In 2019, Alter Bridge’s Myles Kennedy played Jeff Buckley’s iconic Telecaster for a special performance of Hallelujah in Paris – but the guitarist says he didn’t feel worthy of the honor.

Originally released by Leonard Cohen in 1982, Buckley made the tender ballad his own years later when he released it as part of his Grace record in 1994. Indeed, his version regularly sits high in lists of the greatest songs of all time.

Tragically, Buckley died at the age of 30 in 1997. Kennedy was afforded the chance to honor the underrated guitar hero during a performance in the French capital, and for the occasion, he became one of just a few big names to have played Buckley's Tele since his passing.

“Grace is an album that gave me the same feeling as hearing [Van Halen's] Eruption, with my brain wondering. 'Whoa, what's happening here?!'” Kennedy tells Guitarist of Buckley’s sole album. Carrying the mantel for his late hero, however, was no small task. Imposter syndrome loomed large.

“Playing Jeff's guitar was amazing, though I truly didn't feel worthy of it,” he confesses. “I was a little uncomfortable, to be honest. I gradually convinced myself that it was okay. It's just a guitar that's part of this incredible history. All I had to do was not taint that history!”

The guitar was, for a long time, in the possession of Matt’s Guitar Shop – the Parisian vintage guitar emporium that has been loaning out Jeff Beck’s Yardburst Les Paul, and Steve Jones’ punk-defining Gibson to worthy players. As Kennedy says, Buckley's Tele is a guitar that holds a lot of weight and majesty.

“It's just an early-to-mid ‘80s Tele, but there's something weird about how the pickup was wired,” he reveals. “Apparently, there's something technically wrong with it, at least from what [Matt's Guitar Shop owner] Matt Lucas explained to me. That's what gives it that beautiful shimmery sound. It's all down to this imperfection, which makes it even cooler. When you plug it in, you think, 'Oh yeah, there's that sound!’”

A year after that performance, Muse guitarist and Manson Guitar Works’ owner Matt Bellamy purchased the Tele and has since recorded with it to honor his legacy in his own way. But he, too, understands the size of the task at hand.

“It’s amazing to have a bit of history like that, and to just feel a little bit of his greatness,” Bellamy told Guitar World. “The only problem is I don’t think I’ve written any songs good enough to play on yet! [laughs]. So the pressure’s now on.”

In related news, Buckley was recently nominated for a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and Grammy-winning guitarist Ella Feingold believes he's more than worthy of the honor.

Myles Kennedy’s full interview features in the new print issue of Guitarist. Head to Magazines Direct to pick up a copy.

Manson Guitar Works has paid tribute to Matt Bellamy’s Number One electric guitar by releasing not one, not two, but three reissues – one of which is a painstakingly relic’d replica of the Muse frontman’s actual instrument.

The British guitar builder isn’t beating around the bush with this launch. The hallowed Black Edition is described as “the pinnacle of Manson Guitar Works’ 46 years in business”.

“Black Edition. Black Ed. 007. The Gadget Guitar. No matter what name it's given, whether by fans, by techs or by Matt Bellamy himself, one thing is clear: this is the most significant guitar in the career of the Muse guitarist since its debut in 2001,” Manson adds.

Crafted over a three-year period, used in the Time is Running Out music video, and heavily played by Bellamy in the stage and studio across the years, the Black Edition is Manson’s crowning glory, loaded with on-board Z-Vex effects, MIDI controls and more.

It’s a build that, Manson says, “stretches the boundary of what a guitar can do”. Bellamy himself has said that, “If I could only have one guitar in the world, the Black Edition would be it.”

As such, it makes sense that Manson would roll out the red carpet for the reissue, which arrives in three distinct variations.

The first is a meticulous remake of the Bellamy’s OG, with a “100 percent accurate body shape and relic’ing based on the original guitar”. That means it has glued joint repairs, chips, dings… you name it. If it’s on Bellamy’s, it’s on the Black Edition Origin Reissue.

That flagship model also offers accurately matched and sourced specs, some of which have become increasingly rare and hard to find.

So, yes, you get the Z-Vex Fuzz, the Z-Vex Wah-Probe, and all the MIDI powers, as well as the Sustainer, Killswitch, built-in LED side dots, and all appropriate controls. Pickups-wise, there’s a Seymour Duncan Hot P-90 and a Bare Knuckle Mississippi Queen P-90.

As the ultimate recreation of Bellamy’s favorite Manson – along with the fact only nine will be made – that all comes with a price tag to match: £29,999.

The Black Edition OR is joined by two near-identical ‘New Era’ reboots, one of which sports a Bellamy-style relic job. These builds have been described as ‘modern interpretations’ of the original, with modern upgrades and a slightly streamlined layout.

Dubbed “the ultimate self-contained on-stage performance system”, the guitars feature Manson P-90-style pickups, but keep the integrated Z-Vex Fuzz Factory and Sustainiac Sustainer systems of the original. There’s also a MIDI strip controller and a Killswitch.

Here, swamp ash is used for the body – instead of mahogany – and the rosewood fingerboard comes sans LEDs. Only 25 models will be made, and each will be either £11,999 for the non-relic and £12,999 for the relic.

Each Black Edition OR guitar has been checked over and played by Bellany himself, and arrives in a hard case along with a certificate of authenticity, a guitar strap, and limited-edition plectrums. The New Era models also come with a hard case and certificate of authenticity.

“Black Edition represents a distinctly British approach to instrument building: experimental, uncompromising and artist-led,” Manson says. “This guitar was developed not as a mere product, but a response to a specific creative vision.

“Instruments such as this rarely appear: we look forward to witnessing the continuation of that vision.”

Head over to Manson for more.

What is it?

UK guitar-maker Manson Guitar Works has had a long history with Matt Bellamy of Muse, who is now the majority shareholder in the company.

Business matters aside, Matt and the Manson team have worked together over several years to come up with the company’s first pedal, the Supermassive Black Fuzz. Solidly constructed by fellow UK brand ThorpyFX, it certainly has a distinctive look, featuring aluminium knobs that are intricately engraved with custom artwork.

While the lack of a defined line makes it difficult to see at a glance where the controls are set, there’s no mistaking where to put them if you hit a chord and use your ears.

Specs

• PRICE: £259
• ORIGIN: UK
• TYPE: Fuzz pedal 
• FEATURES: True Bypass, optional EQ, foot switchable boost
• CONTROLS: Magnitude, Warp, Dimension, Gravity, EQ On/Off switch, Peak footswitch, Bypass footswitch
• CONNECTIONS: Standard input, standard output
• POWER: 9V DC adaptor (not supplied) 35mA
• DIMENSIONS: 83 (w) x 126 (d) x 64mm (h) 
• CONTACT: Manson Guitar Works

Usability and sounds

The Magnitude and Gravity knobs set the output level and gain respectively (as you’d find on most dirt pedals), but the tone can be tempered by a filter, brought into the circuit by a toggle switch.

A Warp knob adjusts the filter cut-off frequency after the fuzz circuit and has a range from 350Hz to 5kHz, while the Dimension knob adjusts the Q (bandwidth) of its response, with clockwise movement sharpening and narrowing the peak.

Without the EQ, the vibe of the pedal is full-on thick vintage fuzz from the get-go with the Gravity knob gradually ramping up the intensity. The tonal character here is well balanced across the frequency range with plenty of top-end and perhaps just a hint of midrange scoop.

It’s very usable as an everyday richly textured traditional fuzz, feeling responsive under the fingers and cleaning up nicely with your volume knob. Bringing in the EQ is a whole other ball game as the juxtaposition of the Dimension (Q) and Warp knobs unlocks myriad tones, shifting the midrange emphasis until you find your sweet spot, which may be basic fuzz with a certain tonal character like some cocked-wah stridency, or more extreme finely tweaked distortions such as really thinned-out fuzz with a crispy treble edge.

More variation and onstage flexibility is provided by the Peak footswitch, which adds a boost with a tonal element. With EQ off, it offers a practical level jump and increased presence that would work for solos, but with the EQ on, it delivers a radical tonal shift to any sound that you have dialled in.

Verdict

Verdict: ★★★★½

Guitar World verdict: Whether you’re a Muse fan or not, the Supermassive Black Fuzz’s radical approach to shaping the sound, along with alternative footswitched options, make it a pedal that can fulfil a host of requirements.

Hands-on videos

Manson Guitar Works

• Best fuzz pedals: add some filth with this guitar effects essential for your pedalboard
• This article first appeared in Guitarist. Subscribe and save.

Sound the horns. Manson Guitar Works’ debut fuzz pedal is finally here. It’s called the Supermassive Black Fuzz, it’s built like a tank, and it promises “vintage traditional fuzz tones as well as otherworldly distortions” that you won’t find from a common or garden variety fuzzbox.

In other words, it is designed for engineering the kind of extra-terrestrial electric guitar tones that co-creator Matt Bellamy relies on for his day job fronting Muse. It looks like this is one of those cases of nominative determinism in action; how it sounds is “supermassive” – a tone big enough to swallow a planet, gaseous giant, or Chthonian, terrestrial, whatever. It’s not fussy.

For those who have been keeping score, the Supermassive Black Fuzz has been years in development. They made the Space Shuttle in shorter order. Bellamy has been workshopping it, fine-tuning it with the Manson R&D team since, well, forever.

But then he is kinda scrupulous about tone, and he has an interest in all this as a majority shareholder at the company. Adrian Thorpe of Thorpy FX collaborated on the project, ensuring that each of the units is built in the UK.

When Guitar World spoke to him in 2022 about this very fuzz, he said it was close, but there was an EQ profile that was just out of reach, and they had been seeking wisdom from studio pros, producers, anyone with a background in electronics to square the circle.

“It will have an EQ curve that you can slide from left to right or invert to create more of a scoop,” said Bellamy. “I usually find most fuzz pedals to be a little bit too full-range. Especially in how they sit in relation to the bass, drums, and vocals.”

Bellamy said the battleground frequencies for this fuzz sat around the 600 to 900Hz mark – the “low, kind of girthy and middley” set of frequencies sit comfortably under his vocal. Having a fuzz that sat in the mix and stayed out of the way of the vocal was a non-negotiable.

“I don’t like too much crossover with where my vocals sit,” he explained. “Finding the right fuzz pedal to push that low-mid area was something we spent time on. And even after recording, whatever pedal we use, there will also be a lot of intense EQ work.”

This process took the Manson engineers all over the world. They even visited Abbey Road when testing this thing. And all this work you can now hear in the Supermassive Black Fuzz.

It is a dual-footswitch fuzz. Peak turns on your “dynamic band-pass emphasis and boosted tones.” Power engages/disengages the effect. LEDs let you know what’s going on. And you have knobs for Magnitude, Warp, Dimension (a Q control), and Gravity.

It’s designed to sound equally at home when going into a guitar amp or straight into a mixing board.

Nested amongst these dials is a heavy-duty toggle switch for selecting a classic fuzz voicing or the modernistic sci-fi neo-fuzz sounds a la Bellamy in full Battlestar Galactica mode, laser synth gauntlets on, ordering Door Dash via his Korg Kaosspad, communicating on WhatsApp with our space brothers and sisters on the outer Delta Quadrant.

Okay, back to planet Earth. It’s worth mentioning the build quality on this again.

Manson says its control knobs have been fashioned from 6082T6 aluminum, which any engineer undergrad will tell you is tough enough to be used in bridge construction, and said knobs sit on a super-solid steel grub screw.

Manson Guitar Works is releasing two editions of the pedal. The Standard Edition is priced £259 ($349 approx). The Gold Edition is limited to 100 units, each signed by Bellamy, and comes with a guitar pick tin and polishing cloth, and is priced £349 ($458 approx).

For more details, head over to Manson Guitar Works.

Guitar World demo

What is it?

With a lineage dating all the way back to the 60s and born from the luthiery of Hugh and Andy Manson, Manson Guitars have a storied history and a well-earned reputation in building quality instruments. A British company building custom guitars alongside a production-based line, Manson expanded from its humble beginnings, capturing the attention of a number of well-known artists along the way.

One of which is the one and only Matt Bellamy, eventually leading to the Muse frontman purchasing a majority share in the company in 2019. Out of this, we now have the Manson Meta MBM-2H - the latest version of Matt Bellamy’s signature guitar in an affordable guise, full of modern tones and the Muse-associated bells and whistles. For the latest 2025 run, Manson has brought back the distinctive Red Sparkle finish, along with Satin Olive Green, the latter coming with contrasting black hardware.

More of a refinement than an overhaul, the MBM-2H builds on the MBM-1 with a body shape more akin to the guitars Matt Bellamy plays on stage, additional pickup options, and a left-handed version available with no extra upcharge. As with the MBM-1, we have a kill switch built into the top shoulder and options for Sustainiac pickup and a built-in Zvex Fuzz Factory effect. Manson sent a test model of the Sustainiac iteration in the rather fetching Red Sparkle.

Produced by Cort in Indonesia under license from Manson, on paper, the Meta Series MBM-2H looks to be an exciting proposition, potentially providing modern tones and plenty of fun, quirky extras at a reasonable price.

Specs

• Launch price: £899/€998
• Made: Indonesia
• Type: Six-string electric guitar
• Body: Basswood
• Neck: Hard maple, soft V
• Fingerboard: Indian laurel
• Scale length: 25.5"/648mm
• Nut width: 1.6"/42mm
• Frets: 22 medium jumbo, nickel silver
• Hardware: Cort staggered locking tuners, Tune-O-Matic bridge
• String spacing at bridge: 1.9"/49mm
• Electrics: Manson Humbucker, Sustainiac Stealth Pro, 3-way switch, tone, and volume
• Options: HH model (without Sustainiac) and Z.Vex Fuzz Factory upgrade
• Left-handed options: Yes - Dry Satin Black, Satin Olive Green
• Finishes: Meta Blue, Red Sparkle (as reviewed), Starlight Silver, Dry Satin Black, Satin Olive Green (w/black hardware),
• Cases: No
• Contact: Manson Guitar Works

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★½

To put it bluntly, the build is superb for the price. The guitar sports sturdy locking tuners that do their job well and flawlessly finished nickel silver medium jumbo frets, sat atop an Indian laurel fretboard.

The Red Sparkle finish that adorns the basswood body is a choice that is a little divisive in conversations around the office; however, it will certainly turn a few heads either way. Personally, I very much approve of it. The headstock matches the finish, and here we find just a slight blemish on this test model.

An added bonus is a two-way adjustable spoke nut at the base of the neck for truss rod adjustment, saving a ton of hassle when it comes to getting that neck relief in the sweet spot. The setup in general is a little bit buzzy on this model, but nothing that can’t be solved by raising the guitar's action slightly.

I always appreciate a satisfying clunk when operating a switch, and I am pleased to find said clunk present in the two mini-switches for the Sustainiac. The pickup selector falls a little short of this, as there's a bit of play in its movement, but nothing overly worrisome.

The changes to the body are very subtle compared to the MBM-1, but it is comfortable to play around. The heel joint is a standard bolt-on design with no contours for access, but it is well put together.

We have tone and volume controls that rotate with a little resistance, just enough to make them feel as if they are built to last and solidify the impression of the MBM-2H being a well-built instrument, especially considering its budget-pleasing credentials.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★½

Playing the Manson Meta MBM-2H, it’s easy to forget that it is the relatively affordable version of Matt Bellamy's stage guitars. The Sustainiac on this test model adds a fair amount to the price, but the standard HH iteration is available for just £569 from Manson Guitar Works at the time of writing.

Perhaps what helps the guitar along the most in this sense is the beautifully finished neck. It’s a smooth satin with a soft V carve that may not be for everyone, but if you like this shape, the MBM-2 will feel every bit as comfortable in the hand as a more expensive model.

A 12-16” compound radius fretboard makes flashy legato runs a breeze at the higher end of the neck, whilst not being too uncomfortable for open chord playing by the nut. Adding to the smooth feel are the well-finished medium jumbo frets - a good middle ground in terms of size if you're someone who doesn’t have a strong preference either way.

The only small inconveniences are the Sustainiac pickup that is set, understandably, quite close to the strings, requiring some extra precision so as not to strike it with my pick. I also find the kill switch to be on the small side, meaning it’s tricky to hit in a hurry if you're right hand is quickly dancing between the strings and the switch.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★½

We all remember the big moment that is our first live gig experience, and Muse was mine. So I had high hopes as I blasted through my repertoire of Muse riffs that the Manson MBM-2H Sustainiac would allow me to recreate the sounds that played such a big part in my formative years of guitar. However, being aware that the Meta series is designed to be more budget-friendly compared to the full-blown model, I was prepared for the eventuality that it might not make the mark. Happily, it nails it.

The bridge is clear with plenty of punch and is surprisingly dynamic for a pickup of a relatively high output. Harmonics are keen to jump out, making passages like the speedy Stockholm Syndrome riff with that awkward harmonic feel relatively easy.

Switch to the neck without the Sustainiac turned on, and it becomes an active single coil. It’s a modern sound that has that single coil spank, but also the compression expected from the active nature of the pickup. Not as dynamic as its passive cousins, but perfect for modern cleans.

High gain on the neck pickup in this mode is warmer than the bridge, but maintains a surprising amount of clarity, which is great for this use. It does not have the wooliness of more traditional guitars, so although it does the crunchy classic rock and bluesy stuff well, you might want to stick with something akin to a Les Paul or Stratocaster for that. The Manson is clearly built to excel at modern tones, and excel it truly does.

We can’t test a Muse-centric guitar without running it through some fuzz. A Z.Vex Fuzz Factory effect is available built in as an option on the MBM-2H, but it’s not installed on this test model. Instead, I reach for the comparatively aggressive Z.Vex Probe. What follows is just a ton of fun, with both pickups handling everything from spitty fuzz sounds to ridiculous over-the-top gain, without collapsing as some might. My rendition of Plug In Baby has never sounded so good.

Out of curiosity, I set up a more traditional sound via my Hendrix Band Of Gypsys mini fuzz, which didn’t seem to get on with the pickups as it immediately starts to over-compress and collapse, even at lower gain settings. So best stick with fuzz of the modern kind here.

On to the more outlandish features in the Sustainiac Stealth Pro. In short, it does exactly as promised in creating infinite sustain and natural-sounding feedback. The most fun is found within gainier settings, which is arguably the more canonical way to use it, but it performs well clean too.

It has three modes: Fundamental, Mix, and Harmonic, with Mix causing the pickup to produce a combination of the fundamental and a harmonic that changes depending on where you are on the fretboard. My favourite way to use it is in Fundamental mode and switching to Harmonic when I want to nudge the note into a different type of feedback.

With some gain, it is a huge tone, and there is something very visceral about feeling the strings vibrate under the fingers via the Sustainiac. It manages to sound other-worldly whilst staying natural to the guitar, making it easy to create soundscapes that I could happily spend hours within.

Lastly, we have the kill switch. A simple function that just works. There is a little bit of popping every now and again that seems to dissipate with use, so perhaps a little static to deal with, but not enough that is a deal breaker.

Verdict

In terms of pricing, the MBM-2H sits at the beginning of the mid-range market, with the prices increasing as the extra features like the Sustaniac present here and Fuzz Factory are added. But in the hands, it feels like a more expensive guitar. It plays well, has a solid build and a striking finish with the extras just adding a ton of fun, making it something that’s a joy to spend time with.

Although it is certainly capable of more typical guitar sounds, it’s not going to be the one if you are inspired by tones of an old school nature. But as a modern machine with a side of quirkiness to boot, it’s a perfect choice.

Guitar World verdict: The Manson Meta MBM-2H Sustainiac is perhaps not best suited to the traditional classic rock and bluesy thing, but excels at glassy cleans, high gain, and outlandish fuzz. A well-built guitar with excellent playability, up-to-date features and at a reasonable price, it’s obviously perfect for a Muse fan, but also fits the bill for anyone looking for a modern powerhouse.

Also try

Hands-on videos

Manson

Matt Bellamy has tapped into his inner Meshuggah and delved deep into the world of extended range electric guitars by showing off his crazy new 8-string electric guitar – which takes center stage in a monstrous new Muse single.

“It’s time,” Bellamy wrote in a new Instagram post that shows him clutching an all-new custom-built Manson Oryx, which recently experienced some on-stage action when Muse debuted their as-yet-unreleased new single, Unravelling.

The Muse maestro and Manson Guitars owner is no stranger to experimentation – from building fuzz pedals and Koas pads into his signature guitars, to the mesmerizing mirror mask guitar that dropped last year – and now he’s wading into unchartered waters again... for him, at least.

