Guitaripedia

Every guitar has a story.

Manson

MB-1

Hugh Manson wouldn’t build you a Strat. He built Matt Bellamy this instead, and eventually let you have one.

A young singer walks into a guitar shop in Exeter, torn between an SG and a Telecaster. Years of one-offs later, with fuzz boxes and touchscreens built into the bodies, the shape he settled on went on sale to everybody else in 2009, twenty-five at a time.

Introduced
2009
Type
Solidbody electric
Class
Production
Read the story · 3 min

All guitarsMore Manson

Matthew Bellamy playing a chrome Manson MB-1 with Kaoss Pad on stage in Toronto
Photo: Ian Muttoo / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0Live MB-1; chrome finish and body Kaoss Pad visible.

The short version

  1. 1992

    The shop opens

    Manson’s Guitar Shop, Exeter, November. Hugh Manson with Adrian Ashton and Jay Henson.

  2. 2001

    The DeLorean

    Poplar under aluminium. Hugh calls it the first custom he built for Bellamy.

  3. 2006

    A piece of glass

    The M1D1, the first guitar with an X-Y pad built in. The MB-1 is copied from it.

  4. 2009

    For sale

    Announced 14 April. Made in Exeter, in batches of 25. The first batch goes in weeks.

  5. 2014

    Sheep

    A hand-painted MB-1, Hugh’s Devon scene and Bellamy’s sheep. It later raised money for War Child.

  6. 2019

    New owner

    Bellamy buys the majority of the company in June. Hugh stays on as a consultant.

  7. 2024

    Two MB-1s

    A European-built Standard joins the UK-made Origin under the same name.

Side A

A1

Not plinky and thin

Exeter, around the turn of the century. Matt Bellamy is in Manson’s Guitar Shop, and he can’t decide between an SG and a Telecaster-type shape. He wants something chunky enough to fill out a three-piece band. “Not plinky and thin,” as he put it twenty years later.

Hugh Manson didn’t want to hand him a copy either. Here’s how he described the customer he couldn’t see the point of:

“The guy that comes in and says, ‘I want you to build me a Strat’ — what is the point?”

So what they built was nobody else’s. Bellamy has said “all my Manson guitars are influenced by the Fender Telecaster,” and you can see it: a single cut, a bolt-on neck, a stretched Tele outline. But it isn’t a Tele, and that was the whole idea.

A2

The DeLorean came first

The order of the first Mansons depends on who’s telling it. One version has a seven-string first, used on “Citizen Erased.” Hugh says the seven-string was bought secondhand, originally built for a jazz player, and that the first custom was the DeLorean: “I think it was 2001.” Keep both.

The DeLorean was poplar under a skin of aluminium, with a P-90, a humbucker, a Fuzz Factory, and a Phase 90 built in. It turned up in the video for “Hyper Music.” It also had, Hugh admits, an “enormous top horn.” The horn got smaller on the guitars after it. He still has the drawing.

A3

A piece of glass

The guitars got stranger. The M1D1, first used in 2006, put an X-Y pad in the body: drag a finger across it and you steer an effect in real time. It also had a Sustainer and two P-90s in series. Hugh’s line on it is the best spec sheet anyone has written:

“The only bit of a Korg Kaoss Pad that exists in the guitar is the piece of glass.”

Ron Joyce built the controller behind the glass. Then came Red Santa, painted Triumph TR3A red because that was the only can on the shelf, with glitter, a Sustainer, and a hardtail so the screen would fit. It got smashed and replaced. Blackie, with a ribbon controller and a fuzz, got smashed too.

None of these were for sale. They were Bellamy’s, one at a time, and the shape belonged to him.

Flip the record · By the numbers

  • 25

    Guitars in each 2009 batch, each with a certificate signed by Bellamy and Hugh.

  • £2,999

    The matt black MB-1 at its April 2009 announcement. The touchscreen MIDI version started at £3,299.

  • 28 or hundreds

    Bellamy’s touring Mansons, depending who’s counting. Neither is an MB-1 count.

  • 2001

    The first custom, by Hugh’s account. Another version of the story puts a seven-string first.

Side B

B1

Twenty-five at a time

On 14 April 2009, Mansons announced the MB-1: Bellamy’s first official signature, made in Exeter, delivered that summer. It was based on the cracked-mirror M1D1, stretched a little so the pad would fit. It came in batches of 25, each with a certificate signed by both men, and the first batch was gone within weeks.

