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| This vintage Maton F240 archtop guitar is gorgeous. The F240 is an acoustic archtop, which was made between 1953 and 1962. Serial number on this guitar - 1154 - indicates a likely 1959 build. Some years back we sold a breathtakingly mint '58 - click here to see it. The '58 had a Mahogany body, whereas this example has a Maple body with a carved solid Spruce top. Neck is Maple with a Mahogany centre lamination, and the fretboard is either Rosewood or an Australian equivalent. In 1999 the previous owner had a floating mini-humbucker jazz pickup professionally installed. This has been done extremely well, and has not introduced any holes or changes to the guitar other than the four small screws that hold the pickup to the end of the neck extension. A copy was made of the original scratchplate (the original is in the guitar's original case), and it is on this scratchplate that the volume and tone controls were fitted. a very high quality endpin jack completed the conversion to electric. In effect, this conversion makes the guitar an EG240! So here is a vintage acoustic archtop that can still be played perfectly as an acoustic, as the pickup does not interfere with the top's vibration at all, but is also a very usable jazz electric, with great playability and action. And it's a REAL archtop, with a full 17" wide body. Depth is 2 5/16". The guitar is in fantastic condition, with no cracks in the timbers, and only a few minor scratches. Some scratches on the treble side of the lower bout have been professionally touched up, and the glued-on 'wings' of the headstock also seem to have either had a professional re-glue at some stage. These can all be seen in the 'more pictures' link below. Frets have been recently dressed, and are probably down to around 50% or so. It's difficult to be certain with this guitar, as Maton made these with low frets for easy playability in the first place, with their marketing saying "The slim, smooth neck and low frets make playing effortless and fast". This one's certainly effortless and fast! Neck angle is superb - a completely no-issues vintage Maton archtop. The guitar comes with its original case, which is still servicable, but in rough condition. It has been protecting the guitar for the past 50 years! Sold to Steve
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