Brian May's Red Special: A Short History
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- čas přidán 26. 05. 2023
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A true "one guitar guitarist" I should have made this video about Brian May's Red Special long, long ago.
A wholly unique instrument that has been copied by endless fans. I hope you enjoy the history. Sorry for running behind schedule on this one. It was some massive research.
Keith - Hudba
I gotta hand it to Brian's father for taking interest in his son's musical dream at a young age. My hats off to you, sir.
Totally. Lots of parents (probably most) wouldn’t have taken the trouble. What a great story. Makes me want to save for one!
"There are many famous Les Pauls, many famous Stratocasters and Telecasters, but there is only one Red Special" I never get bored with learning more about that guitar and I am so happy that people continue to honor Brian in this way. Amazing guy, amazing guitar! Long Live Queen!
I mean they make red specials now. Brian has more than one. He has the original but he also has replacements.
@@derpatel9760 But only THE Red Special is the one. All the rest are things like BHM1 etc. And honestly, the point is, all the rest are imitations of the original. That's like saying Eddies Frankenstrat is all over the place. Sure...copies!
Ahh you missed the trick - "There can be only one... Red Special"
@@jca111 I cant believe I missed that opportunity. I'm glad you Saved Me from it
Fantastic Hypes!! One of your best 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Thanks Hypes!
An actual factual Beato Bomb!!!!
❤
I'm my humble opinion, Brian May's sound is the most recognizable tone of any guitarist I've ever heard.
Tom Scholz (Boston) is way up there too, and Robert Fripp as well. But I would concur, you know Brian May in the first 3 -5 notes.
@@DJBuglip Agree. May, Scholz, and possibly Eric Johnsons.... oh and Yngwie... (his is not so much a _good_ tone, but very unique).
Oh, and EVH's brown sound....
😄
Now you finally get around to this iconic guitar?
Les Paul, Leo Fender, Eddie Van Halen, Brian May all built their own guitars for the betterment of humanity.
Somewhere Paul just let out a "Muhahaha!"
Of course the guitar Les Paul built, the Log, is not the Les Paul guitar we know today. Ted McCarty built that.
Yep. Brian's was a lot of his DAD'S insights actually. His Father was like Thomas Eddison.
He's only one man give him a break, donate money so it can help him make more videos.
@@shanewalton8888 not entirely. Les Paul built the neck and pickups himself and then put them into a 2x4. After that he decided to take an Epiphone Zephyr, an archtop acoustic guitar, cut it in half, and affix both halves to his “Log” guitar. (This was mostly for aesthetic purposes, as he was getting odd looks from audiences when he played the guitar minus the Zephyr bits in the clubs.)
I had no idea just how "from the ground up" his guitar was built by him and his father. Amazing; he created a unique guitar and then used it to make music with unique sounds over songs that would hold up for generations. 'Wow' on so many levels.
Imagine having the success Brian has had and still playing the guitar him and his dad built when he was just a kid. Amazing. Besides the iconic tone, I imagine Brian enjoys the fact that his father will always live on through his music he created on the guitar in which both he and his father created. So freaking cool. Brian is just an awesome dude 🤘🏻
Love this.
Mind blowing that Brian and his dad problem solved their way to such an iconic guitar, which led to Brian‘s iconic sound. This video was a wonderful weekend treat thank you Keith!
Perhaps you could do one on Rory Gallagher's well worn stratocaster ? Plenty of stories !
The 6d (sixpence) wasn't minted after 1970, but remained in circulation and legal tender until 1980. One of the reasons was that many cities had parking meters that took shillings and sixpences before decimalisation, and it would have been expensive to replace all the mechanisms. .... Anyway that left the UK with the peculiar situation of having a 2½p coin in circulation throughout the 1970's.
Every time I listen to Queen I remember that Sir Brian and his father built that guitar and it's incredibly heart-warming. An iconic tone with such an amazing and unique story behind it.
One can only hope to have that sort of impact on their son's life.
A M E N
Brian May , in addition to being one of the most recognized guitar tones in Rock music, is a freaking genius! He and his Dad were engineering around problems big manufacturers hadn’t even touched on. How can you play the hell out of 1 guitar for nearly 60 years and not need to refret it. Amazing! Hand chiseled, hand filed, hand made! The neck to body attachment is simplistic perfection. Just looking at, it resembles nothing else on the market. Compared to the Red Special, any old partscaster is just a canoe paddle.
Fantastic history lesson Keith!
But where do you go from here?
Maybe Tom Scholz’s Les Paul, or Dick Dale’s Strat?
