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Build guitars, modify guitars, collect guitars, play guitars

Tag: Queen

Luke Holwerda’s Brian May Red Special Build Project (2017 to 2019)

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Back in July 2017, film maker and photographer Luke Holwerda contacted me to ask if I could collaborate with him on a Brian May Red Special replica guitar build project. Luke is based in Arizona in the USA and wanted to use the large format ShopBot CNC machine in the CREATE community workshop at the Arizona Science Centre in Phoenix to rout the guitar body sections and neck.

Excited by the prospect of collaborating with somebody halfway round the world. I learned that building a Brian May Red Special replica from scratch with no previous luthiery experience is extremely challenging but it was clear from the outset that Luke possessed the necessary handicraft skill, attention to detail and determination to see the project through to completion.

Luke and I spent around two years messaging regularly to resolve the issues he encountered and keep his build project moving along. He has allowed me to remix his original video footage to produce this retrospective story, overlaid with my own narrative for you.

Check out Luke’s Facebook page for his guitar and amplifier projects and YouTube channel where he published his original series of thirteen videos that I have remixed:

https://www.facebook.com/LukeHGuitar/
https://www.youtube.com/@lukeyourself

Part 1 – Blockboard Lay Up: https://youtu.be/EmLi4rX7S5Y
Part 2 – CNC Body Routing: https://youtu.be/9bBQD6irAJQ
Part 3 – CNC Neck Routing: https://youtu.be/JwbNmn68vEU
Part 4 – Body Glue Up: https://youtu.be/ZddRVstlfLQ
Part 5 – Repair of Router Bearing Marks: https://youtu.be/8YUnrmC1Tvc
Part 6 – Applying Veneers: https://youtu.be/j-ljqtfDoZI
Part 7 – Binding and Staining: https://youtu.be/rnTdnpMDk9A
Part 8 – Repairing Veneer Sand Through: https://youtu.be/J00EK_N2ZIA
Part 9 – Neck and Fretboard Assembly: https://youtu.be/Eyb1CNfowO4
Part 10 – Neck Finishing: https://youtu.be/DOtInN0RlWs
Part 11 – Fret Work: https://youtu.be/4kp4oLsinxo
Part 12 – Guitar Assembly (Electronics and Hardware Installation): https://youtu.be/3uCOaPo5dCE
Part 13 – Guitar Demonstration: https://youtu.be/1hUd9dKFX1w

Mini Brian May Red Special Design and Build Project (2013-2014)

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I have produced a new YouTube video this month covering my first foray into modifying and building guitars, a BMG Mini May conversion project which left only the truss rod of the donor guitar remaining. You can read more about this unusual and challenging project, dubbed the “1975 Red Special” because of its 19 inch scale and 75% body size elsewhere on this website:

https://dsgb.net/projects/1975rs/

Brian May Red Special 12/6 Double Neck Guitars

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I have collaborated with renowned Scottish-Italian guitarist Will Barbero to produce my latest video about the rarest and most spectacular of the Brian May Red Special guitar variants, the 12/6 double neck.

The video’s duration is around 16 minutes and with Will’s assistance to skillfully demonstrate both the twelve string and six string necks, we showcase a custom guitar commissioned by Mark Tolcher from Liverpool in the U.K. from Raymon Guitars in Spain:

Will spends a lot of his free time meticulously analysing and recreating Brian’s recorded guitar parts on Queen album tracks and has made a superb series of YouTube videos on this topic. Please support his work by liking and commenting on his videos, subscribe and follow him on Facebook:

https://www.youtube.com/@willbarbero
https://www.facebook.com/will.barbero/

2024 Annual Review and 2025 Look Ahead

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Thank you for supporting Doug Short Guitar Blog for another year by visiting this website, watching my YouTube videos and subscribing to my YouTube channel. Although I didn’t plan to release YouTube videos on a regular basis in 2024, I produced 11 videos with Brian May related content on an approximately monthly basis this year. Three of these covered challenging design and fabrication mini projects (Jeanrenaud switch replicas, Red Special tremolo arm and tremolo arm tip) which required learning 3D SLA printing techniques.

The highlight of the year was when Brian May attended our enthusiast meet-up in Berkshire, U.K. My coverage of this part of the event produced my best performing YouTube video which has attracted over 180,000 views, 2,800 likes and hundreds of positive, supportive comments at the time of writing. Read a small selection of these in the screen captures below.

For those of you who are interested in the statistics, dsgb.net has been on line for four years and has welcomed over 27,000 visitors and received over 96,000 views in 2024. This represented another substantial increase in the number of visitors although with approximately the same number of overall views as in 2022 and 2023.

