the workmanship is stunning.

The neck shape is reminiscent of the narrow/deep 70’s Gibson SG, but with a delicious (slight) V profile. Plus the edges are beautifully rolled so it’s easy as butter to play. And the neck thru design is fantastic… you can easily hit the 24th fret without thinking.

The headstock shape is slightly different to the regular Rama SG’s and as mentioned features those mini Schaller tuners with the pull-out winders and Leon’s hand screenprinted artwork. There’s also a very 70’s volute plus a zero fret, which reminds me of Barry’s work with the Maton JB6.

The back of the guitar features some beautiful grain, and I still have to kick myself when I think how old this wood is.

The guitar came equipped with 12’s, which is very handy as it’s instantly gone into service in my C# tuned band. The feeling of playing a totally hand built, one of a kind vintage guitar is so satisfying. It’s everything guitarnerd is about… to discover these less known classics and document them.

My next task is to find a Rama SG and also one of the Rama basses. It took me 5 years to get the “Angel” but I’m patient. Two of them turned up at once at my friend Adam Cole’s shop, so hopefully I score one someday.

A massive thanks to Leon and Barry for taking the time to talk to me. These have become my new obsession! They really are a hidden gem, so if you come across one… give it a go and appreciate the amazing workmanship.

And if anyone out there owns a Rama, please share the story of your guitar here!

A (very) modern take on an Australian classic.

As I’ve mentioned, the guitarnerd guitar army has been shaken up and new axes added. In the following weeks I’ll be posting what new beauties I’ve gotten. Strap yourselves in.. there’s some sweet machines in the works. Through this website and my associated Facebook groups (‘guitarnerd.com.au’ & ‘Vintage Maton Guitar Appreciation Society’)… pretty much EVERYONE knows about my obsession with the Maton Fyrbyrd. Which is both bad and good. Bad because I get emails from people wanting to sell me their guitars and good because I get emails from people wanting to sell me their guitars.

One weekend I got a message from a friend of mine Nick Smethurst, who is an EGC (Electrical Guitar Company) and Travis Bean fanatic. Nick mentioned that he’d become the Australian importer for EGC, which was fantastic. What was even more fantastic was that in celebration, Nick and Kevin from EGC were going to make a one-off EGC non- sharkbite Fyrbyrd custom… would I be interested in buying it when it was finished? Yes. Yes I would.

The guitar was going to be finished in 4 months, so I had to quickly sell off some guitars for payment. Amazingly (for me) I let go of my Fernandes Polka Dot Randy Rhoads Flying V, which I had owned for 20 years… but hadn’t played in the last 15. This guitar held a lot of memories but honestly it had been living in storage for so long I wasn’t going to miss playing it… as I never did. Off it went to it’s new home… I also sold my Epiphone MC5 Olympic plus various pedals. I hoped this EGC was worth it. I didn’t even know what it was going to look like!

I waited (impatiently) for any sign on EGC’s Instagram of my guitar… Kevin is notorious for not posting images of guitars until they’re finished. And then out of the blue he posted this. I lost my brain…

This was a VERY good sign. So far I was very impressed. Another month went past and finally a very big and heavy box turned up to my work. I was blown away… I happened to have my vintage Fyrbyrd at work so I was instantly able to compare the two.

The EGC is a BEAST. It weighs an absolute ton (we’re talking late 70’s Les Paul Custom) which means no swinging around the neck “John Reis” style. As you can see from the photo, it’s slightly bigger than a 60’s Fyrbyrd. Having no access to the real deal, Kevin just went off photos from guitarnerd (which is amazing) and scaled the guitar to suit the neck. I love it. In the flesh it’s an imposing guitar.

The pickups are EGC’s own, and like a Maton Fyrbyrd are selected via 3 mini switches. Instead of the rotary tone switch, I asked that the neck pickup have it’s own volume control, then a master, then a tone. I know the whole thing about Maton’s is the cool selector switch with the stalk… but this is a tribute… not a copy. I wanted it to be usable to my needs.

Another example of this is the neck. It has the classic 3 a side EGC headstock. While the Maton Fyrbyrd headstock is iconic, this isn’t a Maton. From a distance people will know this is an EGC…. not some frankenstein Maton.

