Brian May's Other Guitars

Ойын-сауық

Brian May’s home made Red Special guitar is arguably as famous as he is. In this video I discuss nine other guitars which were made for Brian that you might have seen him using briefly during a concert or showing off on social media. I present the guitars in chronological order that they were built.
00:00 - Introduction
00:30 - Fryer Guitars, Brian’s main back-up guitar (1997)
Correction: 00:40 - Fryer 'George Burns' is shown, not Fryer 'John'
01:00 - Guyton Green Special (2003)
01:34 - Guyton Spade Guitar (2004)
02:12 - Scalloped fretboard Guyton Special #010531 (2005)
02:45 - Guyton Red Special bass #120864 (2008)
03:26 - Guyton 12/6 Doubleneck #120979 (2011)
04:07 - Guyton Semi-acoustic ‘The Badger’ #111087 (2014)
05:09 - Guyton RS Transporter #0117141 (2017)
05:48 - Guyton Red Special Eclipse pickups #0118157 (2018)
06:20 - Outro 1 - my replicas of Brian’s original home made pickups (BHMOHM)
06:31 - Outro 2 - dsgb splash screen
General information on Brian May’s activities, opinions and guitars
www.brianmay.com
Fryer Guitars ‘John’, 'Paul' and 'George Burns'
fryerguitars.com
Guyton Guitars
www.guytonguitars.com
Guyton RS Transporter
www.guytonrstransporter.com
Information on my Brian May related projects
dsgb.net
#BrianMay #RedSpecial #BrianMayRedSpecial #RedSpecialguitar

Пікірлер: 42

  • @Asheanae
    @Asheanae Жыл бұрын

    Wow I wish that transporter was available commercially

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    They were but I think Andy finally sold all 25. I was lucky enough to get my hands on #0817154 in metallic purple flake finish but two other people owned it before me, including Craig Farley who originally commissioned it.

  • @stevenriley6255
    @stevenriley6255 Жыл бұрын

    Very informative. Thank you. I have a Guyton Transporter (only 25 made), and an accurate replica of George Burns

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    Lucky guy! I have metallic purple flake RS Transporter #0817154. I love it. 💜💜

  • @Asheanae
    @Asheanae Жыл бұрын

    I didn't know Bri had a scalloped special! I was considering making a special with either a fully or a half scalloped fretboard

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    I would be interested to know how a scalloped fretboard guitar feels to play. I saw a half-scalloped fretboard on Andy's Instagram a few years ago. I think from the mysterious nature of the post that the owner was a well-known celebrity.

  • @Asheanae

    @Asheanae

    Жыл бұрын

    @dsgb I scalloped a partscaster I made from the 12th fret onwards. For solos it feels fantastic, and like Bri says, those vibratos float! It demands a light touch and helps my speed too. I'd worry about fully scalloped though, as making chords on scalloped frets would demand a deftness of touch I don't have!

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    Same here. Brian is known for his light touch.

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    @ritch I recall seeing that too. 👍🏻 Pete Malandrone remarked in our 2018 meet-up Q&A with Nigel Knight that his PA was pleased he changed to the RS Transporter for warming up in his dressing room because it is smaller and easier to carry.

  • @tribesmanjohn
    @tribesmanjohn Жыл бұрын

    Great video. Always wanted to know more about Brian May’s guitars

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks. I value your support.

  • @WillHessey
    @WillHessey Жыл бұрын

    Excellent video! I was very lucky to have a go on the original Guyton Red Special’s in Andrew’s workshop. It was a truly amazing guitar and the most unique feeling instrument I’ve ever played. Anything made by Mr G (I have a Guyton original design guitar) is worth playing picking up! 😀

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    Totally agree! 👍🏻😀 Andy is a very talented craftsman and a really nice guy.

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    @Ben Miller Awesome story Ben. Building your own instrument creates a special bond of appreciation with it that you will never get just buying one, no matter how good the commercial instrument is.

  • @dsgb
    @dsgb Жыл бұрын

    The guitar made by Greg Fryer which features in most of the photographs and video clips is 'George Burns' not 'John'. Apologies for this error. I have added a caption explaining this between time indexes 00:40 and 00:50 and corrected the information in the description section.

  • @matthewapsey4869
    @matthewapsey4869 Жыл бұрын

    The Transporter is the coolest thing ever.

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    I cherish my metallic purple one!💜💜

  • @joethrelfall6370

    @joethrelfall6370

    Ай бұрын

    @@dsgb what wood is Jon and George made out of? (The fryer guitars?)

