LUTHIERS DREAM

[woodrat]

I thought that I would post a link to this eBay listing either for those who want something to tackle or to have a chuckle...maybe this guy is a comedian?
Just as an aside...I thought that the way Maton have left the Upper Transverse Brace about 1 1/2 inches short of the linings on the cutaway side was interesting...not something I would do up there, but hey, it saves time!

Maybe Maton should buy them.

John

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/LUTHIERS-DREAM-2 ... 3cb609000e

[kiwinoz62]

It's a crying shame how something so beautiful can end up. . . trashed

[sebastiaan56]

Yup, he's dreaming,

[Taffy Evans]

I've done many major repairs like the ones needed on these guitars, but I don't think I'd pay for the challenges shown here, even if I new how to use eBay. I bet somebody will snap them up thinking its a bargain, at least the back is easier to replace than a top. I find that when I get an instrument in a none playable condition [no strings] all sorts of hidden problems appear and one job leads to another, and another..........

[Kim]

If the necks, tuners and P/Us are OK it would be worth a bid of $100 for both guitars, but I would pay no more than that cause you would still need to build two boxes, apply overlay and refret with new FB and do all the finishing.

Cheers

Kim

[Kamusur]

$299 thats a steal oops wrong tense will be stolen... surely not. Better pray for some hapless soul.

Alt Title "Luthiers Nightmare"

Steve

[DarwinStrings]

I guess it is only a Luthiers dream if, when your customer asks for a repair quote and you verbal him the price, he does not choke and look like this ..........

Jim

[Puff]

They are "spare parts". Bid accordingly. The punter is allowed to dream.

[woodrat]

Somebody obviously is up for a challenge...or did they just pay $350 for the pickups!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT

beats me!

John

[rocket]

I think it's a collectors item,,, it used to belong to El,kabong.
Cheers,,,, Rod.

[Taffy Evans]

Well you will need to a handy sort a guy to fit Maton pickups into another guitar. Good luck whoever you are.

DSCF5503.JPG (48.26 KiB) Viewed 22048 times

[woodrat]

Taffy, Now I can also see why they bolt their bridges through the soundboard... If I made mine that way I would be worried about the glue failing as well! Thats beyond shoddy in my book... And people want to know why a proper guitar costs more...we all know the answer

John

[Taffy Evans]

Hi John, I don't see Maton using bolt on bridges anymore, tho I do have some from the 1960's bolted on, CW100 for instance, even had a cup washer under the bolt head. I've seen Takamine's use a bolt on bridge with this same pickup system concealed under a wood dot inlay . The two bolts seen on Maton bridges hold the pickup in position under the bridge.

[woodrat]

Hi Taffy, I was under the impression that the two outside holes in the photo that you posted were for bolts through the bridge and they would be hidden under a pearl dot. Are those holes to just mount the pickup?

John

[Taffy Evans]

Hi John, I see now, those holes are for two locating plastic dowels that go into the top and part way into the bridge, for positioning the bridge during manufacture.

[woodrat]

OK I see Taffy, I thought that they where the bolt hole locations. I (and countless others) use small holes at either end of the saddle slot to locate my bridges....but Maton have gone and chopped a great big hole there! Well... interesting...do you have a picture of their pickup? and why is it necessary to have it through the spruce like it is? I would have thought that it would decrease the gluing area by a considerable amount.

John

[Taffy Evans]

So far I have come across Maton, Takamine and Cole Clark that use this style of pickup, here a pic of one off them.

DSCF5505 (Small).JPG (41.2 KiB) Viewed 21926 times

[woodrat]

Thanks for the pics Taffy, It is not a wonder that Cole Clark use them as they are ex-Maton personel. How heavy are the pickups? It seems that they remove an awful lot of wood to put the things in. In your photo the little bit of wood between the bridge pin holes and the MASSIVE GREAT BIG SLOT is easily broken out. I wouldn't like my spruce tops that compromised by a pickup installation. How many problems have you seen from this design?

Thanks

John

[Tod Gilding]

Hi John,
I spoke with Brad Clark about 5 yrs ago regarding this, but could'nt quite understand what he was saying, but here taffys pic is worth a thousand words,I was under the impression that the hex bolts just went through the soundboard and secured the pickup below it , that had me a little confused,but obviously not,Thanks for that pic Taffy.

[woodrat]

This thread was meant to be a bit of a laugh about the broken Matons in the eBay listing but has turned out to be quite informative. Thanks Taffy for the pictures.

John

[Kim]

Based on scale of production, I have seen few bridge issues with Matons fitted with A4's and A5's. Lets not forget that these are THE Australian workhorse guitar. There are plenty of them out there and they have a good following for good reason. Yes they are built to a price point, but they must be to compete with the imports. At the end of the day, the A4 and A5 pickups are very good performers ( if I recall correctly they are made by B-Band in Finland) so if you are a working musician who plugs in and needs to set up, pack up and travel on a regular basis, you would be hard pressed to find a better tax deduction than a Maton or Takamine guitar to drag around the country.

EDIT: In the above statement I would only compare a Takamine of equal price range to a Maton. It is my opinion that the cheaper Takas are complete junk and no better than most other guitar shaped land fill they bring into the country. It always comes back to only ever getting what you pay for.

Cheers

Kim

[needsmorecowbel]

lol more bids...hahaha

[woodrat]

Do people really think that luthiers sit at home and dream about fixing old guitars like this and the previous two Matons that were only kindling?

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1956-ACOUSTIC-GU ... 230fb35189

[Puff]

Seems some do.
Somewhat tongue in cheek though it is ebay.com.au.......

[kiwigeo]

Whats wrong with the headstock repair??...ok so its a bit "robust" and not very discrete.