Brian May's Tone

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Brian May's Tone

Mine only has Brian's signature on the headstock. Not completely sure if that makes it an older one or newer one. Just saw it hanging on the wall at a guitar shop one day, tried it and was sold immediately...... Of course the sales person insisted I try it through an AC-30 That almost worked for him

Even 10's feel a little too slinky for me, but the guitar is more geared to be played with a light touch. If you ever watch a closeup of Brian playing, it is like he is doing surgery on the strings... Very light. But I will tell you there is NOTHING I have ever played that sounds as sweet overdriven as two trinsonics in series thougha cranked tube amp. Three is even creamier but just a little too much fat. Good for lead work only.

As far as colors, I thought the green one was pretty neat when it was still Burns. I have been toying with the idea of putting a cream colored scratch plate on it so I can take it out more without people expecting to hear Bohemian Rhapsody. I love Queen but trust me when I say the guitar can do a lot more than Queen covers.

Ok, if it only has the signature then it's probably an early BMG. The early ones were made, I think, from the Burns leftover stock before they made the changes that defined the BMG instrument.

That's true about the light touch. I imagine it would make for very efficient playing (great vibrato too), and, if you had exceptionally low action, you'd probably feel like you were cheating . Brian also has a one off Guyton with a scalloped fretboard.

I bet it's an extremely slick player with the 9s on there, interesting colour too. Yeah, it's a very thick articulate sound. What I find remarkable is that when you back off the volume it sounds very crisp with a bit of twang that just gets fatter as you get louder. Don't know any other guitars that have this character. Mm, but I bet that if you knock one of the pickups out of phase in an all three on setting it would kill some of the fat. Some of those cello sounds like in Love Of My Life are all three on in phase.

Yes, the green was inspired by a few of the second run Guilds that came in that colour. There was a green Guyton on evil bay a while ago that didn't sell. I like a natural finish, as I said earlier in this thread' all black is quite classy too. Definitely, it's probably got more sounds than most people would use/need in a guitar.

 

[guitarded]

Re: Brian May's Tone

Absolutely right.... You get a fairly pleasant bright tone with all three pups on and one out of phase. I like the idea of a scalloped fret board, but unfortunately my touch is not as light as Brian's probably is and the scalloped board would bring out the ugliness in that The one in the photo you posted looks really authentic... I thing Burns or BM should have a higher cost model that faithfully reproduces the bridge assemble of the original.

Ok, if it only has the signature then it's probably an early BMG. The early ones were made, I think, from the Burns leftover stock before they made the changes that defined the BMG instrument.

That's true about the light touch. I imagine it would make for very efficient playing (great vibrato too), and, if you had exceptionally low action, you'd probably feel like you were cheating . Brian also has a one off Guyton with a scalloped fretboard.

I bet it's an extremely slick player with the 9s on there, interesting colour too. Yeah, it's a very thick articulate sound. What I find remarkable is that when you back off the volume it sounds very crisp with a bit of twang that just gets fatter as you get louder. Don't know any other guitars that have this character. Mm, but I bet that if you knock one of the pickups out of phase in an all three on setting it would kill some of the fat. Some of those cello sounds like in Love Of My Life are all three on in phase.

Yes, the green was inspired by a few of the second run Guilds that came in that colour. There was a green Guyton on evil bay a while ago that didn't sell. I like a natural finish, as I said earlier in this thread' all black is quite classy too. Definitely, it's probably got more sounds than most people would use/need in a guitar.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Brian May's Tone

Yes, the Guyton is the most accurate replica there is, followed by the guitars Greg Fryer made in the late 90s as backups for Brian. Guyton had access to the guitar itself, which he was allowed to strip down to take notes etc., as well as the original plans Brian and his father made. There were 40 red ones and 10 green ones initially. They can still be ordered from Guyton as he's making a limited number of them but I think production might have wound up.

BMG do make the higher spec Super, the main compromises being an all mahogany body, glued neck, lacquered ebony fretboard and Wilkinson roller bridge that's shimmed for the 7.25 inch radius. It has the original style trem and same kind of pickups as the Guyton. It's supposed to be quite a nice piece, and you'd hope so at £2500 . Making the guitar as authentically as possible is really labour intensive, as you can't do much of it with automated machinery, which accounts for the compromises to keep the costs down.

 

[guitarded]

Re: Brian May's Tone

The real kicker is the original was made by BM and his father to create a quality guitar at a low cost

Yes, the Guyton is the most accurate replica there is, followed by the guitars Greg Fryer made in the late 90s as backups for Brian. Guyton had access to the guitar itself, which he was allowed to strip down to take notes etc., as well as the original plans Brian and his father made. There were 40 red ones and 10 green ones initially. They can still be ordered from Guyton as he's making a limited number of them but I think production might have wound up.

BMG do make the higher spec Super, the main compromises being an all mahogany body, glued neck, lacquered ebony fretboard and Wilkinson roller bridge that's shimmed for the 7.25 inch radius. It has the original style trem and same kind of pickups as the Guyton. It's supposed to be quite a nice piece, and you'd hope so at £2500 . Making the guitar as authentically as possible is really labour intensive, as you can't do much of it with automated machinery, which accounts for the compromises to keep the costs down.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Brian May's Tone

The real kicker is the original was made by BM and his father to create a quality guitar at a low cost

I know - couldn't afford a Strat so they stuck their necks out to build something they considered better than what they saw out there. The trem/roller bridge is masterpisical in this respect. The RS cost some negligible amount to build, what really jacked up the cost was the pickups, because the handmade ones didn't work properly. But the guitar has become a potent signifier (its uniqueness, the narratives attached to it) which is very exploitable, so people become willing to pay in order to own something that contains a good deal of cultural capital.

Whenever I read threads in guitar forums where tone hounds expostulate over the virtues of using a particular type of mahogany or maple etc., I always remember the RS. It's basically a junk guitar - blockboard mostly hollowed out and screwed/glued to some oak (not generally seen as a guitar tonewood), some mahogany veneer to make it look nice. The neck is made of some unspecified mahogany, albeit a big piece. But its tonal character and range belies this. It makes one realize that in the realm of the electric guitar, so many variables are at play that something like a choice piece of Brazilian rosewood can become negligible.