The band have already dabbled with extended-range guitars. 2001 proto-prog banger Citizen Erased saw Bellamy dishing out drop A riffs. The song’s sequel, The Globalist, found him churning through gritted low riffs, and 2022’s Kill or be Killed had gung-ho riffwork in drop B. This time, he’s going even lower.

Unraveling had been teased on socials prior to the performance, with Bellamy hammering into the 8-string Manson while Chris Wolstenholme dons his LED-inlay-infused Status signature bass for the outing.

Now, the track has received its visceral live debut. It’s certainly no sugary pop ditty – and the new axe is largely to thank for that.

Playing in Helsinki, Finland, the band gave fans a taste of the new era of Muse ahead of European headline slots at Hellfest, Pinkpop, Open'er, and Mad Cool later this summer.

Even from a fan-filmed live clip, there's an unmistakable snarl to Bellamy's guitar tone and oodles of groove to the riff that merges a Tom Morello stomp with a Meshuggah-like grunt.

The song tactfully plays off light and shade, the riff preluding its seismic chorus before finally giving way for djenty bridge and a stank face-inducing halftime outro that really makes use of the lower octaves.

Unravelling will officially drop on June 20 but it’s not yet clear whether the song is stand-alone or part of an upcoming album release. It has been three years since Will of the People, so a landmark 10th studio album from the stadium rockers is expected.

Posting about the guitar itself, Manson reveals the Oryx has a bolt-on neck with a gloss finish to match the body, with its headstock sporting asymmetrical tuners with a 5-3 layout. It's also a shiny purple color, and has no inlays for a sleek look.

Away from Muse, Bellamy has been sharpening his guitar design skills since becoming a majority shareholder of Manson Guitar Works in 2019.

Outlining his vision for the firm, co-owner Adrian Ashton once told Total Guitar that he looks to harmonize innovation with playability.

“I find with a lot of wild guitars, it’s the guitar itself that lets the show down,” he says. “We always keep that as our core philosophy – whatever we do, no matter how wild it gets, it’s still got to be a great guitar underneath it all.”

That's led to Fuzz Factory-laced production models, with Sustainiac pickups and some dazzling finishes all populating Manon's latest M-Series models. The freshly launched Verona dropped after an exhaustive pickup design process, too.

“It had to capture that vintage clarity,” Bellamy said of the guitar's all-important neck pickup, “and the clean, expressive tone that lives in Ry Cooder’s slide work.”

Knowing Bellamy, his flirtation with 8-strings won’t be the only guitar-fuelled weirdisms to be devoured if a new album is happening.

A Matt Bellamy signature version of the Manson Verona has arrived, mirroring the “exact and detailed specification” of the six-string the Muse guitarist has been flaunting on tour in recent years.

Named after the decidedly 1980s prog-pop cut from 2022’s Will of the People, the new electric guitar forced Manson’s Devonshire, UK-based factory “to push the boundaries”, as opposed to simply spec'ing the timeless S-style design with space-age parts.

Like Bellamy’s well-used prototype, it’s been built to withstand the rigors of touring, and with player-friendly ergonomics in mind.

However, while Manson admits that “styling cues suggest a ’60s past,” this isn’t a retro-obsessed build, and Muse fans will know that Bellamy has a knack for forward-thinking builds.

As such, a modern four-bolt contoured heel and multiple body contour tweaks ensure the guitar has “playability at its core,” with an alder body pairing with a figured roasted hard maple neck and rosewood fingerboard with 22 “easily accessible” frets.

Other contemporary touches include a Gotoh 510 engineered tremolo with a chrome finish, while no stone was left unturned on the hunt for perfect and tailor-made pickups.

“Tonally, the neck pickup was everything,” Bellamy asserts. “It had to capture that vintage clarity – the clean, expressive tone that lives in Ry Cooder’s slide work.

“It needed to deliver purity and presence, without ever feeling overdriven or artificial. It had to feel honest and epic. But also a tone that can live alongside my other more modern-sounding guitars.”

As such, tireless testing ensued, with Manson’s in-house design team using vintage and modern guitars with aftermarket pickups as touchstones. The firm’s experience building multi-rail pickups came in handy, with the bridge pickup sporting a dual rail, ceramic magnet design wired in parallel for hum-canceling, and an output that matched the middle and neck positions.

It is paired with “a spookily accurate ’60s neck pickup with an added splash of hot Texas sauce”. Bellamy, though, says: “The neck pickup is the soul of the guitar.”

Vintage touches are present alongside that neck pup via a Sky Blue pickguard, an Oak Grigsby/CRL five-way selector layout, and, of course, its timeless S-style appeal.

Manson is releasing two versions of Bellamy’s Verona. The Verona MB is the Muse man’s stage guitar like-for-like and is available in a Desert Dawn gloss finish.

Alternatively, the Verona Classic caters to traditionalists via different finish options and a classic single-coil bridge pickup.

The duo of signature guitars are available now and priced at £3,299 (approx $4,275) apiece. They are made in the UK and left-handed models are available.

Head to Manson Guitar Works for more.

Manson has also announced Caldecott Music Group CEO Meng Ru Kuok has joined as a partner in a personal capacity. The group's stable of brands currently includes Heritage Guitars, Bandlab, Mono, Dawsons Music, and Guitar.com.

Manson Guitar Works CEO Adrian Ashton has praised Kuok's “insight, energy, and shared belief in what we’re building here.” Kuok says he is “honored to be joining the journey with what I believe is one of the most innovative modern guitar makers in history”.

Earlier this year, Manson updated its M-Series guitars and saddled them up with Sustainiac pickups and built-in Fuzz Factory fuzz pedals, having dazzled with its mirror mask design, made for Muse's Will of the People tour, in 2023.

Manson Guitar Works has expanded its M-Series electric guitar lineup with new models that usher in fresh colorways and overhauled electronics.

The UK-based builder has been busy since Muse's Matt Bellamy, by far and large its most high-profile advocate, acquired the firm back in 2019. Now, its “mid-priced” M-Series is growing stronger with the help of new Sustainiac pickups, which have been drafted in for “a high-spec instrument at a competitive price”.

The 2025 roster also includes a model with a futuristic Night Sky Holosparkle gloss finish, and – like Bellamy’s favored oddball Manson – guitars with ZVex Fuzz Factory fuzz circuits built in.

The standard issue MB-1 features a solid alder body, maple neck in a traditional bolt-on design, and rosewood fretboard, with hardware specs such as Gotoh 3 Series height-adjustable tuners.

The firm’s in-house MB PF-1 bridge humbucker also makes the cut, utilizing an Alnico V medium/high output design to deliver all “the drive and gain one could wish for”.

Also included in the standard format is Manson’s new-and-improved Sustainiac Stealth Pro system in the neck position. This particular pickup previously featured on its Era models, offering “endless sustained notes at the flick of a switch” – a staple of Bellamy’s live sound – as well as “ultra-clean tones”.

The fresh mods made to the pickup system include “increased performance” and a reduced risk of cross-talk of the Sustainiac while in use. It offers three voicings in sustain mode: Fundamental, Harmonic, and Mix.

From there, custom specs offer a choice of upgrades, including coil tap and series/parallel controls for its UK-made pickups, as well as the grizzly Fuzz Factory equipped builds.

Finish options include Dry Satin Black, Gloss Night Sky Holosparkle, Gloss Red Alert, Gloss Black, and Gloss Bluebell Metallic, with each model coming with a Mono gig bag.

“M-Series truly represents a pro-spec instrument at a competitive mid-range price point,” says Manson Guitar Works.

Bellamy first spoke about developing Manson's potential when he took the reins nearly six years ago, with the firm's highly affordable Junior range and Bellamy's mesmerizing mirror mask guitar representing two extreme ends of the scale of its operations.

The new MB-1 models start at £1,949 (approx $2,445). Head to Manson Guitar Works for more.

Back in early 2023 Bellamy revealed he is working on a new Stratocaster-type model for the firm, and had even been gigging with a prototype.

Manson has unveiled not one, but two new electric guitars, which have been formally introduced as the Geo Mask V1 and Geo Mask V2 – a pair of wildly styled instruments that faithfully reproduce the astonishing mirror mask guitar wielded by Muse’s Matt Bellamy.

The original build first stole headlines last year after it became one of Bellamy’s most notable onstage instruments, having first been introduced during the Will of the People tour in early June 2023.

Used during tracks such as Will of the People and Hysteria, the instrument transformed Bellamy’s mirror angled mask that featured in Muse’s music videos and live shows into a fully fledged guitar – and soon developed a cult following.

Naturally, fans clamored for a chance to acquire a mirror mask guitar of their own, and now Manson Guitar Works – the brains behind all of Bellamy’s custom builds – has happily obliged.

This isn’t just a loose aesthetic copy, though. Rather, these two Geo beasts represent “an identical replica of Bellamy’s WOTP stage guitar”, with only one minor deviation from the original, which had backplates engraved with the employee names of the brand.

Here, serial markings and a Will of the People logo are used instead. So, yeah, pretty darn close to the original.

As mentioned, two versions of the guitar have been introduced, both of which faithfully follow the ergonomic and aesthetic angular design of the original build. Both also feature an alder body, ebony fingerboard and a Mask Metal Paint finish with a matching headstock.

Elsewhere, chrome Gotoh hardware is used across the board – a 510 bridge and tailpiece, and 510 H.A.P. tuners can be found – as are Schaller strap locks. Tone-wise, Bellamy’s favored pickup combo of a Manson PF-1 MB bridge humbucker and Sustainiac Stealth Pro Sustainer (with the relevant controls) are recruited.

So what sets these two instruments apart? Well, the V2 instead opts for a 5A flamed roasted maple neck, as opposed to the V1 variant’s figured flame maple alternative, and comes as part of a wider collectors package that extends beyond the guitar itself.

That means the V2 model is accompanied by an actual mirror face mask. Yep, that’s right, a mask – built with the help of the same designer, creator and materials as Bellamy’s own – is included in the V2 collection.

Then there’s just the small detail of the additional custom-cut Protechnic flight case, the Manson Heistercamp Premium special edition Geo logo guitar strap, and a selection of Geo plectrums.

There’s also a laser etched certificate of authenticity – as opposed to the boring regular one – and limited-edition color print hand-signed by Bellamy himself.

As Stark told Guitar World last year during an in-depth discussion of the instrument’s conception, the Geo Mask model was inspired by the original mirror mask that Bellamy had donned.

“The main challenge was getting from the idea to a working image to see if it could actually work,” said Stark, who was able to make his vision a reality with the help of computer-aided design (CAD) mastermind James Yarde.

“James noted that the cavities were defined by the angles on the front,” Stark went on. “Some careful consideration had to go into the siting of the controls within the cavities.”

Then, it was up to woodworking luthier Emily Gardner to finish off the top’s mesmerizing finish: “She spent hours working it, getting each plane flat and crisping up each line where the planes met. That was the biggest challenge, really. Her skill and eye for detail really gave me the best platform to get the paint on and show off the final result.”

Owing to sheer detail that has gone into reproducing these models – and the understandable fact they will be highly limited – they each come at a cost.

Only 10 of each package has been created: £7,999 for V1 and £13,999 for V2 (approx $10,000 and $17,500 respectively).

To find out more, head over to Manson Guitar Works.

Manson has revisited Matt Bellamy’s flagship MB-1 signature guitar, giving the wildly equipped space age six-string a fresh lick of paint.

Dubbed “Blanta”, the none-more-glittery colorway harks back to the flagship MB-1 from 2007, which boasted a Red Glitter finish – a finish that was later affectionately christened “Red Santa”.

As such, we can only speculate that “Blanta” is a portmanteau of Black Santa – unfortunately “Ranta” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue in the original’s case – with the new-look model opting for a somewhat stealthy, yet suitably stylish, glitterball vibe.

Extravagant cosmetics aside, the MB-1 Blanta – which arrives in two versions – faithfully follows the precedent set by the Muse frontman’s feature-packed Red Santa guitar, meaning it comes with all the fancy bells and whistles you’d expect.

Starting with the basics, the MB-1 Blanta boasts a two-piece alder body, which is joined by either a 5A roasted flame maple (Version 1) or 3A birdseye maple (Version 2) neck and a 12”-16” compound radius ebony fingerboard.

Other functional features include a MB Soft V neck profile, Graph Tech TUSQ XL nut, Gotoh GTC-102 bridge and Gotoh tuners.

All of the above is responsible for accommodating the array of cutting edge electronics that the MB-1 offers. Pickups-wise, the guitar comes equipped with a PF-1 bridge and a Sustainiac Stealth PRO neck humbucker.

Once again, there’s a generous suite of spread-out controls to tango with. Three toggle switches are tasked with navigating pickups, triggering the Sustainiac and selecting the Sustainiac mode (Harmonic, Mix or Fundamental), while two control knobs take cover of Volume and Tone.

The Tone knobs also doubles as a push/pull control for coil-tapping, with a Kill Switch button also making the cut.

Of course, Manson’s custom X/Y MIDI controller screen – now in a sleek black surround – takes pride of place just underneath the six-saddle bridge, and can be used to trigger MIDI control changes via touchpad. Anyone who has seen Bellamy play knows exactly what this thing is capable of.

The MB-1 Blanta V1 and V2 are available now for £4,650 and £4,999, respectively.

Head over to Manson to find out more.

The MB-1 Blanta isn’t the only guitar that Manson and Bellamy – who is a majority shareholder in the company – have been working on together in recent months. For Muse’s ongoing European tour, Bellamy debuted a radical new guitar that took inspiration from his crazy mirror mask.

Before that, it was revealed a Stratocaster-style Manson – which had already seen live action with Bellamy – was also in the works.

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.

The design made its official debut at the start of Muse’s European tour in June, where it was used for the title track from latest album Will of the People, plus fan favorite Hysteria.

But, as Manson Guitars’ Head of Design & Production Tim Stark explains, the guitar was first conceived a long time prior.

“As soon as I saw the first couple of videos for the Will of the People album launch – Won’t Stand Down and Compliance in early 2022 – and saw the mirror angled mask, I thought a guitar with differing planes similar to the mask would look cool,” he tells Guitar World.

“I’d wanted to do a modern looking angular ‘carved top’ for a while, along the lines of a stealth bomber like the F-117. This just married the two ideas together.”

This isn’t the first time Manson has looked to military airplanes for inspiration – Bellamy’s Bomber model remains one of his all-time classic designs – but the radical angles marked uncharted territory for the brand.

“The main challenge was getting from the idea to a working image to see if it could actually work,” says Stark.

When the guitar was first conceived, Manson had started to move over to CNC (computer numerical control) machining, which allowed for the creation of guitars using computer-aided designs (CAD). Stark had made a start on the design, but the logistics of actually building the guitar were still yet to be realized.

The addition of CAD mastermind James Yarde to the Manson team meant that by the time the Will of the People tour came around, he was able to make Stark’s vision a reality – although its angular form came with certain caveats.

“James noted that the cavities were defined by the angles on the front,” Stark explains. “Some careful consideration had to go into the siting of the controls within the cavities.”

With the design mapped out, it was up to woodworking luthier Emily Gardner to shape the guitar’s avant-garde top, which Stark notes is “right up there” with Manson’s most difficult builds.

“She spent hours working it, getting each plane flat and crisping up each line where the planes met,” Stark enthuses. “That was the biggest challenge, really. Her skill and eye for detail really gave me the best platform to get the paint on and show off the final result.”

And what a final result. Although there has been the occasional angular guitar top in recent years – Ernie Ball Music Man’s Kaizen springs to mind – the Mask is defined by the way it accentuates its sharp lines, rather than integrating them as part of a smoother whole. The ultimate effect is one of a distorted mirror, aided by the use of reflective chrome paint.

Yet while the aesthetics were challenging, the rest of the guitar ranks among Bellamy’s most straightforward builds – those acute angles don’t exactly make for easy MIDI screen integration, after all.

“The specs are pretty basic for us, really,” Stark admits of the guitar, which utilizes a two-piece alder body with matte black paint on the back and sides and a gloss chrome effect paint for the masked front. That’s complemented by a 22-fret flamed maple neck with ebony fretboard and matching chrome headstock.

Hardware is all Gotoh 510 series, while electronics comprise a Sustainiac system and Simon Thorn-built Manson PF-1 (Bellamy's go-to pickup for the last seven to eight years), with a single volume control and faux tone load.

“It’s pretty simple for a Manson guitar when you consider what else we have created,” says Stark. “The visual of the mask design was the bit that we wanted to shout about on this design.”

And Manson Guitars weren’t the only ones shouting about the model; just hours after its debut outing, Muse fans were fawning over its striking appearance.

As Stark puts it: “We knew we’d made something pretty cool when it all came together, but none of us were quite prepared for the reaction we got on our socials when Matt first played it on stage in Austria.”

Naturally, plenty of fans are asking whether they’ll be able to own their own Mask guitar – and despite the challenges, Stark is keen to make it happen.

“I think there’s a definite chance we’ll release it as a limited run at some point,” he teases. “It definitely won’t be a regular production model as it’s a very time-consuming build.”

It’s safe to say that fans shouldn’t go expecting an affordable price tag, but there might be another way they can get up-close and personal with the model.

“It’d be nice for us to get it out into people’s hands during the WOTP tour schedule if we can,” Stark says.

Let’s hope so – it is, after all, the will of the people.

Manson Guitar Works has unveiled a new Stratocaster-inspired electric guitar design for Muse frontman and company owner Matt Bellamy.

The guitar was first spotted by fans during Muse’s debut Will of the People tour dates, which kicked off on February 25 in Chicago, and saw Bellamy employing the model for some delay-drenched clean lines on new track Verona.

In response to fan enquiries about the guitar, Manson Guitar Works has served up a sneak peek of its design, which updates the classic Strat format – albeit without venturing into full-blown Bellamy touchscreen territory.

The model sports a Strat-esque double-cut alder body, finished in Desert Sunburst with a custom blue mirror scratchplate, echoing the artwork of Muse’s 2022 album, Will of the People.

Inspect the rear of the body and you’ll note some additional sculpting around the neck heel for unencumbered access to the guitar’s roasted maple neck and rosewood fingerboard.

Elsewhere, there’s a set of custom pickups – neck and middle single coils, plus a stacked bridge hot rails unit – designed by the company’s in-house pickup guru Simon Thorn, while a Gotoh 510 vibrato bridge rounds off the spec.

Manson has said that a production run is a possibility, which would mark a departure for the UK builder, which has traditionally dealt in Tele-inspired guitars, most notably with Bellamy’s own signature models.

Bellamy himself has a history with Stratocasters: he owns one of Fender’s extremely rare Aloha Strats, which featured in the band’s landmark 2002 live release Hullabaloo.

The frontman has since gravitated away from Stratocasters when writing and performing, noting that the model’s heritage makes him assume a different state of play.

“The most important thing is that when you pick [a guitar] up, you feel like you are you; you’re not just trying to be someone else,” he told Guitar World in 2020.

“For me, that was a very real thing insomuch as, to this day, if I’m playing a Strat or whatever, I play the blues. The blues just starts coming out. I can’t stop playing the blues on a Strat!”

Now Manson has made his tweaks to Fender’s classic format, we’d wager Bellamy feels a little more at home.

Earlier this month, it was announced that legendary UK guitar store Mansons Guitar Shop, which Bellamy frequented as a teenager, is set to close after 31 years. Manson Guitar Works is unaffected by the closure and will continue to operate as normal.

As one of the most forward-thinking and progressive guitarists on the planet, it’s safe to say there’s plenty to learn from Matt Bellamy – and we’re covering a fair amount of ground here with a set of lessons breaking down his style for you. 

We’re looking at Matt’s classical-tinged chord progressions, his riffing style and blues approaches, plus we explain some of his shred techniques, too. 

Probably the most important element to be aware of is his timing. Matt’s a tight player, and, whereas funk and blues guitarists tend to have a looser style, pushing notes early or laying back and behind the beat, Bellamy typically plays somewhat metronomically. 

Bear this in mind as you work through our tab examples. Keep your timing tight and try to lock in with the drums when you jam along to our backing tracks. This is the secret that’ll get you closer to that trademark Muse feel. 

Example 1. Pedal Riff

We begin by demonstrating Matt's pedal tone riff-writing style, taking our inspiration from two of Muse's biggest hits, Stockholm Syndrome and Supermassive Black Hole. The scale tones are all placed along the sixth string with the open string serving as a repeating E ‘pedal note’. 

Example 2. Shuffle Feel

Though perhaps not always obvious, blues is a key part of the Muse sound. Check out songs like Uprising, Drones and recent release Will Of The People and you'll hear a blues shuffle groove driving things along. 

