Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar Antique Cherry
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Improved and refined replica of Red Special.
The Brian May Signature Electric Guitar features an acoustically chambered mahogany body, a dual truss rod mahogany neck, and ebony fingerboard. The pickups are Tri-Sonics that Brian sealed in Araldite adhesive to prevent microphonic feedback inherent with metal covered pickups. These are controlled by the original Brian May switching system with individual on/off and phase switches, one volume and one tone pot.
The Brian May guitar is faithful to the spirit of Brian's original 'Red Special', an instrument that has achieved iconic status and a unique place in rock history, and designed by Brian May himself. The Brian May Special is a stunning guitar, blessed with superb build quality, awesome playability and an astonishingly rich diversity of killer tones. In fact, it delivers everything you'd expect from an instrument built to the exacting standards of one of the world's greatest guitarists but, in keeping with Brian's vision of a "guitar for the people", with an amazingly affordable price-tag that belies its superior appointments and performance.
Without question one of the most eagerly anticipated instruments of the century. The original BMG replica was originally launched in winter 2001 to rapturous critical and public acclaim. UK Guitarist magazine hailed it as "Best Guitar of The Year" and theater audiences around the globe thrilled to the guitar's sound in performance in the Queen musical "We Will Rock You."
But the story certainly didn't end there. Brian, his long-standing guitar technician Pete Malandrone, and Barry Moorehouse of House Music have significantly improved upon the guitar's overall construction as well as refining the bridge assembly, electronics, finishing and color choices. Simply put, one of the finest artist-designed production guitars is now even better.
Check the drop-down menu to the right to select colors and/or other options.
Features
- Mahogany body (with acoustic chamber), Pinstripe binding, two-piece scratchplate
- 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, Brian May custom tremolo arm
- 3 x Burns Tri-Sonic pickups (series wired)
- Master volume/tone controls
- Original Brian May switching system:
- Individual pickup in/out phase
Break free with the Brian May Signature guitar! Order today.
Review Snapshot®
by PowerReviews(based on 78 reviews)
Ratings Distribution
100%
of respondents would recommend this to a friend.
Pros
- Good tone (8)
- Good feel (7)
- Good pick up (7)
- Solid electronics (7)
- Fun to play (6)
Cons
Best Uses
- Jamming (6)
- Practicing (6)
- Recording (6)
- Rock concerts (6)
- School bands (3)
- Reviewer Profile:
- Experienced (7)
Most Liked Positive Review
Very unique guitar
This is an interesting guitar. Certainly not for everyone, but interesting nonetheless.
Although I've been a lifelong fan of Brian May, I have to admit that I've never been all that int...Read complete review
This is an interesting guitar. Certainly not for everyone, but interesting nonetheless.
Although I've been a lifelong fan of Brian May, I have to admit that I've never been all that interested in trying to replicate his sound. He has one of the most distintinctive tones in the business and his style is also pretty unique. But when one of these unexpectedly dropped into my lap, I had to give it a try.
The first thing I noticed was the neck. It's huge. Wide and very thick - with pretty beefy frets. I can't think of another guitar I've played with such a thick neck. My understanding is that May's genuine 'Red Special' has a significantly fatter neck. He must have enormous hands. Initially I expected the neck shape to be a turn off but the more I played it,I thought. Interestingly, it seemed to dictate how I played it. I found myself doing long chromatic runs - not unlike Brian himself. Uncharacteristic for me but the flat fingerboard and really well crowned frets seem to draw your fingers around the board in a different way than normal.
I played the guitar unplugged for a while to get a general feel. The chambered body resonates very nicely and the guitar is surprisingly loud for a solid body. Some have complained about the balance. It is a bit odd, but I was able to get used to it pretty quickly. If anything bothered me it was the hard edges of the body. As a Strat player primarily, I found the squared off body a bit uncomfortable, but this is no different than playing a bound tele.
