Members and guests of the Melbourne Section gathered at the Maton Guitars factory where Patrick Evans, Manager, Product Design, Development and Speciality Projects conducted a tour of their manufacturing facility and spoke to us on:
The Art of the Luthier.
Following an introduction by Section Chair Graeme Huon, Patrick gave us a brief rundown of the history of Maton. He related how founder Bill May and his brother Reg started making guitars in a single car garage in Thornbury in 1946. In the late ‘40s they moved to a purpose-built factory in Surrey Hills, where they stayed for the remainder of Bill’s career. On Bill’s retirement in the mid ‘80s his daughter Linda and her husband Neville bought the business. Patrick related how Bill still kept coming into the factory after retirement, going downstairs to work on a double bass.
That double bass is still on display in the foyer of the current factory.
