Maton Guitars

Catman
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 7:36 am

Well, it turns out that the Maton's representative in Israel has his showroom just 5 minutes walk from my home! So I took myself there and tries out the goodies.

I tried a selection of models, starting with a 225 maple dreadnought, and all the way up to the Tommy Emmanuel signature maple 808. The guitars have fairly thick (compared to, say, Taylor) but very comfortable (for me) necks. I don't see width specs on the Maton website, but they feel to me like 1-3/4" at the nut.

I was pleasantly surprised by the maple/Sitka spruce 225 dreadnought (no cutaway, no electronics) that I tried. The tone was clear and balanced, fairly bright, and the action was superb. It was excellent for strumming and flat picking, but a little quiet for finger picking--just what I would expect from a dreadnought.

I actually liked the walnut 325/Sitka spruce less than the 225. The tone was a little bit muddy to my taste. Also, the guitar was in need of a setup, and I moved on fairly quickly to a CW80.

The CW80 is dreadnought with solid maple back and sides and sitka spruce top (the x25 are laminated back and sides, solid top) was very enjoyable to play. The tone has more body than the 225, and is a little more complex. This guitar does finger picking quite well, and is excellent for flat picking and strumming--it is a "do it all" guitar.

The 808 TE is a solid queensland maple/sitka spruce small bodied guitar with fantastic volume and projection. It has bell-like trebles and solid bass, and can handle hard strumming and light finger picking with equal aplomb. The tone is bright--if you are looking for Martin sounds this is not the guitar you want--but balanced, and very articulate. The guitar is very responsive to different picking and strumming styles and it is easy to bring out different personalities of the music.

I didn't try any of the guitars plugged in. But Matons are often noted for having one of the best pickup systems.

I only spent an hour at the shop, but I have an inkling that my next guitar could be a Maton.

Cheers
David


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daryl
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 7:49 am

David, Thanks for that! Can you share the relative prices? I wish there was a Maton dealer near me (Northeast USA). I'm really curious about the EBG808TE. I've heard mixed reviews about it (mostly when not plugged in).


Catman
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:38 am

Daryl,
Listed prices are roughly (USD)
M225: $1350
CW80: $2450
EBG808TE: $3475

I would expect at least a 10% discount.

The EBG808TE is very bright, and is probably not everybody's cup of tea. I like it, but then again I own a Taylor 814, another sparkly guitar.

David


dennisg
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Thu Dec 06, 2012 9:43 am

daryl wrote:
David, Thanks for that! Can you share the relative prices? I wish there was a Maton dealer near me (Northeast USA). I'm really curious about the EBG808TE. I've heard mixed reviews about it (mostly when not plugged in).
Daryl,

You might have already seen these, but here are a couple of reviews from Harmony Central:

http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/97249


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