Special Red

The Red Special is the personal guitar of Brian May, guitarist of the group Queen, inter alia.

Manufacture

May, with the assistance of his/her father, Harold, starts to work on the Red Special in August 1963. The majority of wood used comes from the lintel of an old chimney, that a family friend was on the point of throwing. The handle is worked with the hand until taking the wished form, difficult thing seen the age and the poor quality of wood employed. To date, according to May, there remain two holes of worm in the guitar.

The handle is then supplemented by a touches in oak, comprising 24 Frette S. the inserts are carried out with the hand starting from buttons of Nacre. May lays out them in an unusual way: two inserts with 7th and 19th hoops, and three with 12th and 24e.

The body consists of Chêne, Acajou and lathed Contreplaqué, making of Red Special a kind of guitar semi-acoustics. The block of central wood is stuck to those on the sides then is covered with two sheets of mahogany tree to give him the appearance of a guitar to body of only one holding. A white edge of ornament is then affixed. For electronics, May chooses a configuration with three microphonous and does itself the rest. The selected microphones are of Tri-Sonic Burns mark, rewound with back to reverse the Polarité. They are also covered with resin epoxy in order to reduce the Background noise. At the beginning, May tries to use entirely wound microphones hand, as it did already on its first electric guitar, but gives up, not very satisfied with the result.

The system of Vibrato consists of a blade of knife out of tempered steel, reformed in V , and of two springs of Soupape of motor cycle used to counterbalance the tension applied to the cords. The balancing of tension can be modified by tightening two screws crossing the springs, of the interior, or of outside thanks to two holes of accesses spared close to the button of strap of the bottom of the instrument. In order to reduce the Friction, the system is equipped with two ball bearings making it possible the cords to return exactly to their initial tuning after use of the arm of vibrato. This same arm is recovered on a support of satchel of bicycle, and is decorated at its end of an end of needle to knit out of white plastic. At the end of the handle, always to limit the risks of désaccordage, the cords pass on a standard hoop “zero” then in a sillet to guide of cords in Bakélite.

In the beginning, the guitar is equipped with a system of distortion integrated, recovered on a box of distortion Vox and especially adapted. The switch controlling this effect is placed vis-a-vis the switches of inversion of phase. However, May discovers soon that he prefers the sound of an amplifier Vox thorough AC 30 with strong volume, and removes this circuit. Nowadays, the hole left by the switch is covered by an insert in form with star, but at the time, a simple piece of self-adhesive band fulfills this function.

The name of Red Special comes from the particular color, brown-red, of the guitar. This one is painted with the hand and from multiple layers of plastic varnish come to protect it.

On the whole, May would have spent 17,50 £ to manufacture its guitar.

Counterparts

Industrial copies

Official counterparts of the Red Special were and are always manufactured in variable quantities and qualities. For example, certain models high-of-range take again all the functions of original, the least expensive copies by preserving only one part. The majority of the versions of the Years 1980 and 1990 are due to the American marks Guild (over the period 1983-1991) and Burns (since 1991, of the Korean models cheap). Currently, three companies manufacture models of Red Special : Brian May Guitars, which took again the activities of Burns, RS Guitars, models hand made in Arizona, the United States and KZ GuitarWorks, which distributes copies of very correct quality manufactured to the Japan.

Copies of exception

Greg Fryer, a Violin maker Australia N, manufactures in 1996-1997 three certified copies of the Red Special with the agreement of Brian May. Fryer Radiographie R original the, fascinating one of very precise measurements concerning the quality of wood in order to as well as possible will reproduce it until thanks to a software of CAD - CAD. Fryer baptizes these three guitars John, Paul and George Burns. May has John and George, Fryer being reserved Paul, built with wood of slightly different sonority in order to obtain a more aggressive sound.