Collaborations with professional and amateur musicians, luthiers, YouTube content creators and Brian May enthusiasts is always inspiring and enriching; this year I worked with Julian Hemingway to better understand Brian May’s original home made Eclipse magnet pickups and this led to an update video in November. Andrew Guyton and Martin Pitcher helped me to produce a short video on the Guyton RS Transporter to round off the year by providing audio and video media.

Although my media output is primarily Queen and Brian May related, I enjoy listening to many different bands and like many millions of people all around the world, I was captivated by the resurgence of interest in Oasis resulting from their planned 2025 world tour. This motivated me to arrange a visit to Oasis design central, MicroDot Creative in Kendal, Cumbria on our February break and produce a large framed display of the reissued Definitely Maybe 7″ vinyl singles and a quantity of 1996 fabric tour passes I bought from eBay. I bought a very good value “Scran” overdrive pedal which is designed, hand wired and assembled by SoundLad in Liverpool and makes Oasis tones readily accessible.

I look forward to exploring new opportunities in 2025 and tapping into the talents of Will Barbero who lives a short drive away from me in Edinburgh. I plan to produce a YouTube video exploring the design and fabrication of the Brian May Red Special tremolo system steelwork in Q1 2025. I would like to produce a video in which I discuss and demonstrate how to characterise the response of a selection of popular guitar pickups across the full audio spectrum using an exciter coil and a PicoScope oscilloscope PC interface.

Links to my social media accounts are below. Please follow, subscribe, like and comment on my content because music can’t propagate in a vacuum.

https://www.youtube.com/@dsgb
https://www.pinterest.com/dsguitarblog/
https://www.instagram.com/dsguitarblog/
https://www.facebook.com/DougShortGuitarBlog

Brian May Red Special Meet-up U.K. 2024 Highlights Part 2

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The embedded video is part two of my highlights package of the 2024 U.K. Brian May Red Special enthusiast meet-up held at the Holiday Inn Reading West in Berkshire and primarily features the guitars and musical equipment. Part 1 covers a selection of video clips of Brian’s time with us:

The event was hosted by Jon Underhill of The Red Special Guitar podcast and his team of assistants including Paul Cottrill, Steve McCulla, Matt Netherwood, Jonathan Planner and Luke Timmins, guitarist in the Supreme Queen tribute band. The theme was a 60th birthday celebration for Brian’s original Red Special which he completed in October 1964.

Attendees included co-author of the Red Special book, renowned music journalist Simon Bradley, Nigel Knight of Knight Audio Technologies, Andrew Morgan of A Strings, Wales’s premier independent retailer of guitars, amplifiers and effects, Rafa Diaz guitarist with the Magic Queen tribute band, artist Sarah Rugg and classical guitarist and host of the Fret Not podcast, Rosie Bennet.

The event had been held at Theale Village Hall, four miles away since 2017 but Jon and his event team sought a new venue to accommodate increased popularity and to separate the customary band section from the quieter day activities.

Doors opened at 10.00 a.m. allowing people time to mingle, chat and browse the guitars and equipment on display before several talks and demonstrations in the morning session. Souvenir merchandise including various stickers and badges from businesses and enthusiasts associated with the community were provided in a Star Wars themed goodie box. Exquisitely detailed commemorative sixpence coins were produced to celebrate the occasion.

There were many Red Special guitar variants on display including Brian May Guitars Specials in various finishes and custom versions built by both amateur and professional luthiers. These included a double neck made by Raymon Guitars of Spain, a 1993 Guild and a Guyton RS Transporter. Let’s take a look at some of these exquisite instruments.

A raffle of donated items raised a considerable amount of money for the Save Me Trust and Prostate Cancer U.K charity. There were some superb and valuable prizes on offer this year including a BMG ukulele and Queen I boxed set both signed by Brian himself, books, magazines and artwork by Sarah Rugg, a KAT Studio-One amplifier donated by Nigel Knight, effects units including amplifier attenuators donated by various enthusiasts.

After lunch, we watched a video compilation of photographs from previous meet-up events since 2017 with video messages from various enthusiasts on what the Red Special meet-ups and community mean to them. Afterwards, Jon dropped a bombshell on us. A very special guest had arrived… Dr Sir Brian May. Not only that, but guitar technician Steve Prior was looking after the object of our interest, the original Red Special guitar.

Jon had Brian as his guest in episode 20 of The Red Special Podcast in November 2022, maintained a dialogue then subsequently invited him to attend the meet-up to witness for himself how much we celebrate his guitar as a piece of Britain’s musical heritage.

