As a Queen (and Brian May) fan, the fabled Red Special was always beyond criticism… until the day I bought the Brian May Guitars Red Special.
The Brian May Guitars Red Special is, of course, an ‘affordable’ version of the real thing, not even comparable to the ‘Supers’, let alone the official copies made by Greg Fryer, but sharing many common features.
So, before we get onto the negatives, what’s great about this particular version of the Red Special?
24 Frets
One of my favorite Queen songs to play is Bijou, in fact, it’s formed part of my practice noodlings for over 20 years now. The simple fact is, for this and many other Queen songs, Brian May’s style incorporates a LOT of very high-fret bends, and having 24 frets allows you to nail them all.
24-inch scale length
The shorter scale length and resulting floppier tension is also welcome, giving you the path of least resistance to those massive bends mentioned above.
No other guitar is better for playing Queen
A pretty obvious one. But if you want that screaming out-of-phase neck and middle Bohemian Rhapsody tone, no other guitar will even come close.
More than that, the in-series combinations, and in particular Brian’s favored bridge and middle get you most of the way to his massive rhythm tones too.
The Brian May Red Special’s legendary versatility
Semi-acoustic body, 24 frets, tremolo system, 14 pickup combinations (including a kill-switch) comprising of single-coil, humbucker (in-phase) and out of phase settings. The Brian May Guitar Red Special has the most features and options of any guitar I’ve played.
Hardware
Grover locking tuners, Burns tri-sonic pickups. Wilkinson bridge. Hardware-wise, you get a lot for your money (around £699). The electronics and controls also seem solid.
Construction.
Aside from the switching, the ebony fingerboard is the centerpiece of this guitar, and it’s as smooth as you’d hoped with the 24-frets being finished well.
…. And then the novelty of emulating Brian May wears off and you begin to look at the instrument critically, playing it for other non-Queen applications.
Sorry, Brian. You’re my guitar hero, and the way you put together your own guitar (with its many innovations) was a real inspiration, but there are downsides…
The Tremolo system is a compromise.
Probably a little unfair, as costs obviously needed to be cut, but this generic floating Wilkinson system is not even close to the famous ‘frictionless’ system of the original and higher-end copies.
In truth, with the locking tuners, it actually holds it’s tuning remarkable well, but I’ll guess I’ll never know the cost tone-wise.
The Brian May Red Special’s famous switching system doesn’t work in practice.
No excuses here. This is the same system as the original, and unfortunately, it’s cumbersome and frustrating.
Sure, in a controlled environment. Recording, for example, it’s fine, there’s no need for fluent changes. For live playing though, it’s a total nightmare!
The problem is the switches are just too small and fiddly, and, as they’re on-off switches, you effectively need to make 2 moves to switch pickups, turn one on and the other off. Either that or flick them on and off at the same time (difficult).
Practice makes perfect, as they say, but why make excuses for a badly designed system?
Both the Fender 5-way blade and Gibson 3-way toggles are much easier to operate in the heat of the moment.
The controls are too far away and too close together.
Although I really like the solid metal design and feel of the volume and tone controls, they are positioned too far away for violining techniques etc. Again, Brian can work with it, but why do you need to bother when there are other better-designed guitars out there.
The Brian May Red Special’s neck is too big
Just a preference thing I know but this is an absolute tree-trunk and will cramp up your hands if you aren’t used to big necks. Like the electronics and the controls, I’m sure this is something you could get used to, or like me, save time and play something with a nicer playing neck.
24 frets on a 24-inch scale length are too cramped
A 24-inch scale is great for a floppy, easy playing experience, but that doesn’t mean it’s a better playing or sounding experience. When you add 24 frets to the above recipe, the spaces between the higher frets are tiny. So yes, you can play Bijou, it’s just not much fun!
The zero fret.
Many believe a zero fret to be the easy way out of a well-cut nut. Personally, I don’t like them, there’s an audible scratching sound on low bends as the strings scrap over it, and well, it just doesn’t look pretty or sound as good.
Zero frets are supposed to make open notes sound like fretted ones, but give me a well-cut nut and the personality of open strings any day.
The Brian May Red Special out of phase sounds aren’t versatile
Simply put, the out-of-phase sounds are great for screeching lead playing, a Brian May facsimile, but nothing much else. They sound awful clean or for rhythm.
Indeed, the out of phase sounds are either terrible or cliche. Take your pick.
The in-phase sounds are underwhelming
A Fender Strat has better single-coil sounds. A Gibson Les Paul has better humbucking tones. I A/B’d them to prove it.
The Brian May Red Special is a bit of a jack of all trades.
As above, the Red special can sound huge, but not as huge as a Gibson Les Paul or a Gibson ES335. It’s got a decent tremolo system but with that neck, it’s not exactly a speed machine.
