Maton GE500

Beautiful instrument. Full spectrum sunburst, just like some Gibson ES guitars. I removed the scratch plate because I'm a finger picker, not a strummer.
The GE500 has 2 passive humbuckers and a Piezo. The Piezo is switched on by a Pull/mix knob. The battey is cleverly hidden in the end of the guitar, near the strap pin. It also has a phase switch on the neck pick-up surround. Each pick-up has a Volume control, there is one Tone control which I always leave at 10. It also has a master volume control and a volume by-pass switch. Very similar to some of the Gretsch models

I play this and an early Hohner Blonde in a Swing Jazz band. I play iyt through a Peavey Studio Pro 40 or a Yamaha 112. Noise is no problem at all. This hardware was fitted in the early seventies and hasn't missed a beat.
The GE500 sings some nice warm tones, but it can really rock if you switch off the Piezo and wind it up a little.

This guitar has a beautiful thin neck and an action most only dream of.

Built to last, just as it was meant to.

I have never needed to call Maton for customer support, so I cannot rate this.

I have been playing since I was 6, I'm now 39. I own a Hohner Blonde and a cheap strat copy that I use for fun. I have a J200 for acoustic work.
I had a Hofner guitar stolen once and it was highly prized. If this was stolen, it could never be replaced. There are only records of 69 of these guitars being made from '71 to '78.

I love this guitar.

Sorry if someone wanted to read some dirt.

shallow body arch top and back, two humbucking p/u and piezo under bridge, ebony fingerboard, mahogany neck and body, very versatile guitar

With the hollow body arch-top and mixing capability of piezo and humbucking p/u the GE500 roars it's head off through an old fender princeton, and can also sound clean and sedately "jazzy" turned down.

This guitar has scarcely moved in any way for nearly fourty years, pretty damn well built all round, the piezo could do with a graphic on it, otherwise hard to pick any flaws.

Poor thing has been sweated on, dropped, left outside, chipped, dinged, and sat-on, still going well, no repairs, original machine heads and finish, maybe the guys who made this thing had a good day that day.

Fair enough

Played a long time, owned heaps of guitars, the Maton GE500 is like a gretch with the body style and electronic layout,but with gibson style humbucking p/u's and neck scale, with piezo as well,in a fouty year old hand made guitar,..bloody good!