Manson 7 String E Guitar

Article on the 7 String E Guitar in Total Guitar's July 2015 issue

7-String E Guitar
Manufacturer	Manson Guitars
Used	2001-??-?? – 2018-02-24
Body type	Solid
Neck joint	Thru-neck
Body covering	Sycamore (flamed)
Wood	Body: Mahogany (Archtop, Hollow-chambered) Neck: Maple Fingerboard: Rosewood
Bridge	Fixed
Electronics	Two volume, one tone, 3-way pickup selector switch
Pickup(s)	Custom 7-string Kent Armstrong
Special circuits	Mike Christian piezo saddles

Background

According to Matt in an interview with Australian Guitar Magazine 2010, this was the first guitar he bought from Manson's guitar shop. The guitar was bought second-hand.

Hugh Manson on the 7 string

"Matthew Bellamy bought that second-hand. I made it for a jazz musician as a 7-string guitar with no bridge pickup, just a neck pickup and a bridge transducer (7-string) which I had custom-made with Mike Christian saddles in it. It's an archtop, straight-though neck, hollow-chambered guitar. Matt came in to the shop and said, ‘I need a 7-string for a certain song’ and I said, ‘I've got this one here that a guy doesn't want.’ He tried it and said, ‘Yeah, that'll do’. It's a great sounding guitar and it's probably my favourite out of all of them."

A very similar guitar based heavily on the guitar, the Manson CE-7, was used during the Drones Tour in 2015 through 2017 for Citizen Erased. The guitars are near identical, with the only differences being the spacing between dot inlays on the fretboard and the CE-7 sporting a slighter paint-job.

Touring

This guitar is used live almost exclusively for Citizen Erased ever since 2001, for which it is tuned to AADDGBE.

As of the beginning of The 2nd Law tour, this guitar has been used as a backup for the Manson Black 7 String. At the Oslo Telenor Arena on the 24th of July 2013, the Black 7 String malfunctioned, and this guitar was used for the first time on the tour to perform Liquid State.

With the return of Citizen Erased being played quite regularily in 2015 through 2017, Matt used the duplicate (mentioned above) of this guitar for touring in Rig A, while this guitar was in Rig B and was only seen at a few shows in 2015.

After about two years of no use, this guitar made a return at the La Cigale by request show in 2018. This was the last time to date this guitar was used, as future performances of Citizen Erased saw Matt play the song on the Manson Black 7 String.

The guitar is currently on display with other Manson guitars at the Manson Guitars stand on the Simulation Theory World Tour in France and UK.