This guitar falls between many stools, not knowing what it really wants to be.
It’s made in Korea and feels a little cheap for £699
£699 is a lot of money for a Korean made guitar. That’s almost Gibson Les Paul Tribute territory (a much better US-made guitar).
I’ve nothing against far-east made guitars, but my Chinese made Epiphone ES-335 PRO was of a comparable build and was only £299.
All of the extra money couldn’t have gone on the hardware, it doesn’t add up which makes it look like a bit of cash-in on the Brian May/Queen brand.
In truth, it feels a little, well, plasticky?
The Brian May Red Special is only really good for playing Queen.
… Which leads us back full circle. This guitar is great for playing Queen. Perhaps the only guitar that can do it convincingly. But sadly that’s all it excels at.
So if all you want to do is play Queen, get this, a sixpence, a VOX AC30, a treble booster, and go for it!
Conclusion
When I first picked up this guitar I plugged in, played Queen, and was in heaven. It absolutely nails those out-of-phase tones which are the highlights of many Queen songs: Bohemian Rhapsody, Save Me, It’s a Hard Life….. the list goes on. But this guitar is really only about Queen and unless you’re in a Queen tribute band it becomes a little pointless and silly.
You’re not going to play in your originals band or non-Queen covers band with it, and there are better guitars out there for the same or less money that have superior core sounds and playability.
Songwriting is out too. It just seems wrong to be creating music using someone else’s vision and tool. But then again, I suppose that’s what signature guitars are all about.
All in all, like Brian May himself, it’s a bit of an enigma. A strange mix of the old-fashioned and modern without any real focus on either.
But if Brian could have afforded that Strat, maybe there wouldn’t have been a Queen!
What do you think? Drop me a comment below…
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Thanks for your take Dermot and welcome.
Checked out Arielle and ‘The Arielle’. She’s incredible (both singing and playing), but the guitar is not my thing, looks like some form of hideous explorer to me. Still, nice collaboration and the guitar looks to be a versatile performer. Its also great to have fantastic female ambassadors in the industry to inspire others, a signature guitar being only one element.
Thanks for introducing Arielle to the blog.
Still not convinced about the ‘Signature’ guitar argument. The Les Paul has gone beyond that label now and is more closely identified by its players than Mr Les Paul.
Glad you’re enjoying the Red Special with the Blackstar..Arriving at a tone we’re happy with is what its all about!
You’re right about the body shape. It is difficult to play sitting down. However the new guitar designed for Arielle has a body shape which, in pictures at least, looks really good for playing sitting down. Apart from the body shape and materials, the pickups, neck, bridge and head appear to be standard Brian May so you could expect the same sort of sounds.
Now you may say that this would be another cringeworthy guitar but no more than any other “signature” guitar from Les Paul or Chet Atkins to a host of Fenders and certainly no worse than knowing that you were playing a reliced or artificially road worn guitar. Probably less so because at least fewer people know who Arielle is!
My BMGs are still my favourite guitars for almost all playing. In the last 18 months, I have been playing through a Blackstar HT5 and it’s a marriage made in heaven, especially on the overdrive channel with huge sustain without buzzy distortion (if that’s what you want.) Oddly, the overdrive channel seems to suit the BMG better than anything else I have tried through it.
D
The only thing I disagree on is that it’s only really good for Queen songs. The Tri-Sonic pickups actually have a really gorgeous, glassy clean tone that works really well for jazz music. Unfortunately, my biggest problem with this guitar is the body shape. It’s big and round with small horns, and is very difficult to hold in your lap while playing seated. You can’t really hold it on one leg. It has to be held between the legs, which can be rather uncomfortable, and it’s also the reason I don’t play it often, though I do pull it out for jazz tunes now and then, because those clean tones are just amazing.
Thanks Duane and welcome. I think the Red Special is technically versatile. Indeed, with all those switching options its one of the most versatile guitars ever made. The issue for me is, its a bit of a jack of all trades. For example it doesn’t do cleans as well as as Strat, or gain as well as a Les Paul. Its hollow but doesn’t have the overtones of a semi-acoustic. Also, on a purely non-tecnical level, I (personally) only ever felt like playing Queen songs on it. Anything else felt wrong.
The Les Paul is a signature model, one of, if not the first. The Red Specials are fantastic for modding/or not… They are a fine guitar just like anything and everything they take getting used to…. With that said what I like about these guitars far out weighs anything I dislike. I own a number of Les Pauls/Tele’s/Strats……etc The Red Special has a lot to offer. Appreciate the review, I couldn’t disagree more. Cheers.
Thanks Jon. It’s great to have differring views.The Red Special is without doubt a legendary instrument, and I’ll never get near a super, let alone the original.
