Here it is....as promised.

3bolt79

3bolt79

Moderator
Joined
Jun 28, 2024
Messages
488
Reaction score
931
Ok, I said that I was going to do a post about something equally as badass as the Les Paul with the Braz board in one of the other Mod's posts.

This guitar was my number one Bucket List guitar since I was 12 or 13 years old. I have been a Queen fan since I was a kid. I have always loved the look and the sound of Brian May's original Red Special.

I was always told that I could never get one because Brian and his dad built it from scratch, and nobody made one. Well, turns out that there were some copies made by Greco, back in the 70's. I didn't like them and couldn't have afforded them anyway at the time.

I had a Guild BHM 01 from 1993. I've also owned an early Burns model and a BMG model. None of those were good enough. I also came really close to buying a Jon Birch model, but that didn't pan out.

Fast forward to 2014, and I was 45 years old when I was able to get one of these....

IMG_1007.jpegIMG_0988.jpeg
Interesting history on this guitar. It was made by a guy that actually took Brian May's guitar apart and measured, and cataloged every part down to every single mismatched screw.

It is unbranded, has actual real Tri-Sonics pickups with newly manufactured covers made on the original Burns machines. The neck is 1 and 1/4 inches thick at the zero fret.

The only difference between mine and the original is that mine is actual Honduran Mahogany and Ebony, vs pine blockboard and white oak with veneers. The finish isn't Rustin's plastic coating either. It's hard to get in the US.

The tremolo springs are from the same Motorcycle year and model that Brian May robbed the valve springs from. Here's a pic.

IMG_0991.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Yikes ! That's grand ! How did you get a hold of that gem ?
Are you fluent in Queen's music ?

You now need to build an amp like this.

1721563101961.png
 
Last edited:
The story goes that back in 1982, during Queen's Hot Space tour, Sir Brian was playing his John Birch Replica, and it wouldn't stay in tune. He got pissed off and threw the guitar off the stage, breaking the neck off at the heel and breaking the headstock

John Page, formerly of the Fender Custom Shop, was working as John Deacon's Bass Tech. John had, according to Everett Wood,, talked to Brian after the show. He said "You know, I could make you a Replica that will be exactly like your guitar".! After the tour concluded, Brian took John up on his offer, and John went to Brian's house and took the Red Special apart, cataloging all of the parts, taking photos, and taking measurements.

He built one guitar, and had it almost finished, he just hasn't put the pickups in it yet. It was at that time, that Brian inked a deal with Guild. John never heard from him again after that point in time when the Guild BHM1 was first released, and John's replica sat, unfinished for decades.

At sometime in the 2000's, John Page sold his shop to another former Fender employee named Everett Wood. When wood was going through the property, he found John's Replica and also found the broken John Birch guitar. The Birch was returned to May, and he had it repaired. He also spec'd out Page's replica and started making copies of them and selling them.

Everett is a big Brian May fan. During one of our conversations, he told me that he had over 150 Brian May guitars. He lost most of them in a nasty divorce.

Anyway, Wood made exact copies of both iterations of the Guilds from the 80's and 90's. And also made two iterations of the John Page guitar. One made out of real Mahogany and Ebony and one made of Blackboard. He also made many custom versions of Brian May's Special with exotic woods and different electronics. He even made double necks.

Wood also told me during another conversation that when he worked at Fender, Fender was going to make Brian May guitars after they acquired Guild. That didn't come to fruition, and Wood left shortly after they nixed the idea. When he left, he took some of the plans/blue prints, etc.
 
Crazy! Congrats man, that's a one of a kind!

I always wanted a Red Special myself, and was on the waiting list for a BMG Super, but never heard from them... There must be a long wait!

shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk

The BMG Super

An magnificent, officially licensed, modern recreation of Brian May's legendary Red Special
shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk
 
VictorB said:
Crazy! Congrats man, that's a one of a kind!

I always wanted a Red Special myself, and was on the waiting list for a BMG Super, but never heard from them... There must be a long wait!

shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk

The BMG Super

An magnificent, officially licensed, modern recreation of Brian May's legendary Red Special
shop.brianmayguitars.co.uk
Click to expand...
There’s an RS on Reverb right now for about the same price. I believe that one is from 2006.

Gibson is going to be making replicas, probably Murphy Lab. I think that there are a couple of BMG Supers on Reverb also right now. That would be your best bet.

Once the Gibson’s start rolling out, they might not continue with the Czech made Supers. Maybe, maybe not. AFAIK the wait times one the Czech BMG’s is a year or more.

If you don’t like huge, thick necks, you might want to look at the 1990’s Guilds. I had one. The pickups are SD Tri-Sonics replicas that are over wound and hot.

I had to send my Guild back because it had a huge divot in the back of the neck. The nineties Guilds can be had quite reasonably.

An 84 Guild will set you back about 10 K. There are some 84 replicas that Everett Wood made that are as good or better than the real deal, and can be had for much less.
 
Last edited:
Oh, @VictorB , as far as treble boosters go, the best is a real Cornish TB 83. However, Greg Fryer makes one called the Treble Booster Plus. It has no knobs, and the circuit is a copy of the Cornish 83.

Out of all the Fryer Brian May boosters, it is the best sounding, and delivers 37 or 38 decibels of boost. It is the blue one, and they are currently being made in the UK. And they are quite affordable. They are 9V DC only, and a Duracell will give you approximately 5 hours of run time.
 
Back
Top