Octave shapes and sixth-string riffing are typical Bellamy fare, paired with tight timing and a distorted, high gain tone. 

Example 3. Tremolo Picking

This technique features on Time Is Running Out, The Gallery and various others, and it's a great way to rev up any simple melody. 

Here in our example, the constant rapid-fire tremolo picking and high-gain humbucker tone turn an otherwise basic line into an incendiary lick. Keep your picking movements small and tight, with the motion coming mainly from your wrist. 

Example 4. Sequenced Scales

The classical-inspired technique we're looking at here is reminiscent of Bach’s Toccata And Fugue, and you can hear it Muse’s Plug In Baby and Animals. Sequencing in this context means playing through a scale a few notes at a time. 

Our lick begins with a sequence of ascending three-note runs through the E harmonic minor scale (E F# G A B C D#) before finishing with a sequence of descending four-note runs.

Example 5. Arpeggios

Matt uses arpeggios to create classical-style lead guitar lines. The arpeggio notes are the same as the notes in the chords; so, for the Am chord the notes are A, C and E, and for G# chord the notes are G#, B# and D#. We're just moving up and down the arpeggios to create an interesting melody.

Example 6. Ascending Chord Progressions

Here we're getting to the heart of Muse-style chord progressions with an ascending sequence similar to Space Dementia. 

Our example is structured around standard major and minor chords, with ‘outside the key’ slash chords connecting it all together in a chromatic bassline. When played ascending, this gives momentum that's perfect for an epic bridge or an exciting outro. 

Example 7. Double Picking

Taking our inspiration from Matt's solo in Hysteria, the idea here is to pick each note twice, first with a downstroke, then an upstroke, to create a driving, melodic riff. 

Rather than picking down and up parallel to the strings, try moving your pick inward and outward so your upstrokes are clear of the strings. This will make string changes cleaner and string skips much easier.

Example 8. Tapping

One of Matt’s shreddiest techniques is his Van Halen-inspired tapping method which you can hear in Reapers and the solo in Invincible. 

For our example, use your second finger to tap and pull off from the 12th fret while resting the side of your palm on the other strings to keep them muted. Use the first and fourth fingers of your fretting hand to spell out the other notes.

Example 9. Minor Key / Major V

Another Bellamy chord progression trick here that’ll give you an epic Muse vibe. In a minor key the V chord should technically be minor. For example, in E minor (E F# G A B C D) the V chord is Bm (B-D-F#). 

Change one note and make it a B major (B-D#-F#) and you get classical-tinged chord changes of New Born. Our example takes you through the ‘in key’ chords of Em, Am and G before hitting the all-important B major V chord. 

Example 10. Legato

Another of Matt’s shreddier techniques, this legato line can be played with no picking at all once the first note has been sounded – just use pull-offs to the open D string for a smooth, uninterrupted stream of notes. The open D string here acts as a root note and the ascending notes are from the D harmonic minor scale (D E F G A Bb C#). 

Matt Bellamy is one of the 21st century's bona fide guitar heroes. Over a near-three-decade career with Muse, the UK guitarist and frontman brought progressive playing, classical influences and outlandish tones into the mainstream, building an unlikely bridge between Radiohead, Rage Against the Machine and Rachmaninoff.

Given the band's propensity for selling out stadiums, the response to our poll of the best Muse guitar tracks was similarly well-attended – 10s of thousands of you made your voice heard.

Below, we present Matt Bellamy’s 10 greatest Muse guitar moments, in reverse order, and starting with an Origin of Symmetry classic…

10. Bliss – from Origin Of Symmetry (2001)

How exactly do you go about following the crowd-conquering and era-defining perfection of Plug In Baby and New Born? 

For the third single from Origin Of Symmetry, it was a case of adding even more experimentation to the mix, with futuristic synth lines warring against jangly minor chords from the very start and continuing through the hard-strummed, open position shapes of the chorus – which interestingly go into double time after the initial opening cycles. 

Although it’s a simple enough technique for songwriters to use, this change of pace really adds to the dramatic tension of the build, making for a climactic rise that ends on a suspenseful F minor barre-chord. 

And, while they’re not actually played on an electric guitar, the opening and closing keyboard arpeggios – which move from  Cm to Bb to Fm – actually make for an excellent sweep picking exercise, particularly for those interested in moving down one area of the neck and coming back up in a different position before each chord change.

9. Time Is Running Out – from Absolution (2003)

A high contender in the list of Muse tracks your bassist keeps asking to run through, and one of the last to be composed for Absolution, this top 10 single was the sound of Muse embracing a more mid-tempo and groove-oriented take on alternative rock. 

Oddly enough, the members have even revealed it was partly inspired by the Michael Jackson hit Billie Jean, a song which they felt made listeners want to click their fingers and shake their hips – and in that regard they most certainly succeeded. 

During the pre-chorus where he sings “Bury it, I won’t let you bury it”, Matt Bellamy incorporates elements of the vocal melody into his chords, often simply changing just one note at a time to allow his guitar to not only support but also mirror his voice. 

If tremolo-picked octave shapes after the chorus sections are reminiscent of the kind of things that Jonny Greenwood played on Radiohead’s Pablo Honey and The Bends, it’s probably because Greenwood was a big influence on Bellamy early on.

8. Butterflies And Hurricanes – from Absolution (2003)

Their first-ever top 10 single from their first album to top the charts on home soil, Butterflies and Hurricanes is the sound of a band with all the creative wind in their sails. 

With Bellamy’s octave shapes providing a counter melody to Chris Wolstenholme’s bass lines, it’s another track that carries a strong progressive and space rock influence, with no shortage of keyboards adding to the atmospheric collage. 

There have been several live arrangements of the track over the years – some closer to the original and others with Bellamy replicating the opening synth line on guitar by playing a standard Dm chord and holding that shape while lowering the note played on the B string one fret at a time.

It’s this knowledge of chords – where to use majors, minors, dominants and half-diminisheds – that has allowed Bellamy to break out of conventional rock guitar riffing and into more modal, classical and film score-esque grandeur.

7. New Born – from Origin Of Symmetry (2001)

Debut album Showbiz certainly had its fair share of fiery moments, but it was on second album Origin Of Symmetry where Muse started cranking the gain and showing us just how loud they could be when they wanted to. 

Its second single was incredibly deceptive in that sense, starting out as more of a twinkly, keyboard-led number reminiscent of their earliest work before a detuned fuzz riff arrives out of the blue and roars its way through your eardrums. 

The more extreme guitar tones heard on this and prior single Plug In Baby were thanks to a Z.Vex Fuzz Factory acquired by Bellamy while on tour in Japan, which soon became his go-to fuzz/distortion – to the point where he was even having its circuit built into his custom Manson guitars. 

With its classical-inspired chord movements, clean funk strumming in the verses and alternate picked, Tom Morello-esque shred guitar solo, it’s another example of Bellamy mutating different styles into his very own beast.

6. Map Of The Problematique – from Black Holes And Revelations (2006)

It’s no secret that Muse have been responsible for some of the most dazzling tones of the past two decades – and this 2006 track could be the pick of the bunch. If its opening guitars sound more like a distorted synthesizer, that’s because it was originally written and demoed on keyboards. 

“I really wanted to hear it on guitar, but there was no way to play the keyboard part on the guitar,” recalled Black Holes producer Rich Costey in 2007. The band spent the next two days reverse-engineering the idea, using a range of equipment to make Bellamy’s guitar react like an arpeggiator. 

“It’s a guitar going through three different modular synths that are opening up at different times,” explained Costey. “Two of the synths are routed into different pitch shifters – one is an octave up, the other is an octave down. The guitar was split into three: the ARP 2600, a Korg MS-20 and an EMS Synthi AKS.”

5. Stockholm Syndrome – from Absolution (2003)

When Matt Bellamy writes a song in drop D, chances are it will sit among the heavier Muse offerings. Stockholm Syndrome is a down-tuned affair that captures the band driving at full force, with more of a metallic style of riffing that bounces off the open low D and notes fretted an octave up around the 12th fret. 

Those intervals include a minor 2nd, a major 3rd, a perfect 4th and a minor 7th – built from the D Phrygian Dominant scale (the fifth mode of G harmonic minor, theory fans!). 

Another key feature of the song is the tempo shift between its verse sections and choruses, going into more of a half-time groove for the most anthemic moments where more space is needed for vocals. 

And to bring it all to a thunderous close, the main riff is played open, loose and slower more in the style of Tool guitarist and fellow Diezel VH4 enthusiast Adam Jones.

4. Plug In Baby – Origin Of Symmetry (2001)

As Bellamy himself admits, he might never have written Plug In Baby without his trusty Manson Delorean. What a shame that would have been, given how quickly it became the group’s biggest anthem. 

Although often incorrectly tabbed in the open position, the main theme which starts the song is played around the 7th fret – sequencing passages from the B harmonic minor scale before adding in a Dorian major 6th flavour played on the 9th fret of the B string, which then gets bent up half a step into a minor 7th and released. 

For the verses, Bellamy leaves most of the heavy lifting to the bass, save for a few pitch-shifted triads which ring out before the full-chorded strums of the chorus. Each section involves its own unique approach, which is precisely what makes it such an effortlessly dynamic track. A masterpiece!

3. Hysteria – from Absolution (2003)

A contender for the best song called Hysteria ever written, this is probably the Muse song your bassist most wants to cover. Absolution was the album that lifted Muse to arena level, and Hysteria was the song that got musicians talking. 

Naturally, it’s Chris Wolstenholme’s gargantuan bass riff that gets a lot of the attention, but there’s no shortage of guitar excitement. Bellamy’s whammy bar nudges enhance the chorus powerchords, and the sequence of octaves and bends he plays over the main riff is almost as iconic as the bass riff itself. 

The most fun part is the monstrous variation on the main riff that comes after the second and third choruses, where guitar and bass sync up to provide one giant tone. The solo is comprised of two parts – the first where notes are double picked on the higher strings up around the 14th fret and the final part which consists of C, G, Dm and Am triads ringing out from the same area high up the neck.

2. Knights Of Cydonia – Black Holes And Revelations (2006)

Like Bohemian Rhapsody, Knights of Cydonia is an epic whose defining guitar riff doesn’t arrive until near the end of the track. Also like Bohemian Rhapsody, it’s guaranteed to have all occupants of any vehicle headbanging in unison when it kicks in.

The spaghetti western guitar tones at the beginning recall the surf guitar greats, with a ton of Fender-style reverb and tremolo, and the tremolo-picked descending slide at 0:47 is pure Misirlou. But there’s actually less pedal trickery than you might imagine. 

The frantic vibrato on the riff that arrives moments later, for example, is created simply by waggling the hell out of a whammy bar with the picking hand while using hammer-ons to fret notes on the A string. 

If you don’t have any guitars fitted with a tremolo arm, you could always use a dedicated vibrato pedal like the Boss VB-2W or TC Electronic Shaker – or even check to see if any of your vibe or chorus pedals have a vibrato mode.

1. Citizen Erased – Origin Of Symmetry (2001)

Total Guitar readers’ favourite Muse song, Citizen Erased was also for many years the band’s longest track, and is also one of the rare instances where Matt has used a seven-string guitar – which ended up being his very first Manson instrument. 

“On Citizen Erased, Dom came in one day with this funky James Brown beat and Chris just started playing along,” Matt revealed at the time of release. “I then applied a chord structure that I already had and it suddenly became a full-on metal track out of nowhere. Because it was so heavy for so long we decided to add another song on to the end of it.” 

The opening riff is played using the open seventh string – tuned to A – and artificial harmonics on the higher A-string. If you don’t have a seven-string, you can tune your sixth string to A, though remember there will be less tension and overall resonance than with the thicker gauges used on extended range instruments.

The roots of Manson Guitar Works go all the way back to the ’60s, when Andy Manson decided to build his first acoustic guitar at the age of 17. He and his brother Hugh founded the company, specialising in electric instruments, and during the ’70s and ’80s they continued to build and repair, with famous clients including Jeff Beck, former Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones and former Cream bassist Jack Bruce. 

But it wasn’t until the early ’90s, when co-owner Adrian Ashton came on board to help open a shop in Devon, that Manson became the business we know today.

Matt Bellamy, a player synonymous with Manson, became a majority shareholder in the company in 2019 following Hugh Manson’s retirement. And with Matt’s hands-on role in product development, there are exciting times ahead, as Adrian Ashton reveals to Total Guitar...

How exactly does it work when Matt comes up with the concept for a new guitar?

“The person who has been bringing Matt’s ideas into reality for the last 10 years is our head luthier Tim Stark. They usually get talking about projects first and also involve Chris Whitemyer, who is Matt’s tech. 

“It’s all about turning those ideas into something that gets the creativity side established and feels a bit out there, but never detracts from being a really great, playable instrument. I find with a lot of wild guitars, it’s the guitar itself that lets the show down. We always keep that as our core philosophy – whatever we do, no matter how wild it gets, it’s still got to be a great guitar underneath it all. 

“I was with Matt just this morning and we were looking through all the racks of different models. Every guitar felt extremely unique and individual, and yet you could pull any one of them out of the rack and it would play like a Manson guitar. I think that’s really important to us all.”

From a design point of view, how did you go about creating the onboard Kaoss Pad effect?

“So it’s not actually a full Kaoss Pad inside the guitar; it’s just the screen glass. That came quite early on, when Hugh Manson was working with Ron Joyce – who is still with us now and is a great electronics designer and engineer. Ron played a big part in incorporating those kinds of electronics into the actual instrument. 

“That’s a great example, because the inspiration was ‘I want a Kaoss Pad inside a guitar!’ and the reality was a bit different. Funnily enough, some people have seen the Manson guitar and actually tried to do that, thinking that’s how we did it.

“But no, it’s all custom boards and circuits by Ron Joyce. You have to get the initial idea going and then the team will engineer it so it’s practical and usable, and doesn’t need a new battery every 10 minutes!”

Other requests have included a built-in MXR Phase 90 and Z.Vex Fuzz Factory. What were the main challenges there?

“Yeah, the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory was one of the very early ones that featured on Matt’s original DeLorean. He also wanted an MXR Phase 90 on there too. The challenge was wiring all these things together and keeping noise to a minimum, finding a balance between two very different circuits. 

“The Fuzz Factory is one of the most outrageous pieces of kit when it’s in a standalone box, but when you put it into a guitar that allows the user to manipulate the sound, things go completely off the wall. It’s doable, but it takes a lot of research, skill and ultimately a great team behind you, which we have!”

Though you’re generally viewed as a boutique brand it’s interesting how Manson now offer affordable guitars as well as custom boutique options, catering for every corner of the market.

“That’s right. Matt’s been very keen on making guitars that are affordable. His UK-made signature is about three and a half grand but we’ve since expanded to fill most market sectors. We have a licensing deal with Cort [the META series] that allows us to bring in something under £600. That range of licensed stuff is actually expanding a lot this year. 

“And we’ve also decided for the first time to play on that high-end boutique aspect we’re known for with the DL-OR series, inspired by and recreating Matt’s original DeLorean. So we do everything from £600 to £6,000 and beyond, while keeping everything nice and solid in the middle!”

What else does Matt bring to the table for the business?

“We have fantastic input from him. He’s definitely not just a guy that’s come along and bought the company on a whim. Manson is now owned between Matt and myself – he’s the majority owner. 

“We all have a great relationship – obviously he’s a huge global artist, he’s extremely gifted when it comes to songcraft and pushing the boundaries of music and instruments. He didn’t just find us and say, ‘Let’s just keep making standard-style guitars with a couple of pickups in Sunburst!’ 

“What he brings to this company in terms of artistry is priceless, to be honest. Me and the team are there to bring his ideas into reality and practicality. It all works really well. We’re already discussing new products that we’ll be bringing to the market... I can’t give away too much at this stage, but what I will say is that it’s not a guitar!”

Matt has told us about a new pedal in the works...

“It’s very exciting. We did some playing and listening today, and I’m very excited about the sounds that were coming out. It’s going to be a great little product, but we’ve still got a little bit of a wait until we release it.”

• For more info on the company's latest designs, head to Manson Guitar Works.

Matt Bellamy loves a heavy riff. Now, more than ever. “I definitely think a bit more metal has crept in this time,” he says of the new Muse album Will Of The People.

He’s always had it in him, as evidenced by early Muse bangers like New Born and Stockholm Syndrome, which helped make the trio one of the most successful alternative rock acts of the modern age. But with this new album, the singer/guitarist is really going for it in terms of sheer sonic weight.

Will Of The People is a head-twisting celebration of heaviness – from its opening title track to its unequivocal closing number We Are Fucking Fucked. It’s the sound of a group finding new ways to catch lightning in the bottle and hardwire galactic riffs into stadium-conquering anthems. 

Tracks such as Kill Or Be Killed and Won’t Stand Down live up to the metallic defiance of their titles, while You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween – despite being a synth-led throwback to the group’s electro influences – features the most overtly shred guitar run ever heard on a Muse album, a throwback to the ’80s heyday of shred game-changers Yngwie Malmsteen and Paul Gilbert.

This is also the first Muse album on which Matt has used the famous guitar he bought in 2020 from Parisian dealer Matthieu Lucas – the 1983 Telecaster previously owned by the late Jeff Buckley. 

The guitar has an unusually glassy tone thanks to a slight defect which helps it shine just as spectacularly today as it did on Buckley’s classic 1994 album Grace, but when Matt plays it on this new album’s title track, it’s for colour.

• Manson Meta MBM-2 P-90 and MBM-2SF review

The heavy riffs are delivered via his Manson guitars, the brand he has sworn by since the early days of Muse, and in which he invested in 2019, becoming a majority shareholder in the company.

His long association with Manson is one of the key subjects he discusses when he talks to TG on a warm summer’s day in London. He also speaks of the unique qualities in that famous Tele and his search for the perfect fuzz pedal. And he reveals how the heaviness in Muse’s new album was inspired by his teenage obsession with Iron Maiden and his young son’s love of Slipknot...

There are some very classic Muse ingredients on the new album’s title track – from the down-tuned single-note riffs to a generous helping of octave fuzz.

“It’s pretty much a traditional blues riff, you know? That’s one thing I learned from Rage Against The Machine: you can get away with straight blues riffs as long as you make the production unique. That’s the key! I think it was the same with The White Stripes. 

“Sometimes you’ll sit down and play a pentatonic riff and think, ‘Oh, that sounds very familiar, something from the ’60s or ’70s, like Hendrix or whatever!’ I think we first learned this approach on Supermassive Black Hole, where we did everything we could to make a blues riff sound as futuristic and strange as possible. 

“We took the same kind of production approach with Will Of The People, because it’s mainly one main idea the whole way through and one of the simplest tracks we’ve done, at least on this album.”

Do you remember what fuzz pedal you were using on that one?

“We spent a lot of time working on those tones. Off the top of my head, it’s hard to know what got used where as we had around 50 fuzz pedals! DI’d fuzz is something we’ve gotten a lot out of over the years. It’s a very underrated technique, more modern-sounding than an amp. The classic is the [Electro-Harmonix] Big Muff, so I usually start from there and veer off into others.

“I’m actually in the process of developing a fuzz pedal that has a few features I’ve always made use of, all built into the pedal. It will have an EQ curve that you can slide from left to right or invert to create more of a scoop. I usually find most fuzz pedals to be a little bit too full-range. Especially in how they sit in relation to the bass, drums and vocals.”

So where’s the sweet spot, exactly? 

“For me it tends to be around 600 to 900Hz. It’s in this low, kind of girthy and middley area that sits nicely above the bass guitar but comfortably below my vocal... which is more classical and theatrical than your typical rock growl. I don’t like too much crossover with where my vocals sit. 

“Finding the right fuzz pedal to push that low-mid area was something we spent time on. And even after recording, whatever pedal we use, there will also be a lot of intense EQ work. So that’s what led me towards trying to develop something. I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m working with a few people to see how that feature can be built in, and then we’ll make it available for everyone.”

That’s exciting news. Will it be coming through Manson?

“Yeah, I think that would make sense. I could probably do it on my own but we have the team there who can check all of the electronics. It makes sense to keep it all in-house. 

“We don’t have a release date planned yet, we’re still researching. Hopefully it might be something we can come out with later this year. And it will be based on that sound you hear on Will Of The People and Supermassive Black Hole, which both rely on DI’d fuzz.”

With its thrash metal feel and palm-muted chromatic dissonance, Kill Or Be Killed could easily be one of the heaviest songs you’ve ever written...

“For sure! I’m trying to think of where exactly it came from. I mean, metal has always been around for us. When we were growing up, we were listening to bands like Iron Maiden. Dom [Howard, drums] was really into them as well. 

