Maton S808 - thoughts please?

[suttoman]

Hey guys - just to fill you all in. My guitar finally arrived and it is nice. Finish is flawless and it does have a lovely tone. I'm going to change the strings to some that were suggested to make it a bit warmer. We are extremely dry here where I am in the Australian desert, so thanks to those who warned me about the lack of humidity. I've ordered a guitar hygrometer to keep an eye on things.

My only disappointment with the guitar is that it has quite a noticeable sag in the neck. Probably 2-3mm at the centre of the neck (between bridge and nut). I'm disappointed that Maton would let one leave the factory like that, or that the music store I bought it from in Perth let it go out and not adjust it. I'm a perfectionist so this annoys the hell out or me. I contacted Maton head office in Melbourne and have ordered the special tool to adjust the truss rod. I am confident that a 1/4 turn clockwise should fix my problems. Also the action is a little high in the middle - so this adjustment will probably help that as well. Other than that I'm very happy with an all solid guitar with such a lovely tone and finish only cost 1,000 AUD. You can see why Maton is so popular in Australia. Our AUD exchange rate has gone beyond the 'S bend' so for a similar guitar made in the States (Taylor, Martin etc), I would have had to pay at least double or triple this.

Thanks for all those who took the time to comment - much appreciated.

Philip

[dnf777]

I have their low-end dred in queensland maple and love it! Excellent set up and playability out of the box. Sounds really good acoustically, and even better plugged in. Im very impressed with the materials and build quality, especially for their liw end model.

All the other Matons ive played are equally or more impressive. For whatever reason, they dont market much in the US, and have a limited distribution network. I think thats why their limited popularity here, certainly not quality or tone issues.

[FoxHound4690]

Originally Posted by suttoman

Hey guys - just to fill you all in. My guitar finally arrived and it is nice. Finish is flawless and it does have a lovely tone. I'm going to change the strings to some that were suggested to make it a bit warmer. We are extremely dry here where I am in the Australian desert, so thanks to those who warned me about the lack of humidity. I've ordered a guitar hygrometer to keep an eye on things.

My only disappointment with the guitar is that it has quite a noticeable sag in the neck. Probably 2-3mm at the centre of the neck (between bridge and nut). I'm disappointed that Maton would let one leave the factory like that, or that the music store I bought it from in Perth let it go out and not adjust it. I'm a perfectionist so this annoys the hell out or me. I contacted Maton head office in Melbourne and have ordered the special tool to adjust the truss rod. I am confident that a 1/4 turn clockwise should fix my problems. Also the action is a little high in the middle - so this adjustment will probably help that as well. Other than that I'm very happy with an all solid guitar with such a lovely tone and finish only cost 1,000 AUD. You can see why Maton is so popular in Australia. Our AUD exchange rate has gone beyond the 'S bend' so for a similar guitar made in the States (Taylor, Martin etc), I would have had to pay at least double or triple this.

Thanks for all those who took the time to comment - much appreciated.

Philip

Nice one Philip, glad your enjoying it. Maton do setup their guitars properly at the factory so the action being a little high and having a slight bend in the neck is most likely just due to temp fluctuations, it's unavoidable when it comes to guitars, but it's nothing a luthier can't easily fix....And good to see you're taking the extra steps to measure your humidity too. I live in the hunter valley region of NSW and our summers here can get very hot and humid for weeks at a time with no rain. I know when it's a very humid day my 808 sounds like i've just pulled it out of a swimming pool. I really need to invest in something that can measure humidity. there are apps on your phone you can download but i seriously doubt they're accurate. Anyways, enjoy that 808, play the hell out of it, put some battle scars on it and start opening it up =P

[BluesKing777]

Desert, gold mining, 600k from Perth....Kalgoorlie?

You could probably run a hose in the Maton daily in summer!

Oasis have the water drippers type humidifiers that sit in the soundhole. It lasts a month in Victoria, but in the desert may need checking and filling very often....every couple of days?

I use Humidipaks to balance the dry/humid, but they would be a full time job in the desert, I imagine.

BluesKing777.