Happy Tree
Junior Member
- Joined
- May 24, 2015
- Messages
- 27
- Reaction score
- 0
I missed my Orpheum delivery today by having the cheek to be out working at the time. I will apparently get it "maybe on Friday when we've done the paperwork for an undelivered item". The devil has a special little room for the couriers of the world.
Anyhoo, in the meantime this is the story of my electric guitar:
About 15 years ago Brian May needed repairs done to his very first acoustic guitar. It was refinished by the luthier Andrew Guyton.
http://www.guytonguitars.com
When the Red Special herself needed work Andrew got the job again. And then was asked if he could make the ultimate replica, x-raying the insides and everything.
So, after gazing at this magical guitar from afar for nigh on 30 years, last year I finally got mine.
The first thing you'll notice is that it's not actually red. Yes, the Queen guitarist's iconic red guitar is really brown. Like, really brown. You will recognise it as mahogany, I'm sure. But it looks red under some lighting conditions, mainly artificial, so it usually looked red on stage. The real naked-eye colour is somewhere around the back of the 5th fret, a little above the strand support in the photo.
The other legendary thing about this guitar is the size of its neck. No metaphors here, you could actually use it as a baseball bat. It is the most ridiculously thick neck imaginable.
Brian May measures 6'4" and has rather large, bony hands. I have rather small hands. I cannot do the "thumb over" technique on a normal neck anyway, so on this one it's never going to happen. But hey, you play your own way. It's actually very comfortable to have a palmful of wood behind everything you play. And the top fret access is astounding. When I go back to the Strat I wonder how anyone could play with nothing up top.
Like the Guild copies that some of you may be familiar with, it has 24 frets, 24" scale, extra light strings (8s) and it's really bend-friendly. Like rubber bands. If your style is solo bending then this is everything you always dreamed of. No wonder Brian has such fluid vibrato! And I have learned new shapes to play right at the top. Bending up to that screaming top D never was so simple.
Ah yes, the scream. If you're familiar with the tone of this unique guitar you'll know about the screamy setting. This is the setting used on the solo in Bohemian Rhapsody, amongst others. Octave overtones just come cascading into the fundamental without even any pinch harmomics going on, it just happens by itself. This is due to the pickups being out of phase.
The top switches are on/off, the bottom row is phase direction. The Bo Rap setting is neck and middle both on and one out of phase with the other. There are loads of settings possible, some more extreme than others. The one Brian uses about 80% of the time is bridge and middle in phase. They're wired in series too, so they humbuck. The midde pup is also RWRP.
This guitar is a geek's paradise...but a luthier's nightmare. It's a very unconventional design. Everything is fixed to the body so the pickguard can come off easily and repairs can be done more quickly. The body is basically a semi-acoustic shell on a central oak strut. The neck runs right down to just in front of the bridge pup. Middle and neck pups are screwed into the neck. The idea behind this design was mainly to promote controllable feedback. This is the true "go away for a bite" sustain guitar.
The bridge is interesting too. Brian and his dad designed it themselves to reduce friction and make a trem that returns to pitch very well. Again, the function is great but it's a pain for a guitar tech. The rollers are individual pieces and they fall out when a string breaks. And intonation is not as precise as it could be, there being only 5 groove positions available. But this is a replica guitar, so it's gotta be accurate!
And of course, the thing is signed by the man himself. None of your decals, this is just his real signature laquered over.
On the back I had something special done:
As something I have been in awe of all my life, this guitar represents the most beautiful gesture I could think of to honour my girlfriend who sadly passed away. She is in my heart and my music forever.
It's an astounding accomplishment. We all wonder just what makes "the tone" and we disagree over little details which, in isolation, don't make that much difference in themselves. But if you get all of the little details absolutely right, the tone will be there. And it certainly is. Driven with a treble booster through a Vox AC30, it sounds absolutely identical. Apart from the tone that will forever remain in the hands! That I cannot replicate, nor do I wish to. This is me playing my own tribute to the things I hold most dear.
PS: that little black square of tape? I was bamboozled by this when 15 years old and seeing the guitar play in the Magic Tour in 1986. Now finally I understand. It was to cover a hole in the pickguard that was there all through Queen's success. When Brian originally made the guitar in 1963 he installed a Vox fuzz circuit into the guitar which had a little red switch. He then didn't like it so took it out and never bothered to repair the hole the whole time. He used to put red dot stickers over it, then a piece of tape. I didn't drill a hole in my pickguard - the indentation you see is artificial. I just cut a hole in a second piece of tape! It adds to the iconic look for me. Gotta have that mysterious black square. Nowadays it's been inlaid over with his star motif.