The neck “joint” is insane. I reality the neck goes all the way into the body down to the bridge. Kevin cutaway all the body to give full access all the way up to the top frets. It’s leaves a’ Cliffs Of Dover’ style edge to the neck joint but this was needed to keep the look of the guitar from the front.

The back has a massive cover plate which covers the electronics and protects the back from buckle rash. Kevin coated it in a crinkle finish which should last forever (I’m very good with my guitars).

The final added touch was still needed. One of the coolest things about Fyrbyrd’s is the top horn Fyrbyrd sticker. When I first got it, I put on a spare repro Fyrbyrd sticker that I had handy.I kept it like this for a while a played a gig with it. When people saw this guitar on stage, they were pretty stunned. Plugged into a VASE Trendsetter 60 she sounded amazing.

But I didn’t want to call this a Fyrbyrd… it was something different. VERY different. It was it’s own guitar. So I had a think and came up with the name FyrHawk. I quickly designed up a logo and had a think of what to do next. A sticker wasn’t going be worthy… that neck was just so SHINY. So I contacted my jeweler friend Tam Gannon and asked if he could do up a badge that matched the neck. Tam makes amazing works of art so I knew he’d be up for it. When I got the finished result, I was blown away. It suits this guitar perfectly.

So, here is it. My one of a kind, USA meets Australia masterpiece. A massive thanks to Nick Smethurst at Season Three Guitars for thinking of me first when ordering this guitar and Kevin at EGC for his amazing work. I hope I do it justice on stage.

Next up in the 2015 Guitarnerd Maton army… an ultra rare Fyrbyrd FB650.

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been busy this past year spring cleaning my guitarnerd guitar archives and selling off a lot of the guitars I hadn’t used for a long time, replacing them with rare Matons. After a lot of stressful wheeling and dealing, I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve just about ticked every box. A big one was restoring this beauty.

The Fyrbyrd 650 was Maton’s first major update of the Fyrbyrd, with them mostly keeping the same pickups and hardware but changing the body to their “broadline” style and the neck to the same half slotted design as the Wedgtail. The body has similarities to the Fender Stratocaster, with the twin horns and the forearm cut giving a very Strat-like feel. Like the original Fyrbyrd, the FB650 is still offset though so it ties in slightly to the previous design.

When I originally got the guitar, it was a mess. The whole guitar was spray painted from head to toe in metallic red, all the parts were in the guitar case compartment and worst of all… the neck had the dreaded “Maton-twist”. And this one was a BAD twist. As is was, it was unplayable. But it was pretty much complete and came in it’s original Stamford case, so it was definitely do-able.

I decided on a two-prong approach to restoring the guitar. Tim from Tym Guitars usually does my repairs but his time nowadays is better spent with his awesome guitar pedals than fixing yet another of my broken guitars. But/… he is a master at untwisting necks. He’d done the impossible to my junk-shop yellow Fyrbyrd so I knew he could do the same here. So the plan was, once Tim had untwisted the neck, the guitar would be sent to Matt at Matt’s Guitar Service for a full restoration. The neck took A LOT of work for Tim to untwist… over 8 long months Tim slowly eased the neck back into shape until I finally was ready for Matt to do his work.

I was so keen to play it I almost was going to get Matt to just bolt it together but fellow Maton nerd Greg T found out this particular FB650 was originally red which made it only one of two red FB650’s I knew of. Most were sunburst or Jungle Green. So I made the decision for Matt to go all out. About 3 months later and the guitar was ready.

While I initially just bought the guitar to add to my Maton collection… something unexpected happened. After playing it, I realised this was the best Maton I’ve ever played. In every way, this guitar just suited me perfectly. The original Fyrbyrd’s are great, but honestly they’re very quirky. The bodies are a bit small, the necks are quite big, the switches get knocked while I strum. I mean… I love them dearly but they are what they are.

This guitar on the other hand was a rock machine. A nice, not too heavy but still substantial feeling body. Three VERY fat Maton single coils which sound like the best Dearmond Goldfoils ever. The neck is like a huge Danelectro lipstick… but fatter. Heaps of clarity and that tubular sound I love. With the middle and bridge pickup selected, it sounds like a massive PAF… warm and creamy but with some sparkle on the top. And the bridge is biting but still with great bottom end… perfect to cut through with a lead break. The switches are moved further away than the ’63 Byrd and have been rotated so that they aren’t knocked when strummed. And the tone control is split into a separate treble and bass expander, which is a great idea!

