Anybody played a Brian May guitar?

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Hi, since my early teens Queen was one of my favorite bands and I was particularly in love with Brian's guitar, both aesthetically as well as the sounds he could get out of it. When I was around 18 I even drew my own "dream guitar" which was partly inspired by his (sort of a mix between Brian's Red Special and a Strat, left in below drawing, while Brian's is on the right). A carpenter friend of mine even produced CAD-CAM real-size drawings for it but we never got to actually build it.  
As you know several commercial versions of Brian's "Red Special" have been marketed, by Guild, Burns Guitars and more lately by his own "Brian May Guitars".

I never had the chance of playing any of them and I wonder if any of you out there did, and if so, what was your experience?

Brian's guitar looks very playable, very user-friendly. Are they so in reality?

And the sounds, do they really help getting his amazing tones? or was it just down to his unique playing technique and effects, so that even when playing a Brian May guitar you can not manage to sound remotely like him?

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Gerinski Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Prog Reviewer Joined: February 10 2010 Location: Barcelona Spain Status: Offline Points: 5093	Topic: Anybody played a Brian May guitar? Posted: January 06 2013 at 12:11
	Hi, since my early teens Queen was one of my favorite bands and I was particularly in love with Brian's guitar, both aesthetically as well as the sounds he could get out of it. When I was around 18 I even drew my own "dream guitar" which was partly inspired by his (sort of a mix between Brian's Red Special and a Strat, left in below drawing, while Brian's is on the right). A carpenter friend of mine even produced CAD-CAM real-size drawings for it but we never got to actually build it. As you know several commercial versions of Brian's "Red Special" have been marketed, by Guild, Burns Guitars and more lately by his own "Brian May Guitars". I never had the chance of playing any of them and I wonder if any of you out there did, and if so, what was your experience? Brian's guitar looks very playable, very user-friendly. Are they so in reality? And the sounds, do they really help getting his amazing tones? or was it just down to his unique playing technique and effects, so that even when playing a Brian May guitar you can not manage to sound remotely like him?

Triceratopsoil Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: April 03 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 17995	Posted: January 06 2013 at 13:11
	Those goddamn pickups, so good. A lot of his signature tone comes through how his guitar is wired, and AFAIK all the different "Brian May" guitars are done properly in that respect. Only one I've tried was a Burns iirc, but it was nice Edited by Triceratopsoil - January 06 2013 at 13:12

HackettFan Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: June 20 2012 Location: Oklahoma Status: Offline Points: 7946	Posted: January 20 2013 at 19:38
	Hi Gerinsky, From what I understand from a stray radio interview is that his father helped him customize his guitar. They put a preamp straight inside the guitar so that he could get a controlled feedback and incredible sustain straight away from the guitar itself. I don't have any further info about these guitars you're talking about, but I would make sure they had this interior feedback capability before I bought one if I were seeking something in that direction.