Manson Acoustic
| Acoustic Manson | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Andy Manson Custom Guitars |
| Used | 2017-05-18 — 2019-10-15 |
| Body type | Black Gloss paint front with white binding, natural back and sides |
| Neck joint | Unknown |
| Body covering | Unknown |
| Wood | Body: Currently unknown Neck: Currently unknown Fingerboard: Rosewood (22 frets) |
| Bridge | Currently unknown |
| Electronics | — |
| Pickup(s) | LR Baggs M1 (installed later) |
| Special circuits | — |
Background
After working on new Acoustic material, Matt decided it was time to have a custom Manson acoustic guitar designed for him based on the "Mattocaster" Shape. It was designed and built by Hugh Manson's brother, Andy, a specialist in acoustic design. It appears that 6-in-line style headstocks were initially designed and built to match Matt’s electrics, but at some point in the building process these were changed to 3-a-side. Unless there were more acoustic guitars built by Andy that we haven’t seen in the wild. It’s been reported by someone who visited Andy’s workshop in July 2023 (picking up a mandolin Andy had built) that Matt always has 2 instruments built - one for each continent or rig A/B and also a backup - so there’s possibly 4 Manson acoustics out there.
The guitar appears to be thinner than Matt's previous non-Manson acoustic guitars, probably for easier playability live.
In 2019, Matt got two new guitars built for back-up purposes.
Touring
The Manson Acoustic got it's first live outing at the Orlando gig in 2017, and was only used for Undisclosed Desires during that year.
Later, in 2018, with the release of Simulation Theory, this guitar was used for live performances of Something Human and a performance of Dig Down's Acoustic Gospel version at the Jools Holland Show.
During the Simulation Theory World Tour in 2019, the guitar was only used for Propaganda, as the band dropped Something Human from tour sets and Dig Down's acoustic version features Matt on a piano.