The tremolo is alo a tad different than most. Though it's more or less a variation on the two point trems that people have been making for decades, the bar is a shape I've not seen before. It allows the player to hold the bard while picking and accomplishes that nicely. When used in a more standard manner, the 'hook' in the bar isn't noticeable. I have no complaints with tuning stability. Though I'm not one known for a lot of divebombing, I tried to stress the system a bit and the tuning was as stable as any other guitar I have. The Grover locking tuners took a few minutes to figure out, but seem to do their job nicely.
Then I plugged it in. I'm lucky enough to own an AC15 and that seemed the logical place to start. Here again the guitar is 'unique'. The Burns pickups may look somewhat like Strat pickups but don't expect them to sound the same. They're both darker and sharper. Perhaps a bit more like the pickups in a good Tele, but not quite. If I had suggest that they sound like anything, I would probably say they sound like good old Dano lipsticks. They're a bit more full than the Danos, but have some of that bite. Each of the three pickups has its own character though all are pretty hot - driving the amp to breakup long before a strat would.
The switching arrangement is - yes, you guessed it - unique. On off switches for each plus a phase switch for each. I've had a few other guitars with swtiches and it works fine. Though in a performance situation, I would preffer the convenience of a blade, these get the job done and do offer three pickup combinations that are impossible with a Strat style blade (Neck + Bridge, All three on and all three off).
These pickups are wired in series as opposed to the industry standard parallel. This gives pickup combinations a very different sound and feel than your used to and when turning two pickups on effectively gives you a humbucker. The bridge and middle pickups together sound more like Les Paul to me than, say, the middle position on a Tele. All three on offers a very ballsy, in your face tone that nicely drives an amp into breakup very quickly.
The phase switches offer even more options though this takes some getting used to. Each switch inverts the phase of one pickup. Think about that relationship for a moment. It means that this is only a factor when using more than one pickup. Changing the phase of the bridge pickup alone will have no affect at all. When you're using the bridge and the middle pickups together, it doesn't matter which of the phase switches you change - the result will be the same. Both up or both down will sound identical. When you turn on all three pickups, it gets more complicated. You will then either have them all in phase with each other or two in phase and one out and you get to pick which you want out.
The out of phase sounds are very different then in phase. Much of the bottom end is removed, leaving a brighter, shriller sound. In some cases, even achieving a lo-fi kind of affect.
Do NOT expect any two of the single coils, out of phase with each other to sound like a strat. The series wiring just doesn't allow fo the 'clucking' sound that we all know and love.
A few final notes on the electronics. The volume and tone pots are reversed from what one would normally expect with the volume being the farthest back. While any single coil guitar will produce some 60 cycle hum, I was pleasantly surprised at how quiet this thing is. I haven't removed the pickguard for a peak yet but my guess is that it's well shielded.
So is Brian's tone in there? Yes, it really is. With the AC15, I was very easilly able to reproduce that signature sound (not the playing, just the sound) I can only imagine what a treble boost and an AC30 could accomplish with this.
I was actually quite surprised how much it sounds like the real 'Red Special.' The mahogany body, totally different tremolo system should sound really different, but for some reason they don't. The original is made of oak. How can mahogany sound like oak? I have no answer, but it does.
Luckily, there's a lot more in here too., I found the guitar very well suited to blues and eventually came to feel like I was playing a P-90 equiped Les Paul.
I think the common thread in this review is 'unique'. It looks unique. It feels unique and it sounds unique. This guitar will not be for everyone. The neck alone will put some off. This will never be a dive bombing, super-hot metal kind of thing. Nor will it ever be a mellow jazz box. But it's pretty much exactly what May designed it to be. If you want to sound like him, this plus an AC30 and a treble boost will get you very, very close. But it's beauty really lies in it's versatility and the number on tones that are present.
If, on the other hand, you just want something different, this guitar should interest you. I promise you, it will feel and sound different than anything you have. It's always nice to have a different tool in the shed.