Would love to see a video on Dick Dale’s Strat!
@@Brian_Vallejo
That was/is an iconic guitar. I had the opportunity to know Dick. He had bought an airplane from where I worked at the Fresno Airport. We got invited down to his Sky Ranch in 29 Palms. He and I swapped guitars and sat on his living room sofa and jammed. His original Strat was given to him from Leo Fender himself and was the one in all the “Beach “ movies. I remember it had a serial number from 1961, and had a very fat neck. He teased me about the lite strings on my Strat. Then he brought out another Strat the custom shop had made him, with all gold hardware. He insisted I play it as well, but said he wouldn’t play it because he would “ tear it up”. The last time I saw him was a couple years before he died. He was still playing his original Strat. I believe his widow , Lana, still has it.
IQ of 180. Not bad.
You gotta do Travis Bean guitars/ Aluminium necked instruments a whole. They have such an interesting history and have been used by so many big names.
As a guitarist, I love May's playing. He's got a truly unique style that just brings a smile to my face. Plus, he's the only guy who can record a three part harmony in one take.
Add in that his scientific, engineering and charity work, you hear him speak in interviews, you see his collaborations with other musicians, and you just know he's truly one of Rock and Rolls Good Guys.
All Praise Dr May
The live tones he was able to produce on their Live From Montreal, Live from The Bowl, Live Aid and Live at Wembley performances are some of my favorite guitar tones of all time.
Great job - and you even got our place names right! Btw, a grammar school was a state funded 11-18 school which was selective on the basis of ability. So it was a chance for bright kids from poorer backgrounds to get somewhere. The only thing you might've missed - apologies if you did mention it - was that the tremolo arm came from the panier on a bicycle, with a plastic bobbin from his Mum's knitting needle. I'm pretty sure that's correct. Thanks for paying tribute to one of our best exports!
I don't know... built his own unique and awesome guitar with father back in the 1960s, formed a band that would successfully encompass just about every music style you can possibly think of... finally got to finish his PhD on astrophysics... had the most successful biopic ever made about his band... is now SIR Brian May... bit of an overachiever? But he's such a modest and softly spoken gentleman that you can't help but love this man.
Well, that was f’n awesome! As a luthier of nearly 15 years now, I was fascinated by this view of the Red Special. Such an iconic guitar! The father/son engineering team deserves accolades! They were so far ahead of their times. I primarily build flat top acoustic guitars and bent top mandolins, but have built many Tele style electrics and even a few P basses.
Loved this, 5 Watt World vid!
Peace
Brian and his father were visionaries on what features and specs are necessary to make a truly great guitar. Their brilliant ingenuity and perseverance created an iconic guitar guitar and a vehicle capable of delivering Brian's masterful playing and inspired musicality. What a fantastic achievement!
Keith, this is one of my favorite episodes of your wonderful series highlighting amazing guitars. A thousand thanks. 👏👍😎
My guitar teacher from when I was 12-13 had a Guild Brian May guitar, that thing was an incredible piece :)
I did a video on his gear/tone and without the guitar it is impossible to get the vibe of Queen. The combo of his tone, clean picking and bends are gold. Great video.
What i love about this is the thing has all the hallmarks of a home project, Throwing in as many features as possible, fixating on fine details to an almost ludicrous degree (hand cutting string rollers for example), but also exhibits the classic "lets just blow through the boring parts" quirks like anchoring the truss rod with a wood screw and simply cutting groves for the strings to pass through after the nut.
the phase switching reminds me of the stuff i put on my first build, albiet seemingly much more functional,
overall its just such a human thing, teenager wants guitar, father and son collaborate to build it, then son uses it for decades to make defineing music of the rock genre
such a cool story
First of all, thanks for what is probably my favourite of your short histories. This is a superb account of an iconic instrument. Brian May did actually play a different electric guitar live on stage. If you see Queen play Crazy Little Thing Called Love at the Live Aid concert in 1985, he started with his acoustic 12-string, then switched to a black Telecaster and finished on the Red Special. He played the first solo on the Telecaster. I remember watching on TV at the time and thinking he must have broken a string but the videos on CZcams show he hadn't. It looks like it was planned that way all along.
Right you are. He always used acoustics.
It took 50 years for me to learn the 5% of this I already knew.
It took KW less than half an hour to supply me with the other 95%..
Brilliant episode.
Thanks and blessings.
Thoroughly researched and thoughtfully presented Keith. You've done a much better job than so many of the articles and interviews over the years. And I don't mind the fact that you've used a lot of my photos. Keep up the good work!
Hello Greg, Thank so much for that!