Here’s what you got. A textured matt black finish, or red glitter for more. A bird’s-eye maple neck with a slight V. A bridge humbucker modelled on Bare Knuckle’s Nailbomb. In the neck, a Fernandes Sustainer, which uses the pickup as a driver to keep a string ringing as long as you hold the note. A killswitch for stuttering the signal on and off. The X-Y pad, wired to run a Kaoss Pad and a Whammy, two 9-volt batteries, and a MIDI output.

The launch list put the matt black at £2,999 and the pad-equipped versions from £3,299. The prices moved around a bit after that, depending on where you read them.

It was a lot of guitar for a lot of money. Hugh said in 2015 that the UK guitars were over £3,000 and made in only “a particular number.” The cheaper Bellamy guitars Cort built in Indonesia were something else entirely.

B2

The customer bought the shop

In June 2019, Bellamy bought the majority of Manson Guitar Works. Hugh stayed on as a consultant. The kid who walked in torn between an SG and a Tele now owns the place.

The MB-1 split in two. The Origin is the UK flagship, built in Ashburton: obeche body, flame maple neck, ebony board, a Sustainiac in the neck, no pad. The Standard, since 2024, is built in Europe with UK pickups and a UK setup, alder and rosewood. The maker’s own page can’t agree with itself on the Origin’s neck joint and radius, so neither will we.

There’s also a Stage edition, modelled on the guitar used every night for the finale of Muse shows. The crew calls that one The Smasher. Bellamy’s review, quoted by the maker: “They’re built like tanks!”

It still isn’t a Strat. Hugh never did build that guy his Strat. He built one customer something of his own, and then the customer bought the shop.

The cast

The people, and the specific guitars, that made the legend.

  • 2009

    Matt Bellamy

    The MB-1 and the one-offs before it

    The reason the shape exists, and the reason it wasn’t for sale until 2009. At least one production MB-1, a red glitter one, has been used by him.

  • Hugh Manson

    Designer and builder

    Drew the shape, shrank the horn, and still has the drawing. Stayed on as consultant after 2019.

  • Adrian Ashton

    Co-founder of the Exeter shop

    Opened the shop with Hugh in 1992. His count of Bellamy’s touring guitars ran “close to the fifties, hundreds.”

Liner notes

Specs, construction, rarity, value, and every source we used.

A Tele-influenced single-cut with a sustainer in the neck — Manson’s MB-1, Matt Bellamy’s signature, not the DeLorean and not a Cort.

Body
Solid obeche; MB outline; dry satin black
Neck
Bolt-on 3A flame maple, MB Soft “V”
Fingerboard
Ebony, 22 frets, side dots. Radius contested — see caption.
Scale
25.5" (648 mm). Mix flagged.
Pickups
Sustainiac Stealth PRO, neck; PF-1 bridge, chrome cover, Manson etch
Hardware
Gotoh 510 bridge and tailpiece; Gotoh 510 H.A.P. tuners; chrome
Electronics
Volume, tone with push/pull coil split, 3-way
Finish
Dry satin black. Satin Fire Red and Satin Bluebell also listed.
Nut
Black Graphtech, 1.65" (42 mm). Mix flagged.
Open the full research fileConstruction details, the complete player record, production numbers, dated value estimates, and sources

Current typical = Origin MB-1 Sus, Ashburton, the UK flagship (Manson shop, 2 October 2026). Dry Satin Black £2,457.50 excluding UK VAT, sold out this pass. Strings: Manson 10–46. MONO gig bag. The same page disagrees with itself. Prose: recessed four-bolt heel, no traditional plate, compound radius, a kill button in the feature list. Spec block: “Traditional Neck Joint with Manson Logo Neck Plate,” 12" radius, and no kill button on the controls line. An older New Era print had 12–16" (305–406 mm). Mix flagged. Do not average the radii. The block also tags the pickups “HH.” Standard-Series MB-1 is the other current MB-1: European build, UK pickups, UK setup, two-piece alder, maple, rosewood, 12" board, traditional plate, Gotoh 381. Black Gloss Sus £1,707.50 excluding UK VAT; a tax-included view of that SKU listed £2,049. Not the 2009 UK batch (optional X-Y pad). Not Cort’s MBC-1 or Meta MBM. Not a 7-string. Floyd and SuFu (onboard Z.Vex) are options, not this table.

