Billie Joe Armstrong’s 2009 Maton Model 1958 MS500

Billie Joe Armstrong was seen playing a Maton MS500 during Green Day’s tour in 2013, with one of the clearest sightings coming from the Soundwave Festival in Melbourne on February 28, 2014. Based on the special inlay at the 12th fret, the guitar is almost certainly the MS500 50th Anniversary model – released by Maton to mark half a century since the original MS500 first came out.

The guitar has a solid quandong wood body, a Queensland maple neck, and an Indian rosewood fretboard. It’s fitted with a Maton Vintage Humbucker in the bridge and a Maton Vintage Single Coil in the neck position, both controlled through a three-way selector and a simple volume/tone setup.

Billie’s MS500 in particular turned up in The Official Green Day Reverb Shop, listed as coming straight from his collection. There’s no evidence tying it to any studio recordings, but given its appearance during the Australian leg of the tour, it’s possible Billie brought it out as a nod to the guitar’s home country. After 2014, it seems to have disappeared from regular live use, and this is when it ended up on Reverb for sale.