Red Special

Red Special (or Fireplace ) is the name of Brian May's guitar that was made ​​in the 1960s from the mahogany wood and a fireplace parts of a motorcycle. She was originally just a substitute for the desire of the young Brian May guitar, the Fender Stratocaster. Brian May began in August 1963, when sixteen years old, along with his father, an electronics engineer, the construction of the guitar, which was completed after 18 months. To this end, father and son built an amplifier and an echo machine.

After the guitar in the early 1980s and again in the early 1990s was rebuilt by the company Guild for a short time series, in the late 1990s also brought the company a " Burns" " Signature Model " on the market. Meanwhile May marketed production itself under the name " Brian May Guitars", under which the new edition of the " Red Special " was released in 2006.

Features

The structural peculiarities of the electric guitar, we allow May to produce a wide variety of sounds and the typical singing sound. (See at the Queen. )

  • The fingerboard is in comparison to other electric guitars quite wide (especially at the nut ) and has 24 frets on what was still unusual at the time.
  • The body is modeled on the then semi- acoustic guitars such as the Gibson ES -335 in outline. It is made of oak wood and is veneered with red -stained mahogany. Are incorporated into the body, similar to a semi- acoustic guitar, strengthen cavities as acoustic chambers that certain frequencies through resonance and thus cause the characteristic sound of this guitar.
  • The neck consists of a 120 year old transom of a chimney, he even has holes woodworm on. In the neck, as with all electric guitars also a Truss Rod incorporated so as to counteract the string tension and the bending of the neck.

Pickup system

Since then commercial strings pickup (pick- ups ) were designed so that as no feedback is concluded, May tried to establish itself. Since the results did not satisfy, he used three cartridges of the brand Tri Sonics single-coil from a Vibra -Artist guitar Burns (built in 1961/62 ). They are composed of magnetic cores, each with 4000 turns of telephone wire. This gives them a higher efficiency. Since May likes to play at such high volumes that feedback effects occur, they are cast in resin to avoid the unpleasant feedback. The three pickups are fitted on exactly the calculated positions, whereby the sound of the guitar will be significantly affected. They can be theoretically 26 different ways to interconnect, as each cartridge can not only be individually turned on or off, but also in phase or out of phase with the other pickups.

May the most commonly used combination of bridge and middle pickup in phase, which produces a sound similar to that of a humbucker in the bridge position. The thin, screaming lead sound in "Bohemian Rhapsody " on the other hand arises from the anti-phase combination of neck and middle pickup.

Electronics

Brian May used to have a so-called "treble booster " (height amplifier ), the once Pete Cornish had soldered together for him after May's Range Master, who can still be heard on the first Queen albums, was lost at a concert. This "treble booster " was later improved by Greg Fryer. Furthermore, it is often heard in his studio recordings and a 1 -watt mini amplifier, which was then tinkered by Queen bassist John Deacon from electronic waste and an old speaker. This amplifier is affectionately called " Deacy Amp" and contributes significantly to the typical Brian May sound.

Tremolo system

The tremolo Red Special consists of a steel block, which is rotatably mounted on a knife edge. Two springs counteract the string tension. The springs were originally from the valve train of an old Panther motorcycle from 1928, the knife edge was actually an old bread knife of May's mother. Tremolo block and bridge are separated about 6 cm apart.

By separating the tremolo bridge and the strings at the bridge be kinked. Many commercial Guitar causes this bending the strings to create friction on the bridge during movement of the tremolo. This friction has two consequences that the guitar out of tune quickly, on the other hand increases the risk that the string breaks at the bend point. Why did May - a novelty in guitar - in the bridge small roles over which the strings are deflected. The frictionless rolling increases the life of the string and makes the system tremendously in tune.

Play

Brian May turns up the volume on so far that the sound of the guitar becomes independent due to the feedback effects. Nevertheless, to allow but a controlled game, the feedback may not take place between the electromagnetic fields of the speaker and the pickup (pick- up feedback ), but between the mechanical vibrations of the speaker cone and the strings that are mediated by the sound waves ( strings feedback ). Therefore, the pick-ups are cast in May's guitar. When strings feedback vibrates the entire guitar in a singing tone.

However, all structural peculiarities of his guitar alone do not explain the special sound. May filed the sound of his guitar between a typical Fender and a typical Gibson guitar. The main reason for the sound are Mays precise finger vibrato and his picking technique. May used instead of a plectrum long time old English sixpence coins whose serrated edge at the stop for a much obertonreicherere ensures sound emission than ordinary picks. As a contrast, he plucks the strings with some solos with the index finger of the right hand (including the piece Last Horizon ), creating a "warm" sounding tone.

Credentials

  • Guitar Player, January 1983, by Jas Obrecht interview with Brian May
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