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.
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