For most of Muse’s career, frontman Matt Bellamy has played custom-built Manson guitars, designed and built by Hugh Manson and Tim Stark. Famously, this long list of guitars has included everything from built-in X-Y pads, Digitech Whammy pedals, Z.Vex Fuzz Factories, even lasers. But in 2015, Muse fans who couldn’t stump to the four-figure prices of Manson models had their dreams realised with the release of the MBC-1: a collaboration of Manson and Matt Bellamy’s designs and guitar manufacturing giant Cort to produce an affordable signature model.
That guitar was released to supermassive acclaim, bagging awards left, right and centre simply as an incredible, affordable electric, regardless of the signature association. The Cort/Manson series followed with the Classic TC and M-Jet models, but fast-forward to 2020 and the partnership continues - with a few important changes.