Project PIG the F1-11 'Matey'

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:33 pm

Kim Mate....youre a true luthier. I was doubtful at the start but youve turned that Maton boat into a guitar.

Happy Fathers day

Cheers Martin

ozziebluesman · Post by **ozziebluesman** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:33 pm

It has been a great post Kim and the end result is a credit to your fine workmanship. I love the way you described the whole re-build process and you wit and humour made it a fun journey.

Thanks for sharing with us.

Cheers

Alan

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 8:41 pm

Lovely work Kim and a beautifully detailed account of the restoration.

Very impressive finish you got from the nitro too.

Joe Sustaire · Post by **Joe Sustaire** » Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:43 pm

Great job Kim and excellent thread!!!
It's really great to turn one of these old sad cases into a guitar that's a pleasure to pick up and play. I know my rebuild is getting more play than my others these days because it's there and handy, pick it up and play. The top color came out great, just like it belongs there.

Joe

John Steele · Post by **John Steele** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 12:32 am

Excellent thread Kim and special thanks for documenting it. It was great fun following it. And you got a cool guitar on top of it.

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:06 am

Niiiice, I like.

Excellent job Kim and well documented as others have said, but I must say..........You sneeky bastard!

That binding trick around the neck pocket is truly worthy of the title.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:25 am

I'm impressed and I also suspect that this is more than a restoration in as much as your F1-11 likely plays and sounds better than it ever did. The workmanship/craftsmanship is superb Kim and this has been very enjoyable for me to watch happening too.

Congrats bro and Happy Dad's Day too!

Lillian · Post by **Lillian** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:47 am

This was a great thread. It was cool watching you turn your pig into a silk purse, yes. I'll be the first to agree that your posts are great to read, but more so, I am fascinated by your solutions to problems. I will admit that I keep thinking about the ICUT beam, wondering if its something that has merit for a from scratch build. And your solution to the trim was brilliant. The fact it looks like its 20 years old is a serious bonus.

Now that the girls have theirs, what you are going to build for yourself?

Mark McLean · Post by **Mark McLean** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 2:41 pm

Fantastic thread Kim. Thanks for taking us on the journey. The end result is a fantastic retro guitar, and you have taught us all heaps. I am impressed by your inventiveness and vision. In years to come someone is going to get hold of that guitar and sing the praises of the old Maton factory for making such a gem - if only they knew!
cheers
Mark

kiwigeo · Post by **kiwigeo** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:22 pm

$100 for ze guitar and $100 each for ze leetle girls

Paul B · Post by **Paul B** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 3:54 pm

That looks great Kim. At first I was wondering why you'd bother, but now I can see. Nicely done.

You should have written something on the label to claim all the credit.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 4:53 pm

kiwigeo wrote:$100 for ze guitar and $100 each for ze leetle girls

Yep, Martin's got his pay in the bank.

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 5:54 pm

Thanks for the very kind words everyone glad you enjoyed the thread and like the look of this little guitar.

Allen wrote:you've got to be just so pleased that the young ones can appreciate you're talents.

Allen your on the money, i am as proud as can be and pleased as punch that I still have something cool to offer as they work through the teens. Both girls have been taking lessons for a while now and are progressing really well. Unlike their old man who is a complete hack, they can sight read and are starting to move on past me in technique as well and they don't mind reminding me of that fact when ever the opportunity presents itself

At 13 going on 33 the older of the two has just joined an all girl band and uses an old Aria pro2 I resurrected for her to play lead and rhythm so she has just reached the stage where she will pick up a guitar and do a little practice just because 'she' wants to instead of needing to be reminded and the younger has a great ear and good vocals.......just hope I can stay 'cool' enough to be the family guitar tech

bob wrote: Very impressive finish you got from the nitro

Thanks Bob,

Must say that I am well pleased with the finish, I used a product called Protec pre-cat and just a run of the mill premium spraying thinners. As Allen has mentioned before it is very hard to do justice to the finish in images if you get it right because the reflection makes photography a complete nightmare. So I am please to confirm she looks better in the flesh. Must mention again that Allen's tute certainty cleared up a lot of the conflicting bullshit that floats around so once again a big thanks to Allen Mc for opening the door for me.

Joe Sustaire wrote: It's really great to turn one of these old sad cases into a guitar that's a pleasure to pick up and play. I know my rebuild is getting more play than my others these days because it's there and handy, pick it up and play. The top color came out great, just like it belongs there. Joe

Thanks Joe,

Must agree about the resurrection of a basket case being satisfying, this one is now coping a hiding with everyone who plays it being left with a big smile. She sounds good and whilst the slacker strings of a shorter scale don't lend themselves to digging 'real' hard with a pick, she has the voice to hold her own and the ease of chords makes her a pleasure to play. As for the colour, well you had a lot to do with that so thank you my friend.

Nick O wrote: I must say..........You sneeky bastard! That binding trick around the neck pocket is truly worthy of the title.