“And though we connected more through Nirvana, Rage Against The Machine and The Smashing Pumpkins, we always had this love for ’80s metal. It kinda hung around a little bit, which is where you might pick up on the harmonic minor scales we use. Metallica were also a big one for us, but Iron Maiden were the British band and also felt a bit more punk rock in ways.”

Especially on those early albums, one might say.

“It was more of a punk rock take on those harmonic minor scales. The song Phantom Of The Opera [from Iron Maiden’s self-titled debut album, 1980] doesn’t feel as bloated or overtly classical as other metal songs. There’s still something quite angry and scary about it. That’s why Maiden are a band we’ve always looked up to.

“That usage of the harmonic minor scale and the progressive approach to arrangements is something that we share, even if we never sounded like them and live in a different genre. We have a lot of respect for them as musicians, especially Steve Harris, who is one of the best bass players around. You always hear him doing really cool and busy things. 

“After that I got into bands like Deftones. I wouldn’t call Rage Against The Machine metal necessarily, but they’re one of my favourites. Someone played me some Gojira a while back and I really got into them. I’m sure some of that crept in.”

Well, there’s even some double bass drum pedal on this new album.

“Yes! This is the first time I’ve managed to persuade Dom to use one. You can hear on Kill Or Be Killed [makes machine gun noise]. That’s not really his style of playing, but I really pushed him on this album and said we should bring it into the equation when needed, like there and the middle section of Won’t Stand Down. He had to practise it for a while. 

“If you’re not naturally a double bass drum player, it’s not an easy thing to transition into. He’s always been more of a hi-hat player. But when you’re combining chugging on a guitar with that double bass drum, you’re automatically putting yourself in a metal world. I’m glad we’ve got that now. It’s a new dimension for this band that we might expand on in the future.”

There’s a solo in You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween which ends with what sounds like an Yngwie Malmsteen lick. Is he someone you’ve ever listened to?

“Oh, brilliant! I haven’t listened to him in a while, but Yngwie was one of those people I got into in the early ’90s when I first started playing. Clearly back then, I thought there was a chance! After a while I realised I simply couldn’t get to where he was and sort of veered off towards more classical and flamenco guitar styles. 

“Then I started listening to players like Hendrix and Cobain and felt, ‘You know what? I can do chaos. I can’t do this unbelievable technical precision but what I can do is create a mess!’ So I went down the road of noise, chaos and carnage... and little elements of the other things stayed with me. And I think you’re probably right, some of the fast-moving harmonic minor ideas will have come from players like that.”

Having been a loyal signature artist for two decades, you’re now a majority shareholder in Manson Guitars. When did you first try one and what did it bring to your playing?

“I grew up with the Manson shop nearby, which is where they made guitars too. It was the same place back then. There were a few guitar shops on that high street but this one always felt more authentic. You’d go in there and people would be actually building things in front of you, making or fixing bits. 

“The instruments themselves felt like they had a certain sense of precision and durability which led me towards wanting to playing heavier music. The primary attraction was that whenever I pick up a Stratocaster I tend to play bluesy. At its best, it’ll be along the lines of Clapton or Hendrix. 

“They never really felt right for trying to create something new. With Muse, we knew we were coming in at the tail end of rock music’s innovation and longevity in the zeitgeist, if you like. We had to do something to try and stand out, to be new in some way or another.”

How about Gibson guitars – what might they do to your playing?

“Yeah, it’s similar with them as well. I’ll play a Les Paul and Led Zeppelin riffs will keep flying out, every time [hums riff to Zep’s Heartbreaker]. I don’t know what it was about the bluesiness of it all, not that I’m against blues, but it always took me to something that felt familiar from the past, in a way that I didn’t think was good. I wanted to explore unique sounds. 

“So I got chatting to Hugh Manson in the late ’90s. I noticed that as soon as I picked up any of his guitars, I didn’t go to any of those retro riffs I associated with Fender or Gibson. He also gave me an opportunity by saying he could build anything I wanted, so I started to think about adding effects pedals or Kaoss Pads. 

“The idea was that it could be bespoke. I could actually do whatever I wanted, any shape or finish. I could create my own identity through these guitars.”

The fact you’ve used them on pretty much every album says it all...

“I think the only time we’ve used no Manson guitars was the first album, Showbiz, and that’s because I couldn’t afford one. As soon as I had enough money, I went straight in. I actually bought the guitar I used for the song Citizen Erased from the second album, a seven-string. 

“Then when I had a bit more money, I went in asked for a fully aluminium one based on the Delorean from Back To The Future, with things built in like a phaser, a Tom Morello-style killswitch... Honestly, I don’t think I’d have created Plug In Baby without that guitar. 

“I’d pick it up and strange things would come out. It just felt new to me. So the ability to invent and create any kind of guitar I wanted heavily informed what direction Muse went in, at least guitar-wise. It’s been a close relationship ever since. 

“Pretty much all my guitars are from them. I’ve gone through quite a few, too, throwing them around on stage! Hugh got to a point where he decided to retire roughly five years ago and felt it was natural to come to me and see if I wanted to take it to the next stage.”

You bought Jeff Buckley’s Grace Tele in 2020. We’re dying to know – what’s it like to hold and plug in, baby?

“It’s amazing. What’s interesting about it is that there is a slightly strange issue with the pickups that’s never been corrected. It’s very slightly out of phase in the middle position with both pickups blended, which is odd because it sounds great. It has this glassy kind of tone, a bit like when you play the highest notes on a piano where there’s that natural sustain. 

“It’s that very plinky sound. It also has this very unusual clarity between each note, this total separation. I didn’t want to touch anything or change anything, but I took it to Manson so we could look at the electronics and analyse what was going on there. It’d be nice to replicate those pickups at some point so people could have their own version. 

“I’d say it’s probably the best clean-sounding guitar I’ve played, if you’re going for a very clean sound like on Hallelujah. Just plug into a Fender amp and it sounds exactly like that. It’s one of those things that will make your hairs stand up as you’re playing those parts. It’s a very unique guitar, I’ve never known anything else that sounds like it.”

Can you tell us what other non‑Manson favourites we’d find in your collection?

“There’s one in particular I go to and that’s a Stratocaster Relic. It’s not an actual vintage from the ’60s but it was made in the late ’90s based on one of those old ones. That’s what I turn to for neck pickup sounds, which I don’t use often, I’m primarily a bridge pickup player. 

“When I go to the neck, most of my Manson guitars have a sustainer pickup in that spot, which isn’t really made for amazing tones, it’s more there to sustain the strings. So on occasions I’ll go to the Relic. I’ve used some older vintage Strats over the years too, one example being the bluesy solo from the song Uprising, but I don’t use them often. 

“On this album, instead of going to the Strat, I went to the Jeff Buckley Tele – in Will Of The People, my Manson guitars are doing the chunky riff parts but the higher guitar is that Telecaster. And for Won’t Stand Down and Kill Or Be Killed I used a multi-scale fanned fret Manson.”

That’s also new ground for you, right?

“Yeah! You can really dig into the riffs on those guitars because of the scale length, you don’t get that floppy thing that happens when a six-string is tuned down. But at the same time I can play the high reggae-like chords you hear in the verses of Won’t Stand Down. I’m just trying to think of other things I own... 

“I’ve got a 1953 Gibson Goldtop. I don’t use it very often but it’s there to look at. I’m scared to touch it, to be honest, because of how much it’s worth! I’ve got a couple of Strats. There’s an Aloha Strat, which is the metal one that was a rare one from 1991 or 1992. There was a limited run of them. 

“That actually helped inspire the aluminium Manson later down the line. I’m not a big collector because I’m so Manson-based! The Jeff Buckley guitar really is the first time I’ve forked out some serious money for a collectable guitar. I guess it could be the beginning for me! 

“Our bassist Chris [Wolstenholme] is a pretty serious collector, he’s got a museum of amazing instruments. That’s also another reason why I don’t have many. If I ever needed anything, I’d just ask him. So maybe it’s time to start getting a collection going!”

As for guitar amps, are your Diezel VH4s and Vox AC30s still the main workhorses?

“Yeah, those are the classics. If I’m going for really heavy single-note riffs, the Diezel will usually be an essential feature. I’m not a huge fan of double-tracked guitars, but I am a big fan of having multiple amps being recorded at once through one guitar. You get the different responses which can almost create a double-tracked sound, even though you’re only playing once. 

“I have a 1964 AC30 and a 1970, too. They’re the ones which Brian May and The Edge use a lot, with the top boost. They’re specific from those years and can be very hard to find. I’m lucky to have this extremely rare Marshall, it’s a JTM45 and one of the first 50 amps Jim Marshall built himself. It’s basically the same one Jimi Hendrix used. That’s like a museum piece. 

“Anyone that knows the history of amps will be like, ‘Oh my god, what is this!’ and won’t believe I’m using it instead of keeping it behind glass! It was literally hand built by Jim Marshall and it sounds so Hendrixy, it’s insane. Sometimes I might use a modded JCM800 for a Tom Morello tone. There were a couple of extra little things which crept in on the sides. There was an Orange, we were trying to dial in a Slipknot kind of sound…"

Very interesting. What is it that you liked about Slipknot’s guitar tones?

“They’re a band I should have mentioned earlier. Obviously I’ve known about them for a while but I’ve never really given them a good listen. My son, who is 10 now, has just become a huge Slipknot fan out of the blue. I’ll be driving him to school and he’ll be blasting that out. 

“I’d be doing my best to deal with that, but the more I listened the more I realised how amazing the guitar playing was. I think one of them [Jim Root] uses an Orange. So we used a little Orange on those two heavier tracks. I’d never say we were trying to sound like Slipknot – there’s nothing you can do to sound like that band, because they’re just so unique and unbelievable. 

“But I feel like we’ve rediscovered them in the last year. I remember when the first album came out way back when. I remember listening to that a fair bit and eventually lost track. I went to see them play in a stadium in LA not long ago and it was just so intense... there’s nothing like that.

“And it was only used a couple of times, but I also recently got this really interesting amp. I don’t even know the name of it, but it’s a Gibson from 1940. It looks like one of those Pignose things, all you’ve got is volume but it sounded amazing because the speaker distorts the more you turn it up.”

How much does theory play a part in your writing? For example, the main lead in Plug In Baby is built out of B Harmonic Minor and Dorian, while other tracks might use classical ideas like secondary dominants...

“I’m mid-level schooled and not particularly advanced when it comes to theory. If I need to analyse something I can probably break it down and describe things the way you are describing things. 

“I’m not always thinking that way when I’m creating music. I think there are certain chordal movements that I’ve picked up over the years. I’m an ear player rather than a music reader. 

“I did an A-Level in music, it’s not that advanced, but I learned how to counterpoint and write Bach-like stuff without even needing to play anything, just in my head. I’ve always been drawn to things I didn’t fully understand.”

So which musicians inspired you most outside of typical guitar music?

“From the piano world it was people like Rachmaninoff or Liszt. The degree of modulation that happens in their music is still mind-blowing to me. Their level of intelligence in that point of time is comparable to what you see in tech now – the computer programmers of the modern world. 

“There was a time when geniuses were breaking boundaries by composing. I had to get my head around a lot of piano stuff. I would sit down and work through all the basics. I don’t have the dexterity or the technique, but learned what chords were working where and why, and how to modulate from this to that. 

“I’m not drawn to standard major and minor scales – it’s more stuff like Harmonic Minor or Phrygian. That comes from a lot of these Russian composers that I liked. They were trying to incorporate folk styles into the classical world. Guitar-wise, the South American composer Villa-Lobos was a big influence on me around 17 when I tried to get serious on flamenco. 

“I remember working through some of his etudes. Some of that stuff stayed with me, even though I kinda left a lot behind. There are remnants of theory, classical and flamenco in my playing. They’ve stayed with me, more as little hints than the main thing. I’m more led by the emotional reaction I have than anything theoretical.”

• Will of the People is out now via Warner Records.

“The Meta series don’t always have all the electronics built-in, but I’m hoping that if our collaboration with Cort goes deeper, we might be able to get some guitars with some of the more special effects stuff built-in.” That’s what Matt Bellamy told us when we spoke to him back in 2020. Two years on, and the Muse frontman-turned-guitar-brand-director has clearly settled into his role off-stage. 

Manson Guitar Works enlisted the help of Cort Guitars to carry out the build of its first affordable design, the MBC-1 in 2015. Next came the Meta MBM-1, and now we arrive at the latest updates in the Matt Bellamy signature guitar range, the Meta MBM-2. There are four models on offer: the neck P-90 loaded MBM-2, humbucker/Sustainiac-equipped MBM-2S, the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory-loaded MBM-2F, and the top-level MBM-2SF with a Sustainiac and a Fuzz Factory built in! 

Lefties are catered for too, with the MBM-2LH taking on the MBM-2 revisions, but with the same dual-humbucker configuration as the MBC-1, and at no additional cost to the ‘standard’, MBM-2. It’s a range of options that we haven’t seen at this price, in an easily accessible format from Manson Guitar Works before.

Our review models are the P-90-equipped MBM-2, plus the fully loaded MBM-2SF with a Sustainiac and Z.Vex Fuzz Factory circuit built in.

Now, the design is pretty much common to both models. It starts with that unique MB body shape, which has undergone some subtle body contouring changes in order to bring it closer to Bellamy’s stage guitars, and that last point is something we’ll be seeing throughout the MBM-2’s spec sheet. It’s cut out of basswood, and finished in either Dry Satin Black or Starlight Silver for the P-90-equipped version, or Dry Satin Black/Meta Blue for the tech-heavy model.

The necks on each guitar follow the same format with Canadian maple, carved to a ‘soft V’ profile and fitted with an Indian laurel fingerboard. Guitars don’t come much more contemporary than this, and sticking to that theme there’s a 25.5” scale length (enough to dip your toe into drop-tuned waters), with 22 frets, and the fingerboard features a compound 12”-16” radius. 

That means that it’s narrower at the headstock end to make chords more comfortable, while up at the top you should be able to bend without choking-out your notes.

The hardware is uniform, too, with a Cort T-o-M-style bridge and stoptail, plus Manson-branded locking tuners not only keeping things stable, but making string changes quick too. Electronically, both guitars feature a kill button as standard, and the controls are simple master tone/master volume knobs. So, is the difference purely electronic? 

In a word, yes. But what difference? We’ll get to that shortly, but first, we should add that the playing experience on both of our review guitars is not only comfortable, but a lot of fun.

The V-shape of the neck is indeed ‘soft’, and while there’s a very slight hump towards its centre, this certainly isn’t the pronounced ridge you’ll find on more vintage examples. It’s a great alternative in a sea of ‘C’s, made even better by the fact that it’s a satin finish, which to us adds a premium feel to what is (in the case of the P-90 model) a relatively affordable guitar.

The fingerboards on both are very neat, with nothing to slow us down and the highly-polished frets make fretting and bending silky smooth. Talking of which, if you’ve ever dismissed a compound radius as marketing fluff, these guitars could well change your mind. A combination of that neck profile and the radius means that we’re able to reach for the sky and hold it there with no sign of our note faltering. Under gain it’s a case of ‘go and have a bite’ – there’s a lot of sustain on offer.

But the big news here is of course the electronics. We’ll start with that neck P-90. Sometimes the humble soapbar gets overlooked as your grandad’s favourite magnet, when it really should be viewed as the guitarist’s secret weapon.

This isn’t an off-the-peg recreation of a dusty blues pickup, though. Manson’s Adrian Ashton tells us that in order to get the balance correct between the P-90 and the existing Manson-designed humbucker, they went back to the drawing board. It shows, because it’s got power and punch in abundance.

Forget what you might think about wooly, vintage warmth, and imagine a neck single coil that’s been on the Red Bull. It’s angry, fired up, and ready to throw tonal punches that you might not see coming. It’s the sort of deep neck tone we associate with players such as Tom Morello – one of Matt’s influences – and it also comes through in his own playing, particularly when he’s in drop-D.

There’s bass without flab, a mid-scoop without losing the growl, and a high-end that helps it slice through. It’s complemented rather than entirely contrasted by that bridge humbucker, which takes us back to a thicker, almost wider-sounding midrange when we want a smoother humbucker sound. 

In our review of the MBM-1, we mentioned how we’d like to have seen coil-splitting as a factory option, but in hindsight, we’ll take this pickup configuration – which could easily see you through everything from a set of blues to heavy rock – with pleasure. 

On to the sci-fi version, then. There’s the standard controls, but the neck pickup is a Sustainiac Stealth Pro. If you’re not sure what that is, you’re in for a treat. When switched off, the Sustainiac acts like a regular neck humbucker. But, engage the ‘on’ switch, and it will create a magnetic field to excite the strings. This means you can get an infinite sustain from one note, then violin it, slide it, bend it, douse it in effects – whatever takes your fancy.

But there’s more! Because the second toggle switch offers three modes: Fundamental (your original note frequency), Harmonic (which can be used for producing feedback-like sounds), and Mix (a blend of the two). There are internal trim pots inside the guitar for adjusting the humbucker volume, as well as Sustainer gain and Harmonic mode gain, too.

Adding to the fun is the Z.Vex Fuzz Factory circuit. We should point out that Manson hasn’t gone with an inferior or cut-down version of the additional electronics. These are the exact same effects and circuitry that Bellamy uses in his custom stage guitars. The Fuzz Factory is a modern classic, known for its excessive, ripping-Velcro fuzz sound and utilised by Bellamy most famously on the Plug In Baby riff (among many others).

Top-mounted to the guitar are the FF’s Stab and Comp controls, and the effect is engaged via another mini-toggle, which works in the opposite direction to that of the Sustainiac’s on/off switch.

Meanwhile there are additional controls inside the guitar’s cavity, which are again ‘set and forget’. Engaged, it’s nothing short of insanity, in the best possible way! Winding up the gate gets you that tight, ripping, Jack White-style fuzz, all stuttering and synth-like.

Play with the comp control, and you’ll hear a huge self-oscillation that sits somewhere between noise and feedback, and can be bent in pitch as you move through the knob’s travel. Bellamy fans will have seen and heard this particular effect many times in live performances.

Final Verdict

We weren’t sure how different these guitars would be from their – let’s face it – already extremely good predecessors. In a nutshell, we’d say that to the regular player, the P-90 MBM-2 represents a jump forward in versatility, with that neck pickup really adding an additional dimension that’s preferable to a coil split, while still maintaining a thicker sound so you don’t miss the humbucker.

The Sustainiac/Fuzz Factory MBM-2SF is a different beast. While the additional electronics make this guitar unique to an extent, it’s based on Bellamy’s own combo of experimentation, and therefore we think it’ll be one for Muse fans to really sink their teeth into. The Meta Blue finish looks fantastic, and both models prove once again what can be achieved and offered in an electric guitar in 2022 for surprisingly low prices. 

We started with a quote, so we’ll end on one, “We keep trying to find ways to make [guitars with effects] more cost-effective...” Says Bellamy. “We’re trying to find ways to make that more widely accessible so that we can make guitars like that for everybody.” We think they’ve managed it in spades.

Specs 

• PRICE: £569 / $599 approx (MBM-2 P-90), £1,349 / $1,499 approx (MBM-2SF) 
• BODY: Basswood
• NECK: Canadian hard maple
• SCALE: 25.5”
• FINGERBOARD: Indian laurel
• FRETS: 22
• CONTROLS: Volume, tone, 3-way switch, kill button (all models). Sustainiac on/off, mode toggle, Z. Vex Fuzz Factory on/off, gate and comp controls (MBM-2SF only)
• HARDWARE: Cort T-o-M-style bridge and tailpiece, Cort locking tuners
• LEFT-HANDED: Yes (dual humbuckers only)
• FINISH: MBM-2 P-90 – Dry Satin Black, Starlight Silver; MBM-2SF – Dry Satin Black, Meta Blue
• CONTACT: Manson Guitar Works 

Manson Guitar Works has announced new limited-edition, UK-built runs of two Matt Bellamy signature guitars, the MB and DL.

Most exciting of the pair is the 2022 DL-2, a full0production MB model inspired by last year’s replica of the Muse frontman’s Back to the Future-inspired DeLorean guitar, which sold out within a few hours of release.

The DL-2 brings the original £9,999 price down to a slightly more attainable £3,999 (approx $4,595) by trimming back the extreme aluminum construction – the guitar’s solid alder body is now finished in a satin DL silver colorway – and collectable extras of the original.