In 2004, Andrew Guyton, violin maker of East Anglia, the United Kingdom, created 50 copies of the Red Special : forty in red, to celebrate the 40e birthday of this guitar, and ten others in green Indeed, Guyton had on the occasion to see copies of this color, left to Guild, and had appreciated their aspect. It recently left a new edition, with a decorated key.

Alternatives

In 2006, Brian May Guitars leaves the Mini May , based on a reduced version of the Red Special . The key always comprises 24 hoops to be played, but the zero freight disappeared. It has only one microphone, is deprived of switches, and its handle is out of maple. An acoustic version, regaining the shape of the Special Red and a key 24 hoops, is planned for during 2007.

Restorations and revisions

After having supervised closely the creation of his/her “sisters twin” and taken act of the use due to almost thirty years of concerts, repetitions and recordings, May decides, in 1998, to entrust the original Red Special to Fryer. For this restoration, he asks so that elements of origin than possible are used as many or, failing this, materials of time. The varnish damaged with the back of the guitar is removed, of small replaced pieces of wood. The handle is rectified, and several tears of the front are repaired. Fryer remakes the handle and the body by using same varnish as May at the time of manufacture, of Rustin' S Plastic. The key is renovated and the inserts are changed. The electronic part must also be recâblée and solidified, and a cosmetic toilet of the mask-microphone, panels of access and plate pickguard come to complete work.

In 2005, at the conclusion of the round of Queen with Paul Rodgers, May makes carry out several revisions of the Red Special . The zero freight is changed for the first time, its state having been judged satisfying at the time of the restoration of 1998, and the hole spared for the connection of the cord jack is increased. In spite of the years of play, the hoops of origin, in very good state, are preserved.

Particular characteristics

• Wiring in series : The microphones are connected in series, in opposition to most traditional wiring in parallel. This characteristic gives to the activated microphones (two or the three at the same time, if not the modification does not have any particular effect) a little more the low ones and less the acute ones.

• Interrupteur S goes/stop : Each microphone is equipped with its dedicated switch. That makes it possible to use the three microphones at the same time, or those of the rest and the handle, configurations seldom possible on the guitars with three microphones of great series.

• Reversers of phase : Each microphone moreover is connected to a switch making it possible to reverse its direction of wiring and thus the phase of the electrical signal. Thus, when more than one microphone is active, and that one of both is in reversed position, the average frequencies and acute are richer, the low ones being decreased by as much.

• reversed Controls : Compared to the vast majority of the guitars of series, the Potentiometer S of volume sound and tonality are reversed. The tonality is close to the microphones and volume is off-set towards the edge.

Data sheet

• Body:

• Oak and lathed plywood, plating mahogany tree, body of the type semi-solid
• maximum Thickness: 39 mm
• Handle:
• Mahogany tree of recovery, resulting from a lintel of walked on bicentenary
• Slope of the handle: 2°
• Angle of the head: 4° backwards
• Width with the hoop “zero”: 47 mm
• Width with the 12th hoop: 51 mm
• Thickness with the hoop “zero”: 25 mm
• Thickness with the 12th hoop: 27 mm
• Key:
• Oak, black painting
• Radius: 7" + 0,25"
• Length: 610 mm
• Many hoops: 24
• Caliber of the hoops: 24 X 1,2
• Inserts: give luster to, a point on 3rd, 5th, 9th, 15th, 17th and 21e boxes, two on 7th and 19th boxes, three on 12th and 24e boxes.
• With the sillet:
• Hoop “zero” with guide of bakelite cords
• Cords:
• Spacing of the cords to the sillet: 4,1 mm
• Spacing of the cords to the rest: 4,9 mm
• Various:
• Microphonous: three Burns Tri-Sonic modified
• Arm of vibrato: fact hand
• Plate pickguard , mask-microphone, plate of rope-maker/rest: black Perspex
• Controls: General volume, general tonality, interruptory go/stop for each microphone, switch of inversion of phase for each microphone
• Weight net: approx. 3,6 kg

See too

Internal bond

• Deacy Amp