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Ай бұрын

    Hi Joe. Greg Fryer has published a lot of insightful information on the Red Special guitars and treble boosters he built during his involvement with Brian May. Check out the pages covering the builds of "John", "Paul" and "George Burns" here: fryerguitars.com/greg-fryer-red-special-guitars/ I'm surprised that you aren't already aware of this. 👍🏻😀

  • @spidey4fun
    @spidey4fun Жыл бұрын

    Thanks Doug. Excellent video as always.

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks Brad. I appreciate your feedback and support. 👍🏻😀

  • @fretlessfender
    @fretlessfender Жыл бұрын

    Spread around KZread there are some snippets of video's where Brian talks about some of his guitars... wouldn't it be great to have an interview with Brian talking about all his guitars? And how they compare or differ from The Old Lady... why he loves them or resent some of them. Including the BMG line up...

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    I totally agree. There are so many interesting videos waiting to be made for us if only Brian could spare the time. 😀

  • @fretlessfender

    @fretlessfender

    Жыл бұрын

    @dsgb That is the main thing, isn't it. I believe Sir Doctor May has invented a way to put 48 hours in a day... but eventually, even Brian will have to retire from all those non musical events... if that day comes (probably in the next century), it would be very interesting to hear his insights for all us geeks!

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    The other problem we have is that Brian prefers to discuss astronomy, animal welfare issues and stereoscopic photography above Queen, music and his musical equipment. 😐

  • Жыл бұрын

    Why are the John Birch and Guild replicas excluded?

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    I only wanted to feature recent guitars with detailed information and high resolution images available.

  • Жыл бұрын

    @@dsgbthis an outstanding video nontheless 🤩

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    Thanks. I'm happy that you appreciate it. 👍🏻😀

  • @largebloke1969
    @largebloke1969 Жыл бұрын

    Any idea what happened to the guild guitar he used as a spare and love token / headlong on his 1993 and 1998 solo tours ?

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    I can only imagine that it would be retained in his guitar vault at Allerton Hill, probably never to be played in public again, like many of the one-off versions of his original Red Special.

  • @mel_163
    @mel_163 Жыл бұрын

    Man I'm in love with the Spade guitar I really would like to know how it sounds, I couldn't find any videos of it :(

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    I hear that Andrew Guyton will be bringing some of the guitars he has made for Brian to the U.K. Red Special meet-up in October. I hope that the spade guitar will be there and he lets somebody demonstrate them.

  • @mel_163

    @mel_163

    Жыл бұрын

    @@dsgb Oh nice to know that! Thank you for the information, I'll stay tuned for this meet-up

  • Жыл бұрын

    2:51 It's sad that the bass didn't have 24 frets, 3 Tri-Sonics, and same controls as the OG. 😢😢😢

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    Жыл бұрын

    The visual appearance and features of the Red Special bass is quite a departure from the original guitar but this is necessary for it to function effectively as a bass guitar.

  • Жыл бұрын

    @@dsgbit definitely lacks the OG's switches, but I was appalled at first that it didn't have 24 frets like the OG. I realized though that its 20 frets is enough for Queen due to John Deacon's Precision Bass only having 20. However, I honestly wished that the bass had a the neck pickup was a Precision and the bridge pickup was a StingRay, for those were the pickups in John's basses (his Stingray had 21 frets).

  • @Shred_The_Weapon
    @Shred_The_Weapon3 ай бұрын

    The Transporter should become a parallel standard model.

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    3 ай бұрын

    I doubt there would be sufficient consumer demand and I doubt that Brian May Guitars or any mainstream commercial guitar brand could generate sufficient profit margin on it.

  • @Shred_The_Weapon

    @Shred_The_Weapon

    3 ай бұрын

    That’s a drag to read, @@dsgb. I might’ve thought that it would have appealed to Musician’s who wanted Brian’s aesthetics but also gravitate in the direction of headless guitars in the Steinberger tradition. Live and learn. I will say that if I had credit cards or discretionary money to burn, I would get one for me.

  • @dsgb

    @dsgb

    3 ай бұрын

    A reasonable assumption I guess but headless guitars, particularly those with a tremolo are a niche option and not universally popular. Steinberger specialists Headless USA (www.headlessusa.com/why-buy-your-instrument-from-us) state that "these are VERY complex and carefully engineered, high performance instruments". An article titled "The Intriguing History of Steinberger Guitars" (guitar.com/features/history-of-steinberger-guitars/) gives us an insight into the profit margin challenges that companies trying to sell niche guitars face: "Grasping for a more cost-effective way of making these unusual instruments, Gibson began building the guitars out of wood in South Korea instead." I think a funky headless Red Special could be relatively straightforward for the amateur luthier to make. Indeed, Brad McDowall (spidey4fun) is currently building a custom one to his own design. Doug

  • @Shred_The_Weapon

    @Shred_The_Weapon

    3 ай бұрын

    Thank you, Doug.

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