Brian May's Handmade Electric Guitar - All The Facts

Brian May's Handmade Electric Guitar - All The Facts

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I have continually admired the particular guitar that has been owned and played by Brian May of Queen since the 60's. It has a different look to the bulk of Strat or Les Paul style guitars that are around, and it sounds amazing too. So I decided I would probe a little bit deeper to understand more about this fascinating guitar.

Commonly referred to as The Red Special, most keen guitarists at least know that this unique was built by hand by May and his father Harold out of an ancient fire place surround - 18th century to be specific. The guitar was fashioned from this very large piece of old oak into the stunning shape we know so well. In my opinion this was an exceptionally balanced and attractive shape, superior to numerous production guitars that can be spotted in High St music shops.

In addition the guitar's fretboard was also produced from oak compared to the rosewood, ebony or maple commonly used. The body has a thin mahogany top covering routed areas, giving this unique instrument's construction a positively semi-acoustic feel. As a contrast, a Les Paul would have utilised a maple top covering a solid mahogany body. A few extra great touches are the individual positions of the fretboard's pearl dot markers (created from buttons) and the shape of the headstock which is more similar to the design of a Flying V headstock than anything else on the market today.

In conjunction with the design as well as the build materials used, utilising three Burns single coil pickups helps to give this guitar that notorious 'Brian May' sound (the Vox AC30 also helps out). The guitar pickups were re-wound by May and wax potted in epoxy. Wax potting is the technique of sealing the pickup's coils to prevent any uninvited microphonic feedback but frequently a mix of beeswax and paraffin does the trick, so this was an interesting and more stable formula.

The last area to have a custom solution was the tremolo system. This was fashioned out of a hard steel knife and some motorbike springs. Custom rollers were integrated to allow the strings to move freely.

If you ever needed confirmation that this electric guitar has a specific sound, just check out the guitar solo in 'Killer Queen'. This solo was not only a lesson in melody but but also you'd recognize that distinctive tone anywhere.

The original guitar is still alive and kicking though for safety reasons May often chooses to utilise one of the replica versions that his company now create. They might not be the real deal but they are really close.

About the Author:
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 electric guitar pickups he recommends visting: TubGuitarPickups.co.uk, and for a great information on building guitars he suggests MyLesPaul.com.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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