FREAKING AMAZING AND BRILLIANT!!!! Thank you for another incredible installment of FiveWattWorld. Fantastic playing by Angus Clark.
Thanks Michael!
@@AngusClarkGTR Gonna log into my True Fire account to take your class!
Although it’s not covered here in this video, before using Vox AC30s he was using an amp that had been hand-made by Queen’s bass player John Deacon. Affectionately called the Deacy Box, even some engineers with doctorates in electrical engineering have no idea how it works, only that it does!
Great work, Keith. I have read about this guitar over the years, but there is nothing quite like the 5 watt treatment! Great job by Angus, too, capturing those awesome tones!
Thanks!
I’ve been a Brian May (& Queen) fan for about 45 years.
Yet today I have learnt more things about both Brian and his guitar that I did not know.
Another outstanding video!
Thanks Keith and all the team at Five Watt World. 🙏
1:50 That's such a fantastic snapshot!
The really amazing part of this guitar is how much Brian and his father understood so early in the history of the electric guitar. So many insights and innovations for its day!!
Hey Keith!🤘..I saw this notification this morning and thought about it all day at work..lol..too busy today to get to it so it was nice to look forward to.. catching up now..thanks this is one many have awaited forever 🤘😁🎸
I have a left hand one, it's a cool Guitar. The Tri Sonic's sound excellent. I've never heard a Burns sound like the RS. It has inspired circuitry. I bought it to play through my AC 30. I just had to have one, they don't come anymore iconic than Brian's Red Special. Great choice to do a Short History on Keith. Superbly presented as always, thank you.
Wait, we still don't have a short history of the Hiwatt amplifiers? Definitely a project to consider!
Absolutely!!!
man, I love your writing! Never fails to connect emotionally. Suddenly, we are not just talking about guitars and specs, we are talking about music and its effect in our lives. Thanks!
I consider myself lucky to have seen The Red Special and The Greenie Burst live onstage both in one night. Thin Lizzie with Gary Moore filling in for Brian Robertson as the opening act for Queen. They just don't make concerts like that anymore.
Well done once again sir! I'm always happy when a new Short History vid shows up in my feed. And I've never been disappointed! Thanks for all you do Keith!
I had no idea that May actually built that guitar himself! So fascinating!
Whoops, I forgot to also say- Thank you, Keith!!
Talking of Brian's backups, like someone had mentioned, he also used the 1984 Guild BHM. Both his prototypes were used as spares in the 80s and 90s. Brian also had a prototype of the 1993 BM01 which he used for drop D in the Back To The Light tour. It had a natural finish, and used the same DiMarzio BHM pickups from the 1984 BHM1.
Before I forget, one of the 1984 prototypes was used in the A Kind Of Magic album. Its harsher sound can be distinguished from the original's. In the last few songs Brian switched back to his original, as he wasn't happy with how the guitar turned out. Around the same year he told Guild to stop producing the BHMs. Then in the 90s he worked with them again to produce the BM01s until 1995, when Fender took over, causing Brian to end the deal completely.
Kudos to the video creator for giving us an incredible journey through Brian May's Red Special! You've struck a chord with your storytelling skills, leaving us all strumming with joy. Bravo! 🙌🎸
Thanks for everything you do Keith!
Keith, great history! Thanks. I wish you would have mentioned the first run of Guilds from 1984...the BHM1 with factory black Kahler tremolo. Brian's endorsement and involvement with these early Guilds can been seen in many advertisements from the day. I own one of the very few prototypes of this early Red Special Guild, and Sir Dr. May signed it on the headstock in 1993. It is one of my treasures.
It's my most favorite version. I myself would love one.
As a fan since Sheer Heart Attack came out I congratulate you on this video Keith. The best you have ever done!
Fantastic history. I got a chance to get a BMG Red Special last week like the one Angus is playing in this video, and it’s an impressive beast. I like a lot of Queen but I’m not a huge fan, but I was attracted by May’s engineering and innovation that Carries over to the production guitars. It’s SO much fun to explore the tonal range.
Wow! Awesome. So interesting how the red special was created and the pickup configurations are amazing.
Great episode’ I love the history of Brian’s guitar’ it really goes to show if u can find something that is custom to your playing and the sound u like them u really only need one guitar’ even tho we will all always buy more for what ever reason haha 😂
I had the good fortune to meet Brian a few times in the late 90s. a really relaxed, humble and genuinely nice guy. Intelligent & articulate also. thanks for this great post.
Brian based his sound on Rory Gallagher. AC 30 and treble boost.
