Maton MS501 Mastersound Black 2003

Maton MS501 Mastersound, black. made in Australia 2003. It's a great shape: smooth round curves, comfy and compact, lightweight and easy to handle and very fetching. The Mastersound series got a re-boot in the late 90s, and became extremely popular with Australian bands well into the next decade. In 2003, there was a model with a single bridge humbucker, the MS501, paired with the signature short scale bolt on neck. This example has been refinished in black, but was previously blue, and has had a bunch of hardware replaced. Aside from being modded, it's in great shape and presents and plays really nicely. The original pickups could sometimes be a little dark, so the addition of a handy number by UK winders Bareknuckle is welcome: it sounds snarly, warm and articulate now, with a great mix of punch in the mids and slice on the top. These single pickup Mastersounds dont come around often. I absolutely love this thing. It feels, plays, and sounds amazing, but I'm going to be playing more bass these days, so hopefully someone else can make some magic with this beauty. Comes with form fitting hard shell case, with key and lock.

Model: Maton MS501 Mastersound
Made: Melbourne, Australia; May, 2003
Serial: 05032547
Finish: black, gloss poly, refinished
Body: quandong
Neck: maple, rosewood fretboard, 24.5" scale, 12" radius, slim C shape 
Weight: 3.24kg
Mods: refinished, pickup, pickguard, knob, bridge and tailpiece replaced
Pickups: Bareknuckle humbucker, exact model unknown
Accessories: DCM moulded hard case

Cosmetic condition notes: used electric guitar with mild finish wear. Starting at the headstock we can see some finish wear by the nut, light scratches across the face and some finish wear along the top edge and wear along the edges of the neck(last photo). The back of the headstock presents some checking in the clear coat with a few dings along the top edge. Tuners are in good order. We have checking down the neck with a few evenly scattered dings and dimples. The most noticeable wear is around the 7th fret and seems to be ring wear in the top coat as well as a dimple at the 4th. The neck is pretty smooth and you can feel the grain. Around the edges of the body we have pretty uniform scuffs, scratches and clouding of the finish. Wear on the front of the body is mostly confined to the guard with scattered play wear and scratches near the controls. There is more minor clouding near the neck, bridge and edges, a few dimples between the bridge and elbow area, and a ding between the bridge and tail piece. On the back we have clouding near the edges, lots of light rub wear all over and a few dimples around the centre. The refinish seems delicate, so we recommend a very light touch when polishing. Input jack could use some love, but works 100%. Depspite these cosmetic notes, the guitar feels and plays like a dream. This is truly a 1 of 1 Maton Mastersound

Playing condition notes: action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 10/52 strings.
Fret Life: 7/10, level and smooth with plenty of life left

Item will be shipped via local UPS store with specialty in safely and securely packing and shipping guitars.