Construction

The job was a guitar that was not already a Fender. Hugh Manson, July 2015: “The guy that comes in and says, ‘I want you to build me a Strat’ — what is the point?” Bellamy had been in the Exeter shop for years. Manson's Guitar Shop opened November 1992, Hugh with Adrian Ashton and Jay Henson. The workshop now is Ashburton. Bellamy told Guitar.com (22 May 2020) that when he first came in, about twenty years earlier, he was torn between an SG and a Telecaster-type shape: chunky enough for a three-piece, “not plinky and thin.” To Total Guitar, via MusicRadar in March 2014: “all my Manson guitars are influenced by the Fender Telecaster.”

The first drawing was not this model. Hugh, same essay: the DeLorean, “I think it was 2001. It was the first [custom] guitar.” Poplar under aluminium. A P-90, a Kent Armstrong Motherbucker (later, he thought, an MBK-1), a Z.Vex Fuzz Factory, an MXR Phase 90. MusicRadar’s 2014 timeline puts it in the video for “Hyper Music.” Wikipedia says that after Showbiz (1999) the first Manson was a 7-string, notably “Citizen Erased,” and the DeLorean came after. In the article that citation points at, Hugh calls the DeLorean the first custom, and the seven-string a secondhand E-Bass shape built for a jazz player. Keep both. Neither is an MB-1.

The horn shrank. Hugh to Total Guitar, February 2015: an “enormous top horn,” then smaller. He still has the drawing. The gadgets stayed one-offs. The M1D1, first used 2006 on that timeline, is the first X-Y pad: a Sustainer, two P-90s in series, and “the only bit of a Korg Kaoss Pad that exists in the guitar is the piece of glass.” Ron Joyce built the controller. Red Santa is Triumph TR3A red from the only can on the shelf, glitter, a Sustainer, an MBK-2, hardtail so the screen would fit. Smashed, then replaced. Blackie — ribbon, Sustainer, Fuzz Factory, Wah Probe — Hugh says has been smashed. Not catalogue MB-1s.

The shape stayed his until 14 April 2009, when Mansons announced the range. Exeter, UK-made, summer delivery. First official signature. Dave Burrluck, 12 April 2010: based on the cracked-mirror M1D1, batches of 25, the first gone in weeks, a second not yet announced. Certificate signed by both. Stretched Tele outline, the body a little longer for the pad. Textured matt black, or red glitter at a further £200. Birds-eye maple bolt-on, slight V, “Fender-style in dimension,” rosewood, side dots, a compound radius he does not number. Gotoh 512s, graphite nut. Bridge: a Manson/Bare Knuckle modelled on the Nailbomb. The 2009 shop demo says Bare Knuckle Manson Nailbomb. Neck: a Fernandes Sustainer. Volume, tone, 3-way, sustainer switches, a centre-off killswitch, an X-Y pad for a KP-3 and a DigiTech Whammy, two 9-volts, MIDI out. The review’s push/pull split was a modification. Price £3,299.

MuseWiki names alder, an FSK-101, and an MBK-2, pad optional. Gardiner Houlgate’s 2015 English example: alder, birds-eye, rosewood, a sustainer printed “Fernandez SFK-101,” an MBK-2, a kill switch, a Kaoss pad. Do not collapse those pickup names. Burrluck prints no 2010 scale. The 25.5" (648 mm) above is the living pair.

Hugh, February 2015: over £3,000, and only “a particular number.” The Cort MBC-1 that interview is selling — Indonesian, about £500, a neck single-coil — is not this guitar. Guitar.com, 29 May 2020: the UK Standard had left full production, upwards of £3,000. The MBM-1 is Cort, basswood, two humbuckers, £569. Bellamy’s line that month, about taking cheaper guitars on the road, is the Meta.

June 2019 he bought the majority. Hugh stayed as consultant. The living UK guitar is the Origin. The page still calls it New Era: Ashburton, obeche, flame maple, ebony, Sustainiac Stealth PRO, PF-1. Heel, kill button, and radius disagree on that page. Not averaged. The 2024 Standard is European-built, UK pickups and a UK setup, alder, rosewood, a plate, no pad. A 2009 batch of 25, birds-eye neck, Fernandes sustainer, optional glass — against an Origin without the pad, and a European Standard with the same name.

Players

Do not hang the DeLorean, the seven-string, Blackie, the M1D1, Red Santa, a Meta, or the Verona S-type on this plate. Showbiz is before the first custom. “Hyper Music,” on the 2014 timeline, is the DeLorean. The 2006 midi guitar is the custom this model copies.

Matt Bellamy. The reason the shape exists, and the reason it was not for sale until 2009. He plays many Mansons. Adrian Ashton told David Mead (MusicRadar, 22 February 2019) the touring pile was “close to the fifties, hundreds.” Hugh, in the 2015 Cort interview, had said something like 28. Keep both. Neither number is an MB-1 census. MuseWiki says one production guitar, the MB-1 Red Glitter, was used by him. No song is named on that page. Do not invent one.