Soz, I should have watched the full video before commenting.😂
omg those beautiful pics of the neck pocket+disassembled RS...wonderful.
I think the coolest part about this is the father son project. It is so cool that they spent so much time coming up with it and building it, and it really helped build a deep knowledge and appreciation in Brian. I hope that just one project I do with my son leads to such an impact for him.
I know Frankie Enfield, Brian May’s tour manager from the ‘Back to the Light’ tour. Frankie once told me that when touring Brian would entrust Frankie to take the Red Special and look after it between gigs. Frankie decided the safest place to put the guitar was under his bed at home, and he says that his wife would never sleep well knowing this unique and priceless instrument was down there.. Haha. Frankie gifted me his ‘Back to the light’ custom made tour shirt, which to this Day is a special item hanging in my wardrobe !
Amazing video, Keith! As always, very detailed and Angus' playing was spot on. Jamie Humphries, who used to play with Brian May and is now a CZcamsr would have been a great addition to this video. He even has a Red Special inspired Musicman!
Thanks! And Jamie is amazing.
Made my day to see this video on my stream! One of the best CZcams channels out there! Thanks KEITH 🎸
I don't understand how can you get it this right on the first try. Amazing man
While you're doing custom built one-off guitars, you should do Bo Didley's square guitar. That would be a cool story!
Bravo, for another excellent chapter in the 5 Watt World
Very interesting perspective on the read it special, thank you. Most of us probably know a lot about the red special but there’s always a couple fun little tidbits. You forgot to mention the Deaky, which was the speaker that John Deacon made for Brian, which he uses all the time now. Instead of the Vox
Yes indeed! One can't properly mention "The Brian May Sound" without reference to the Deac(k)y!
Thanks for the post. Learning a little more of the 100 yr. old oak fretboard and frets he has to not change, his touch must be light for the frets, and one string at a time that need it, to not change the sound. Thought I read about hand winding the coils themselves.
I literally just saw one of the Import Brian May Signature guitars at my local guitar center, it looked the part, had all of the bells and whistles (minus the homemade trem, a Wilkinson was on it but it was solid) and played nicely, didn't have a chance to plug it in though :C
It happened to be hanging next to a Schecter Tele made for someone with the initials MGK, probably not a very important person methinks... it twas a gaudy looking black and pink thing that was completely outclassed by a import replica of one of the most important guitars of all time.
And for the 849 bucks the barn was offering, I would have happily taken it home as a impulse buy if I had the cash on hand.
Thank you for the awesome video! You forgot the legend that the end of the tremolo bar was his mothers sewing needle
I never really did consider myself a Queen fan but have always respected them and Brian is definitely among the pantheon of great guitarists. I go back pretty often to watch Brian and Roger Taylor play Tie Your Mother Down with the Foo Fighters at Hyde Park, first time I saw Taylor Hawkins sing, and he nailed it.
Legend has it that's Keith's 5 o'clock shadow. Impressive
Ha! Pretty close…and trimmed.
Thank you for going over the wiring. I always wondered what all the switches did.
There is currently an exhibit of guitars owned by Randy Bachman at the National Music Centre in Canada, it has a Red Special replica in it. Saw that online
Been waiting on this one! Thanks so much for all the short history vids Keith! You should do a short history of Paul bigsbys guitars
Saw them at Wembley in 1986! What a sound.
Absolutely fantastic Keith. This was a real treat. Thankfully for doing this!!
Exceptional- bravo, Keith and FWW team: most enjoyable.
He built this guitar like a master luthier with 30yrs experience!!! What a genius!!!
Thank you very much for this video! Queen is my favorite band and Brian May is my favorite guitarist. You did a most fantastic job including all of the important information about this guitar. I love the Red Special and want to build my own someday. I loved the inclusion of a "paraphrased" version of the Hammer to Fall solo as it is my favorite Queen song for electric guitar (my favorite Queen song is 39) .
Thanks Kirk. “Paraphrasing” is a good word for it!
I'd LOVE to see you do a video on Boston and their homemade amps/pedals !!! Also, Schecter and ESP one day!!! I beg of the, sir.
Love your videos so much.
Keith! What a treat for this holiday weekend. Thank you for this video🤘
Such an excellent video. Great storytelling, excellent research and photos, & Angus’ playing is next level. Kudos 👏 to Brian May and to you for honoring his legacy.
Thanks Brian!
What an awesome video! Like countless others, I'm a big fan of Brian May and his Red Special, so I really enjoyed this video. I appreciate the work that goes into putting together history videos like this one (especially the research and trying to make sure you get the details right).
For some reason, this was unexpected, but a great surprise!
