The Maton K10 Capitol is a plywood archtop that was originally marketed “for the beginner in the modern or country style”. They were built in the Maton factory in Canterbury, Vic for several years from 1959, and this one was made in 1960.
I paid $250 for this guitar in Perth in 1984. The remnants of a shipping sticker on the case indicate that it travelled to the Port of Fremantle on a ship of the Sitmar Line. The heavy wear on the back of the neck suggests that for the first twenty years of its life it was used to strum first position chords – probably in the “country style” for which it was intended.
The retro-fitted Bill Lawrence pickup was on the guitar when I bought it, and it was wired straight to an output jack. I’ve kept the pickup on as it makes the guitar a usable gigging guitar, if volume and tone controls are not your thing. It’s set up with flat wound strings, and has quite a warm jazzy tone. I’ve used it quite a lot of use over the years, and still gets the occasional outing at gigs here in Melbourne.
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