| Red Special The Fireplace Old Lady | |
|---|---|
_(52333450242)_(cropped).jpg) Brian May on-stage with the Red Special at the first Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert in London in 2022 | |
| Manufacturer | Brian May, Harold May |
| Period | 1963–1965 |
| Construction | |
| Body type | Semi-hollow |
| Neck joint | Straight through/bolt-on |
| Scale | 24" |
| Woods | |
| Body | Oak, blockboard with mahogany marquetry veneer |
| Neck | Mahogany |
| Fretboard | Oak painted black |
| Hardware | |
| Bridge | Custom made aluminium with roller saddles. |
| Pickup(s) | 3 - 1967 Burns Tri-Sonics modified (originally homemade pick-ups) |
The Red Special is the electric guitar designed and built by Queen's guitarist Brian May and his father, Harold, when Brian was a teenager in the early 1960s.[1][2] The Red Special is sometimes referred to as the Fireplace or the Old Lady by May and by others.[3] The name Red Special came from the reddish-brown colour the guitar attained after being stained and painted with numerous layers of Rustins Plastic Coating.[4] The name Fireplace is a reference to the fact that the wood used to make the neck came from a fireplace mantel.[2]
A guitar that would define May's signature style, it was intentionally designed to feed back[3][5] after he saw Jeff Beck playing live and making different sounds just by moving the guitar in front of the amplifier. He wanted an instrument that would be alive and interact with him and the air around him. May has used the Red Special almost exclusively, including on Queen albums and in live performances, throughout the band's entire career.
In celebration of the instrument's 50th anniversary, a book about its construction and history, Brian May’s Red Special: The Story of the Home-Made Guitar that Rocked Queen and the World, was written by Brian May with Simon Bradley.[2]
- ^ "The Red Special Story". Brian May Guitars – The Official web site. Archived from the original on 9 February 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2009.
- ^ a b c Huntman, Ruth (17 October 2014). "Brian May: Me, my dad and 'the old lady'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
- ^ a b Hey, what's that sound: Homemade guitars The Guardian. Retrieved 17 August 2011
- ^ "Plastic Coating & Hardener Gloss". Rustin's. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
Plastic Coating is an acid-cure urea-formaldehyde resin clear varnish made by Rustin's. It is commonly used for hard-wearing finishes on wooden floors, bar tops and guitars. ("Two-part cold cure") (Contains formaldehyde, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, naphtha, mesitylene, ac412/80ip, isobutyylated melamine-formaldehyde resin.)
- ^ Brian May Interview The Music Biz (1992). Retrieved 17 August 2011