This YouTube video covers the evolution of the electronic circuit in Brian May’s Red Special guitar from the original 1964 build to the current state which dates from 2018. I focus primarily on the potentiometers and treble cut capacitor and also talk about the aluminium lathe turned control knobs and the original Bulgin/Radio spares 1/4″ jack socket.
I discuss how you can modify a vintage TCC Metalmite CP33N capacitor by removing the electrolyte and inserting a modern polyester Vishay item in the same manner as the Gibson heritage ‘bumblebee’ capacitors. I finish by showing you the KAT RS Superpot and discuss what factors you should consider before deciding to fit one to your guitar.
Tag: Red Special guitar
Brian May Red Special Build: Fretboard Marker Dot Repairs
This video covers the drilling out and replacement of several unsatisfactory mother of pearl (nacre) fretboard position marker dots on an oak fretboard for a Brian May Red Special guitar neck. The marker dots turned out too thin after final radiusing with a StewMac radiusing beam and 320 grit 3M Stikit Gold self-adhesive abrasive paper. I mill out the installed dots by mounting the fretboard back onto my Stepcraft 2/840 CNC machine with the help of a custom designed and CNC cut acrylic (perspex) alignment template. I then glue in replacement dots and abrade them flush with the radiused fretboard surface using a flat bladed diamond file.
Zero Fret Wear on Brian May Red Special Guitars: Reasons and Replacement with Stainless Steel Fretwire
My latest YouTube video is a follow-up to a 2021 YouTube short which illustrated strings pinging in and out of grooves worn into the zero fret of my Burns Brian May Red Special guitar.
I discuss the various factors which cause and exacerbate this issue then in the second part, I remove and replace the zero fret with Jescar FW57110 stainless steel fret wire. The crown is 2.8 mm wide and 1.45 mm high which is a good match to the jumbo 3 mm size fitted to this Burns Special.
You can find out more about the upgrades I carried out to this guitar in the project section:
https://dsgb.net/projects/burns/
Vintage Jeanrenaud Switch Full Replication
In this video, I take you through all the processes and techniques required to replicate the highly sought after and extremely rare and hard to find vintage Jeanrenaud DPDT (double pole double throw) parallel slide switches of the same type fitted to Brian May’s Red Special guitar.
In 2019, I collaborated with Andrew Guyton of Guyton Guitars and Tim Grocott to produce replicas of these switches for his limited edition run of high end, super authentic Time Warp Red Special guitars. These guitars were born out of demand created by the prop guitar he made for the movie Bohemian Rhapsody about Freddie Mercury’s time in Queen.
Firstly, I discuss why these switches are key to maintaining the correct aesthetic appearance of the iconic Red Special guitar. I disassemble a vintage donor switch provided by Manuel Angelini of DoxyWorld.com in Nantes, France and use the information to design the replica Tufnol wafer, metal chassis, plastic actuator, steel detent wire and brass sliding contacts in CAD.
I CNC cut the wafers from Tufnol phenolic resin sheet thicknessed to 1.6 mm. I also CNC cut the brass sliders from 0.35 mm brass sheet and the metal chassis from 0.8 mm thick 5052 grade aluminium sheet. I use 3D SLA (stereolithography) resin printing with an ELEGOO Mars 4 DLP printer and Phrozen brand ABS-like “creamy white” 3D printing resin to recreate the plastic actuators.
Please check out the collaborate section of my website for further details on this intricate and challenging build project:
https://dsgb.net/collaborate/jeanrenaud/
The Story of Brian May’s Sixpences
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.
U.K. Brian May Red Special Meet-up TVH 2023
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.
Brian May Red Special Guitar Body CAD Design Walkthrough
In this second video on how I designed my interpretation of Brian May’s Red Special guitar from first principles, I explain how I created the overall shape and the internal details of the guitar body and the pickguard outline. I have illustrated this video with TurboCAD screen recordings and animated renders of the 3D objects in the same style as my previous video on the guitar neck.
Brian May Red Special Guitar Neck CAD Design Walkthrough
In my latest YouTube video, I demonstrate and discuss how I designed the neck for my Brian May Red Special guitar build using TurboCAD 2016 Professional CAD software. I begin by explaining how I worked up overall design sketches using known measurements and design details including the assumptions I made, then move on to cover the detail on the headstock, main section and tenon separately. The video is illustrated with TurboCAD screen recordings and animated renders of the 3D objects.
U.S. Red Special Meet-up 2023 (Phoenix, AZ)
The 2023 U.S. Brian May Red Special enthusiast meet-up is happening on Saturday, 29 April at the Linger Longer Lounge, 6522 N 16th Street #6, Phoenix, AZ 85016. Organized once more by Luke Holwerda, it will build on the success of the 2022 event with more space at the venue and more equipment to see, hear and test out. The entry fee is US$25 which includes a unique commemorative sixpence coin, name badge and meal.
https://www.facebook.com/events/872704047211743
Event merchandise is available here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LukeHolwerda
Vox Brian May Signature Series
Launched in April 2023, Brian May and Vox amplification have collaborated to make his iconic tone accessible to all with a new amPlug guitar headphone amplifier at £54.99 and MV50 portable amplifier head unit at £259.
https://www.voxamps.co.uk/collections/brianmay
Two special edition sets are available consisting of the amPlug set at £149 and MV50 set at £419.
amPlug Set
The amPlug Brian May weighs in at only 40 grams and features a range of Queen backing rhythms, including the We Will Rock You stomps and claps. A Brighton Rock setting with tap tempo recreates Brian’s distinctive twin delay canon effect while the phaser accesses the tone heard on Keep Yourself Alive. Finally, there is a stereo chorus for lush go-to Brian May tones.
The amPlug and accompanying speaker (itself weighing only 260 grams) form a mini half-stack if the guitar is plugged in via a standard jack cable. Alternatively the amPlug can be used as a headphone amplifier, compatible with any set of standard headphones with a 3.5 mm jack. Using two AAA batteries, the amPlug Brian May has up to 15 hours of battery life (accompanying cabinet up to 12 hours with 9V battery).
MV50 Amplifier Head and Cabinet Set
With a combined weight of less than 5 kg (head 540 g, cabinet 3.9 kg), the MV50 Brian May is based on the MV50 circuitry and AC30 tone, but with the addition of a KAT (Knight Audio Technologies) treble booster which can be switched in or out of circuit. The control panel features gain, tone and volume controls and an EQ switch that can be switched between “flat” for larger speaker cabinets and “deep” for smaller cabinets. When combined with its matching speaker cabinet, the MV50 produces a 25 W output at 8 Ohms. The MV50 Brian May’s headphone/line out also features speaker emulation, offering the option of recording directly from the amp head without needing to mic up the cabinet.
“It’s perfect for any smaller show, and if you want to put a mic in front of it, it’ll do for your big gigs as well. I wouldn’t mind going on some future stadium gig and seeing how this shapes up.”
Dr Sir Brian May CBE
dsgb 