Anyhoo, in the meantime this is the story of my electric guitar:
About 15 years ago Brian May needed repairs done to his very first acoustic guitar. It was refinished by the luthier Andrew Guyton.
http://www.guytonguitars.com
When the Red Special herself needed work Andrew got the job again. And then was asked if he could make the ultimate replica, x-raying the insides and everything.
So, after gazing at this magical guitar from afar for nigh on 30 years, last year I finally got mine.
The first thing you'll notice is that it's not actually red. Yes, the Queen guitarist's iconic red guitar is really brown. Like, really brown. You will recognise it as mahogany, I'm sure. But it looks red under some lighting conditions, mainly artificial, so it usually looked red on stage. The real naked-eye colour is somewhere around the back of the 5th fret, a little above the strand support in the photo.
The other legendary thing about this guitar is the size of its neck. No metaphors here, you could actually use it as a baseball bat. It is the most ridiculously thick neck imaginable.
Brian May measures 6'4" and has rather large, bony hands. I have rather small hands. I cannot do the "thumb over" technique on a normal neck anyway, so on this one it's never going to happen. But hey, you play your own way. It's actually very comfortable to have a palmful of wood behind everything you play. And the top fret access is astounding. When I go back to the Strat I wonder how anyone could play with nothing up top.
Like the Guild copies that some of you may be familiar with, it has 24 frets, 24" scale, extra light strings (8s) and it's really bend-friendly. Like rubber bands. If your style is solo bending then this is everything you always dreamed of. No wonder Brian has such fluid vibrato! And I have learned new shapes to play right at the top. Bending up to that screaming top D never was so simple.
Ah yes, the scream. If you're familiar with the tone of this unique guitar you'll know about the screamy setting. This is the setting used on the solo in Bohemian Rhapsody, amongst others. Octave overtones just come cascading into the fundamental without even any pinch harmomics going on, it just happens by itself. This is due to the pickups being out of phase.
The top switches are on/off, the bottom row is phase direction. The Bo Rap setting is neck and middle both on and one out of phase with the other. There are loads of settings possible, some more extreme than others. The one Brian uses about 80% of the time is bridge and middle in phase. They're wired in series too, so they humbuck. The midde pup is also RWRP.
This guitar is a geek's paradise...but a luthier's nightmare. It's a very unconventional design. Everything is fixed to the body so the pickguard can come off easily and repairs can be done more quickly. The body is basically a semi-acoustic shell on a central oak strut. The neck runs right down to just in front of the bridge pup. Middle and neck pups are screwed into the neck. The idea behind this design was mainly to promote controllable feedback. This is the true "go away for a bite" sustain guitar.
The bridge is interesting too. Brian and his dad designed it themselves to reduce friction and make a trem that returns to pitch very well. Again, the function is great but it's a pain for a guitar tech. The rollers are individual pieces and they fall out when a string breaks. And intonation is not as precise as it could be, there being only 5 groove positions available. But this is a replica guitar, so it's gotta be accurate!
And of course, the thing is signed by the man himself. None of your decals, this is just his real signature laquered over.
On the back I had something special done:
As something I have been in awe of all my life, this guitar represents the most beautiful gesture I could think of to honour my girlfriend who sadly passed away. She is in my heart and my music forever.
It's an astounding accomplishment. We all wonder just what makes "the tone" and we disagree over little details which, in isolation, don't make that much difference in themselves. But if you get all of the little details absolutely right, the tone will be there. And it certainly is. Driven with a treble booster through a Vox AC30, it sounds absolutely identical. Apart from the tone that will forever remain in the hands! That I cannot replicate, nor do I wish to. This is me playing my own tribute to the things I hold most dear.
PS: that little black square of tape? I was bamboozled by this when 15 years old and seeing the guitar play in the Magic Tour in 1986. Now finally I understand. It was to cover a hole in the pickguard that was there all through Queen's success. When Brian originally made the guitar in 1963 he installed a Vox fuzz circuit into the guitar which had a little red switch. He then didn't like it so took it out and never bothered to repair the hole the whole time. He used to put red dot stickers over it, then a piece of tape. I didn't drill a hole in my pickguard - the indentation you see is artificial. I just cut a hole in a second piece of tape! It adds to the iconic look for me. Gotta have that mysterious black square. Nowadays it's been inlaid over with his star motif.