Yet the core electronic experience remains: a Manson hand-wound DB-90 neck pickup and Mother Superior multi rail bridge humbucker are onboard, while a Z.Vex USA custom Manson Fuzz Factory circuit and MXR Phase 90 circuit promise to deliver Bellamy’s trademark sonic wizardry, activated via a dual or quad-rail push/pull pot.

The neck, meanwhile, is based on last year’s uber-limited road-worn DL-OR Relic, with birds-eye figuring, original fretwire size and alternate side dot placement.

Just two runs of 10 pieces will be produced, and include a hardcase and hand-signed certificate.

While the DL-2 is based on Bellamy’s flashier models from the early Noughties, the MB-2 apes the stealthier designs flaunted by the guitarist over the past 10 years.

Based on a limited 2012 SE run, the MB-2 flaunts a pair of Manson’s DP-90 ‘bridge’ pickups, which can operate individually or team together for a ‘humbucker’-style sound, activated via a push-pull pot.

A Sustainiac neck pickup is also equipped, complete with associated toggle-switches, not to mention a kill switch and Manson MIDI controller, which offers additional digital flexibility.

“Hooked up to a Digitech Whammy or Korg Kaoss pad, replicating Bellamy’s unique stage tones is merely a screen movement away,” says Manson.

Other features include an alder body, birdseye maple neck with ebony fingerboard and 12-16” compound radius, and Gotoh hardware.

The MB-2 is available now starting at £4,299 (approx $4,940), including hardcase and hand-signed certificate. Just two production runs of 20 will be available, the first of which feature full custom necks.

For more info on all the new launches, head to Manson Guitar Works.

Manson’s had quite a 2022 so far, debuting fresh cut-price META Series Matt Bellamy models and the radical Nolly Getgood-designed Oryx VI. Oh, and there’s the small matter of a Bellamy-designed fuzz pedal on the horizon, too…

Last Friday (August 26), Muse released their ninth studio album, Will of the People.

Featuring, among other things, Yngwie Malmsteen-inspired solos and brutal metal throwdowns, it's also chock-full of superlative fuzz tones. The thundering new LP, and those fuzz tones, were both on Bellamy's mind during a new interview with Total Guitar’s Amit Sharma, in which the Muse frontman and electric guitar player also revealed that he was developing a signature fuzz pedal of his own.

"I’m actually in the process of developing a fuzz pedal that has a few features I’ve always made use of, all built into the pedal," Bellamy said. "It will have an EQ curve that you can slide from left to right or invert to create more of a scoop. I usually find most fuzz pedals to be a little bit too full-range. Especially in how they sit in relation to the bass, drums and vocals." 

When asked what his fuzz "sweet spot" was, Bellamy revealed that it "tends to be around 600 to 900Hz. 

"It’s in this low, kind of girthy and middley area that sits nicely above the bass guitar but comfortably below my vocal... which is more classical and theatrical than your typical rock growl," he explained. "I don’t like too much crossover with where my vocals sit. Finding the right fuzz pedal to push that low-mid area was something we spent time on. And even after recording, whatever pedal we use, there will also be a lot of intense EQ work. 

"So that’s what led me towards trying to develop something. I haven’t gotten there yet. I’m working with a few people to see how that feature can be built in, and then we’ll make it available for everyone." 

Bellamy then confirmed that the pedal would be released through Manson Guitar Works (the guitar company he acquired in 2019), saying "I could probably do it on my own but we have the team there who can check all of the electronics. 

"It makes sense to keep it all in-house," he continued. "We don’t have a release date planned yet, we’re still researching. Hopefully it might be something we can come out with later this year. And it will be based on that sound you hear on Will Of The People and Supermassive Black Hole, which both rely on DI’d fuzz."

The Total Guitar interview also finds Bellamy discussing the non-Manson highlights of his guitar collection – namely Jeff Buckley’s famously bright-sounding Grace Fender Telecaster – and how the band's enduring love of '80s metal informed Will of the People.

To read the full interview, pick up the latest issue of Total Guitar from Magazines Direct.

Muse’s latest album, Will of the People, lands today, and while its tracklisting is all over the musical map, there are some ripping guitar moments to be enjoyed.

Obvious standouts include Slipknot-meets-System of a Down riff-fest Kill Or Be Killed and electro-punk end-of-the-world anthem We Are Fucking Fucked, but the album’s best solo is buried away in an unlikely cut.

You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween plays home to the standout lead, and while its organ and synth-bass production don’t exactly scream neoclassical shred-fest, Matt Bellamy unleashes a monster of a guitar solo at the halfway mark, complete with some liquid legato and a rapid-fire descending harmonic minor lick that sounds right out of the Yngwie Malmsteen playbook.

And it turns out it could well be, as Bellamy details Malmsteen’s influence on his playing in a new interview with Total Guitar’s Amit Sharma.

“I haven’t listened to him in a while, but Yngwie was one of those people I got into in the early ’90s when I first started playing,” he says.

“Clearly back then, I thought there was a chance [of learning to play like him]! After a while I realised I simply couldn’t get to where he was and sort of veered off towards more classical and flamenco guitar styles. Then I started listening to players like Hendrix and Cobain and felt, ‘You know what? I can do chaos. I can’t do this unbelievable technical precision but what I can do is create a mess!’

“So I went down the road of noise, chaos and carnage... and little elements of the other things stayed with me… some of the fast-moving harmonic minor ideas will have come from players like that.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Bellamy reveals how metal played an important role in shaping the band’s sound, right back to their inception.

“Metal has always been around for us,” he recalls. “When we were growing up, we were listening to bands like Iron Maiden. Dom [Howard, drums] was really into them as well.

“And though we connected more through Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine and The Smashing Pumpkins, we always had this love for ’80s metal. It kinda hung around a little bit, which is where you might pick up on the harmonic minor scales we use. Metallica were also a big one for us, but Iron Maiden were the British band and also felt a bit more punk rock in ways.”

For the full interview, where Bellamy dives into his guitar collection, his plans for the future of Manson and reveals where he played Jeff Buckley’s Grace Telecaster on the record, check out the latest issue of Total Guitar, available from Magazines Direct.

Muse have dropped Kill or Be Killed, the fourth single lifted from their forthcoming studio album, Will of the People.

Just like Won’t Stand Down and the rousing title track, Kill or Be Killed sees Muse embrace a heavy sonic direction that teeters on the edge of all-out modern metal.

Unlike the album’s second single Compliance, which instead leaned heavily into electro-rock territory, Kill or Be Killed is a veritable electric guitar thrash-a-thon, swapping synth lines for unrelenting riffs and pulsating six-string action.

The vicious vocal delivery that frontman Matt Bellamy deployed in Won’t Stand Down are back in full force, accompanied by pounding chugs, machine-gun riffs and a high-octane solo preceded by some stomping six-string palm mutes at the 2:57 mark. 

A word on that solo: it’s one of Bellamy’s most technically dazzling solos ever put to record, and it sees him call upon a flurry of lightning-fast arpeggiated licks.

Amid the fretboard throwdowns, there’s still plenty of Muse flair in there, most notably the colorful chord choices of the verse and the catchy, operatic vocal hooks littered throughout.

Kill or Be Killed will be familiar to die-hard Muse fans, who no doubt would have heard the three-piece – which is completed by Dominic Howard on drums and Chris Wolstenholme on bass guitar – perform the song at one of their recent festival shows.

As such, Muse have dropped the track as Will of the People’s fourth single following an outpouring of calls for it to be officially released.

“Kill or Be Killed is Muse at their heaviest,” said Bellamy. “We wanted to update our hard rock sound on this album and with Kill Or Be Killed we found a modern metal sound featuring double bass drum action and even a death growl. 

“Lyrically the song takes influence from my favourite Paul McCartney song Live and Let Die,” he added, “a dark take on how life’s adversity can sometimes bring out the worst human instincts to survival at any costs.”

To this end, the track hammers home the theme of the wider album, which is said to be an exploration of “the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world”.

Bellamy explained, “A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests and riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will of the People.”

Will of the People is set to arrive via Warner Records on August 26, and will be Muse’s first album since 2018’s Simulation Theory.

When it arrives, the record will be promoted via a series of intimate shows across the US and Europe in October.

A full list of show dates can be found below.

• October 4 – Los Angeles, The Wiltern
• October 11 – Chicago, The Riviera Theatre
• October 14 – Toronto, The History
• October 16 – New York City, The Beacon Theatre
• October 23 – Amsterdam, Royal Theatre Carré
• October 25 – Paris, Salle Pleyel
• October 27 – Milan, Alcatraz

For tickets, and to preorder Will of the People, head over to Muse.

Muse man Matt Bellamy has played his own significant role in taking widescreen progressive rock to an enormous audience, so perhaps it’s not surprising he found a connection in Pink Floyd’s epic ear for composition...

“For the three of us in Muse, hearing The Dark Side Of The Moon for the first time was a massive deal. For our second album, Origin Of Symmetry, we were working with [producer] John Leckie. 

“He was kind of blown away by our lack of knowledge about the history of rock and music in general – and some people probably still are, to be honest! He would show us some artists like Captain Beefheart and explain how that transitioned into Tom Waits. 

“Obviously we’d heard of Pink Floyd, but we’d never really listened to them properly, or at least the way John wanted us to. So in 2001, he made us turn the lights out in the control room and play The Dark Side Of The Moon a few times. We were probably smoking spliffs going, ‘Wow, what is this music, it’s unbelievable!’ 

“It was such a mind-blowing experience. That was the first one that really hit us. It led to us making our fourth album, Black Holes And Revelations, in the south of France in a place called Miraval – an old chateau where they made parts of The Wall, which was the main factor in us deciding to record there!

“Picking out the best guitar moment on The Dark Side Of The Moon is a tough one, but I have to say Money stands out. That riff is super cool and there’s a whole message to it – they were tapping into this anti-corporate and anti-war sentiment. It was so influential in terms of what music can stand for.

“David Gilmour is such an amazingly expressive and emotional player. He somehow makes you feel like you’re hearing a human singing at times. He plays with a degree of expression that’s very, very rare. There’s no real technical trickery or showing off with him, unless it’s there for an emotional reason. 

“That tends to be my favourite kind of guitar playing – where emotion and expression are number one. If that takes you into a place of technical ambition, then so be it. But more often, it’s his note choices and feel that take you away... they’re evocative of infinite landscapes, things like Antarctica or the desert or roaming around the skies of Mars. 

“You get this feeling of floating around indefinitely when you’re listening to David Gilmour play. I don’t think anyone else has done that, for me, or at least to that degree. You feel so elevated and out of everyday life when listening to that band and his leads. It’s incredible.”

• Have your say! What is the greatest song Muse have ever recorded? 

Matt Bellamy of Muse is one of the greatest guitar players of the last 25 years - and to celebrate the band’s return, with new album album Will of the People released on August 26, Total Guitar wants you to vote for Muse’s greatest song.

Below, we’ve listed every track from their eight studio albums to date, plus the three songs from the new album that have been issued earlier this year – Won’t Stand Down, Compliance and the title track.

There are so any classics to choose from. The early songs that first put Muse on the map – like Muscle Museum from the debut album Showbiz, or Plug In Baby from second album Origin of Symmetry. The hits that made Muse stadium-filling superstars – Supermassive Black Hole, Starlight, Uprising and more. And there are the latter-day anthems such as Psycho, Reapers and Pressure.

So get voting for your favourite now! You can vote for as many songs as you like and we promise to count every one of ’em!

The results of the poll will be revealed in issue 362 of Total Guitar, published in August – which has Matt Bellamy on the cover and features a huge, career-spanning interview in which Matt talks in depth about the new album, his influences and his new Manson guitars.

Muse's headline set at the Isle of Wight festival on Sunday (June 19) was sprawling – a 21-track blast filled not only with a host of classics from their monstrous back catalogue, but a few unexpected audio tidbits, too.

They included a snippet of AC/DC's Back in Black tagged onto the end of Absolution cut Hysteria, the intro and iconic breakdown from Slipknot's Duality capping off Won't Stand Down, and Jimi Hendrix's Foxy Lady and Guns N' Roses' Sweet Child O' Mine rounding off Supermassive Black Hole and Plug In Baby, respectively.

But a notable highlight came when frontman Matt Bellamy set down his electric guitar after wrapping up Plug In Baby, subsequently putting on a robotic musical glove to play his 2020 solo single, Behold, the Glove.

In new footage posted on YouTube, Bellamy can be seen venturing out to the stage's ego ramp walkway wearing the glove like a musically-inclined Thanos, before using it to play a selection of calming synth lines. The audio-visual treat only lasted two-or-so minutes, though, before the band launched into The Resistance opener Uprising. Watch the performance at the top of the page. 

Muse are currently gearing up to release their ninth studio album, Will of the People. In addition to Won't Stand Down, the band have dropped two other singles from the record, Compliance and its ultra-groovy title track. All three were played during Muse's Isle of Wight set, which also included yet-unreleased single Kill or Be Killed during the encore. 

The band played a similar set at Tempelhof Sounds 2022, in Berlin. Where pro-shot footage emerged the following day, giving fans a taster of the pitch-shifting Kill or Be Killed, and perhaps of a new Manson Oryx series model. Bellamy performed the new track on a white Oryx-style double-cut with an intriguing multi-scale six-string design.

Will of the People is described by the band as an exploration of the “increasing uncertainty and instability in the world”, charting Bellamy's personal navigation through the volatile events of the past few years.

“A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests and riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will of the People,” Bellamy explains.

“It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long, are genuinely threatened,” he added. “This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.”

Will of the People is set to arrive on Warner Bros on August 26 and is available to pre-order.

Muse have released Will of the People, the riff-heavy title track and third single from their upcoming ninth studio album.

Following their previously released single Compliance, Will of the People sees the trio revert more into the stylistic territory of the album's first single, Won't Stand Down, with more emphasis on chunky, attitude-packed electric guitar riffs courtesy of frontman Matt Bellamy. Check out its accompanying music video below.

According to Bellamy: “Will of the People is fictional story set in a fictional metaverse on a fictional planet ruled by a fictional authoritarian state run by a fictional algorithm manifested by a fictional data centre running a fictional bank printing a fictional currency controlling a fictional population occupying a fictional city containing a fictional apartment where a fictional man woke up one day and thought ‘Fuck this.’”

Will of the People continues the theme of the band's upcoming album, which is described as an exploration of “the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world," charting Bellamy's personal navigation of the volatile events of the past few years.

“A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests and riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will of the People,” the guitarist explains.

“It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long, are genuinely threatened,” he added. “This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.”

It was produced by Muse – which in addition to Bellamy also features drummer Dominic Howard and bass guitar player Chris Wolstenholme – in London and Los Angeles, and mixed by Dan Lancaster, Aleks von Korff and Grammy winner Serban Ghenea.

Will of the People arrives August 26. Check out its track list below.

1. Will of the People
2. Compliance
3. Liberation
4. Won't Stand Down
5. Ghosts (How Can I Move On)
6. You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween
7. Kill or be Killed
8. Verona
9. Euphoria
10. We Are Fucking Fucked

Manson Guitar Works and Matt Bellamy have debuted a souped-up signature guitar range, the META Series MBM-2, which offers expanded and updated versions of the Muse frontman’s META Series MBM-1 signature.

Arriving in three colorways, the MBM-2 models are once again built by Cort, and boast revised body contouring – said to be more faithful to Bellamy’s stage guitars – as well as a handful of pickup configurations, one of which includes a custom Manson neck P-90.

The P-90 in question is found on two of the models, and favored over the dual humbucker layout found on the flagship MBM-1.

For the first time, the MBM-2 series has also introduced a left-hand option, available only in Matte Black. Unlike the others, though, the southpaw MBM-2 is more faithful to the original MBM-1 blueprint, featuring a pair of Manson humbuckers.

Two pre-existing finishes, Matte Black and Starlight Silver, feature in the lineup, with the familiarly finished axes both sporting the custom Manson neck P-90. The third model, meanwhile, features a Sustainiac Sustainer pickup in the neck position, and debuts a fresh Meta-Blue colorway.

At their core, each MBM-2 electric guitar features a solid basswood body and maple neck – the same specs found on the award-winning MBM-1 – and a kill button on the upper bout that opens up an array of tone-manipulating powers.

It looks as though the wider control layout is also the same, comprising a three-way pickup switch and master knobs for volume and tone.

Elsewhere, each axe sports a tune-o-matic-style bridge and tailpiece combo, as well as a headstock adorned with Bellamy’s signature.

In terms of price, the revised models are similarly priced to their forebears, retailing from £569 (approximately $720).

To find out more, head over to Manson Guitar Works.

It’s the latest six-string offering from the creative minds of Manson and Bellamy. Last October, the pair introduced an ultra-limited run replica of the Muse man’s Back to the Future-inspired DL-OR guitar.

Muse have announced their new album, Will of the People, which will be released via Warner Records on August 26.

When it arrives, it will be Muse’s ninth studio album and their first full-length record since the release of Simulation Theory in 2018.

Accompanying the news is the 10-track effort’s electro-heavy second single, Compliance, which joins the previously released Won’t Stand Down.

While Won’t Stand Down marked a return to the band’s heavier roots, and offered up perhaps their most brutal riffs to date, Compliance is a more classically Muse offering, and layers on the eerie synths that chime away above a bubbling bedrock of warbling electric guitar textures and swells.

The track itself is said to be a study of what it’s like to be seduced by authoritarian rule, and has been paired with a similarly dystopian music video directed by Jeremi Durand, which you can check out below.

“Compliance is about submission to authoritarian rules and reassuring untruths to be accepted to an in-group,” explained Bellamy. “Gangs, governments, demagogues, social media algorithms and religions seduce us during times of vulnerability, creating arbitrary rules and distorted ideas for us to comply with.

“They sell us comforting myths, telling us only they can explain reality while simultaneously diminishing our freedom, autonomy and independent thought,” he added. “We are not just coerced, we are herded, frightened and corralled. They just need our compliance.”

As for the album itself, Will of the People was produced by Muse – whose lineup comprises Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme – who received mixing help from Dan Lancaster, Aleks von Korff and Grammy winner Serban Ghenea.

It was penned and recorded in London and Los Angeles, and is dubbed an exploration of “the increasing uncertainty and instability in the world”, charting Bellamy’s personal navigation through the volatile events of the last few years.

As the frontman explained, “A pandemic, new wars in Europe, massive protests & riots, an attempted insurrection, Western democracy wavering, rising authoritarianism, wildfires and natural disasters and the destabilization of the global order all informed Will of the People.  

“It has been a worrying and scary time for all of us as the Western empire and the natural world, which have cradled us for so long are genuinely threatened,” he added. “This album is a personal navigation through those fears and preparation for what comes next.”

For those of you who were hoping for some more Won’t Stand Down-style riff-a-thons, you may be in luck. According to the band, Will of the People won't bow to a single genre, and instead promises a melting pot of different styles, from glam-rock and alt-pop to “granite heavy riffs”.

The tracklist for Will of the People can be found below.

1. Will of the People
2. Compliance
3. Liberation
4. Won't Stand Down
5. Ghosts (How Can I Move On)
6. You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween
7. Kill or be Killed
8. Verona
9. Euphoria
10. We Are Fucking Fucked

• Will of the People is available to preorder now via Warner Records ahead of its August 26 release.

After sharing a sneak preview last week, Muse have now officially released their unrelenting new single, Won’t Stand Down.

Released via Warner Records, the track is Muse’s first new material since 2018's Simulation Theory.

As we hypothesized in our previous coverage, it’s also one of Muse’s heaviest offerings in recent years, with Matt Bellamy and co leaning heavily on metal influences to lend the track its bombarding, industrial tones and visceral riffs.

If you caught the teaser, you probably thought you knew what to expect from Won’t Stand Down, but it turns out the band’s penchant for all things heavy goes far beyond the grizzly electric guitars of the post-chorus breakdown.

Right off the bat, Bellamy squeezes out every ounce of tone from his Manson, calling upon gargling low-string rumbles for the verses and tighter but by-no-means-less-brutal overdrive tones for the lead riffs.

At times, it’s a happy marriage of Muse’s electro-rock style and more conventional metal, though it’s one that gets thrown out the window by the time the concluding six-string beatdown arrives, throwing up wailing vocals and punishing guitar lines.

Accompanying the song is an eerie music video directed by award-winning filmmaker Jared Hogan, whose credits include Joji and girl in red.

Of the track, Bellamy commented, “Won’t Stand Down is a song about standing your ground against bullies, whether that be on the playground, at work or anywhere. Protecting yourself from coercion and sociopathic manipulation and to face adversity with strength, confidence and aggression.”