The neck is the same super slim and slightly narrow neck that is on my Wedgtail, which with Matt’s refret made this my dream neck. It’s almost Mosrite like, but a little bit Fender as well. Totally different to the ’63 Fyrbyrd. I fly over this neck… I know it sounds crazy, but this guitar makes me a better guitar player. Plus it has that amazing headstock that only the rarest and most desirable Matons have.

So yes… I’m extremely happy with this guitar. I play it every day and can’t put it down. I love the look, the rarity (they made less than 100 of them) and most importantly… the sound. And it’s totally at home with my other ‘Byrds.

Another thing that made me happy is that on my way home from picking up the guitar from Matt’s… I dropped into another Brisbane guitar shop and bought this.

The 12 string version of my FB650… the majestic Fybyrd 1220 in the original Jungle Green with it’s VERY hard to find oversized Stamford case. I honestly never thought I’d get one of these, but a friend of mine had spotted it the day before and texted it to me. So I nabbed it (after selling one of my other Matons!) And it sounds magnificent. I can see why Neil Finn uses one.

Yep… I’m pretty happy. Now I just need a band to play these beauties in!

A tiny guitar with a big personality

As previously mentioned, I’ve been selling off guitars that I haven’t really played to add to my vintage Maton obsession. My “one for one” rule has actually been a great idea as I now have LESS guitars but BETTER guitars. Some I do miss a little (my korina ’77 Ibanez Iceman) but in the end, they’ve gone to good homes and are being played. And I’ve got another cool Maton… so it’s win win.

The subject of this article is a well played black & gold Maton EG75. It’s a very early serial number and is a model I’ve been chasing for quite a few years. They do come up, but usually the timing is wrong. With this one, a friend of mine had bought it to eventually move on so I put my hand up for when that happened.

When I got it, she had been slightly modded with modern tuners plus the original wrap around trapeze bridge had been shortened and a tuneomatic bridge added. Both these mods made sense as the original bridge design is terrible for intonation and the tuners weren’t much chop. As it happened, I had the opportunity to buy a 60’s Bigbsy bridge and tremolo which was an optional extra on the EG75, so I could get her back to original with period correct parts plus she would play a lot better. Steve from Tym Guitars did a great job sorting everything out. She plays great! Plus with the Bigsby everything just ties in beautifully. It was meant to be.

The pickups are the Maton embossed Moody pickups made in Sydney, which were originally built for slide guitars. They sit on top of the body so there’s very little routing. They’re very low output… about 3.5k but have a really big, full sound. Very expressive and lots of tone. Later on this model received the Maton Apollo “blackstrip” pickups which are also excellent.

The body is quite thick and solid… this guitar has some weight, which makes a difference from the later featherweight Fyrbyrd’s and Flamingos. The neck is a log and has a slight V profile. I’ve seen other EG75’s with a “steel reinforced neck” sticker but there’s no trussrod adjustment anywhere. Luckily the neck is straight as an arrow and actually plays great. This was marketed for students with “smaller hands” which for a neck this size doesn’t make sense but I love it.

The headstock’s wings are starting to separate which may need attention down the line but they’re holding up fine for now. The modern tuners aren’t period correct, but I’ve strung this short scale beast with 13’s… so they do the job. I may put on some white buttoned Klusons down the track. The unwound G is a pain for bends but I can live with it.

The EG75 was the first Maton to feature the “sharkbite” and was the precursor of the Fyrbyrd. Next to each other you can see how much smaller the EG75 is but how many similarities there are. Both are totally different playing guitars but are really cool designs.

I’m really surprised with how great this guitar is. I just wanted one as a box to tick on my Maton wish list but it’s more than that. This little thing is a mojo machine. The Maton Fyrbyrd has been the star of the Maton electric series and the EG75 has been pretty much forgotten… which is surprising as they made 500 of them (in slightly different formats). Through my Matra combo and Tym Guitars Skunk amp, this little guitar is a fantastic rhythm machine. I’ll be playing it a LOT.

