Futone Guitars Blog » Instruments

The origin of Egmond guitars can be traced back to the interwar period, specifically 1933, when Uilke Egmond retired from his managerial role at a railway station in Valkenswaard. At 55 years old and faced with challenging times, he took a bold step by embarking on a journey of teaching violin to supplement his family's income. With the initial success and popularity of his classes, his son Gerard Egmond joined forces, giving birth to what eventually evolved into a regional music school. The surge in people learning to play musical instruments spurred a heightened demand for such instruments. Recognizing this...

The captivating history of Russian electric guitars is intricately interwoven with its contextual backdrop, the imposing communist regime. A defining aspect was the resolute exclusion of any reference to the USA in their electric guitar narrative, despite the instrument's American origins. In response, they undertook a monumental endeavour to conceive an entirely novel design, birthing the iconic Tonica guitar. Centralization profoundly characterized the production landscape in the USSR, wherein the government owned the blueprints created by one factory, allowing multiple factories to produce these designs. This approach resulted in various guitar models sharing identical names, yet boasting subtle nuances contingent...

The history of the Maton brand starts in the early 40’s, when it was funded by Bill May. Bill had several occupations that put him in a good position to get on board the guitar revolution that occurred, especially after world war II. At the time he started his company he was a woodworker teacher, a luthier and a jazz musician, and he called the new company  “Maton Stringed Instruments and Repairs”. Since there is no precise date for when he started the endeavor, the year of 1946 assumes importance as it’s the year he released the first Maton instrument...