Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen built this legendary instrument with his father, they used what they had in the house so it's basicly a built-your-guitar-at-home! They used woods from an 18th century fireplace for the body. May stated that he has two wormholes at the neck. The inlay buttons were his moms nacre buttons. The tremolo system was taken from an old motorbike. Because May is a physicist, he knows a lot about electricity and he has done all the wiring, he bought three single coil Burns pick-ups and wired them in series instead of paralels. Which resulted more bass and less treble, also when all pick-ups are active, the output is triple. He installed on/off switches for all three pick-ups which is not something common in three pick-up guitars.
Despite it's features, the Red Special also has a unique tone which is impossible to replicate. When you listen to a Queen cover, you know there's something wrong but you can't tell what it is. Let me tell you, it's the Red Special, no guitar(ist) can match it's tone or Brian May's technique. Brian May built this guitar in 1963 and used it to record all Queen albums. Today he still uses this 46 year old guitar along with it's replicas which makes it one of the longest active guitars of all time.
If you have enough money, you can have a replica of the Red Special. Brian May founded his own guitar company called Brian May Guitars (wow what a creative name) and reproduces this important instrument for Queen fans. Do I want one? I'm not so sure, even if they had a lefty model, this guitar is meant and built to be played by Brian May.
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