Mahogany body and neck, ebony fingerboard, 2 point trem, locking tuners, three Burns 'Tri-Sonic'single coil pickups, individual on/off switches for each pickup as well as individual phase switches for each. One volume pot and one tone.
This guitar is remarkably well made for a Korean instrument. I don't say this lightly, but it appears to have the build quality of American made Fenders. Beatiful finish. Excellent fretwork. Nice binding front and back. Perfectly seated set neck.
Frankly, at this price, this guitar has no right to be this well made.
For the price these are selling at now, if you're interested in such a guitar, it's a steel.
VS
Most Liked Negative Review
Poor quality control.
I have been a huge Queen fan for 25 years and it was always my dream to own a Red Special. That dream quickly turned into a nightmare and I had to return the guitar...Read complete review
I have been a huge Queen fan for 25 years and it was always my dream to own a Red Special. That dream quickly turned into a nightmare and I had to return the guitar. Kudos to Musician's Friend for having such an awesome return policy and great customer service.
I'm giving this a three because of the pickups and pickup configuration. There's a wide variety of tones to be had with this guitar, but the guitar itself is lacking in other areas. The horns on the upper part of the body are too shallow to make holding it on your leg comfortable when sitting. You feel like you're fighting it all the time because of balance issues. Another problem is the trem arm. It free floats in the arm hole, and if you lean the guitar forward, it'll fall out. The only remedy to this is a tiny screw underneath the trem plate at the back of the trem that is virtually invisible and nearly inaccessible.
The finish on this guitar is nice, and the locking tuners work well, but there's a big issue with quality control on these guitars. They don't come set up at all. When I got mine, I had to adjust the neck and the trem height both to get rid of fret buzz. Unfortunately, the saddle on the E string could not be pulled back far enough to intonate the string properly. I had to remove the saddle spring and pull the saddle back completely to the back of the trem to get it to intonate. Even then, the E string wouldn't stay in tune at all. It constantly would go sharp if you did any string bends or used the trem. I spent two and a half days trying to dial in and make this guitar workable, and finally just gave up and sent it back. This issue could have been discovered if there had been any proper set up done at the factory before the instruments are sent out.
With poor quality control requiring a lot of set up and potentially having trem/bridge saddle issues, I have to give this a 1.
Reviews
Reviewed by 78 customers
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Pros
- Endless sustain
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- Maintains Tuning
- Perfect Neck
- Solid Electronics
- well built
Cons
- Short Frets
- Trem Arm Attachment
Best Uses
- Jamming
- Recording
- Rock Concerts
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
My very expensive Jackson USA PC-1 is now riding the bench, as I've found the new "Love of My Life." The Brian May Special (which is less than a third of the price) sounds better and is far easier to maintain (I'm getting sick of messing with Floyd Roses). And the best part is with the only moderate amount of trem useage I need, the BMS stays in-tune just as well as a full Floyd Rose set up (thank you, STANDARD locking tuners).
Between the unique pickup wiring and power/phase options, you can get *almost* any tone imagineable, and probably some you've never heard. The only tone this guitar can't quite match is the legendary Fender "snap," which is probably why May used a Tele to record "Crazy Little Thing Called Love."
If you pair the guitar with a good compressor/sustainer and the right amp settings, this guitar will sustain as long as a Les Paul (and longer than many LPs I've heard, especially the Epi's). This is thanks to the body's chambering and the dripping-with-tone single coil pickups based on Burns Tri-Sonics.
The neck is "Made In Heaven." The first time I wrapped my left hand around the neck, I knew they had gotten it right. It's chunky and fast, allowing you to go from chording to soloing in a "Flash." I have always been used to the long 25.5" scales of Fender Strats, but I am loving the short 24" scale so much, that it seems almost awkward to go back to a longer scale.
It's also surprisingly well-built given its overseas origins (Korea) and budget price. I can't imagine Brian May Guitars is making a ton of money on these given the quality of the craftsmanship and components. It was also set-up fairly well out of the box, but a bit of tweaking is always in order, no matter the origin or quality of the instrument.
