Manson M1D1 Blue Whammy
| M1D1 Blue | |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Manson Guitars |
| Used | Never used |
| Body type | Solid |
| Neck joint | Bolt-on |
| Body covering | Blue paint |
| Wood | Body: Likely Swamp Ash Neck: Roast flame maple Fingerboard: Rosewood (22 frets) |
| Bridge | Gotoh Bridge |
| Electronics | One volume, one tone, 3-way toggle pickup selector, Whammy, Sustainiac |
| Pickup(s) | Neck: Sustainiac Humbucker Bridge: Psychopaf PF-1 |
| Special circuits |
|
Background
This guitar is similar to the Manson M1D1 Blue except that it features a built-in Whammy pedal, controlled by the X-Y Screen. The whammy can be played with no external midi needed. A demo video, posted on Manson Guitar Works' Instagram, can be seen here.
This guitar is likely the end result of the much speculated and rumoured Patented MID1 Manson featuring and inbuilt Whammy controller, though few thought it would be a Manson with an actual whammy pedal built into it.
The guitar, hardware wise, features standard tuning pegs, custom Manson aluminium tone and volume knobs and an alloy X-Y pad frame. The prototype also features an YES/NO switch for the Whammy, located at the lower horn. This YES/NO switch probably operates similar to those seen on other guitars - muting the main guitar signal from the strings until the whammy is activated. According to Tim Stark's post on MGW, " Touching the Screen also turned the guitar signal 'On' " seen here: https://www.facebook.com/mansonguitarworks/videos/148147139967604/]
Touring
At this time this guitar has not been used live yet. It would have been used exclusively for Break It To Me as the built-in Whammy would allow Bellamy to play the pitch-shifted solo without having to rely on a foot pedal, controlling the Whammy via the X-Y pad where it can go from -2 octaves to +2 octaves (or any other setting programmed) on the XY screen.
According to a reply in the comments on MGW's Facebook post with the new guitar, it was delivered to Matt and "used right at the end of the tour, it's constant development for us all, even mid tour!" It may have been used as a backup or during rehearsals, although it never appeared on stage during the tour.