While the single hasn’t been accompanied by the news of a new album, we expect Won’t Stand Down to open the proverbial floodgates, so anticipate more Muse material throughout the year.

The band have, however, announced a string of European festival dates across the summer, which will see them play Madrid's Mad Cool Festival and Nova Rock Festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria. Full dates are available at the band's website.

Despite being relatively quiet on the music front, Bellamy has kept himself busy in recent months, releasing an ultra-limited replica of his Back to the Future-inspired Manson DL-OR guitar.

Last week, Muse frontman Matt Bellamy teamed up with Manson Guitar Works to tease the imminent arrival of a Back to the Future-themed signature guitar. Now, the pair have finally unveiled the electric guitar they had hinted at: a limited-edition replica of Bellamy’s DL-OR guitar.

Available in a regular or Relic aluminum finish, the DL-OR is based off one of the Devon-based brand’s most iconic instruments – Bellamy’s original Origin Re-issue axe that was built by luthier Hugh Manson and electronics mastermind Ron Joyce.

And when we say “limited edition”, we mean it. Only 24 regular DL-ORs were made, and only six DL-OR Relics were available for sale.

Unfortunately, in the short time since the guitars were announced, both the DL-OR and DL-OR Relic have sold out, with the latter selling out, according to Manson, “in thirty seconds”.

Bellamy’s original axe, which doubled as his first-ever Manson model, was wielded by the frontman on a number of live occasions from the launch of 2001's Origin of Symmetry onwards, and was the guitar he used to write the riff for Plug In Baby, inspired to its innovative appointments.

The guitar was stripped, studied and put under the microscope by builders at Manson Guitar Works HQ in a bid to design a fully faithful recreation of Bellamy’s flagship DL-OR, with the factory run iteration sharing a host of unique specs with the original.

First and foremost, the guitar’s eye-catching alder body comes fully clad in aluminum, and is paired with a soft V-profile birdseye maple neck and rosewood fingerboard. A matching aluminum headstock also makes the cut.

Other appointments include chrome-finished hardware, comprising a piezo-equipped GraphTech Ghost Resomax bridge and Gotoh GE101A tailpiece, as well as Custom and Gotoh Mini control knobs.

The real magic, however, happens under the hood. Two Manson-made pickups – the multi-rail Mother Superior bridge and the Deci-Bel 90 neck – are controlled by an ultra-versatile control layout that also boasts an onboard Z.Vex Fuzz Factory and MXR Phase 90.

Controlling the plethora of tones are six control knobs and four toggle switches. While the first two toggles serve as a pickup selector and kill switch, the final two mini-switches act as on/off controls for the MXR Phase 90 and Z.Vex Fuzz Factory.

The knob layout, meanwhile, comprises Volume, Piezo Volume, MXR Phase 90 Speed, Z.Vex Fuzz Factory Stab and Comp controls, as well as a push-pull “bucker-splitter” Tone control. Due to the smorgasbord of switching options, Manson’s declaration that this guitar is a “tone beast” is certainly justified.

However, it doesn’t stop there. Flipping the guitar over reveals even more controls – an internal sub-board control unit that, on the standard DL-OR, flashes Bass, Middle, Treble and AC Gain parameters. The Relic iteration takes things slightly further, and features additional Volume, Gain and Drive parameters.

The additional Fuzz Factory board, built to the same specification as the original DeLorean, was the result of a lengthy design process that involved sourcing original components and transistors that were in the correct gain range.

Luckily for both Manson and Z.Vex, long-serving employee Shoua Thao had – on Zack [Vex]’s orders – stored away some transistors when the original was made for the exact possibility a replica may be created in the future. These rare components were unearthed and used on the new-for-2021 axes.

Other Relic-specific specs include the same-gauge 6230 fret wire that was found on the original.

There were no official US prices for the already-sold-out guitars, though the DL-ORs sold for £9,999, while the DL-OR Relics each listed for £12,999.

If you still wish to find out more and marvel at the engineering ingenuity on display, head over to Manson. 

Matt Bellamy became Marty McFly and took a trip Back to the Future in a recent video posted to social media by Manson Guitar Works, which teased the imminent arrival of an all-new ‘80s-themed signature guitar.

In a quick-fire mini-film trailer that hit all the Back To The Future nails flush on the head, the Muse frontman embraces his inner time traveller – thanks to some film-accurate costume appointments – and hops into the film’s Flux Capacitor-powered DeLorean.

It’s the iconic car that seemingly gives Bellamy’s new guitar its name – the DL-OR – which, after some small-screen cinematic visuals that will give fans of the film an intense wave of ‘80s nostalgia, is revealed to be arriving on October 26.

Due to the nature of the video, there really isn’t much to go on, but there is enough to decipher the guitar’s striking silver sparkle finish, and its pickup configuration comprising a bridge humbucker and a neck P-90.

For those who are familiar with Bellamy’s massive Manson collection, the tease won’t come as much of a surprise. After all, the Muse man was built a Manson DeLorean – dubbed the Silver Manson – by Hugh Manson as his first custom guitar, and used it live up until the start of the Black Holes and Revelations tour in 2006.

It can also be seen in action during the Hyper Music music video – which you can check out below – as well as in the videos for Butterflies & Hurricanes, Dead Star and the US version of Stockholm Syndrome.

Now, it seems the pair are reviving that one-off custom build for a factory production line – a revelation that will no doubt enthuse fans of both Back To The Future and Muse.

And, if the new-for-2021 version is anything like its predecessor, it will come equipped with a smorgasbord of electronics. Though it seemingly ditches the piezo found on the original, it does feature the body-mounted Z.Vex Fuzz Factory controls below the bridge.

When announced, the model in question will be Bellamy’s second signature six-string of the year to take inspiration from an iconic vehicle found in popular culture, following the release of the Knight Rider-styled KR-1 guitar.

If Bellamy and Manson plan on continuing this famous car theme, who knows what could be next? Perhaps one that takes inspiration from the Aston Martin DB5 in James Bond? The Mini Cooper from The Italian Job? Or how about the Ectomobile from Ghostbusters? The possibilities are endless.

Stay tuned for updates, which will come in thick and fast on October 26.

The Jaded Hearts Club has unveiled their new single, a cover of the Northern Soul classic, Do I Love You (Indeed I Do).

The accompanying video takes advantage of some digital tweaks to give the band a baby-faced makeover. Sort of like a budget version of the Bad scene from Moonwalker. You'll also note that Matt Bellamy is playing his black, LED-equipped violin bass, built by the team at Manson.

The term supergroup is bandied about loosely these days, but The Jaded Hearts Club is something of who’s who of turn-of-the-century British rock, including Blur’s Graham Coxon and Muse’s Matt Bellamy, alongside Miles Kane, Nic Cester (Jet), Sean Payne (The Zutons) and Jamie Davis. 

The band first formed to play Davis’s birthday celebrations taking inspiration from the Hamburg-era Beatles, but enjoyed the chance to cover classic rock and pop songs, (including The Sonics’ Have Love Will Travel and The Four Tops’ Reach Out I’ll Be There) too much to leave it there.

A 2020 debut, You’ve Always Been There, was followed-up last year by Live At The 100 Club, recorded at London’s iconic Oxford Street venue.

Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) is the first new studio recording from the band since 2020 and is a take on the lost Motown hit that became a classic in the UK’s Northern Soul scene.

The song was originally slated for release by Frank Wilson on the Tamla Motown label in 1965, before label founder Berry Gordy pulled the plug, destroying most of the copies in the process. 

The song nonetheless found it way to classic status via bootleggers and the Northern Soul scene and has since become one of vinyl buffs and soul fans most sought-after singles. 

Nic Cester said: “The story behind Frank Wilson and how this masterpiece was made and lost is fascinating in itself. It’s great to have a chance to bring this song back to life, it seems so simple but there is so much talent on the original recording. It’s an absolute classic Northern Soul song - heavy beat, fast tempo underground soul music.”

The Jaded Hearts Club's Do I Love You (Indeed I Do) is streaming now.

Muse man Matt Bellamy has raised $26,000 by auctioning off an NFT iteration of his solo track Guiding Light (On Jeff’s Guitar).

As alluded to in the song's full title, the track was recorded using a Fender Telecaster that was previously used by Jeff Buckley during the recording of his iconic record, Grace, and much of the acclaimed singer/songwriter’s live work.

It was last year, in a Guitar World exclusive, that Bellamy first revealed he had purchased Buckley's instrument via Matt’s Guitars in Paris, telling us he “had a whole team of people doing due diligence on it to make sure it was absolutely the right one…  I managed to get it verified, and I’ve got his Telecaster that he recorded the whole Grace album with, and the song Hallelujah.”

Guiding Light is one of 10 songs from Bellamy’s new solo release Cryosleep, which was recently released on limited-edition 12” picture disc for Record Store Day.

Three of the tracks from that record - Guiding Light, Tomorrow’s World and Unintended - have now been auctioned off as NFTs via Cryptograph, with visuals from 3D artists and animators, including Liam Pannier, Leonardo Senas, Perry Cooper and Charlotte Risch. 

Surprisingly for guitar geeks, Guiding Light, which sold for approx. $26,000 (just under 14 Ethereum), was not the top seller of the auction. The Tomorrow’s World NFT went for even more, at 14.5 Ethereum, or approx $27,300 at current cryptocurrency exchange rates. 

Bellamy’s auctions have all helped to raise funds for UK homelessness charity The Passage.  

For Bellamy fans who missed out on the auction and the limited edition Record Store Day release (ie, most of us), you can hold tight for the full release of Cryosleep, which is due to land mid-August. 

Manson Guitar Works has unveiled the latest in its line of Matt Bellamy signature guitars, the KR-1.

With visuals inspired by Knight Rider’s vehicular star KITT, the KR-1 features a Stealthy Dry Satin Black finish, complete with black Gotoh hardware and a striking red Manson logo on the headstock.

This being a model for the Muse frontman, the alder-bodied T-type is KITTed out with a versatile sonic arsenal, encompassing a Sustainiac Sustainer – controlled by custom black paddle switches – and a Manson PF-1 bridge pickup.

A coil-tap switch adds further flexibility, with Manson touting everything from “angular ‘alt’ brightness” to “full-fat humbucker-driven punch”.

And for anyone playing the guitar in the black of Knight, Manson has equipped a set of glow-in-the-dark Luminlay side dots to guide players around the ebony fingerboard and maple neck.

Two versions of the guitar will be available: the KR-1 is limited to 80 pieces worldwide, and comes with a printed A5 certificate and Manson-exclusive Hiscox hardcase.

But there’s also the ultra-limited K1T-1 edition, limited to a mere 20 instruments, and boasting red anodized Manson custom hardware, as well as a larger A4 hand-signed certificate.

KR-1 and K1T-1 models start at £2,499 (approx $3,470). For more info, head over to Manson Guitar Works.

Muse are set to celebrate the 20th anniversary of landmark release Origin of Symmetry with a remixed version of the entire album.

As the anniversary approached, the band asked Grammy-winning producer Rich Costey to revisit the original recordings, and derive a new sense of clarity and dynamism from the tracks.

As well as new artwork by Sujin Kim, Origin of Symmetry (XX Anniversary RemiXX) now adds B-side Futurism to the tracklisting – in between Feeling Good and Megalomania – and was remastered by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios.

Ahead of the arrival of the album’s release on June 18, the band have shared a new version of Citizen Erased, which gives a flavor of what to expect from the reimagined record.

The new mix of Matt Bellamy’s first foray into seven-string guitar foregrounds his burgeoning experiments with Z.Vex’s Fuzz Factory, lending extra crackle to the track’s opening harmonic squeals and uncovering previously unheard oscillation sweeps. Once-buried chromatic arpeggios have also been lent a fatter clean tone.

"In revisiting the album, what we found was the original mixes on the singles, like Plug In Baby and Bliss, were pretty good so they were the hardest ones to improve," says Bellamy. "It was the deeper album tracks like Micro Cuts where we were able to make massive breakthroughs."

In addition to the release, the frontman has previously hinted at the possibility of anniversary shows when live events return in full force.

Last month, Bellamy announced a new solo album, Cryosleep, for Record Store Day, which is set to include recordings that showcase Jeff Buckley’s Fender Telecaster. Bellamy purchased the iconic Grace-featured guitar last year.

Muse frontman Matt Bellamy has announced a Record Store Day-exclusive album, Cryosleep, which includes a song recorded on Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’ Fender Telecaster.

Among the record’s 10 tracks are a number of Bellamy’s recent solo contributions, including Pray (from the Game of Thrones soundtrack), Behold, the Glove, and Tomorrow’s World, as well as a cover of Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water, and Fever (by ’60s-themed supergroup The Jaded Hearts Club).

The album also features new versions of Muse tracks Unintended, Take a Bow and Guiding Light, the latter of which is subtitled “On Jeff’s Guitar”.

Bellamy revealed that he purchased Buckley’s Telecaster in an exclusive interview with Guitar World last year.

“I had a whole team of people doing due diligence on it to make sure it was absolutely the right one, interviewing his family and all sorts,” he told GW.

“I haven’t bought it to hang it on the wall with a picture of Jeff saying, ‘Look what I’ve got.’ I’ve bought it to actually attempt to use it and integrate it, and keep this guitar part of music. I’d like to believe that’s what he would have wanted.”

Bellamy’s latest release won’t be the first time he’s used the guitar on record – he’s previously played it on a track by The Jaded Hearts Club, and also intends to use it on the next Muse album.

Cryosleep will be available as a gatefold LP with an exclusive songbook of sheet music on July 17 – see the official Record Store Day website for more info.

Bellamy’s RSD-exclusive album follows the news that St. Vincent is celebrating the day with her own release – a cover of Metallica’s Sad But True.

Nandi Bushell’s impressive collection of electric guitars has just gotten even larger, with the 10-year old internet sensation having been gifted a Manson Matt Bellamy signature guitar by the Muse frontman himself.

The generous offering comes after Bushell's cover of the Brit rock trio’s Origin Of Symmetry track, Plug In Baby, where Nandi caught the band’s attention with her multi-instrumentalist skills.

“This is amazing!” said an unsurprisingly ecstatic Bushell after she finally freed the flashy Manson Meta Series MBM-1 model from its bubble wrapping package. “This is so cool, thank you so much!”

An accompanying letter, signed by Bellamy, reads, “Hi Nandi, love the new covers. Thought you might like to perform some on my signature model. Best wishes, from Matt and the guitar team."

The young axe slinger wastes no time testing out the guitar, and enthusiastically rifles through an unplugged version of Plug In Baby’s lead line.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you Matt Bellamy for giving me your signature guitar! I love Muse and hope to jam with you, Dom and Chris one day too."

After celebrating with a "special Nandi Bushell dance", the formidable young guitarist exclaims, “Pretty cool, right?!” Yes, Nandi. Very cool. Very cool indeed.

It’s not the first time Bushell has been given a special six-string gift from a famous admirer, as she recently received a Tom Morello Fender signature Stratocaster from the Rage rocker himself.

Manson has announced the MA 2020 Red Santa Limited Edition, based on one of Muse frontman Matt Bellamy’s most iconic custom electric guitars.

The Red Santa gets its name from its dazzling Metallic Holosparkle Red finish, which is recreated here in all its glory.

Otherwise, the model is spec’d as per the rest of Manson’s MA series, with coil-tappable custom-voiced pickups, onboard kill switch, custom CTS pots, and Gotoh hardware.

Naturally, a variety of technologically advanced upgrades are also available, including a Floyd Rose, Sustainiac neck pickup, built-in Fuzz Factory, and guitar-mounted MIDI screen controller, now with a new high-polish aluminum surround.

More traditional features include an alder body, and 12”-radius soft V maple neck with ebony fingerboard.

The MA EVO Red Santa is available now from Manson Guitar Works and international dealers, starting at £1,679 (approx $2,180).

Head over to Manson Guitar Works for more info.

Matt Bellamy acquired Manson Guitar Works back in June 2019, and detailed his plans for the company in an extensive interview with Guitar World earlier this year.

“I feel like we’re a future-leaning guitar company,” Bellamy told GW.

“We’ve got our eye on what guitarists might want nowadays and in the future, not just trying to recreate what guitarists had in the past. Rather than ‘the great vintage tone’ and all that kind of thing, I’ve always been more interested in ‘what’s a more modern sound?’ and ‘what kind of sound effects would fit in more with modern music?’”

Last year, Matt Bellamy took over Manson guitars, which had been making his custom creations for over two decades – and to celebrate, he gave his idol Tom Morello his very own ‘Power to the People’ model. And now it seems Morello has sent a gift in return.

In a new Instagram photo, Bellamy can be seen with Morello’s signature Stratocaster, with the caption, “Thanks @tommorello for gifting me this Fender Soul Power beast! Looking forward to plugging it in.”

Earlier this year, Bellamy said of his own gift for Morello, “I think he’s probably the most innovative guitarist of our generation. So I felt like I had to give him something to say thanks for all the amazing riffs.”

This, of course, isn’t Bellamy’s first new guitar of the year – he also bought Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’ Telecaster, and took receipt of a bonkers LED-equipped Manson violin bass.

Morello previously surprised 10-year-old Nandi Bushell with her own Soul Power Strat after her storming Rage Against the Machine cover in support of Black Lives Matter. She promptly put it to good use with a thoroughly rocking cover of Audioslave’s Cochise.

Matt Bellamy is synonymous with his extravagant custom Manson electric guitars, but now it seems the Muse frontman has secured his first bass guitar - and it’s more than a little wild.

As revealed on Bellamy’s Instagram, the custom four-string is based on the Hofner violin basses favored by Paul McCartney during The Beatles’ early years, but with a very Matt Bellamy makeover.

In keeping with the guitarist-turned-bassist’s space-age aesthetic, the bass boasts LED body binding and even a light-up headstock logo, leading Manson to dub it “one of the most fun (and challenging) builds we’ve recently undertaken!”

Aside from the jet-black finish and chrome pickguard, the bass is actually fairly faithful to the Hofner original, from the bridge to the control layout and even the pickups - at least visually. Knowing Manson, there will be a few tricks up its sonic sleeve...

Bellamy, who is now a majority shareholder in Manson, previewed the bass earlier this year in an all-encompassing interview with Guitar World.

“I’ve actually been developing a cool bass, which is based on the Hofner bass that Paul McCartney played,” he teased. “It’s obviously going to be a much more modern-looking and sounding version of that as well - I like the idea of expanding the bass range a little bit.

“Obviously, I’m a smaller bloke; when I play bass, I’m similar to Mike Kerr from Royal Blood in terms of the shorter-scale, more lead-type bass playing. In other words, bass playing where you’re playing lead riffs, not just bottom-end stuff. So I’m trying to develop a bass that has that kind of feel to it.”

The instrument is set to feature in the video for Reach Out I’ll Be There, the new single from Bellamy’s Beatles-inspired supergroup The Jaded Hearts Club, which lands on Friday.

2020 may be a year off for Muse, but life in quarantine could hardly be considered a vacation for Matt Bellamy, one of the 21st century’s bona fide guitar heroes.

The frontman’s home studio has been busier than ever, hosting recording sessions for his debut solo outing - symphonic piano overture Tomorrow’s World - as well as tracking and production work for The Jaded Hearts Club, his Beatles-themed supergroup with Graham Coxon and Miles Kane. But a return to his arena-demolishing day job will just have to wait for now.

“We’re going to get musical and get back in the studio probably next year for another album,” he reveals. “And we were hoping to do a tour, if the world comes back to any normality - probably in 2021 or 22.”

When Bellamy does eventually get back on stage, you can be sure of one thing: there will be a Manson custom guitar slung around his shoulder.

Back in June last year, Bellamy became the majority shareholder in his local guitar company, which has been bringing his technologically advanced guitar designs to life for the best part of 20 years.

Over the past year, the firm has launched the affordable META Series of Matt Bellamy signature models, while developing big plans for the future and how to cater for the guitarists of tomorrow - all with the Muse frontman’s visionary spirit at the helm.

We caught up with Bellamy to get all the info on what Manson is working on behind the scenes, why Tom Morello continues to be a key influence on his approach to guitar design, and how, exactly, he came to own Jeff Buckley’s iconic Fender Telecaster…

What do you think sets Manson apart from other guitar companies, and what are your aims for the company?

“I think they’ve always been very open to my ideas to try and modernize the guitar and keep it up-to-date. Since we started making guitars together, we’ve tried to integrate effects and other sounds into guitars.

“I feel like we’re a future-leaning guitar company - we’ve got our eye on what guitarists might want nowadays and in the future, not just trying to recreate what guitarists had in the past. Rather than ‘the great vintage tone’ and all that kind of thing, I’ve always been more interested in ‘what’s a more modern sound?’ and ‘what kind of sound effects would fit in more with modern music?’