But nothing's perfect, and this guitar has two flaws (both of which come down to personal preference, and not quality problems). First, the frets are very short, and I prefer taller varieties. Second, the trem arm on the (otherwise flawless) Wilkinson bridge is of the tighten-me-down-with-a-microscopic-hex-screw-behind-the-bridge-block variety. I'd like to meet the sadist who came up with this concept and sentence him to 30 continous years of tightening and untightening these trem arms until he goes blind. Seriously, what's wrong with the good old fashioned screw-in arm, a la Fender?
Pros
- Good Weightbalance
- Solid construction
- Versatile tone
Cons
- Fret Buzz
- Guitar Not Set-up
- Plastic Feel To Neck
Best Uses
- Stand Up Rocking
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
This guitar is is a solid build with quality components (Grover tuners, Burns pickups), switches/knobs seem to be durable. The guitar does not come set up (as I expected), and this was apparent by the fret buzz. The proper tools are included. Also included is a very nice soft gig bag with back straps.
This guitar has a wide tonal variety, though requires a treble booster and Vox AC-30 amp(s) to recreate what Brian May did. Independent of any May sound you may try to get, it is a good guitar with single coil pickups that can also be used for blues, surf rock, or whatever you care for. The guitar almost requires you to stand up, as it is awkward to sit down and play (very round body). I can't speak it its durability or reliability over time, but my first impression is very good.
Pros
- Fun To Play
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- Solid Electronics
Cons
Best Uses
- Jamming
- Practicing
- Recording
- Rock Concerts
- School Bands
- Small Venues
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
I read all the reviews saying "good guitar for the price". I would say great guitar at any price. I have owned over 30 electrics in my life Fender strats and teles, Gibson les pauls, PRS, Ibanez, Jackson, Washburn and on. I own a custom made Red Special, the 5000 usd plus type. All around I take this guitar.
The only possible caution is the neck radius is 7.25", versus most guitars of 9.5" or higher. I prefer a 7.25" personally. If that's your thing then in my opinion to actually play the guitar, not for resale or collection purposes I would honestly pick this guitar over any I have ever played or owned. Note a 7.25" radius is only on a few guitars. Rickenbacker 360 and 325, Fender Vintage(50's) strats and teles a few others.
Brian May put his name on this and you can tell he did not do so lightly. I own two already a black and a green one. Some one please buy a white one and return it so I can snap it up used. :)
Pros
- Fun To Play
- Good Tone
Cons
- Needs Set-up
Best Uses
- Jamming
- Practicing
- Recording
- Rock Concerts
- School Bands
- Small Venues
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
Whether a queen fan or not, this is the perfect guitar for you tone seekers. There are seemingly unlimited options here, especially when you pair this with a nice Vox ac30 just like Brian plays. You can turn each pickup on and off individually, and each phase on and off individually. This is by far the best neck you will find out there...and it is light and comfortable. For those saying that it is uncomfortable to play while seated, this is true, but that is not the intention; This guitar is made to rock! If you just take a look at the queen catalogue and make this note: every tone you can imagine (with a good amp of course)from the delicate instrumentations from A Night at the Opera (lazing on a sunday afternoon, seaside redezvous, Bohemian rhapsody) to the flat out prog rock early albums and the more dance oriented later albums.....every one of them is here waiting to be unlocked.
Pros
- Fun To Play
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- It~~~apos~~~s Brian Mays Guitar
- Solid Electronics
Cons
- Not A Single One
Best Uses
- For Rockin~~~apos~~~ And A Rollin~~~apos~~~
- Jamming
- Practicing
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
The Brian May Red Special looks,plays and sounds fantastic.It would be a valued piece to any musician's collection.
Pros
- Fun To Play
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- SOLID
- Solid Electronics
Cons
- Cost
Best Uses
- Jamming
- Practicing
- Recording
- Rock Concerts
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
This is a solid guitar that is great to play and fun to sit and jam with. It is well appointed and feels like a solid guitar even though it has some hollowness.
