MATT BELLAMY

Bumping into guitar gods at NAMM is nothing new but there was a time when the show was probably regarded as too ‘muso’ for alternative-rock stars to frequent. In recent years though, things have changed. The rise and rise of Instagram has created a petri dish in which the relationships between hip young artists and gear companies have flourished into full-blown collaborations, while at the high-dollar end of the spectrum, stadium-filling guitarists such as Ed Sheeran and Matt Bellamy have invested in long-established guitar companies. In simple terms, the shredders and metalheads are no longer the biggest kids in the playground.

Back in January, before the world closed its doors, we were ushered into a tiny room barely insulated from the maelstrom of the NAMM show floor for an audience with the aforementioned Muse frontman. After tearing up stages and charts across the globe for more than 20 years, 2019 saw Bellamy smash his piggy bank and purchase a majority shareholding in Devon’s Manson Guitar Works. It made perfect sense – the interstellar tones of tricked-out Manson custom electrics have driven Muse’s biggest hits and helped give Bellamy a guitar identity all of his own.

With founder Hugh Manson set to move into a consultancy role to allow for semi-retirement, Bellamy and CEO Adrian