Apparently the new Maton Mastersound was designed by Adam Cole of Cole Clark guitars. The 60’s version had a very flat fretboard, where the 90’s version feels like a nice worn in Fender. Maton knew that the Mastersound needed a few adjustments before being re-released in the 90’s, and so gave it a longer scale bolt on neck, ditched the body binding for a Tele style radiused edge and changed the body shape slightly so the design suited the longer scale. This guitar (which is apparently the one in the above photo) turned up recently and as per anything Beatles related, sold for a crapload of $$$. His regular guitar was being repaired, so the repair shop loaned him a Maton for a few shows. The most famous player of an early Mastersound is George Harrison of The Beatles.
I’ve played one of these early ones and they are a little difficult to play, due to the smaller scale neck (which for some reason is VERY wide) and the neck sitting so far into the body. It usually had a shorter scale neck, set neck, flame maple top & back, body & neck binding and a Bigsby tremelo. This design is based on the original Maton Mastersound from the 60’s, which was a very different beast to todays version. Maton’s most well known electric is the modern Mastersound, most famously played by Josh Hommes from QOTSA. The design is an elegant mix of an SG with a touch of Paul Bigsby’s guitars in there as well. Only 210 were made between 19, and the design later evolved into the Maton Fyrbyrd. The beautiful Maton in the above photo was actually made in the 1962 and was called the Goldline 750. Most kids today think Maton electrics just mean the new Mastersound, but they’ve been building some VERY cool guitars for over 50 years.
0 kommentar(er)