Pros
- Fun To Play
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- Solid Electronics
Cons
- Switches hard to use
Best Uses
- Its all in the amp used
- Practicing
- Recording
- Rock Concerts
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
This is not the only guitar I play, but as I say the amp is 60%, the guitar is 20%, and the player is 20% But must be able to work together to make the quality of sound you are looking for,and this has worked for me.
Pros
- Fun To Play
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- Solid Electronics
Cons
Best Uses
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
This guitar is fun to play. So many options, nice feel, great sound. Never tried 9's before, but the guitar comes with them, and it's pretty nice to try it. The craftmanship of the guitar isn't perfect, but that's ok, I'm not a great guitarist anyways. The bottom line is, it produces a nice sound and is fun to play.
Pros
- Good Feel
- Good Pick Up
- Good Tone
- Great build quality
- Great feel
- Looks fantastic
- Solid Electronics
Cons
- Wont balance sitting
Best Uses
- Jamming
- Live
- Practicing
- Recording
- Rock Concerts
- School Bands
- Small Venues
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
Took the plunge, and bought one of these, after not being able to afford one of the very expensive replicas on [@], i wasn't dissapointed. build quality on this for a korean guitar is outstanding, far better than many of the recent Indonesian guitars, and knocking on the door of a good Japanese instrument. The guitar looks "shorter" when on a stand, due to the shorter scale length, but within minutes of playing, you forget this, and get used to it very quickly, the fretboard has quite a curve to the radius, and the neck has plenty of wood, think like an old semi-acoustic and your on the right track, took me a while to get used to, after an Ibanez wizard neck, but it gives you plenty to hang onto when bending, the fit and finish of the frets is excellent, as is the hardware in general, the tremelo has a very nice soft and springy feel to it, making it very responsive, intuitive to use, but the jewel in the crown is the tonal range available with the pickups and phase switches, you can get everything from that hollow reedy sound, to a screeching lead sound, that sounds like it already has a treble booster, not the easiest guitar to play sitting down as it slides about a bit, and it can take a bit of work in getting used to the locking tuners, but once there, its fabulous, there is some hum from various pickup combinations, but this is the nature of the beast, once you play it for a while, it feels more vintage than modern day rock guitars, but just as playable, in a different way, access to the upfrets is quite good to, although again, getting used to a curved fretboard can take a bit of work, if used to the flat lolly sticks of today, and even when you dont play it, it looks fabulous, some will hate it, but most will love it, its one of THOSE types of guitars, but it you dont get it, you dont get it, but there is nothing better than "Tie your mother down" through this, and playing with a silver coin, it sounds extremely authentic.hope this helps :)
Comments about Brian May Guitars Brian May Signature Electric Guitar:
What can I say? This guitar will make people make babies.... It is that good.
To be honest, this guitar kind of gets my mind racing as to what I could do with the different pickup and phasing options. I've been tooling around on it for the past while and I've gotten a good feel for what this piece offers, but then again it is like every other guitar out there. If you plug it into effects and different amps, you will get a totally different feel than before. I tried it through my peavey 5150 and my windsor going between different eqing and different overdrive pedals and I was truly impressed with the variety of sounds you could get. Really thats all you can ask for in a guitar like this. I'm sure your looking at this because Brian May's music impacted what you think a guitar can or should sound like, but you'll find that you can get your own sound out of it to. Experiment on it.
I bought it used off of this site and it came pretty much brand spanking new. The set up was immaculate. The fretboard is very nice and the rest of the hardware feels like its good quality stuff.
The value of this guitar is completely up to the player. For some this guitar will get you a sound that no other guitar can get you. To put a price on that is rather silly to me. For others this will be a novelty item. For some this guitar is going to sound like crap. You'll hate it because it doesn't sound like your schecter with active EMG's (And you are perfectly justified in your opinion). In that case, this guitar will be a great waste of money. I happen to think its well worth the price I paid for it.
