Brian May's Handmade Electric Guitar - All the Facts
By Jim J Ward
I have always admired the electric guitar that has been owned and played by Brian May since the 60's. It has a different look compared to the bulk of Strat or Les Paul style guitars presently around, and it sounds fantastic too. So I thought I'd dig a bit deeper to understand more about this fascinating electric guitar.
Frequently known as The Red Special, the majority of keen guitarists will at least know that this unique was hand-built by May and his father Harold from an ancient fire place structure - 18th century to be exact. The guitar was formed from this sizable slab of old oak into the stunning shape we know so well. In my honest opinion this was an extremely balanced and appealing shape, superior to a lot of production guitars that can be spotted in High St music shops.
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It appears that the guitar's fretboard was also made of oak as opposed to the ebony, maple or rosewood repeatedly used. The body has a thin mahogany top which covers routed areas, giving this unique instrument's construction a positively semi-acoustic feel. As a contrast, a Les Paul model would have utilised a maple top over a solid mahogany body. A few extra nice touches are the individual positioning of the fretboard's pearl dot markers (created from buttons) and the headstock shape which is closer to the design of a Gibson Flying V headstock than anything on the market today.
Together with the design as well as the construction materials used, utilising three Burns single coil pickups helps give this guitar that 'Brian May' sound (the Vox AC30 also plays a part). The guitar pickups were re-wound by May himself and wax potted in epoxy. Wax potting is the procedure of sealing the pickup's coils to avoid any uninvited microphonic feedback but regularly a mix of beeswax and paraffin does the trick, so this was an interesting and more long term option.
The final area to be given a custom solution was the tremolo system. This was produced out of a hard steel knife and a couple of motorbike springs. Custom made rollers were included to make it possible for the strings to move freely.
If you ever needed confirmation that this electric guitar has a unique sound, just listen to the guitar solo in 'Killer Queen'. Not only was this solo a dream but also you'd recognize that tone anywhere.
The original guitar is still alive and kicking though for safety reasons May often chooses to utilise one of the duplicate versions that his company now make. They might not be the real thing but they are seriously close.
Jim Ward is a keen guitar player and often writes about various aspects of the electric guitar. For a great blog on guitars, guitarists and excellent guitar pickups he recommends visting TubGuitarPickups.co.uk, and for a first class information on building guitars he suggests MyLesPaul.com.
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