One triple heart bypass operation and a stroke later, Brian found the time and energy to visit us. He did not confirm that he would attend until around lunchtime of the meet-up so it was a surprise to everyone. He lost some mobility in his arm as you might have read on social media and had not played guitar for about two months until today.

Steve Prior was on loan from David Gilmour’s stint at The Royal Albert Hall for guitar technician duties until Pete Malandrone returns to work. He managed to guard the revered original Red Special but still allow many of us to hold it, photograph it and compare our own Red Special guitars with it.

How to Identify and Collect Authentic Queen Band Member Autographs

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In 2009 I unwittingly bought what was very likely a fake item (an LP album cover autographed by all four members of Queen) from a reputable high street dealer of signed memorabilia in a popular U.K. tourist destination. After I had sought specialist advice from a knowledgeable collector and challenged the retailer, he accepted the item back and refunded my money in full.

Since then I have acquired a number of items signed by Brian May from official sources: Barry Moorhouse at Brian May Guitars, an in person meet and greet at the SSE Hydro arena in December 2017 and direct from his equipment technician, Pete Malandrone via charity auction at an enthusiast meet.

My YouTube content for January is a brief video lasting less than five minutes which aims to provide some insights and tips on how to identify and obtain authentic items signed by the Queen band members, Brian May, Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor and John Deacon.

Some of the content has caption credits in video (thanks to Jamie Rail, Shawn Leaver and Brian May via Instagram). I have extracted clips from other YouTube channel content under the fair usage policy. Photographs of signed Queen memorabilia also came from the following sources:

Queen Fan Store (eBay)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/str/queenfanstores

Queen Museum
https://queenmuseum.com/

First Class Memorabilia
https://firstclassmemorabilia.com/

#BrianMay #FreddieMercury #RogerTaylor #JohnDeacon

The Story of Brian May’s Sixpences

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In my last YouTube video of 2023 which is ten minutes in duration, I take you on a 21 year journey through Brian May’s musical activities after he stopped touring and recording with the original Queen band members. I tell you the stories behind the souvenir sixpences minted to mark notable occasions illustrated with close up shots of all the coins and related video footage.

Supreme Queen Tribute Band Full Concert

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Supreme Queen tribute band guitarist Luke Timmins invited me to attend their concert at The Town House in Hamilton near Glasgow, Scotland on 30 September 2023 and back stage to film their set-up and sound checks. I was able to take advantage of empty gallery seats immediately overlooking the stage on the band’s left (right from the audience’s perspective) to film the band close up. Check out the video below which is 1h 46m in duration; each song is time indexed from the description.

The set list plus additional information and links can be found here:
https://dsgb.net/events/supremequeen/

U.K. Brian May Red Special Meet-up TVH 2023

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Please check out my highlights package of the 2023 U.K. Brian May Red Special enthusiast meet-up on Saturday, 7th October 2023 and read the full report illustrated with 25 photographs here: https://dsgb.net/events/tvh2023/

Attended by 60-70 enthusiasts, the event has been held at Theale Village Hall near Reading in Berkshire since 2017. The theme of this year’s meet-up was “Good Company” which reflects the friendliness, trust and respect in the global Brian May enthusiast community.

To celebrate twenty years of working with Brian May, Andrew Guyton brought three guitars never seen or rarely seen in public: the spade, the 12/6 doubleneck and scalloped fretboard guitars. He also exhibited the “Badger” semi-acoustic and three customer guitars based on the original Red Special including Pete Malandrone’s semi-acoustic archtop and Nigel Knight’s heavily customised Ruby Special. These were all demonstrated by Luke Timmins, lead guitarist with the Supreme Queen tribute band using his KAT Brian May live rig.

Many other Red Special guitar variants were on display which had been made by amateur and professional luthiers in addition to custom guitar hardware and musical equipment including Deacy amplifier replicas and various Vox AC30 amplifiers.

Supreme Queen Tribute Band – Behind The Scenes

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Billed as “a concert through time and space” and a “dazzling tribute”, let me welcome you ladies and gentlemen behind the scenes at the Supreme Queen tribute band concert at The Town House in Hamilton near Glasgow in Scotland on Saturday, 30 September 2023. I cover band set-up, full song sound checks and some concert footage is included.

Supreme Queen are Scott Maley as Freddie Mercury on lead vocal, Luke Timmins as Brian May on lead guitar, Allan Brown as Roger Taylor on percussion, Alan Wallbanks as John Deacon on bass guitar and Ben Marshall representing Spike Edney on keyboards. Check out their website for futher details about the band:

https://www.supremequeen.co.uk/

Crew technical support is provided by Blue Thunder Sound from Ivybridge in Devon: https://www.bluethundersound.co.uk/