The Redwood 808

With the Redwood Series, Maton found a new voice. The pairing is unusual and deliberate: a Redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) soundboard over Tasmanian Myrtle (Nothofagus cunninghamii) back and sides. The Redwood is plantation grown and sustainably harvested from the Otway Ranges in Victoria; the Myrtle comes from our longstanding supplier in Tasmania.

Tonally, Redwood sits close to Western Red Cedar but with a stronger treble presence and a more dynamic response than Cedar usually gives. Tasmanian Myrtle — Tassie Myrtle, as we call it here — has a smooth, maple-like tone, and alongside Redwood it adds warmth and sustain. The result is complex. Every frequency you would expect is there, but so is something else: a blend of overtones and a responsiveness to the smallest changes in touch that keeps offering the player new possibilities.

In the 808 body that complexity stays tightly focused. Maton’s own shape keeps all six strings balanced against one another, so the overtones read as detail rather than wash — it rewards fingerstyle and sits comfortably under a voice. A streaky ebony fingerboard and bridge firm up the attack, and the AP5 PRO pickup system carries the character intact when you plug in.

This is a guitar that is hard to put down.