The Story of How Brian May of Queen Built His Hand-Made Red Special Signature Guitar

Brian May is one of the most iconic rock guitarists of all time. His legendary contributions to Queen are among some of the most signature guitar licks and riffs of all time. He’s one of those guitarist that’s hard to picture without his signature axe. Impressively, a young Brian May built his signature guitar himself, with the help of his father, of course. This was done in 1963, and the guitar would become iconic a decade later.

In an interview posted to YouTube through Enter The Jam, May explained, “I was very poor, and the thought of a Stratocaster was way out of my price range. So me and my dad took it into our hands to make the guitar. It took about two years and we made it from all kinds of scraps and pieces.”

The Red Special contained pieces of a 100-year-old fireplace mantel along with pieces of an antique table made of oak. The guitar features custom Tri-Sonic pickups and a unique six-switch control layout. Three switches turn each pickup on or off, while the other three pickups reverse the phases of the pickups. This creates hollow, out-of-phase tones, and this effect was used during May’s solo on “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Additionally, May plays with a sixpence coin rather than a traditional guitar pick, which further sets apart his sound from others. The Red Special has a sixpence coin attached to the headstock of the guitar.

May’s Hand-Made Red Special Has Been Duplicated, Preserving The Original

For touring use, May used replicas of the guitar throughout the years. Man replicas have been sold through distributors as well. In 1984, Guild released the first commercial replica of the guitar. In 1993, Guild released the signature/pro model with closer specs to the original. A version made by Burns was released in 2001, which won Guitarist Magazine’s “Electric Guitar of the Year.” And officially, in 2004, Brian May launched Brian May Guitars (BMG), which creates exact replicas of his original guitar.

Brian May used his handmade Red Special on all of Queen’s albums. It’s famously nicknamed “The Old Lady,” or “The Fireplace.” May claims it was the first guitar designed to purposefully create feedback. May used the guitar for Queen’s legendary performance at Live Aid in 1985, on all songs except for one.

Photo by Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images