Maton Heritage Electrics
The Golden Era Relaunch
The go to market strategy, repositioning and relaunch of Maton's much loved electric guitars.
The Fyrbyrd, the Goldline and the Wedgetail are among the most original electric guitars ever built in Australia. This asks what the Golden Era would look like if it landed tomorrow.
- Client
- Discipline
- My role
- Status
The premise
If the Golden Era landed tomorrow
Maton built a run of electrics in the 1950s and 60s that looked like nothing else coming out of Australia — offset bodies, chrome-covered singles, a shark for a mascot and advertising to match. Collectors have tracked them for decades. The company itself keeps the story in the archive.
This is a concept: a relaunch of that catalogue as if it were being brought back now, worked up far enough to be judged rather than described.
The lineup
Three weapons, one bloodline
Fyrbyrd
The Sharkbite, rewired
Goldline
Compact fury, modern electronics
Wedgetail
Honduras mahogany, double-cut
Sound
A soundtrack each
The anatomy
What makes a Maton a Maton
The relaunch is argued from the details the originals were actually sold on, not from nostalgia. Four carry the range: the aggressive offset silhouette built for upper-fret reach and stage recognition; the Sound Barrier switch, with silent pickup selectors and a break-thru toggle for solo lift-off; the Slim Free-Action neck; and vibrato units routed flush to the top.
Each is drawn from period advertising and presented as an exploded technical view — the same claims the 1960s catalogues made, given a modern reading.
A New Sensational First By Maton.
The art direction
A visual language worth pinning up
Comic-ink linework, heavy black rules, halftone and a palette of cream, Moon White, Fyre Red and gold — the register of the original press advertising rather than a modern guitar site.
The period voice is kept intact and used as furniture: Real Fire in the Fyrbyrd, The Sharkbite Has Arrived, Est. 1946 · Sharkbite Approved. It closes on a poster wall, because that is where this range lived in the first place.