Hi Bruce, I have a 1979 Maton "Colonial", no model number just the name. Not too many of these around as they were fairly top shelf in their day. Maton began production of the Colonial in 1976 and at less than 200 units total stopped production in 1981. Orders for the Colonial declined with the 1979 introduction of the Maton "Messiah" with optional pickup as the new flagship of their range.
This old girl is a 14 fret dred constructed with solid plain grain Tassie Blackwood B/S, very, very tight grained Sitka top, brw bridge, tortoise bindings, pickgaurd, and heel cap, and very fine w/b/w/b/w/b/w purfling.
The thin neck is Red Maple fitted with old style ringed back gold plate grovers and whilst Maton claims the Colonial was fitted with a RW fretboard, mine is not, rather it looks to be Brigalow or some similar aussie desert timber with MOP dot inlay.
The upper bout is 11 1/2" the waist 10 3/4" and the lower a full 16". The over all body length is a robust 20 1/2" with the soundhole a moderate 3 7/8”. The sides tapper from 4 5/8" at the tail down to 3 7/8" at the heel. The sound is big, it rings crisp and clear and the bass punches clean and hard from that solid Blackwood back.
As Michael mentioned, I did recently do some repairs on this one. I bought the guitar relatively cheap as it did have issues when I got hold of it. I suspect she had been left in a car on a hot day
and if anyone needs confirmation of just how devastating this can be to an instrument, take note.
As a result, the glue had failed at the upper transverse brace and the string tension had then pulled the neck back cracking the soundboard either side of the fretboard which slid it back into the soundhole a couple of mil. This badly deformed the rosette and popped the soundhole braces, shearing one and ungluing the other. In order for all this to happen, the sides at the neck joint of course had to deform inward by the same amount. Also one of the x braces had sheared for a good part of its length and was no longer offering any structural support.
Needless to say, the action of this guitar was dreadful then and if left at pitch, I have no doubt it would have eventually self destructed altogether. I am happy to say that with CrazymanMichael’s help (thanks Michael) and some tips from Frank Fords Frets.com (thanks Frank) I was able to affect a good repair and I am now the proud owner of this wonderful guitar.
At one time, I toyed with the idea of on selling to finance tools and wood, once I played it after the repair were complete, I immediately knew that this is just not going to happen. My only regret is that when I go to pick it up for a quick strum, I find myself still there a couple of hours later, nothing else has been done, and my wife is looking at me like I just shat in her shoe…..oh well.
Just in case there is any confusion here, I really do like my Maton guitar.
Before
(Strings slackend off, no tension)
After
(It remains the same with the strings at pitch)
Cheers all Kim
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You should be grateful that you don't have to restore one of his models!
Okay, we want pics of the Taz on your Maton. Great fix. And while you are at it, let's see a pic of the Mrs.s' shoes.
