Maton Guitars

Maton

Entrance to the Maton Guitar factory
Type	Private
Industry	Musical instruments
Founded	1946; 71 years ago (1946)
Founder	Bill and Reg May
Headquarters	Box Hill, Melbourne, Australia
Area served	Global
Products	Electric & acoustic guitars basses guitars Ukuleles
Website	www.maton.com.au

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

Maton was founded in 1946 as the Maton Musical Instruments Company by Bill May and his brother Reg. Reg was a wood machinist, and Bill a jazz musician, woodwork teacher and luthier who had for some years operated a custom guitar building and repair business under the name Maton Stringed Instruments and Repairs. The name "Maton" came from the words "May Tone" and is pronounced May Tonne.

At first the company produced high-quality acoustic instruments for students and working professionals, aiming at providing good value for money and experimenting with the use of Australian woods. In the 1960s they expanded into electric instruments and instrument amplifiers, at first under the name Magnetone. The early catalogues noted that the warranties on amplifiers and loudspeakers were void if used in situations of "overload or distortion", reflecting Bill's jazz background but still incredible to modern electric guitarists of any style.

Maton established itself early on the Australian rock scene in the late Fifties, assisted by Australia's tariff regime, which made imported guitars far more expensive than the local equivalents. Maton guitars were used by many well-known Australian pop and rock groups including Col Joye & The Joy Boys. The company also made one of the first sponsorship deals in Australian rock, supplying Melbourne band The Strangers with a full set of the distinctive 'El Toro' model guitars and basses (notable for their outlandish 'horned' body shape) while the group was working as the house band on the TV pop show The Go!! Show in the mid-Sixties.

Maton earned international renown for their superb acoustic and electric guitars and basses, which have been played by scores of famous performers from The Easybeats to The Wiggles.George Harrison owned one of their MS500 models, which were introduced in 1957 and famed British session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan owned and used a Maton 'Cello' guitar for many years during the peak of his career, playing it on recordings with Sarah Vaughan, Sammy Davis, Jr., Johnny Keating and his Big Band and Neil Finn from Crowded House.