With regard to the more affordable BMG model, my view is there are flaws, some of which unfortunately can also be levelled at the original design. You never hear any criticism of the Red Special, which I thought was strange, so thought some things needed to be said.
As for the ‘The Les Paul is also a signature guitar’ point, which is true of course…
The Red Special isn’t a signature guitar, it’s Brian May’s own design, build by him and his dad.
Also, Les Pauls are not just about Les Paul. When I think about Les Pauls I think about Jimmy Page, Mark Knopfler, Joe Walsh (even Slash), all those legendary players and a genres.
In fact as players now have their own Signature Les Pauls, that says to me that the Les Paul has become so much more than merely Les Paul’s signature guitar.
Meanwhile, the Red Special is, and always will be, closely coupled to the music of Brian May and Queen.
Thanks for stopping by, and welcome!
If I may offer a different perspective.Loved your article.I’m 71 yrs old,black,and live in Las Vegas,NV. Everyone here has a Gibson,Fender,PRS,etc.I’m guilty too,but my buddy talked me into getting a Vox AC15.All my git’s sounded great,but I was I,m old ,I want one more guitar.And of course my mind said RED! I contacted BMG ,told them hey I,m black ,and live in Vegas.Yeah I know it was a cheap ploy,but the git came 6 days later from Surry!😲That was fast!.It was perfect.Beautiful no fret sprout,etc.I got a cheap joyo acetone and my old be sonic maximizer.Bam .l got the sound,but being over here,I was so taken that it didn’t sound like anything else. It sounds British!What a relief..I can’t play Queen ,but to me that was an asset.It’s totally flexible to my American mind,so I,m good.Finally as for showing up to a gig with one,lemme tell ya mate,I look good.lol Black guy,with a Vox,Red with a distressed Union Jack strap? My musician friends at a jam session,kept wanting to play it.. Just my two cents,from across the pond.Thanks Bro
Hi, Adam, thanks a lot for that review! Interesting read! I have been on the Super waiting list since early 2018, and a couple of weeks ago they contactet me from BMG and finally it will arrive! The main reason for bying it is that I have been a life long Queen-fan (I even saw them live in Stockholm ’86 as a fifteen year old boy!), but I am also doing a bit of music on the side. I am thinking to use it for recording, and hope it will be a good way to create some completely different sounds than I can get from my tele. I am not a solo guitarist at all and will probably never use it for performance- as I stick to my acoustic for that.
Well, anyway- I am looking forward to recieving the BMG Super soon- and as an unbelievable xmas gift, I managed to get the great Dave Good at Bmg to ask Brian for a signature, so atm it is at the May Mansion for him to sign it!
All best, Thor
The Red Special is something which we use in our shows. I wasn’t aware the replica was made in Korea though – interesting !
It’s the only guitar which has the flexibility to produce the Queen sound without changing or using multiple guitars. The Red Special is also iconic, it is almost the symbol of the Queen sound in some respects.
Thanks for stopping by!
The issue with the tremelo is something I’ve never heard of before, but sounds like something which could afflict all guitars with a thinnish hollow body and this sort of tension across it. Make sense. It does have a centre block though, unless I’m mistaken?
I didn’t own my Red Special long enough to find out, and having anything less than 10’s, for me, on a 24 inch scale guitar, results in a much too floppy setup.
Food for thought. Thank you.
As someone who grew up drooling at Brian’s playing and `the Special`, I was over the moon when I got my first one. I think it cost me 599 plus postage to South Africa. And it was a signed copy!!! I have 15 other guitars, mostly telecasters.
The only reason you should buy this guitar is to sound as much like Brian as possible and to copy his unbelievable playing techniques.
It would never be my only guitar, but I feel like a King…or perhaps a Queen, whenever I play it. It’s unique, and that’s the whole point!
Sadly, the guitar broke. So they sent me another one. It broke again. Here’s the problem: if the body had the original frictionless tremelo system, it would never have broken, BUT, due to the stress that the sprung Wilkinson bridge puts on the body, and the very thin patch of body between the chamber and the bridge pickup, it cracks and splits. Disaster!
Maybe if you used 9 or even 8 Guage strings it may have been OK, but I use 10’s.
I ended up doing major body repairs myself, but I love it to bits. In a way, we’ve bonded.
One more thing. When I opened my first brand new one, I was bitterly disappointed at the aesthetics. After following the history of Brian’s guitar and staring for decades at all of its imperfections, it was way too perfect. It reminded me of a plastic lollipop.
After a few hours with sandpaper, a pot scourer and a blade of sorts, it was perfect!
It’s my worst and best guitar ever! I think Brian would understand and be proud!
Hi Doug.
Thanks for stopping by. I checked out your blog absolutely love it. Definitely one for Brian May affecionadoes!
