Maton is one of Australia’s foremost producers of guitars and other like instruments. Their name for quality as well as style has earned them a great name, and world-wide acclaim.
The company, founded in 1946, they built their empire slowly and surely through the experimenting with different types of Australian wood, and eventually when their instruments went electric, with the quality of sound and the impact of distortion.
The company started slowly, but has now expanded into a company that also specialises in custom products that we see on rockstars all around the world.
The most noted of which, Josh Homme, uses Matons so consistently that it is the only endorsement he will allow attached to his name, despite his huge celebrity status within the music world and many hundreds of offers. With a large collection of Matons his wife, and fellow musician for Spinnerette and The Distillers, has her own custom Maton.
From this, the close friendship circle of Josh Homme has expanded to many different custom instruments, such as Jesse Hughes’ maton, white, shiny, and with gold lightening bolts.
Custom instruments are of course, expensive. The quality of the instrument though is parallel to no other. Musicians will delve into the area of custom instruments quite often to get the perfect balance of sound and quality that they desire to avoid an uncomfortable fitting in period with their new instrument.
Custom instruments will allow you to control a number of things, first of all being the general look of the instrument. Jesse Hughes’ Maton, for instance stands out from many other Matons with its shiny white finish and gold inlay. Brody’s Maton is a deep sexy purple colour, with heart shaped sperm cutouts, giving the instrument a semi-hollow quality.
With the general appearance decided, you are then able to pick the type of electronics and parts to the instrument to help you gain the ideal sound. This includes the pickups, humbuckers, strings, fret design, and semi-hollow quality.
Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine fame has spoken out against his custom instrument, however. After having a guitar made to his strict specifications, he found it hard to use as the fitting in period with your instrument was completely different. Sometimes a custom instrument isn’t suited to certain types of players, especially with how they’re trained.
It’s not just guitars that can be made custom. Electric violins, woodwind instruments such as clarinets, and almost any other instrument you think of, can be made to what you need – just be prepared to spend the money doing it.
If you’re reluctant to spend the money, there are other ways to gain what you want and need if you can’t find it ready made. With guitar and instrument parts available on eBay, you can find yourself the guitar body you want, and start putting together your instrument with a little bit of help from the internet or a building book.
A custom instrument is one way to gain the style that you want, as well as the sound. If you’re after a unique instrument that has style and flare (which also adds to a live performance) its an item worth looking into.