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Maton Guitars
An Australian success story
From a small backyard workshop in 1946, Maton Guitars has grown into a truly great Australian success story. Maton currently employs around 70 people and remains 100% family-owned and -run. We at session are big fans of the company and are pleased to be able to offer a wide selection of high-quality Maton guitars.
Popular Maton series
All items from Maton
Here you'll find an overview of our Maton range. You can read more about the history of Maton Guitars further down this page. Enjoy browsing!
Lowest total price over the last 30 days: €2,449.00
Lowest total price over the last 30 days: €3,299.00
Lowest total price over the last 30 days: €2,999.00
Lowest total price over the last 30 days: €6,549.00
Lowest total price over the last 30 days: €3,490.00
Lowest total price over the last 30 days: €189.00
The history of Maton
Where does the name Maton come from?
Until the mid-1930s there was virtually no guitar industry in Australia. High-quality guitars were hard to come by, and at that time the best guitars came from the USA. Bill May, a Melbourne-born jazz musician, woodwork teacher and luthier, decided to change all that. In the early 1940s Bill founded a business for the manufacture and repair of guitars, which became known as "Maton Stringed Instruments and Repairs". The name Maton is derived from the words "May" and "Tone".
This business became so successful that Bill was able to persuade his older brother Reg to join as a full-time luthier, and in March 1946 the "Maton Musical Instruments Company" was born.
A family business with a long tradition
Because he established Maton as Australia's oldest and most successful guitar maker and pioneered the use of many Australian timbers in guitar building, Bill May is regarded by many Australian luthiers as the founding father of their industry. Bill May's importance to the history of Australian music was recently recognised at the Australian Music Association Awards, where he was posthumously honoured with the association's highest award and inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Maton is still an Australian company, 100% family-owned and today run by Linda and Neville Kitchen – Bill May's daughter and son-in-law. Bill had great faith in the potential of the company and in 1949 opened Australia's first major guitar factory in Canterbury. Over the years more than 300 different models were produced in this factory, an impressive testament to the creativity of the Maton team of that era.
Maton was based in Canterbury for 40 years before moving in 1990 to a more modern and spacious facility in Bayswater.
The new factory in Box Hill
After 12 years in the Bayswater factory it was time to move to an even larger facility in the inner Melbourne suburb of Box Hill to meet the overwhelming demand for the handcrafted instruments. The new purpose-built facility is four times the size of the old Bayswater factory. From this new factory the company will be able to meet current demand and further develop international markets. The success of this Australian icon is to a large extent due to the inspiration and creativity Bill May had and was able to express in his instruments.
Maton Guitars today
From the initial selection and grading of the wood to the careful dressing and polishing of the frets, every step of the guitar-building process is strictly overseen by Maton's luthiers. Maton Guitars is where some of the finest quality guitars in the world are made, each with its own unique character and tone. Every guitar embodies the passion and skill of the craftsmen who are part of our team. Each of them has years of experience required to make a truly great instrument. Maton has specialised in producing excellently crafted guitars from Australian timbers such as Blackwood, Bunya, Queensland Maple, Queensland Walnut and more recently Satin Box. The Maton team is constantly searching for new materials and techniques to build the best guitars in the world.
The Maton story in video
If you'd like to learn more about Maton, or prefer to experience the company's story in video, we have a video for you here. In the second and third videos you'll also find out how a genuine Maton guitar is made and accompany it from the felled tree to the finished instrument:
