dsgb

Build guitars, modify guitars, collect guitars, play guitars

Tag: Red Special

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

Posted by on

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.

Brian May Attends the 2024 U.K. Red Special Enthusiast Meet-up

Posted by on

The 2024 U.K. Red Special enthusiast meet-up was moved from Theale Village Hall to the Holiday Inn Reading West near Aldermaston this year to accommodate more demand and to separate the customary band section from the usually quieter day activities. The event was still hosted by Jon Underhill of The Red Special Guitar Podcast and his capable team with Andrek Hernandez of California on official videographer duties.

I usually produce a single highlights package video and write an event report here on my website. However, this year was special because Dr Sir Brian May CBE joined us for about three hours to answer questions, talk about the Red Special guitar, demonstrate its capabilities then present some community service awards and raffle prizes.

The Red Special was finished in October 1964 so the event was timed to celebrate its 60th birthday. I filmed some of his time with us and the YouTube video below contains a selection of these video clips. This is part one of a two part highlights package of this event. I did not film the Q&A session because I preferred to listen and not stand up to film which would restrict others’ view.

Brian was still recovering from his recent stroke and did not confirm that he would attend until the morning of the meet-up. 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. Please bear this in mind when judging his playing. Steve Prior is on guitar technician duties because Pete Malandrone is still recovering from a head injury and is not expected back at work for some time.

Brian May Red Special Tremolo Arm Design and Fabrication

Posted by on

My YouTube video for September 2024 lasts approximately 15 minutes and covers the CAD design and scratch build of the tremolo arm on Brian May’s Red Special guitar. Although you can buy these from Red Special guitar parts suppliers, some don’t have authentic section lengths or bend angles and come as part of a full tremolo tailpiece assembly at considerable cost. If you fancy making your own or just interested to see how it’s done, please check the video out.

Brian May Red Special Tremolo Arm Tip Design and Reproduction

Posted by on

In 2016, Mickäel Dansan and I collaborated to design and reproduce a plastic tremolo arm tip for Brian May Red Special guitars which looks more representative of the original’s greenish-yellow colour than any commercially available items such as standard Fender tips. They are available at Dansan Guitars online store for a reasonable price:

https://dansanguitars.com/store/

In July 2024, I made a brief (6m 10s) YouTube video illustrating how I designed the tip then made it using 3D SLA printing in my ELEGOO Mars 4 DLP 3D printer. A key part of the process is colouring the Phrozen “creamy white” ABS-like 3D printing resin using an epoxy resin pigment kit.

In the video, I show you the type of vintage, light grey plastic knitting needle that Brian used to fashion his tremolo trip from and illustrate how the colour has evolved over years of wear and tear to its current greenish-yellow hue.

Brian May Red Special Electronics: Potentiometers, Capacitor and KAT RS Superpot

Posted by on

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.

Brian May Red Special Build: Fretboard Marker Dot Repairs

Posted by on

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

Posted by on

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

Posted by on

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

Posted by on

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

Posted by on

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.