Thanks Nick, "Sneeky Bastard" sits well with me as there where a couple of issues with this one which did require a bit of trickery. One that I had not mentioned earlier was the screws in the pickguard. The shiny new brass looked terrible so I ended up gassing the pickguard in an ice cream container by suspending it on a block above some liquid ammonia to impart that old black green brass look. I would have used crushed up snail pellets to let the copper-nitrate do the job as it gives a more natural result but did not have any at hand......as you can see in the images I am not much on gardening I'm afraid..

Lillian wrote: I will admit that I keep thinking about the ICUT beam, wondering if its something that has merit for a from scratch build.
Now that the girls have theirs, what you are going to build for yourself?

Thanks Lillian,

As far as the ICUT beam goes.....me too

As for what's next, well those two in the image will remain mine for sentimental reasons.....so two hand built guitars for my girls are on the drawing board. I will have to be careful8)

Mark McLean wrote:In years to come someone is going to get hold of that guitar and sing the praises of the old Maton factory for making such a gem - if only they knew!
cheers
Mark

Thanks Mark...if they look hard enough they'll soon figure I may have had a little bit to do with it

Cheers all

Kim

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 6:08 pm

And folks, that's why the ANZLF is the best luthier forum on the net. You'll never see that on those uptight sites some of us frequent. :serg

I love it Kim. And for anyone that knows you, it's just so spot on.

Joe Sustaire · Post by **Joe Sustaire** » Mon Sep 07, 2009 10:42 pm

That's a great final touch Kim!!!
Sounds like a Tom Waits line to me, which personally means you're my kind of people Kim!

Thanks for sharing that with us,
Joe

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Tue Sep 08, 2009 6:07 am

Allen wrote:And folks, that's why the ANZLF is the best luthier forum on the net. You'll never see that on those uptight sites some of us frequent. :serg

I'll second that!

Dennis Leahy · Post by **Dennis Leahy** » Wed Sep 09, 2009 3:46 pm

Hi Kim,

Just catching up after getting back in town...

Wow!!! Hey, look what you did to that old beast! I'll bet it does play nice.

Excellent job, and excellent thread! Thanks for taking the time to add that level of detail, and of course, your humor always cracks me up!

Dennis

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Fri Sep 18, 2009 7:57 am

Congratulations on doing such a fine job on resurrecting the old Maton Kim. She'll be a fave I bet .

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:25 am

Thanks again all,

The guitar has now had just over a month play time so has had a chance to open up a little. I am very happy with the sound of the matey, it has a big voice especially for a narrow body, short scale, plywood back and sides beater. Seems quite well balanced and is a complete joy to play.

Anyhow, I had a friend of mine play a quick sound file for me this evening when he dropped in after work, his name is Mike Scriven and it is an own composition called 'The Joker'. The recording was made unplugged using only the standard stereo mics that hang out the end of a Zoom H4n hand held recorder that we used to record the clip. No eq or effects, just the guitar played around 700mm from the H4n which was sat upon a mic stand in my lounge room so it's quite basic and crude but sounds OK.

Here is an image of the Zoom H4n hand held recorder for those who do not have a clue what i am talking about.

And this a close-up of the XY axis stereo mics on the end of the unit which we made this recording with.

To record stereo, it is as simple as i done here, press record and then press the off button when done, this thing is a real hoot. If you want you can also record 4 channel as the unit has two XLR inputs in the bottom and will also even record multi track if you want to do that. In case you did not quite pick up on it, I like this gadget

Anyhow, here is the promised sound file of the fun project known as the Matey F111. I have dropped the "Pig" tag because that shoe no longer fits these days

Enjoy, it's short but pretty and only 1.7meg

The Joker.mp3: (1.71 MiB) Downloaded 605 times

Cheers all

Kim

Dennis Leahy · Post by **Dennis Leahy** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 1:38 am

Way to go, Kim! The Matey sounds sweet! And, that little Zoom H4n does a really nice job of capturing a raw, real, live sound.

Dennis

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 6:39 am

Very nice Kim. Your mate ain't a bad picker either. Thanks for posting.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 7:11 am

Yeah that sounds great - very balanced and sweet too. I found myself falling asleep listening to it which by the way is a compliment since I don't sleep well.

Great sounding guitar Kim!

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:03 am

Good sounding axe Kim, better keep it under wraps though incase Tommy E catches an earful and wants it as part of his stable

Rick Turner · Post by **Rick Turner** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:28 am

This is starting to remind me of the Bluegrass banjo guys who get a 1932 Mastertone tenor and have a new neck made for it...then put in a new cryogenically treated Kulesh tone ring...and a new Remo plastic head...and a magic wood bridge... and then start talking about a how good the reclaimed lake bottom maple block rim might be, all the while pontificating on the quality of their vintage banjo...

Joe Sustaire · Post by **Joe Sustaire** » Fri Oct 09, 2009 8:34 am

Beautiful Kim, those early, cheap Matons really have a great sound!!!

Nothing that a complete creative rebuild wouldn't fix eh!

Joe

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