1970 Maton CW80 Neck reset

Stephen Wigney
Nov 11
1 min read

The CW80 (still made by Maton) is an iconic Australian dreadnought, popular with country musicians in particular. This 12 string version is from 1970, and came in with an unplayably high action, and no way to adjust.

The neck construction on this instrument (a "French neck") precluded removing the neck from the guitar body (Maton also confirmed that this was not possible), meaning there were only 2 viable options for fixing: cutting the neck off and converting to bolt-on, or the approach we chose, removing the fretboard and installing a wedged shim underneath to correct the geometry.

Neck projection was very low, without significant string tension (the straight edge should be riding a little way above the bridge).

Indicative action - note that there was virtually no tension on the strings...Neck relief was also acceptable.

Fretboard removed...there was some tear-out on the neck over the guitar body. Note that the construction is "through" - the neck itself projects into the guitar body.

A truss rod replacement was also recommended - here's the old truss rod removed.

A mahogany patch goes into the end portion of the neck where there was some tear-out. Truss rod glued in...

Full length mahogany shim installed (tapers to zero at nut end)

Fretboard re-glued, frets removed ready for refret.

Fretboard sanded level, frets going in...

Two photos of the finished project: