So I had a good old chat yesterday. Neville is the son in law of Bill May (the founder and the "May" in May Tone, or Maton). He confirmed that, back in the day, Bill would just make a change to a models design as he saw fit, and whilst Neville couldn't say exactly how many of the "Crab Claw" DC545's were actually made before they changed to a more "335-esque" shape, he mentioned that it was less than 100 and that's a conservative estimate. He actually has one in his personal collection. Based on the serial, mine would have been the 13th DC 545 ever made in 1964. Lucky 13

We talked about my paltry Maton collection (I have four of them) and he is putting me in touch with some of his collector contacts, as one guy in particular (who has 100 or so vintage Matons) is apparently even more knowledgeable on the old stuff, and could be an option to move mine, should the responsibility of looking after this classic become overwhelming.

One thing was really apparent during the conversation. In my email to Maton I asked them if their repair/custom shop guys would be interested in doing a full resto on it. The answer is a resounding "NO". Several times during the conversation Neville mentioned that I should not touch/alter anything on the guitar. He mentioned what I pretty much knew anyway, that a vintage guitar is always worth more in original condition. I got a sense that at least part of the reason for getting in touch was to gently suggest I don't mess with it. Fair enough too. I mentioned the apparent re-fret and poor state of the original nut, and he mentioned that given the wear on the back of the neck (seems he checked out my pics too) it has probably had a few re-frets back in the days before stainless, and that's expected on a vintage instrument that's actually played. Same goes for the nut. Whilst an original nut would be appreciated by a collector, the attractiveness decreases if it messes with the playability (as it does on mine), so I'm OK to get that replaced.

I also mentioned that I had an early 60's Alver (Maton student brand, I'm restoring it right now) and he had a bit of a chuckle mentioning that the Alver was significantly less rare. They produced thousands of them in the 60's and 70's, often building 30 of them at the same time. Laminate sides back and top, mahogany necks. A cool resto project (I think mine is going to look pretty hot when I'm done) but not really a museum piece collectible like the 545.

It's a shame I'm in Sydney though, I really got a sense that I could have arranged to go in and have a chat and a look around and talk more about old guitars. Next time I'm in Melbourne I'll definitely be going out to Maton for a poke around.

TGV. That's a bummer man. I have a right handed MS2000DLX SD (the black one in the pic above) they are discontinued, and Maton have changed the headstock graphics, so they might be collectible in another 20 years, but a lefty? they have to be pretty rare already. Awesome guitars!

So there you go! Just another reason to support local manufacturers, especially when they have been at it since 1946, and still make everything right here in Australia!