Today a new guitar arrived. A bit of a story here.
I had some changes in my stable of guitars recently. Up until a couple of months ago, I had two electrics, and two acoustics. My Fender HH Telecaster, Squier Strat, Maton Dreadnought acoustic and Yamaha el-cheapo starter pack acoustic (which sounds alright by the way, and the kids love playing on it).
A month or so ago I realised I hadn’t picked up my Squier all year. So up on Facebook marketplace it went. I ended up selling it to a guy at work.
That opened up an empty guitar hook (the Yamaha lives on the floor so the kids can reach it).
Every day that guitar hook stared at me… “oh, won’t you put something here”. I’ve been interested in a smaller acoustic all year, and tried a few different ones. I’d fallen in love with the “Maton Performer”, which is a mid-sized body with a cutaway, and it’s thin so it’s a lot easier to get around. The fretboard felt basically the same as my other Maton so the transition should be easy.
All of my other guitars I’d bought in person, buying the exact guitar I played. I ended up with some vouchers burning a hole in my pocket, that I could only use online, and having played a couple of Maton Performers already, knowing what I wanted, I ordered one online. It arrived today.
And oh, she looks good. Shifted to centre-stage here.
Some lovely graining in the Bunya top.
Of course at the first opportunity, I sat and played. Felt good, action a little too high, but having had another solid wood Maton I know these guitars acclimatize and over the next few months the neck will change and need adjusting.
After about half an hour of playing, I felt the back of the guitar near the strap pin. Oh, it felt a bit rough, that’s not good. Then I looked.
Oh. The two panels separating. A big old crack along the bottom of it (in the direction of the grain, if you look closely). The binding coming away.
Damn.
What a let down. I didn’t notice it when I first pulled it out of the case, but the rest of it looked great. The box was fine, it was in a hard case, so I’m not sure how it happened. I think either the box had been dropped directly on its base quite hard or maybe it was damaged before getting packed.
The music shop is being pretty good about sorting it out, they responded really quickly and have lodged their insurance claim already, so I’m pretty confident it will get sorted. Just a real bummer! It took about a week for the guitar to arrive, now I guess it will be a bit longer before I get a fully intact one.
But at least it makes a good story, and I wanted to share those picture of this beautiful (yet damaged) guitar.
… Gutted, but good to see the shop are supporting and hope they can sort it out quickly!!
Gorgeous guitar though! Looking forward to you posting some sweet tunes on the replacement when it’s sorted 
guess that can happen from time to time… sure its not dried out wood? That its been in storage in dry climate too long? Hard to belive it had something to do with shipping… ill bet Maton packs up their guitars pretty good…
