As Muse's Will Of The People world tour continues this month in the US, Matt Bellamy has been road-testing a brand new Manson Guitar Works model – one of the perks of both being the highest profile endorsee and owner of the UK company.
The Strat-style double-cut electric guitar is a bold step forwards and has been put to use for shimmery delayed clean parts in the song Verona.
Manson Guitar Works haven't been shy about showing it up close either and offered some details the guitar and its spec with an Instagram post last week.
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The company describes the Desert Sunburst guitar as "a classic design with a few Manson refinements and some custom pickups".
Pickups are neck and middle single coils with a stacked bridge pickup designed by Manson's Simon Thorn. There's also a Gotoh 510 vibrato and to the rear of the body there's a carved belly cut for comfort. A blue mirrored scratchplate references the reflective masks that the band have worn in a part of this tour's live show.
With the alder body model become a production guitar? It's said to be on the cards.
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Rob is the Reviews Editor for GuitarWorld.com and MusicRadar guitars, so spends most of his waking hours (and beyond) thinking about and trying the latest gear while making sure our reviews team is giving you thorough and honest tests of it. He's worked for guitar mags and sites as a writer and editor for nearly 20 years but still winces at the thought of restringing anything with a Floyd Rose.