A review on the newly released book: “The Music That Maton Made”

Over the last year I’ve been working on a book with Maton collector Wadih Hanna (which is soooo close to being finished) so I was surprised to hear that Maton were putting out their own book this year as well. I was curious to see what Maton’s would be like and when it arrived, I was stunned. It’s a BIG book, in a beautiful leather-finish embossed cover with gold accents. The pages are uncoated and feel fantastic to the touch. And it’s full of historical photos that make vintage Maton fanatics like myself teary eyed.

The content is less on the technical aspects of the guitars and more on the story behind Maton. It’s a personal history of the company that could only be told by Maton themselves. It’s a very personal book, with letters from Bill & Vera May along with Linda Kitchen, hand written notes by Bill on guitar specs, Vera’s book keeping and much more. Photos such as Bill May playing bass in a jazz band really gives this book a true family feel. After reading it I felt I knew Bill May more and the type of person he was. And how much of himself he put into the guitars that I love so much. Plus the fact that he completed an honors course in fine art and graphic design certainly explains why the Fyrbyrd is so beautiful.

The book also contains interviews with musicians who have used Matons to create the music that they’re famous for. Tommy Emmanuel features heavily (as he should) but there are a lot of surprises in there… such as a fantastic interview with George Golla. I was delighted when I read that George bought an original 50’s MS500 and loved it. In my mind he was strictly a stuffy jazz player, but he came across as very funny, very Aussie and a massive fan of Maton’s work.

But the true stars of this book are the photos. Amazing full page images of Tommy Emmanuel’s hand painted MS500 Stamford guitar case, or the first Maton ever made photographed in fantastic detail, or the flagship Maton Starline. And the double page spreads are AMAZING as they show all the vintage parts that Maton has stashed away in the factory, all beautifully laid out with items from the era such as records and old phones.

The modern era is also represented with interviews from Josh Homme, Jon Toogood, Pat from Grinspoon and the various guitarists that have kept the Maton flag flying from the 90’s ’til now.

Being a 100% Maton nerd I did notice a few tiny factual errors in there (the info on Fyrbyrds and Mastersounds on page 74 gets a little muddled, along with a photo of Neville and a GE500… not a George Golla GG2A as stated. I know… I’m such a nerd) but that honestly would only be picked up by fanatics like me. The more I kept reading, the more I wanted to stop and play my Matons. This is a book that Australian musicians have wanted for years and the love and creativity that has been put into it has made the wait worthwhile.

A rare addition to my Maton collection – the mighty El Toro

I’m going to be posting a lot more often in guitarnerd so to start, I’m going to go through the new additions to the guitarnerd archives, which should take us into next year, easy! Yes 99.9% of them are Matons, so I’m just warning you ahead of time. Maybe I should change the blog to Matonerd….

I received an email from a friend of mine who said that I’d be receiving an email from a friend of his on an old Maton and needed some advice on selling it. Naturally the words “Old Maton” and “sell” in the same sentence are music to my ears (along with real music, which is also music to my ears) so when I received an email from Kyle I was interested to see what he had.

The email contained some very blurry images of a Maton El Toro, which he had inherited from his grandfather. Kyle said his grandfather played the guitar everyday and judging from the “mojo” left on the fretboard that certainly seemed the case.

Kyle wanted to pass on the guitar to someone who would appreciate it, and that was certainly me! It took a little organising to arrange the transaction, but thanks to a friend of mine who lived in Melbourne it went nice and smooth. Next trip with my band to Melbourne I picked it up along with a few other Matons (which will feature in future stories).

When I got it home I was in awe that I finally owned an El Toro. They’re stupidly rare and don’t become available very often.

The El Toro’s were developed by Maton at a request from Peter Robinson, who played bass in a popular Australian band called the Strangers who featured on a lot of TV shows during the 60’s. Bill May thought they should have matching guitars so the El Toro was developed, heavily influenced by the Danelectro longhorn. But unlike the Danelectro they featured a solid Honduras Mahogany body with Maton’s top spec pickups in shiny shiny gold. They certainly looked cool on TV, so that worked…

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRTBmtQkX-w

What didn’t work was the exposure turning into El Toro sales, as only 56 guitars were made and 45 basses. Hence why they’re so hard to find nowadays, and why I was so happy to finally own one.

