Chrome FR # 1

Manson Chrome FR #1

Chrome FR #1
Manufacturer	Manson Guitars
Used	2017-05-18 — 2024-12-13
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Body covering	Dark Chrome
Wood	Body: Mahogany Neck: Maple Fingerboard: Rosewood (22 frets)
Bridge	Floyd Rose Tremolo System
Electronics	3-way toggle pickup selector, one volume
Pickup(s)	Neck: Sustainiac Bridge: Manson MBK-2 (covered)
Special circuits	2-way toggle YES/NO switch reverses kill switch functionality mini kill button

Background

This guitar is almost identical to the Manson Matt Black FR, except it's covered in dark chrome colour. It features the old Manson logo.

The YES/NO switch sits in place of the tone control knob. This was previously thought to be an on/off switch to control the rumoured integrated whammy control on the Patented MID1 Manson, this pitch shift effect was instead achieved by using the Floyd Rose with the Sustainiac on Harmonic mode The YES/NO switch simply reverses the kill switch functionality. This means the guitar is 'muted' and flicking the killswitch on the top horn activates the guitar signal when switched to "NO". This is bypassed and the killswitch functions as normal when set to "YES".

These guitar body shapes mark a departure from previous Mansons Matt used that feature a Floyd Rose system, as they do not have the rounded "Lozenge" shape, as seen on the likes of the Chrome Bomber and the Stealth Bomber models.

Touring

The Chrome FR #1 is primarily used for songs in standard tuning and that require a whammy bar. It's labeled by Matt's tech as "6" and "Standard". It has been used live since May 2017 and stayed in the NA rig until September 2017 before its duplicate the Chrome FR #2 took its place. The Chrome FR #1 was then used for the shows in Asia/Pacific in the end of 2017 before being placed in the EU rig starting with La Cigale 2018. It was only used in Europe since, until it was used in Abu Dhabi in december 2024 for the majority of the songs played that night.

Songs used for

Bliss
Compliance
Euphoria (Performance video)
Hanging in Victory Square (Two occasions)
Hungry Like the Wolf
Hysteria
Interlude
Knights of Cydonia
Minimum
Pressure
Thought Contagion
Time is Running Out (Two occasions)
Resistance (Two occasions)
Will of the People
You Make Me Feel Like It's Halloween

Chrome FR # 2

Manson Chrome FR #2 at the Blizzcon 2017

Manson Chrome FR #2 at the Bottlerock festival in 2018

Chrome FR #2
Manufacturer	Manson Guitars
Used	2017-11-04 — 2023-11-04
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Bolt-on
Body covering	Dark Chrome
Wood	Body: Mahogany Neck: Maple Fingerboard: Rosewood (22 frets)
Bridge	Floyd Rose Tremolo System
Electronics	3-way toggle pickup selector, one volume
Pickup(s)	Neck: Sustainiac Bridge: Manson MBK-2 (uncovered)
Special circuits	2-way toggle YES/NO switch reverses kill switch functionality mini kill button

Background

This guitar is almost identical to the Chrome FR #1, except it features an uncovered MBK-2 bridge.

Touring

The Chrome FR #2 is also used for songs in standard tuning and that require a whammy bar. It has been used live since the Blizzcon 2017 for almost all shows outside Europe until Mexico in 2023.