“And obviously it’s personal to me as well, because it’s a small business in Devon [UK], which is where I’m from. So, where the factory is and all that stuff, it’s just down the road from where I went to school.”

So, what guitars are next in the pipeline?

“We’ve just launched the Manson META series, which is like our equivalent of the Fender Squier-type thing. In other words, we wanted to create a low-cost model. We did it in the past with Cort, but now it’s very much our branding - we approve it, we put the electronics in, we distribute it, and all that kind of stuff. That’s pretty much based on my standard touring guitar, but there are hopefully a few other colors of that coming out as well.

“In terms of other, more higher-end, interesting things that we’re working on, I’ve been doing guitars with [Korg] Kaoss Pads in for a while, and some of the feedback we’ve got from people who have bought those is that sometimes they didn’t realize that you actually have to take MIDI out of the guitar and put it into a Kaoss Pad or a synthesizer, or some other MIDI-controlled device. So I’ve been very keen to try and develop a guitar where out of the box with a Kaoss Pad, it does cool stuff - you don’t need to actually attach it to anything else.

“What I’ve worked on is a long way from being in production - I’ve had one made for me that I have on tour, but obviously a lot of labour-intensive hours went into it, so it’s not quite cost-effective to actually make it saleable yet.

“If you look up the tour that I did last year - the guitar solo in the song Break It To Me has the kind of effect that I’m talking about. It’s the electronics and components from a [DigiTech] Whammy pedal, and all of those components are built into the guitar, along with a Kaoss Pad screen.

“So, essentially, it’s a guitar that has a really customizable Whammy scenario - so instead of using a whammy bar, you’re using the Kaoss Pad, so you can do anything from pitching up an octave, down an octave, two octaves up, two octaves down - you can even do divebombing, or you can do touch rhythmic playing.

“That’s the guitar that I’m most excited about trying to get it to the point where we can actually sell it and make it available. At the moment, it takes about a month or two just to build one of them. So I’m hoping to get that out, because to me, that’s a real evolution and a step beyond what the whammy bar was in the 20th century. I think, nowadays, you can do a lot more with this.”

Speaking of guitar’s place in the 21st century, you’ve stated that guitar is no longer a lead instrument - do you still stand by that statement, and how does that feed into the guitars that Manson makes?

“[Laughs] I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I think what I meant was I think that unless a guitar is a lead instrument. I think in the 20th century, the guitar could exist just as a rhythm instrument, just in the background, strumming along, playing powerchords or whether it be rhythmic chords on acoustic guitar or whatever.

“I kind of feel the guitar as a rhythm instrument is not as important as it used to be. But I think the guitar as a lead instrument, playing cool, big melodies, or doing something that when it happens in a song, you go, ‘Oh my god, there’s a guitar!’ and you can hear it doing something really important. Like a big riff, or a cool lead melody, or even a solo or whatever, I still think all that stuff is very much important and relevant to modern music. And obviously the acoustic guitar has stayed very important.

“I think what I meant by that was just strumming along doing powerchords is no longer enough for the guitar to be an exciting instrument, especially in contemporary music.”

Where do you think the future of guitar lies?

“I think it probably lies there. All music consists of some kind of element of a riff or a melody of some kind. I don’t just mean guitar-based - whether it be a piano, a synth or even a vocal lick or something. A good composition always seems to have really interesting melodies, or riffs or licks or catchy parts, however you want to call it.

“I think as long as the guitar can keep up with making interesting sounds, it will always remain relevant in that way. Because in terms of a performance instrument, I do think it does feel the best. I play piano, I play keys and stuff like that, but when I’m onstage, it feels restricted, you don’t feel like you can run around - I don’t feel like I can do much.

“With contemporary music, you’ve got a lot of people that have something on a laptop in the background, and then they have an interesting frontperson who runs around. But the guitar is the only instrument that really bridges that gap - you can actually be a frontperson playing an instrument.

“I think that’s why the guitar has always remained so exciting: because you can run around on stage, you can still be a frontman or woman, and you can still play musical notes as well. There aren’t really many instruments that have been able to give that freedom - whether it be drums, laptops, keyboards, you are restricted to a seat or a standing position mostly. Unless you want to get the keytar out... but I’m not sure about the keytar! [laughs]”

You’ve had some instruments that have been very close…

“I know, I know... I’ve dabbled! [laughs]”

So, apart from the technological aspects, what do you think are the most important elements of a good guitar?

“Some of the things that I’ll say are probably a bit more about the fact that I’m a frontman running around - so, for me, I think guitars that sound good but are very lightweight. I’m not a fan of big heavyweight guitars, but that’s more of an onstage thing.

“In the studio, it’s almost the opposite - you want something that’s got a nice, woody tone so that when you’ve got a clean sound, it has an element of character to it... elements of imperfection, you know what I mean?

“I think sometimes some modern guitars can lean too far in the ‘totally clean, even tones across every note [territory]’, to the point where it loses a little bit of character. So I’ve often played a lot with putting different pickups in my guitars - especially for studio use - that have a little bit more of a slightly crunchier tone, or a slightly more imperfect feel about them.

“But it has to be something that feels good to you. I’d say probably the most important thing is that when you pick it up, you feel like you are you; you’re not just trying to be someone else. It’s a cheesy maxim, but essentially [adopts American accent] be yourself, man. [laughs]

“But what I mean by that is, for me, that was a very real thing insomuch as, to this day, if I’m playing a Strat or whatever, I play the blues. The blues just starts coming out. I can’t stop playing the blues on a Strat!

“So, whatever style of music you’re in - or whatever style of music you want to do, or whatever you identify with yourself as an artist - make sure you’ve got the guitar that makes you feel like that’s what you’re gonna do, and it doesn’t pull you in another direction.

“For me, I had to make a guitar that was brand-new in order to feel like everything I’m doing on it is gonna take me in a new direction, and not make me feel like I’m replicating music from the past.”

Tom Morello adopts a similar ethos - he recently supported you on tour and you gave him his own custom-made Manson model. That must have been pretty surreal, given what a huge influence he was on Muse…

“Yeah, he’s a great guy. I’d say he’s been really influential on my concept of guitars as well. We mentioned that whole Whammy thing - a lot of that stems from some of his playing in the ’90s, and how he used the Whammy pedal.

“A lot of it was me watching him, going, ‘How could he be doing this in a way that he wasn’t stood just in front of his pedalboard? What if he wanted to go out into the crowd, or what if he wanted to walk around the stage and do some similar stuff?’ So my thinking was, ‘What could we do to make guitar work for someone without having them in a fixed position on stage?’

“I think he’s probably the most innovative guitarist of our generation. So I felt like I had to give him something to say thanks for all the amazing riffs.”

You’re not looking to sign him up as a signature artist, are you?

“[laughs] I dunno… maybe! I’m not sure if he’s into that kind of thing. I mean, that’s a good idea… I think at some point I would want to expand out and get some other people involved - get some other guitarists to do signature models - and he would certainly be top of my list, that’s for sure.”

Manson is best known for its solidbody T-types. Do you see the company moving into other styles of guitars?

“For sure, yeah. To me, it feels like it’s leaned slightly metal, slightly hard-rock, and very modern. But having said all that stuff about being modern - it’s weird that I said all that, because I’m now about to say the exact opposite. [laughs]

“One of the things we are looking at is a collaboration with Graham Coxon from Blur, and we’re gonna work on a really interesting vintage type of guitar. It won’t be a vintage-looking guitar, but the tonality of it is gonna be very much the whole hand-wound pickups and all that kind of stuff. So that’s something that is actually very different for the company - it’s very different to everything that I’ve done with the company. It’s very different to any of the guitars that I play. But we are looking to tap into the vintage sound a little bit. That will be a line we do on the side.

“I’m looking to do a bass at some point. I’ve got myself a little band I’m doing called The Jaded Hearts Club, which is fun, and I play the bass in that band. I’ve actually been developing a cool bass, which is based on the Hofner bass that Paul McCartney played, but it’s obviously going to be a much more modern-looking and sounding version of that as well - I like the idea of expanding the bass range a little bit.

“Obviously, I’m a smaller bloke; when I play bass, I’m similar to Mike Kerr from Royal Blood in terms of the shorter-scale, more lead-type bass playing. In other words, bass playing where you’re playing lead riffs, not just bottom-end stuff. So I’m trying to develop a bass that has that kind of feel to it.

“Another thing we’re doing - it might be this year or next year - is an exact replica of my favorite [the Black Manson], and the first Manson guitar that I ever had made [the Delorian], which was 20 years ago. So we might do a limited run of a really precise, exact replica, including all of the electronics from that time.

“This stuff is probably at least six months or a year away, but I’m starting to look at effects pedals, as well. So we might develop a few interesting delays and fuzzes.”

Have you ever had any ideas so crazy, the guys at Manson just said, ‘Nope - that’s impossible’?

“[Laughs] Honestly, they’ve been very, very open. They made a version of the double-neck guitar, but originally I wanted the six strings to essentially be a ribbon controller MIDI thing, so in other words, like the bend on a MIDI.

“One neck was a fretless MIDI controller that could send bending notes on a sustained note. So, that was a real headache - it took about two years to make, and ended up with a compromised version of what I was looking for.

“But pretty much everything I’ve come up with, they’ve been generally pretty good. I keep trying to cram so much electronics into a guitar that it’s too much than can fit into the body. So, I’m hoping that as technology gets smaller and smaller, I can hopefully get as much stuff in there as possible, so the guitar itself can function without needing any outboard gear in terms of MIDI stuff and synthesizers and all those kinds of things.”

And, finally, what was your last great gear discovery?

“Well, I’ve gotta say, I just bought Jeff Buckley’s guitar that he used to record the Grace album. I’m not kidding! I had a whole team of people doing due diligence on it to make sure it was absolutely the right one, interviewing his family and all sorts. I managed to get it verified, and I’ve got his Telecaster that he used to record the whole Grace album and the song Hallelujah.

“It’s interesting, because he was a huge influence on me as a vocalist, but he was actually a great guitarist as well, and obviously Hallelujah is a legendary recording. I haven’t bought it to hang it on the wall with a picture of Jeff saying, ‘Look what I’ve got.’ I’ve bought it to actually attempt to use it and integrate it, and keep this guitar part of music. I’d like to believe that’s what he would have wanted.

“But what’s fascinating about the guitar is its sound. It sounds so weird - it doesn’t sound like any other Telecaster. I’ve had all the electronics analyzed - nobody’s changed anything - but the pickups, they think the neck pickup was a mistake by the manufacturer because for some reason it’s slightly out-of-phase, and they’re also saying there’s something weird about the wiring. To cut a long story short, it’s got an extremely glassy, bright sound, and it doesn’t really sound like any other guitar I’ve used before.

“I’ve already used that, actually. It’s on a cover song that we’re doing with the Jaded Hearts Club. But I’m hoping to use that a little bit here and there on the next Muse album as well. It’s amazing to have a bit of history like that, and to just feel a little bit of his greatness.”

Glad to hear it’s gone to a good home! Where did you track it down?

“I was doing an interview with a guitar magazine in France, and the guy that ran the guitar magazine brought his friend in, who’s a vintage guitar collector called Matt [Lucas], and he wanted to surprise me midway through the interview, and show me that guitar. I guess he wanted to capture it on the interview - ‘Oh, what’s your reaction to this? And how’s it feel?’ and all that kind of stuff.

“At that time, I said to the guy, ‘If I can ever use it or whatever, let me know.’ I didn’t hear from the guy, and that was at least two or three years ago. And then out of the blue, about six months ago, he contacted me and said, ‘Oh, by the way, I am maybe looking to move this guitar on, if you’re interested.’

“Obviously, at that point, we had a lot of talks about where it came from, and all the background, and he’s even got a letter from Jeff’s best friend at the time, who’s a girl who lived in New York [Janine Nichols]. It was actually her guitar - Jeff didn’t have a really good guitar at the time [Buckley’s apartment had been robbed around this period in 1991], and when he started touring, she lent this Telecaster to him.

“He used it for all of his touring and his recording at that point, and then when he sadly passed away, she got it back. She kept it for 10, 15 years or so. Then, eventually, she passed it on, and she wrote a long letter with the guitar, saying she really wanted it to go to someone who’s actually going to play it, not just put it on the wall. So that’s what I’m doing - I’m trying to adhere to the letter she wrote to make sure it gets some play.

“The only problem is I don’t think I’ve written any songs good enough to play it on yet! [laughs] So the pressure’s now on.”

So, it’s safe to say it’s a studio rather than a live guitar?

“I think so, yeah - maybe one day I’ll bring it out for something, but we’ll see.”

For more info on the META Series, and the company’s future guitars, head over to Manson Guitar Works.

One listen to Matt Bellamy’s piercing falsetto reveals his huge admiration for Jeff Buckley, and now the Muse frontman has purchased perhaps the ultimate piece of Buckley’s musical history: his iconic 1983 blonde USA Fender Telecaster.

In a new interview with Guitar World on his leadership of Manson Guitars, we quizzed Bellamy on the last piece of gear that impressed him - and suffice to say, we were not expecting the answer that followed.

“I’ve gotta say, I just bought Jeff Buckley’s guitar that he used to record the Grace album,” Bellamy revealed.

“I’m not kidding! I had a whole team of people doing due diligence on it to make sure it was absolutely the right one, interviewing his family and all sorts. I managed to get it verified, and I’ve got his Telecaster that he recorded the whole Grace album with, and the song Hallelujah.

“I haven’t bought it to hang it on the wall with a picture of Jeff saying, ‘Look what I’ve got.’ I’ve bought it to actually attempt to use it and integrate it, and keep this guitar part of music. I’d like to believe that’s what he would have wanted.”

Bellamy soon called on his team at Manson to investigate the guitar’s unique tone - which, as many fans of Fender’s iconic solidbody have noted, sounds quite unlike any other models in existence.

“It sounds so weird - it doesn’t sound like any other Telecaster,” Bellamy continues. “I’ve had all the electronics analyzed - nobody’s changed anything - but the pickups, they think the neck pickup was a mistake by the manufacturer because for some reason it’s slightly out-of-phase, and there’s also something weird about the wiring.

“To cut a long story short, it’s got an extremely glassy, bright sound, and it doesn’t really sound like any other guitar I’ve used before.”

Bellamy first encountered the guitar in Paris, France at Matt [Lucas]’s Guitar Shop several years ago, and requested the owner contact him should the guitar ever go up for sale. Earlier this year, Bellamy got the call.

“Out of the blue, about six months ago, Matt contacted me and said, ‘Oh, by the way, I am maybe looking to move this guitar on, if you’re interested,’” says Bellamy.

“And at that point, we had a lot of talks about where it came from, and all the background, and he’s even got a letter from Jeff’s best friend at the time, who’s a girl who lived in New York [Janine Nichols]. It was actually her guitar - Jeff didn’t have a really good guitar at the time [Buckley’s apartment had been robbed around this period in 1991], and when he started touring, she lent this Telecaster to him.”

The guitar returned to Nichols following Buckley’s tragic death in 1997, before she sold it to New York guitar store Chelsea Guitars, where owner Dan Courteney estimated the guitar’s value as $50,000 in 2011.

According to Guitar.com, the guitar was then sold to a British collector for six years, until Lucas purchased the prized Tele and brought it to Paris in October 2017. From then on, Buckley’s guitar rarely left the shop, except to accompany Myles Kennedy’s December 2019 performance of Hallelujah - and that fateful encounter with Bellamy years ago.

And, as it turns out, Bellamy’s intention to play the guitar, rather than simply add it to a collection, is in line with Nichols’ wishes.

“She wrote a long letter with the guitar, saying she really wanted it to go to someone who’s actually going to play it, not just put it on the wall,” he says. “So that’s what I’m doing - I’m trying to adhere to the letter she wrote to make sure it gets some play.”

What’s more, Bellamy has already recorded with it - and even plans to feature it on the next Muse album.

“I’ve already used it, actually. It’s on a cover song that we’re doing with the Jaded Hearts Club. But I’m hoping to use that a little bit here and there on the next Muse album as well.

“It’s amazing to have a bit of history like that, and to just feel a little bit of his greatness. The only problem is I don’t think I’ve written any songs good enough to play it on yet! [laughs] So the pressure’s now on.”

As for whether Bellamy will play the coveted Tele live, the jury’s out.

“I think [it’s a studio guitar for now],” he ponders. “Maybe one day I’ll bring it out for something - but we’ll see.”

For more from Matt Bellamy, including his thoughts on the future of guitar and how Manson will stay at the forefront of its evolution, read our full, in-depth interview.

The Jaded Hearts Club, a supergroup headlined by Blur’s Graham Coxon, Muse’s Matt Bellamy (here trading in his Manson electric guitar for a Hofner bass) and the Last Shadow Puppet’s Miles Kane, have released their debut single, a cover of the Isley Brothers’ 1962 classic, Nobody But Me.

The outfit, rounded out by guitarist Jamie Davis and Zutons drummer Sean Payne, have performed live under the name Dr. Pepper’s Jaded Hearts Club Band, sometimes with guests including Jet’s Nic Cester, Nine Inch Nails and Angels & Airwaves’ Ilan Rubin and Bellamy’s Muse bandmates Dominic Howard and Christopher Wolstenholme.

Their live sets, suitably, have featured plenty of Beatles covers – and once included an appearance by Sir Paul McCartney himself.

Said Bellamy about the group, “I read somewhere recently, which made me laugh, that rock is the new jazz.

“It’s becoming an esoteric genre, but still with huge historical and cultural importance. Like jazz, which often reinvents old songs, the Jaded Hearts Club is continuing the tradition of how bands like the Beatles and the Stones started out – finding great soul and blues standards and recording them in a more modern style.”

For more information head to the Jaded Hearts Club Live.

NAMM 2020: British luthier Manson Guitars has unveiled its first guitar under the leadership of new owner Matthew Bellamy: an affordable signature model for the Muse frontman.

This new electric guitar heralds the launch of the company’s META Series, which aims to bring Manson’s quality and design down to an affordable price point - so we can expect more in the future.

Like the company’s previous MBC-1, the guitar will be built by Cort, but this time bears Manson and Bellamy’s signature on the front of the headstock, and Cort on the rear.

Available in Satin Black and Starlight Silver, the Meta Series MBM-1 features a maple neck with satin finish, as well as a basswood body, and Manson-designed bridge humbucker and new neck humbucker. And yes, a kill switch appears on the body, too.

Best of all is the price, which comes in at $899/£569 and - given the quality of Manson, Cort and Bellamy’s previous collaborations - should make this model one of the highlights of the show.

See Manson Guitar Works for more info.

Muse’s Matt Bellamy has shed some light on his hopes and plans for Manson Guitar Works for which he recently became a majority shareholder.

Speaking to Total Guitar magazine, Matt Bellamy - who has played Manson guitars throughout his career - outlined his vision to make more affordable production models of the iconic M-Series. As well as this, Matt detailed plans for expanding the brand into heavier areas with extended ranges while also continuing to push experimentation with incorporating electronics into the guitar.

"I’m very excited to be working with the team at Manson Guitar Works.” Matt told Total Guitar. “We have plans in the coming months and years to launch a lower cost M-series guitar based on some of my favourite instruments; investigate new product in the heavier music genre including 7-string versions." 

"As we will shortly be celebrating my 20 year relationship with Mansons we are in discussions about some high end limited edition guitars that really accurately detail my stage instruments. The future? We’ll certainly be  exploring enhanced electronic features to further evolve the guitar into the modern era."

Total Guitar also spoke with Adrian Ashton, CEO of Manson Guitar Works to find out more information on what the future holds for the brand.

Considering Manson Guitar Works' history with Matt, does this move feel like quite a natural extension of your existing relationship in some ways?

Definitely. We’ve worked closely for 20 years with the design and manufacturing side, plus a lot of people forget Manson’s Guitar Shop was looking after Matt and Chris and their gear when they were an upcoming band playing to 60 people back in the nineties! So the history goes back a long way and it feels like a very natural extension. The new set-up will allow us to develop that relationship even further.

What effect do you think it will have - are there plans afoot for growth? Is Matt coming in with ideas outside of his signature line? 

I know from the reaction in just one week that we are going to get rather busy! And we weren’t exactly quiet before, with wait times on all our lines to keep up with demand. Growth, I think, is inevitable and of course what an investor into a company would want to see. The trick is that such growth should be steady, sustainable and in line with our guitar ethos, especially in terms of quality and sound. But I have the team to do this, even if we have to expand both premises and staff. It’s a great challenge but if you add up the combined years of experience from the current team and Hugh's previous legendary guitar making skills, we are starting from a very good place.

