New colours for Brian May guitars

[ItsaBass]

Re: New colours for Brian May guitars

I was hoping for the return of translucent green. I came so close to buying one of those and having it shipped from England. But those new ones look pretty hot.

 

[Brow]

Re: New colours for Brian May guitars

So, has anyone here actually played one of these guitars? How are they, in terms of build quality and tone?

I've played a few of the Burns Brian May Guitars but non of these newer 1s.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: New colours for Brian May guitars

ItsaBass: you can still get green ones, they were introduced into the lineup last year. Surely you can get them in the US, I remember Musician's Friend having them.

I agree with you 100%, but I think when getting a guitar as different and 'specific' as these are I think there should be an element of wanting some aspect of the tones that the original gets. Otherwise what's the point, might as well just get a Strat and put a series/parallel switch on it.

But yeah, I do agree with your point entirely

That's why you get two :laughing:.

I've always really loved that style of guitar and I've thought about picking one up a couple of times. The fact that it's so obviously associated with one specific player has always put me off, though. That and the fact that it would be difficult to change pickups (I never know where my whims will take me).

To that end, making them in other colours was a great move, I think. No longer are they Brian May's guitar, but they have more of the look of something....I dunno, 'inspired by.'

I really love the natural and the blue one. I like the black too, but I think it would look better with some chrome on it somewhere, like the pickups, knobs and switch surrounds. That would look really sharp. It might make some of you fanboys rage, but I'd really love to see one with a maple fretboard too.

So, has anyone here actually played one of these guitars? How are they, in terms of build quality and tone?

I really love the shape and I love 24" scales, but I'd be playing pretty much everything except Queen on it...

I haven't played a Burns but one of the newer ones and it was good, build wise. The neck is smaller than the Old Lady herself but still meaty. Top fret access isn't great but that's a given. It's a really slinky player with the short scale and 9s - too easy, almost. I didn't play it with a whammy, so I don't know how the tuning stability is. The Wilkinson bridge is nice, but if there's going to be a culprit in the tuning, it'll be the zero fret and string guide/nut.

Lots of tones on tap. Pups are a bit fatter sounding than a Strat pu. Of course, some tones, like all three pups on in phase, are not as useful (too thick), but there's lots of possibilities. One of the most versatile axes out there.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: New colours for Brian May guitars

ItsaBass: you can still get green ones, they were introduced into the lineup last year. Surely you can get them in the US, I remember Musician's Friend having them.

I spoke with the distributor in England, and they said Musician's Friend only ordered a few from the first batch of green ones, and only one from the second batch (which they got around January of this year). AFAIK, only a handful of the green ones have made it to the U.S.A.