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My take on the Red Special
Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2016 10:06 pm
by Mr K
This is one of my favourite guitars, I’ve been studying it for quite a while and years of research has got me to this stage.I finished this one late 2014 and was about a two year project.
A brief back ground for those not familiar with the guitar.
The Red Special was Brian May from Queen’s guitar built by him and his farther Harold in around 1962-63 . It was a two year project and used all sorts of things to make the guitar what it is .
It has what’s called a block board core and is covered in mahogany veneer , A mahogany neck made from a fireplace , a trem system made from motorcycle valve springs , even the fret board markers were made from mother of pearl buttons kept by his mother .
And this is my take on what I have learnt from the research over the years .
Specs are
24" scale ,7.25" radius, black painted English oak fretboard, Trem as a close copy of the original, Pickups are made by Adrian Turner who has the original Burns winding machines and still maintains Brian's pickups. Nos switches as on the original , all wiring and layout copied as per the original.
Body made from my version of block board with English oak inserts veneered with mahogany, and internal cavities copied .
And this is what it looks like inside
I do have all the progress shots should anyone be interested.
Cheers Mark
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:22 am
by Fisherman
Beautiful guitar!
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 2:11 pm
by kiwigeo
A famous guitar....and yes I'd love to see progress photos of the build.
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:40 pm
by Jeremy D
Beautiful work.
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:25 pm
by routout
Sheeezas that is a superb fit and finish I love the trem you sir have done your research that's for sure
funny thing I was looking at the Lindsey Buckingham guitar made by Turner very Interesting stuff, you put some serious hours in that Instrument congrats ,cheers John .
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 5:42 pm
by kiwigeo
routout wrote:Sheeezas that is a superb fit and finish I love the trem you sir have done your research that's for sure
funny thing I was looking at the Lindsey Buckingham guitar made by Turner very Interesting stuff, you put some serious hours in that Instrument congrats ,cheers John .
John,
The GAL magazine had an article about Rick Turner's Buckingham build a while back...Ill try and find it for you.
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 7:20 pm
by routout
Just that I'm making some crazy stuff at the moment and it just pops in my head every now and then
Turner has a nice vid on his builds the Brian May thing is a great story then there are the conflicting ones I like the Mohog mantle one and Turner using Bob Hope's Bar for his builds
.There is a lot of cool stuff out there never run out of things to make and that's what it's all about .
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 7:27 pm
by jeffhigh
I've seen Mr K's red special in person, it's even better than the pictures.
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 8:10 pm
by ozziebluesman
Yep, that is something special.
What a great job
Cheers
Alan
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2016 9:09 pm
by Mr K
Thanks so much for the positive comments all.
I was fortunate to meet up with Jeff recently and see some of his lovely guitars as well.
Regarding the build photos, I'll put up a thread in the build section
Cheers Mark
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 11:44 am
by seeaxe
Very nice! Interesting that such a famous guitar was a 'homer'.
Personally, I'm interested in what motorcycle the trem springs come from....if it's a copy of a Brit icon guitar it should really be Triumph or BSA but I can't see any oil so maybe I'm wrong.
And welcome to the madhouse!
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 6:23 pm
by Mr K
seeaxe wrote:Very nice! Interesting that such a famous guitar was a 'homer'.
Personally, I'm interested in what motorcycle the trem springs come from....if it's a copy of a Brit icon guitar it should really be Triumph or BSA but I can't see any oil so maybe I'm wrong.
And welcome to the madhouse!
Yes , it's been a bit of a job tracking down the right information sometimes , Early belief was that they were the inner valve spring from a 1928 Panther motorcycle , however they are reported to be from a Norton motorcycle in Brian May's Red Special book , Page 35 .
Cheers Mark
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Tue Oct 18, 2016 6:46 pm
by seeaxe
Ahhh, that explains the lack of oil then. Nortons were a bit less leaky! Only a little puddle under this one
Re: My take on the Red Special
Posted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 5:32 pm
by Mr K
Mr K wrote: ↑Sun Oct 16, 2016 10:06 pm
This is one of my favourite guitars, I’ve been studying it for quite a while and years of research has got me to this stage.I finished this one late 2014 and was about a two year project.
A brief back ground for those not familiar with the guitar.
The Red Special was Brian May from Queen’s guitar built by him and his farther Harold in around 1962-63 . It was a two year project and used all sorts of things to make the guitar what it is .
It has what’s called a block board core and is covered in mahogany veneer , A mahogany neck made from a fireplace , a trem system made from motorcycle valve springs , even the fret board markers were made from mother of pearl buttons kept by his mother .
And this is my take on what I have learnt from the research over the years .
Specs are
24" scale ,7.25" radius, black painted English oak fretboard, Trem as a close copy of the original, Pickups are made by Adrian Turner who has the original Burns winding machines and still maintains Brian's pickups. Nos switches as on the original , all wiring and layout copied as per the original.
Body made from my version of block board with English oak inserts veneered with mahogany, and internal cavities copied .
And this is what it looks like inside
I do have all the progress shots should anyone be interested.
Cheers Mark
Just fixing photobucket problems and restoring original images. Cheers Mark