Hi Adam.
I would like to thank you for posting a balanced review of the Brian May Red Special guitar from a musician’s perspective. Please take a look at my website, Doug Short Guitar Blog (https://dsgb.net) for information on my Red Special build project, a conversion on a 2004 Burns Red Special and other information on Brian May gear and equipment.
Regards.
Doug
Hi Dermot.
Thanks for stopping by and appreciate your comments.
Before I explain the points its worth saying I’m a Queen fan and Brian is also my main inspiration for playing.
Firstly, the article doesn’t refer to the Supers, which have the more authentic tremolo system, better attention to detail, materials, hardware and come at much higher price. My reference was the sub £700 BMG version.
Having said that, I didn’t have an issue with the setup, its just that, even when I’d adapted to the bigger neck, I still had to work in the cramped dimensions of 24 frets on a 24 inch scale fretboard. Thats the way its designed and works for many, just not me. And yeah, the fretwork and ebony fingerboard are nice features.
The Red Special (BMG) is undoubtedly versatile, but, from first hand experience, its core sounds, in my opinion fall short of both a comparable Strat and Les Paul. Compared with a Super? That’s another debate entirely. Some people want more sounds in one guitar, some prefer a great core sound and adapt around that (Classic case being the Tele).
I take your point about the corporate US brands, but my view is that playing a strat, tele, les paul or whatever is a blank canvas for you to impart your own personality and creativity onto. The Red Special already has Brian May all over it. I’m not saying you can’t create your own ideas on it, but I personally (and this is entirely my own failing) found it really difficult to break away from playing Queen, and everything else felt wrong somehow. Silly I know.
No doubt Red Specials are popular but the article is based on my own personal experience, regardless of sales comparisons, which I hope will provide some insight for potential buyers. Its not a bad guitar at all, but at the end of the day I preferred my Les Paul Studio. Give me a Super and it probably would’ve been a different story, but I’ll never know.
Thanks again and thanks for your thoughts.
It’s good to see a review which contradicts all the other rave reviews about the Red Special. However, I disagree with you on almost every point as do many guitarists. Red Specials of almost any type were hard to get before the Bohemian Rhapsody film… the waiting list for the Super was well over a year so it’s not got much to do with the film.
It’s a problem that you don’t say which Red Special you refer to. Most have fairly standard width necks though the Super has a really thick neck. Since getting a Burns RS on Ebay, I haven’t been able to play my Strat because the neck is too narrow and cramped and the string tension so high. The BMG Red Specials are far better set up coming from the factory than most corporate guitars from Fender and Gibson and the finish is equal. Not only that, if you buy a guitar from BMG, you can talk to a real human involved in the production and sales. The Burns neck is not huge, neither are the BMG versions. After playing a polished ebony fretboard, I would not go back to anything less.
I don’t play any Queen songs on my Red Specials and find it every bit as versatile as most other commentators have suggested. Perhaps the only drawback is that it’s a guitar which is associated with just one player, admittedly one of the most admired guitarists in the world, unlike the main US brands which are played by every man and his dog.
I guess whatever you and I say about the guitar, the proof is that you can get a Fender or Gibson off the shelf any day of the week while the Red Specials, especially the limited edition are almost all sold out.
Thanks for reading @Bobafett. I think it’s fair enough to compare guitars in the same price bracket. As an instrument to play Queen its unsurpassed but I stand by my argument in that its all it can do. A lot of us invest in a guitar to play live and record our own music and to me it falls short in both those areas, especially in the mid/high price bracket.
Maybe the clue to the story is that first there was Red Special then it made Queen’s guitar sound? It is a unique, home made instrument, a piece of bricolage and it excels at something it created. Comparing it to Les Paul does not seem to be fair… The post was still interesting and detailed.
Maybe the clue to the story is that first there was Red Special then it made Queen’s guitar sound? It is a unique, home made instrument, a piece of bricolage and it excels at something it created. Comparing it to Les Paul does not seem to be fair… The post was still interesting and detailed.
Thanks for stopping by Rich. I didn’t mention the fact that turning up at a gig with a red special is cringeworthy…. Les Paul pulled it off but I’m afraid not Brian.
In addition to the neck being huge, I would add that the shape of the body is weird. It might be fine for a tall and skinny dude like Brian, but I found it extremely uncomfortable standing and it slips around when playing seated. It also is very difficult to give one a try without buying it first. I bought one and sent it back after less than a week. The return process was fine, but it was very expensive.
In addition to the neck being huge, I would add that the shape of the body is weird. It might be fine for a tall and skinny dude like Brian, but I found it extremely uncomfortable standing and it slips around when playing seated. It also is very difficult to give one a try without buying it first. I bought one and sent it back after less than a week. The return process was fine, but it was very expensive.