Guitar review: Brian May Special

GloopyJon

Cool!  And with a couple more on the rack behind you, I see   Do you own one yourself?

UEF

I do - it's the red version of the BMG guitar you've got. I asked some guy to write his name on the back of it!

                                                                                                                                               

On the first photo is me playing the original Red Special (as used on virtually all Queen songs and gigs) and in the background are from memory a friend's BMG Super and Guyton replicas.

GloopyJon

Very nice!  I'm sure there's a story behind all of that...

What do you think of the guitar?  How does it compare with the original?

UEF

The BMG guitars are great. There are little things you can do to them to make them better, like fitting a strat-type tremolo tip to the bar, changing the knobs (Guitar strings, bass strings and accessories. Optima Strings UK supplier - A Strings has these).
Some folks like to buy the better 'Super' pickups from Adeson - Classic Vintage Pickups as the inbuilt ones are said to be lacking. You can also change the pots for 250ks (they are shipped with 500ks which is really the wrong value for these pickups)
Really small stuff though. Plug it into a Touring treble booster (again Astrings) and any sort of valve AC30 and it sounds amazing.

As for comparisons to the original - the original is what it is but it's also very old and very hard to play. The neck is like a baseball bat (similar to a 50s Les Paul neck if you've tried that, possibly thicker). It also has very worn frets which had the effect of making the action seem lower than it is, making it hard to bend notes. Brian obviously manages, but...

Rather than compare against an ageing guitar, it's easier to compare against the guitars that mostly look closer to his (around £3000) or the full spec Guyton replica (£7500 and no longer produced). It definitely punches above its weight and is an obvious nod to the original but you have to pay proper money to get it looking and feeling closer.

GloopyJon

Incidentally, if anybody reading this has a Brian May Bass, I'd love to hear what you think of that!

LeftHandedMatt

I have owned a couple of these over the years, both left-handed. I had major problems with both of them, although after working on my current one it's now quite a lovely guitar to play. The big problem I had was not only that the guitars were not set up properly when I got them, they required a large amount of work to get them into shape.

The most notable issue was the intonation which was well off on the low E string even after setting it correctly (I had a professional do this). Add to that constant tuning problems as the strings all feel so loose and fluid. I ended up putting .011s on the guitar and they still feel like .009s. I've since found a good compromise using .010s, adding the spare spring and tightening up the claw considerably so the tremolo is pretty much flush to the body. The action also needed to be lowered a fair as the strings needed pushing down so far that they would sound sharp once they made contact with the fret.

I'm pretty amazed that the guitar was allowed to leave the factory in such a bad state, but for it to happen TWICE (yes, this was the same on both of the BM guitars I've owned) is astonishing.

The other aspect which I've not quite gotten used to yet is the guitar's sound, although this could be down to my setup. I find that the guitar is extremely bass heavy so I generally leave just the bridge pickup on and nothing else. Using combinations which set the tone out-of-phase sound quite unpleasant to my ear for anything other than soloing, as the sound becomes very harsh and almost sounds like I have a wah-wah turned on at times.

This may all sound like a massive hassle - and it was - but I'm pleased to say that the guitar now feels like a joy to play and especially for playing solos it's one of the smoothest and most fluid playing experiences I've had.

Earlybird82

Hi, I have an early Burns cherry red version, which is to all intents and purposes the same guitar, minus the trem plate. I like it a lot, and have done the usual mods, white switches, ally knobs, pearl tuner buttons and trem tip. I also own my own home built BM replicas.
Just a note on scale length, on a zero fret guitar, that fret is the nut and all measurements are taken from there, the plastic nut only guides the strings for spacing. Also, as another poster has mentioned, the Brian May thing only really kicks in when you use a treble booster or Rangemaster clone, into any amp running neutral tone (plus some overdrive distortion if at low volume). This is where the "true " sounds come from. Set up to produce controlled feedback at this level will also give you the differences in using the phase switches. Using phase switches on single pickups will make no difference whatsoever, but swapping the up/down to down/up on, say, the bridge/middle combination, will make the harmonics change to a different note on a held chord.

allaboutguitar

Tried using a sixpence as a guitar pick some time ago,tried using it for a while but just couldn't get on with it,ended up buying a modified one
from www.brianmayguitar.co.uk/
and it's absolutely fantastic,not sure how long i will have it for though as i tend to lose my picks!

allaboutguitar

Great write up,thanks for the info

GloopyJon

I've never actually got around to trying one of his sixpences, although I'd like to!  I've tried a load of different picks and my current favourites are the Ibanez Grip Wizard picks, with a kind of sandpaper surface which stops them from moving around.  They too are a bit more expensive than basic picks, although not as much as the Brian May sixpence!