The mantelpiece that they used for the neck had woodworm holes in it. So they glued matchsticks into the holes to fill them in.
Last year after years of trying to get the limited run, I finally got a Brian May Guitars Red Special, but in all black called the 'Metal May!'
That is everything I wanted to know about the Red Special! Thank you again for another amazing episode!!
Incredibly well-researched and very detailed. One of your best so far! Thanks.
Great retelling of a fascinating story/history.
Thanks for posting.
How to get the most music from more guitars-more guitars - more guitars -MORE GUITARS !!!!!....Ive never liked the look of the red special but it definitely has an amazing sound / tone ,.......Thanks for covering its story.
Thank you for all of your hard work, Keith. I really love your vids! This one in particular!
Wow. Thanks again, Keith. What a great story and well told.
My neighbor's son, up the hill from me, was handed an 8-track of A Night At The Opera when it came out. Bobby & I repaired that tape numerous times. We kept the Scotch tape company in business!
This is, without a doubt, one of your finest videos. I thoroughly enjoyed watching and learning from this video. A big THANK YOU sir!
One of my favorite episodes! Thanks!
This is a really excellent video. Great detail yet concise and incredibly well presented. Thank you!
The irony is, before the Internet, the few of us who knew about the story of this guitar marvelled at how this great player managed to pull off such great playing on such a amateurish & mediocre instrument but now, with the publication of his books and the Internet and videos such as this, it dawns on everyone that it was such a well designed instrument from the very beginning that he actually had an 'unfair advantage' for all those years!!
I think, at the end of the day that's the real wonder and miracle of the story
People must watch the Rick Beato interview and you can see how humble Brian is sharing his knowledge and remembering how Queens songs were put together.
He then praised Rick for how well he played saying he couldn't do what Rick did no brevardo or braging about himself.
good watch ! . watching this while having my morning coffee at the work place. ! perfect way to start the day before my routine starts in an hour
I love how Angus has red gaskets from Grolsch bottles as straplocks
Nice catch! My tech always puts Grolsch on his bus stock list. So we have a lot of them.
Thank you for making this video. I am a huge Queen and Brian May fan and i love watching this type of video breaking down and detailing the construction of the red special, one of the most iconic instruments ever built. Rock on 🤘
Excellent Short History, Keith. The Red Special has always been a bit of an enigma to me as has been Brian May, himself. To think, Brian is actually talented beyond belief. I just thought he was a rock and roller, when all along, he is an astrophysicist. He is a man with talents far beyond our imagination. Thank you, Keith. You did a tremendous job of telling four stories, one of the man, one of his intellect, one of his musicianship and one of the his vision, especially with respect to creating the "red special". Many thanks for expressing your creative self. Be well and stay safe.
Brian's new videos on the small signature VOX amps is great. He has a great sense of humor. I used to have his VOX pathfinder size amp with the Union Jack grill. After 30 years I still use my regular Vox pathfinder with 1/4 line out and 6.5 " speaker. Works great alone or plugged into a PA.. Still less than $100.' 'Most sound for less Money.' I think I heard that somewhere before. Thanks Keith, A fun start to Saturday guitar shopping.
Been waiting for this one for a while! ❤
Oh boy, I was looking forward to this!
Thank You for doing a segment on May's Red Special. I have been a Queen fan since the Queen II album and always wondered how Brian obtained his unique sound. When I found out he made the guitar himself, I was fascinated to learn more about it. Your segment goes into the most detail about the guitar that I have seen.
Consider a 17 year old and his craftsman dad built their first and only guitar, the Red Special, out of odd and end parts. They had good insights, patience and skills. Brian said they only used hand tools.
That guitar was good enough to be used for an entire career by a guitar superstar.
So how hard is it for ANY guitar company to build a guitar as good as this?
A note on the sixpence, or six pence piece, that May uses as a pick. While decimalisation came in February 1971, the sixpence was kept in circulation until 1980 but with a value of 2 and a half new pence. That's my British currency pedantry moment over. Thanks for the great content 👍
A few years back there was an in depth magazine article and unrelated video with Brian about the Red Special. Likely your source material. What stuck in my mind was it still having the original frets. The interviewer mentioned the obvious divits but there was no indication what they're made of, likely nickel, though Brian described filing and bending them to radius. Brian used light strings with a light touch but 40 + years (at that time) with a guitar almost exclusively used in the studio and live is insane. That's a ridiculous length of time for nickel frets with such heavy use. I don't think titanium was readily available in the local shops in the 1960's hehe.
Essential viewing as always! Thanks again.