The maker’s Origin Stage page says that variant is modelled on “the guitar used every night for the finale of MUSE shows,” that the crew calls it The Smasher, and that you can see it in “Cryogen.” Bellamy, quoted there: “They’re built like tanks!” That is the stage guitar and the Stage edition. It is not a session note that every MB-1 cut the track.

Sheep is an MB-1. MusicRadar, 14 July 2015: a 2014 hand-painted guitar, Hugh’s Devon scene, Bellamy’s sheep, auctioned for War Child, £10,272. One object.

Also known to play stays short. John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, and Mikey Demus are in the Manson story on other models. None of the sources used here put them on an MB-1.

Rarity

You can order an MB-1. Origin is the UK flagship; Standard is the European one. Dry Satin Origin was sold out on the shop this pass. Satin Bluebell was still listed. That is stock, not a census.

The 2009 guitar was batches of 25. Burrluck: the first batch sold out in weeks, and by 12 April 2010 a second had not been announced. He does not say how many batches followed. Hugh’s “particular number” is not a factory total. Manson has not published an MB-1 ledger. None invented. A 2012 limited of the P-90 and MIDI layout, the MB-2 SE, was 18 pieces; the 2022 MB-2 was two runs of 20, from £4,299 including VAT. Those are the pad guitar’s later limiteds. They are not an MB-1 production total. Cort’s MBC-1 and Meta MBM are another factory and another model. Their volume does not make this one common.

What is actually thinner: UK examples with the pad still on them, birds-eye necks, the FSK-101 era. Sheep is unique. Bellamy’s own M1D1 is unique. They are not a vintage MB-1 you can shop as if it were the model.

Value

Informal estimate, 2 October 2026. Not an appraisal.

Ask versus sold, labeled. Celebrity and charity lots are not comps. No invented medians. No factory counts. A clean Reverb Price Guide band for the MB-1 did not print this pass. Flag: thin sold-comp access.

New street. Manson’s shop, prices excluding UK VAT. Origin MB-1 Sus, Dry Satin Black, Satin Fire Red, and Satin Bluebell: £2,457.50. Stage Edition £2,249.17. Standard Sus Black Gloss £1,707.50; the tax-included view of that same SKU listed £2,049. Standard Red Sparkle and Holo Sparkle Sus £1,790.83. Stealth Edition Standard £1,624.17. SuFu and Floyd are different money on the same outline. Do not borrow them. Do not borrow a Meta. The 2020 MBM-1 was £569. That is Cort.

Used modern. Named ask, not a hammer: a 2024 M-Series MB-1 Sustainer, gloss Bluebell, used excellent, $2,895 on Reverb’s Manson brand page, recently listed. A 2023 UK-made MB-1 with Sustainiac and Fuzz Factory, Bluebell, ended at $4,895 asking. That one is a fuzz guitar, 7 lb on the listing, not this table, and not a confirmed sold.

Vintage / collectible. The UK pad-era guitar is the scarce end of the same model, not a separate SKU. Gardiner Houlgate, 9 September 2025, lot 158: a 2015 English MB-1, textured black alder, birds-eye maple, rosewood, kill switch, Kaoss pad, Hiscox case, certificates signed by Bellamy and Hugh, 3.55 kg on that one guitar. Estimate £2,000–£2,500. Sold £2,300. One hammer. Do not average it with a Standard. Sheep at £10,272 for War Child is a charity lot. Not a comp. The Origin Black Edition, £9,999.17 excluding VAT and sold out, is a loaded reissue on the shop, not a 2009 result.

Period lists, not 2026 street. The 14 April 2009 announcement: matt black £2,999, red glitter £3,299, MIDI black £3,299, MIDI red £3,499. Audiofanzine, 9 June 2009, has red glitter at £3,199. Burrluck’s reviewed guitar, April 2010, £3,299, red a further £200. MuseWiki: black without the pad £3,249, red +£200, MIDI screen +£319, “identical to Matt’s” £3,768. MusicRadar, March 2014, still £3,249 for the hand-built MB-1. Keep the spread.

See also

  • fender-telecaster — the bolt-on single-cut Bellamy said his Mansons come from; this plate is not that
  • gibson-sg — the other body he was torn against when he first walked into the Exeter shop
  • fender-stratocaster — the guitar Hugh said there was no point copying

Sources

Guitars this one gets compared to, confused with, or descended from.