Brian May Guitars release new “Red Special”!

Fans of Brian May and Queen – rejoice! There’s a new company in the block: Brian May Guitars, dedicated exclusively to making new signature Brian May guitars, with the approval and personal involvement of the legendary guitarist himself.

One of the cool things is that, besides the “Red Special”, they also make it in different finishes, including black, white and 3-tone sunburst. Visit the official Brian May Guitars for more info.

OFF THE BMG SITE:

Through the years there have been a multitude of replicas of the Red Special, built by amateurs and professionals, including two major commercial issues, with Guild guitars of the USA, and Burns Guitars of the UK. As of 2006, the commercial Red Special has at last come home.

“I was concerned that it ought to be me personally who controlled the manufacture of these instruments, and so I have teamed up with Barry Moorhouse of House Music, and Pete Malandrone, my long-time tech man, and we have created, our aim being to make the absolute best product at an affordable price, so that all may enjoy the special sound and feel of a Brian May guitar. ” says Brian May himself.

Brian tells the story behind his legendary “Red Special”:

“A little over 40 years ago, largely because we could not afford to buy a high quality electric guitar, and partly because we enjoyed a challenge, my Dad and I decided to make an electric guitar. I designed an instrument from scratch, with the intention that it would have a capability beyond anything that was out there, more tunable, with a greater range of pitches and sounds, with a better tremolo, and with a capability of feeding back through the air in a “good” way – i.e. in a self-sustaining mode.

“Previously (ironically) electric guitars had been designed NOT to feed back, but in the hands of Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend and Jimi Hendrix, they were forced to! My Dad had the technical knowledge and skills to make the dream come true. The result, after two years of spare-time work, exclusively with hand tools, was the instrument I now call my “Red Special” – or the “Old Lady” – the guitar which has been a part of me through 30 years of live concerts and studio work with Queen, all around the world.

“Through the years there have been a multitude of replicas of the Red Special, built by amateurs and professionals, including two major commercial issues, with Guild Guitars of the USA, and Burns Guitars of the UK. As of 2006, the commercial Red Special has at last come home. I was concerned that it ought to me personally who controlled the manufacture of these instruments, and so I have teamed up with Barry Moorhouse of House Music, and Pete Malandrone, my long-time tech man, and we have created BRIAN MAY GUITARS, our aim being to make the absolute best product at an affordable price, so that all may enjoy the special sound and feel of a Brian May guitar. “

The Brian May Guitars “Red Special” is a faithful reproduction of this legendary guitar, and a great buy not only for Brian May/ Queen fans, but any guitarist looking for a great and unique guitar, for quite a fair price.

Click on the Thumbnail images to view the larger versions

Features:

• Mahogany body (with acoustic chamber) with Pinstripe binding
• New two-piece scratch plate
• Mahogany neck
• 24″ scale (Depth: 22mm at 1st fret … 24mm at 12th fret)
• 24 fret – ebony fingerboard (width 45mm at 0 fret … 57mm at 24th fret)
• Grover GH305 locking tuners
• Dual truss rod
• Graphite nut
• New bridge & Brass saddles
• BM Custom tremolo arm
• 3 x Burns Tri-Sonic pickups (series wired)
• Master Volume & Tone controls
• Original BM switching system
• Individual pickup IN/OUT phase plus Individual pickup ON/OFF

BRIAN MAY GEAR GUIDE:

Of course, considering Queen’s place in the history of rock music, Brian May has inspired many guitarists and there’ll always be people interested in how to sound like him. GUITARGEEK has the diagram of a 1999 Brian May rig.

But in a nutshell, the basic and classic Brian May setup is:

• Red Special
• Treble Booster (by Fryer)
• Vox AC-30

Brian May is one of the most famous user of “Treble Booster” pedals, and you can find complete info on his pedal on this site. According to the Brianmayworld site:

“The Treble Booster is always first in line, and both it and the AC30 are set on full volume, thus giving maximum presence and sustain, with the overall volume controlled from the guitar. This gives a flexible range of tone and distortion choices, starting low down on the guitar’s volume control with sparkling clean tones and as the volume is increased, sliding smoothly into the creamy compressed overdriven sound that Brian is famous for. “

This type of effect is becoming increasingly popular again, and there’s many great options in the market today, such as the  Homebrew Germania (clone of Eric Clapton’s Rangemaster) and the Vox Cooltron Brit Boost.

Another website, brianmaycentral has the following info:

“Brian has his guitar plugged into the ‘Normal’ channel on the AC30s and has the treble booster turned up to just below the point where it goes into feedback. He has the amps turned up full and uses the volume control on his guitar to control the sound. If you want to try this setup at home, you should be aware that the AC30 is a vintage-style amp with no master volume control, so you will only get those classic sounds with everything up full (i.e. VERY loud). “

It’s also worth mentioning the Digitech “Brian May Red Special” Multi-FX pedal, with some preset Brian May sounds. Cool.

~ by dolphinblog on June 20, 2008.