As previously mentioned, this guitar had been played and played hard, but in a good way. No breaks or anything, just good old wear from many gigs in many pubs. The “neck” humbucker (they’re so close together it’s ridiculous) spots a cool looking dent from what I assume is a rock ‘n roll related altercation. Well, that’s what I like to think.

The neck features a gazillion frets and while super comfortable (Maton made the BEST necks) is a little weird to play in that where you think the A barre chord would be, it’s actually B as everything is moved up. It takes a little getting used to which I’m still trying to do. I’ve tried playing up the 31st fret and you’d need the tiniest fingers ever to do that properly.

The back sports some sweet looking buckle rash which I love as it means I don’t have to worry about scratching this rare guitar. My Wedgtail is so pristine I get scared playing it sometimes.

The headstock still sports all the gold trims and again is very Danelectr0-like. The tuners are gold plated as well and are original.

Speaking of necks, thanks to John Wilsteed I now have a matching El Toro Bass neck… and as luck would have it I have a set of El Toro Bass pickups and bridge. These are going to be turned by Matt’s Guitar Service into a matching bass for my guitar… but that’s a whole other story.

So a big thanks to Kyle for letting me be the new owner of this special guitar. It certainly fits into the family very well…

•••• update

Check out this footage of Doug Parkinson playing “Dear Prudence”, featuring a bass player sporting a 5 string El Toro Bass! I wonder where it is now?!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw4BjU62t5Y

My “one for one” rule… while painful… sometimes pays off.

As I’ve mentioned in guitarnerd previously, I’m trying to follow a strict rule of if I want to buy a guitar, I have to sell a guitar. Primarily this is so I can still eat and also so I stop impulse buying, which is a real and present danger. In the last couple of years I’ve had quite a few guitars restored or refurbed and my next project was a rare early run Maton Fyrbyrd, which had been resprayed etc and needed a bit done to get it to how I wanted. But honestly, I was exhausted with handing guitars over and waiting for them to be finished. So when this beautiful triple pickup Sapphire became available, I quickly sold the Fyrbyrd and grabbed it. And I am stoked!

Triple pickup Sapphires don’t come up very often, and word is Maton only made 40. This one had been purchased by a top dude named Ben, who had owned and loved it for a few years but circumstances meant that it was being offered up for sale. Ben knew that I liked the guitar, so a deal was done, the Fyrbyrd was quickly sold and the Sapphire was on it’s way to me. Ben was very attached to this guitar so it was a big thing for him to let it go, but it’s gone to a very loving home. It looks pretty good sitting between it’s brothers here.

I’d never owned a Sapphire before… just an Apollo which while similar looking was a different type of guitar altogether. The Apollo’s were completely hollow and quite acoustic… the Sapphires are more robust and substantial. One major difference are those amazing looking set of pickups…

I hadn’t owned a Maton yet with the black insert pickups so I was keen to give them a try. They’re quite low output and very toneful. They have a very “Rolling Stones” vibe to them. The neck pickup is very article and beefy while the bridge pickup is nice and twangy. The pickups each have their own individual volume control, with a master volume at the top horn. At the moment the middle pickup isn’t connected so I’ll have to get that sorted out at some stage.

The tremolo / vibrato is the original unit as used on various Italian & Japanese guitars of the era. Maton used a lot of imported trems and this one works great. The bridge has been changed to a modern Schaller bridge which is fine by me. The arm is VERY long and years of being swung away and packed into the original Stamford case means a bit of wear has appeared over time. All good… adds to the mojo.

For a guitar that is so full of cool gear, the headstock is surprisingly plain. The twirly pinstriping as seen on some Maton models would’ve looked great here. The tuners are original and also work fine.

Unlike the similar looking Gibson 335, the Sapphire 303’s were bolt on. The heel is nice and rounded though so top fret access is excellent.

I’m really happy with this guitar… it’s unlike the other Maton electrics I have and that super slim neck is so comfortable. It’s gotten me obsessed with Maton semi’s now… I would absolutely LOVE a longhorn Maton DC1500. Or get another Apollo as sadly sold my other one (damn one for one rule!).