Muse fans are going crazy for Matt Bellamy’s astonishing mirror mask guitar – we found out how Manson made its most ambitious design yet

Manson Mask guitar, built for Muse's Matt Bellamy
(Image credit: Scott Legato/Getty Images / Manson Guitars)

Outside of UFO enthusiast Tom DeLonge, few guitarists embrace sci-fi quite so wholeheartedly as Matt Bellamy – both in the album themes for Muse’s space-age rock operas and his onstage Manson electric guitars, which have dazzled audiences with outlandish chrome finishes and MIDI touchscreens for over two decades.

But few of his custom builds have married the aesthetic and the instrument quite so successfully as the recently unveiled Manson Mask, which takes the mirror angled mask featured in Muse’s recent videos and live show, and turns it into a guitar – with typically stunning results.

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Michael Astley-Brown
Editor-in-Chief, GuitarWorld.com

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism from Cardiff University, and over a decade's experience writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as 20 years of recording and live experience in original and function bands. During his career, he has interviewed the likes of John Frusciante, Chris Cornell, Tom Morello, Matt Bellamy, Kirk Hammett, Jerry Cantrell, Joe Satriani, Tom DeLonge, Ed O'Brien, Polyphia, Tosin Abasi, Yvette Young and many more. In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.