I had a grand plan to build acoustic guitars upon retirement. As a former Industrial Arts teacher, I thought my love of both guitar and woodwork would combine with a new and exciting hobby.
Well, it took me 5 years to build my first guitar under the expert guidance of a local luthier half my age. I found the skill level way above that required to teach basic woodwork to high school students and my desire for perfection was not matched by the skill level I really had.
Anyway, my question is about a newly acquired 1971 Maton C50 Classical Guitar, purchased last week. Now some of you may be of the opinion that Maton Classicals weren’t their best instruments but I have a sentimental attachment to them having purchased a Maton C30 brand new in 1964 and it was the instrument on which I did most of my learning and playing. I still have that C30 which was beautifully restored by Chris Ffinch at Maton in 2006.
Getting back to the C50, I checked it out and played it carefully before purchasing and noted the action was a bit high but went ahead with the purchase anyway because the finish was really good with absolutely minimal damage - almost new in appearance and the rosewood back and sides were gorgeous. I also liked it’s tone, sweet if a tad soft.
I had intended to fit it with a new set of Savarez Corum strings over the weekend - I like the brighter tone of the flouro-carbon trebles but noticed the saddle height had been reduced as much as it could be - I’d missed that on assessing the guitar before purchase. I came to the conclusion that the extra tension of the Savarezs wouldnt help the situation as the forward bending of the neck was the issue. Unfortunately the C50 doesn’t have a truss rod even though my much older C30 does - puzzling.
In reality, the C50 probably needs a neck reset. My question is - who has any experience in resetting necks on Maton Classicals and what might be the ballpark price of having it done professionally.
Sorry for the verbose post