Matt can’t but help having ideas! Just look at all the guitars made to date. The company inherits all of Hugh's existing designs, MA EVO, MA Classic, E-Series, E-bass but already we are working on new exciting projects. Of course we will be working with Matt closely but also with other artists. In fact, I have such a meeting tomorrow (but of course can’t divulge anything)!

Can we expect new products on the horizon?

Yes, as per above, but I can’t confirm specifics yet. The MA EVO and Classic line has just benefited from a complete revamp for 2019 and is selling really well. Naturally there will be an expanded range of MB Signature Guitars, possibly even an MB custom shop department, but it comes back to that sustainable growth; quality and great tone will always come first.

From far-out pedalboard wizards and ambitious loopers to state-of-the-art shredders, there has never been a shortage of fearless creators boldly pushing music and guitar technology forward. Here are just a few of the players who have embraced gear to its fullest, innovating new sounds and styles in the process.

Jonny Greenwood, Radiohead

Behind the spacey soundscapes of Radiohead lies the guitar sorcery of Jonny Greenwood. One of the most experimental guitar players of his generation, the multi-instrumentalist and composer has relied on a rotating cast of gear to generate his radical sounds, including the Marshall ShredMaster, Digitech Whammy and Roland RE-201 Space Echo. But the oddest part of Greenwood's rig might be the Roberts R737 transistor radio that he manipulates during the intro of each live performance of "The National Anthem."

The Edge, U2

With his airy, trance-inducing riffs, The Edge forged an instantly recognizable sound for U2 and helped popularize delay effects with songs like "Where the Streets Have No Name" and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." The guitarist's lineup of delays over the years has included the KORG SDD, TC Electronic TC 2290 and AMS SDMX.

Vernon Reid, Living Colour

These days, Vernon Reid's setup looks closer to a NASA mission control center than a guitar rig, and the guitarist incorporates a wide range of effects to paint Living Colour's genre-bending sound. While Reid's equipment list would be too long to list here, he's a known devotee of Line 6 devices, including the company's POD HD500X and M9 stomp box modeler.

Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave/Prophets of Rage

Launching on the scene with Rage Against the Machine in the early Nineties, Tom Morello instantly turned heads with his aggressive, groove-laden riffs and dizzying guitar solos that mimicked synths and DJ scratching. The guitarist uses a Dunlop Cry Baby Wah and Digitech Whammy as the source of many of his trademark sounds.

Tosin Abasi, Animals as Leaders

Tosin Abasi is carrying the art of shred and progressive metal into the future with his instrumental trio, Animals as Leaders. One of the early adopters of ergonomic, extended-range eight-string guitars, he has introduced both new sounds and techniques into the genre. Abasi is currently running a pedal-based setup — including his own Abasi Pathos distortion pedal — through a single-channel Morgan Amps SW50R. The guitarist also implements Line 6 Relay G70 and Relay G55 wireless systems, the Stagescape M20D mixer and, of course, his own Abasi Larada guitars.

David Knudson, Minus the Bear

While Minus the Bear called it quits late last year, guitarist David Knudson's inventive ability to take two-handed tapping techniques out of the realm of flashy solos and into the world of primary hooks hasn't been forgotten. Armed with four Line 6 DL4s and a collection of stomp boxes, his pedalboard savvy made his riffs sound less like traditional guitar and more like an orchestra of electronic artists. Where will Knudson's sonic explorations take him next? We're excited to see.

Sarah Longfield

Sarah Longfield's latest single "Now" is an electronic-inspired, ambient sound collage emphasizing her unique mastery of the eight-string. With fluid two-hand tapping skills and an instantly recognizable sound, the guitarist is forging her own future for modern shred. Longfield is often seen with an eight-string Strandberg Boden axe and a Fractal Axe-FX rig — she also recently added a Line 6 HX Stomp to her setup.

Adrian Belew

Throughout his work with King Crimson, Talking Heads, David Bowie and Frank Zappa, Adrian Belew's guitar playing often sounds like…well, anything but the guitar. "My rig tends to get bigger almost every day," Belew told Guitar Player. "Because so many different things get invented all the time that change how we can approach the guitar. It's so hard to say 'no' to something new, because, well, I want that new toy [laughs]." Belew's equipment has changed quite a bit over the years, but various looping devices and Parker Fly guitars are standard in his rig.

Nick Reinhart, Tera Melos 

Incorporating experimental rock, ambient electronics, alternating time signatures and start-stop dynamics, Tera Melos' sound is startlingly inventive. Guitarist/vocalist Nick Reinhart generates many of the band's unorthodox sonics through two-hand tapping, effect pedals, looping and samplers. The guitarist is a known fan of Nineties Squier guitars, the Roland GR-30 Guitar Synthesizer, and pedals from Line 6, Boss, EarthQuaker Devices, Digitech and more.

Matt Bellamy, Muse

Arena rockers Muse combine prog, electronica and pop into their own brand of epic, genre-shifting rock. Frontman Matt Bellamy gets plenty of cred for his showmanship and operatic vocal range, but it's his bombastic, electronic-inspired approach to guitar that keeps fellow players scratching their heads. Over the years, Bellamy's rig has included the DigiTech Whammy, ZVEX Fuzz Factory, custom Manson guitars and more.

Muse’s Matt Bellamy has been a staunch user of various models from the Manson Guitar Works line, including several of his own signature designs, for more than two decades. Now, Bellamy has acquired a majority share of the U.K.-based company.

“I’m excited to be taking ownership of Manson Guitar Works and developing its potential in the future,” Bellamy said in a statement. “Having played Manson Guitars since I was able to co-design my first custom guitar I have the best insight into the products.”

Luthier and brand founder Hugh Manson will remain a consultant to the company while transitioning into semi-retirement.

Perhaps to celebrate the acquisition, Bellamy also recently presented Tom Morello with a custom-made Manson. “[Tom Morello] has been a huge inspiration to me growing up, a guitar legend,” Bellamy said in an Instagram post. “Proud to be able to give him a guitar I had made inspired by his playing and his message. Thanks for joining us on this UK tour, it’s been a blast!” 

There’s always been certain otherworld-liness inherent in Muse’s interstellar stadium-prog rock, whether they’re conjuring the sound of rampaging apocalyptic armies in “Knights of Cydonia,” from 2006’s Black Holes and Revelations, or crafting billowing tufts of symphonic grandeur with the three-part “Exogenesis” suite from 2009’s The Resistance.

But when it came to the British trio’s new and eighth studio album, Simulation Theory, singer and guitarist Matt Bellamy opted to leave this world behind entirely, immersing himself and his music in a sort of virtual reality. “I’m talking about things like gaming and living in an imaginary world online on the album,” he tells Guitar World. “This idea of getting out of the moment that we live in and going into a nostalgic sort of dreamland that’s outside of this time.”

And really, can you blame the guy for looking for an escape hatch?

“It was an aesthetic choice, but I guess you could also say it was partly political,” Bellamy admits. “We live in complicated times, and wanting to get away from them is probably a natural thing.”

But that aesthetic choice to, as Bellamy puts it, “distort reality,” also had genuine musical ends: “It made us go into a place that isn’t the traditional Muse sound,” he says.

True to Bellamy’s word, Simulation Theory is far from the traditional Muse sound — which is saying something indeed, given how untraditional Muse’s music is to begin with. But on Simulation Theory the band, which also includes bassist Chris Wolstenholme and drummer Dominic Howard, find a way to build upon what is already a remarkably singular sound. There’s plenty of Muse-isms in the throttling grooves of “Pressure,” the celestial rock of “Blockades” and the epic sweep of opener “Algorithm.” But there’s also an r&b and funk edge to tracks like “Break It to Me” and “Thought Contagion,” an overt global pop influence on “Something Human” and “Get Up and Fight” and a full-on electro-Prince pastiche, “Propaganda” (which also features — because why not? — an acoustic slide solo).

And while Simulation Theory is far from the band’s most guitar-centric record — there’s no aggro-riffing along the lines of, say, “Stockholm Syndrome” — there’s still plenty of enthralling playing to be found in the album’s 11 tracks, with Bellamy continuing to display the blend of virtuosity and idiosyncratic creativity that has led him to become one of the 21st century’s few true guitar heroes. This time, you just have to be a bit more patient in waiting for those moments. But, Bellamy says, “When the guitar is there, it’s there because it has to be there. It’s there because it’s doing something that is being featured.”

The bottom line, he says, is that “there are no rules anymore about what defines a genre or a particular style of music. And I think that’s great.” And with Simulation Theory, Bellamy continues, “we’re embracing the freedom that defines the times we’re in.”

How did Simulation Theory come together?

It was quite a gradual and sporadic process. It wasn’t like most albums, where we just go into the studio for a couple months. This one was done in bits and pieces here and there, and spread over the last year or so. A lot of it we approached one song at a time, and I quite enjoyed that because it broke up the process and we weren’t worried about any sort of deadline. It felt less pressured and a bit more free.

But our general approach on the album was that most of the songs were written and demoed in one form and then ended up being produced in a very, very different way to that. The first song we did, which was “Something Human,” was originally very much a stripped-down, acoustic-only type song. But in the end we tried our best to make it more synthetic sounding, adding lots of layers of synthesizers and unusual instruments to take it away from sounding too organic. And we took the same approach with the next song, “Dig Down,” which, if you listen to it on the deluxe version of the album, you’ll hear it was originally like a gospel thing. But again, we produced it very differently using synthesizers and programmed drums and stuff like that to end up in a very different place. Then when we got to the next song, which was “Thought Contagion,” that was originally a mellow piano tune that ended up being a much more epic-sounding rock song. And at that point I started to develop the concept for the album, this idea of simulation and taking yourself outside of reality and going into an alternate universe of some kind.

Generally speaking, rock bands usually tend to be concerned with making their music sound more, not less organic. It’s interesting that you were motivated by a sort of opposing force.

Yes. I feel like Muse has always sort of occupied that space. Although on our last album, [2015’s] Drones, we very much went away from that otherworldly, synthetic kind of thing and toward a more rock approach, focusing primarily on guitar, bass and drums as the main instrumentation for every song. Because we were trying to get these raw, organic, live performances. This time we wanted to return to where I think Muse is at its best, which is this convergence between the organic and the synthetic.

You mentioned the song “Thought Contagion.” That one is interesting in that, in addition to transforming it from a piano tune into an electric rock song, you also bring in an r&b vibe. It sounds like you used 808-style drums for the rhythm.

That’s exactly what it is! That’s an authentic 808 drum machine in the verses. It’s not a plug-in version. It’s the real thing.

What led you to want to bring in all these different sounds, and in a very overt way?

In some ways it’s embracing the times we’re living in. As a rock band in this decade, there’s no reason that, from a production aspect, we have to restrict ourselves to the instruments that we’re mostly trained to use, which are guitar, bass and drums, and maybe piano. Another thing is that we live in this streaming music world now where everybody, or most people at least, listen to lots of different genres. We’re no longer in an age where people identify themselves purely with one genre of music, like how the 20th century was the rock and pop culture. Now, people just love the music they love. And I find that quite exciting because that reflects the way I’ve always been about music.

As far as acknowledging the changing times, I recall a recent interview where you discussed the fact that, in this decade, the guitar isn’t used so much as a lead instrument anymore. It’s more of a textural accompaniment.

I did say that. But actually, I wouldn’t mind rephrasing that quote. I think maybe using the word “lead” was misleading. Because if anything, the only kind of guitar that is relevant, or at least still useful, nowadays, is guitar that is showcased as being a guitar. And by that I mean the guitar is no longer heard just strumming away in the background and creating a sort of pad-like sound. In the Nineties, power chords were this sort of defining thing. They were a way of saying, “Oh, we’re a rock band.” Whereas in this decade the guitar is not usually the dominant sound in a song. But it is still a lead instrument, in that when it’s featured, it’s featured. And that’s kind of the way I treat the guitar on this album.

Whereas some guitar players might fight against the changing role of the instrument in rock, and yearn for a return to the big-riffs-and-epic-solos template of the Seventies, you seem to be pretty comfortable with where things are heading.

Yeah, for sure. Maybe that’s because I play other instruments, too. So I’ve never totally identified myself as just a guitar player or piano player or singer. If anything, I identify myself as a sort of music creator. Also, rock music as a genre is shifting, and it has to shift. It’s no longer a dominant force on the pop charts. So I think finding ways to incorporate other instrumentation into Muse has been a sort of passion of ours, and it’s something we’re sticking to.

What was your main gear setup on Simulation Theory?

Amp-wise, I have a [Marshall] JTM45, a vintage one from the early-Sixties. I also used a Vox AC30 quite a lot, as well as a Diezel. Across those three amps is where I got most of my sounds. And then I put in a few direct sounds on this album, where I’d just DI the guitar through, for example, a [Neve] 1073 mic preamp and crank up the gain on that quite a lot in order to get more of a fuzz feeling.

What would be an example of a DI guitar sound on the record?

The guitar riff in “Break It to Me” is a DI sound as well as an amp sound. “Get Up and Fight” is partially a DI sound, as is the guitar solo in “Dig Down.” Sometimes DI sounds, especially when played with interesting fuzzes, feel a bit more contemporary than mic’ing up an amp, you know? They cut through a little bit differently.

How about guitars?

I pretty much used my main black Manson [signature] guitar for everything. I’ve got a few of them that I use on tour, but it’s essentially a standard black Manson. It’s one that I designed a few years ago, and it’s sort of between a Fender Telecaster and maybe a Gibson SG in terms of body consistency and shape, weight sound. There are two songs on this album — “Propaganda” and “Something Human” — where I play acoustic, and for those songs I used a Manson that I had built for this album.

How did you approach effects?

I’ve got an effects rack that I use on tour that consists of a Fractal system. But in the studio I tend to use a selection of pedals. I used an interesting reverb on a couple of songs, including “The Dark Side,” that belonged to Rich Costey, who also produced that song. It was a black Space Echo type of pedal. And something else that was quite interesting was the Korg SDD [Korg SDD-3000 digital delay]. It has the same circuit board as the original Korg delay from the early-Eighties, which the Edge uses. And they brought out a pedal version of that.

Another thing I used on this album was guitar synth. It features a fair bit, especially on “The Dark Side” guitar solo and also the “Break It to Me” solo. I had a Fishman pickup on my guitar, which attached to a synthesizer. We managed to get all the parameters of my playing — dynamics, note bending, picking style, everything — and then basically translate it into MIDI information, which we could then send to any synthesizer we wanted. So, for example, the guitar solo on “The Dark Side” is actually my guitar going into an amp, probably the Marshall, plus it’s going into a Prophet V. And whatever I was playing, the synth would respond accurately to that. The technology has been around for a while, but it’s much more cutting-edge than it has been at any point in time. So it’s very exciting.

You tend to gravitate toward very tweaked, and often extreme, guitar sounds, whether it’s through employing a guitar synth or incorporating effects into the circuitry of your guitars. What do you find appealing about those types of sounds?

I like the idea of creating something that differentiates me from the history of the guitar. I’m looking to try to create my own sound and my own take on the instrument. Because for me personally, when I pick up a Fender Stratocaster, I tend to immediately start going bluesy. Before you know it, I’m playing Hendrix and Clapton riffs. It’s a similar thing when I play a Les Paul. I don’t know what it is about the shape of an instrument or the type of sound that it produces, but certain instruments have such a history attached to them, and such a connection to legendary players. It’s almost like I don’t want to be in their shadows. I’d rather just create a new instrument or a new sound, and therefore create my own identity. And that’s something that I felt from an early age — in order make the guitar exciting to me I needed to do something new with it and play it in a way that wasn’t just an homage to somebody else.

Is there anything you still want to explore on the guitar?

I’ve been quite interested in what Ed Sheeran does with the looping systems. That’s something I’ve never really dabbled in, but I’d like to. Especially now, with the access I have to synth sounds coming from the guitar. So I haven’t really begun yet, but at some point I like the idea of experimenting more with getting some looping sounds going and exploring that side of it.

For the earliest days of the band, it’s been a hallmark of the Muse sound to push out on the standard rock parameters. Which, I imagine, is one of the things your fans really appreciate about your music. At the same time, they sometimes complain when you stray too far outside the lines, such as with the more pop-influenced songs on this album, like “Dig Down” and “Something Human.” Are people too rigid in terms of their expectations?

Well, I think underneath that rigidness is often a buried compliment, in that some people fall in love so much with a certain song or certain album that you did that they don’t really like the idea of your changing in any way. If anything, it’s just symbolic of a moment in time where they really connected with your music. And I mean, you can’t expect somebody to absorb all eight albums that we’ve done in the same way and to love them all equally. Everybody’s going to like certain things more than others.

So you’re okay with your fans not necessarily loving everything you do.

The way I see it is we have this big body of work now — eight albums plus all the B-sides and live stuff. And I think it’s quite exciting and in some ways liberating as an artist to be able to say, “Look, go on a streaming service, and all of our music is there. And just take from it what you want. Take what you love from what we do, and you don’t have to listen to anything else that you don’t want to.” And hopefully, maybe one or two of these songs we’re adding to that big body of work might end up becoming loved as well.

Muse have unveiled the official video for “Pressure,” the latest track to be released from their upcoming album, Simulation Theory.

The Eighties-themed clip, directed by Lance Drake, features the band playing at a Back to the Future-type high-school homecoming dance, with actor Terry Crews introducing the band as Rocket Baby Doll—Muse’s original name when they first got together. Eventually, some sci-fi shenanigans lead the dance to go wildly off the rails.

As previously reported, Muse’s eighth studio album, Simulation Theory, will be released on November 9th through Warner Bros. Records. The eleven-track record was produced by the band, along with several award-winning producers, including Rich Costey, Mike Elizondo, Shellback and Timbaland. Each of the album’s songs will be accompanied by a video.

Anyone purchasing Simulation Theory through the band’s store will get early access to tickets for Muse’s 2019 tour. You can pre-order the album here.

*Deluxe Edition

Muse guitarist and lead singer Matt Bellamy is one of the last of a dying breed of bona fide rock stars.

Bellamy’s credentials include selling out London’s Wembley Arena, smashing a world record 140 guitars during Muse’s Absolution tour, and even getting engaged to Penny Lane (Almost Famous actress Kate Hudson). Pretty rock 'n' roll.

It’s no surprise than that his signature Manson MB-1 guitar is one of the most tricked-out instruments ever made. Bellamy designed the guitar with renowned luthier Hugh Manson, who has also built custom models for other players including John Paul Jones, Yes and Ben Harper. The MB-1, which goes for about $5,000, features a number of unique built-in effects that Bellamy utilizes to create Muse’s epic sound.

The first striking element of the guitar is its red glitter finish complimenting Bellamy’s glam-rock stage persona. It also features a custom Manson MBK-2 humbucker bridge pick-up that produces the high gain crunch heard on tracks like “Hysteria” and “Super Massive Black Hole.”

The MB-1’s toggle kill switch is a cool feature that allows Bellamy to create Tom Morello-style rhythmic stutters by toggling the switch between the live and kill positions. The switch works by momentarily routing the guitar’s signal to the ground wire instead of to the pickup, silencing the volume when toggled to the kill position.

The built-in Fernandes Sustainer unit is an incredible device that causes a string or group of strings to vibrate indefinitely, allowing a note to sustain and/or feedback for as long as a player frets it. The sustainer works by creating a magnetic field that drives the vibration of the strings at their own specific resonant frequencies. Unlike the handheld Ebow, which creates the same effect, this built-in circuit allows the player to achieve sustain without having to hold a separate device above the strings. Live, Bellamy uses the sustainer to create lush violin-like textures as well as Hendrix-inspired feedback freak-outs.

The coolest feature on the MB-1, however, has to be the built-in MIDI touch pad, which can used to remotely control an effects processor, digital synthesizer or even stage lighting. By touching, tapping and running his finger over the touch pad, Bellamy manipulates the parameters of an effect processor called the Korg Kaos Pad, which he runs his guitar through via a MIDI connection.

The Kaos Pad is an effects sampler with a number of effects such as filters, phasers and delays that can dramatically alter the guitar’s audio signal. As Bellamy runs his finger across the touch pad, he is able to manipulate these effects by opening and closing a filter or lengthening and shortening the delay time, resulting in some very spacey sci-fi sounds.

In this video of Muse performing “Super Massive Black Hole,” check out Bellamy click on the sustainer during the intro and then take an awesome MIDI touch pad solo at 2:50.