Queen guitarist Brian May talks about building The Red Special guitar

Queen guitarist Brian May chats to Absolute Radio about how he built the famous Red Special guitar with his father many years ago, how important it's been to him and to Queen's work, and lots more detailed guitar-geekery.

[TheKorfish]

One of the few musicians who didn't let fame or money change him and the red special is a testament to that.

[guitarfeverl.a.]

just like a real Jedi who builds his own lightsaber

[KurtisC]

The Red Special has such a heavy, regal sound - it suited the band perfectly.

[Cjbx]

It must be very embarrassing for all those well known guitar manufactures who charge a fortune for their guitars to be outdone by a guy and his dad who had no experience of making guitars and used scrap materials.

[TheMadisonHang]

his hair is obviously genetically handed down from Mozart

[Nerflover]

So well spoken, such a down to earth guy.

[pilgrimMj]

I've heard this story a million times and I'd love to hear it a million more.

[Johnny-mbvy]

He’s loyal to that guitar like he’s loyal to that haircut

[KaBoomChannel]

I don't think people realize how incredible this is. This is like saying "I couldn't afford a space shuttle so I built one with my dad"

[devinthierault]

Oh god he looked up at his dad when he talked about him :'(

[evelynz]

"It was 100 years old at the time, so it's about 300 years old now."

[priyakshi.]

When a millionaire rockstar still uses his childhood guitar, you know he's a keeper❤

[CZECHMATE]

NEVER BEEN REFRETTED!!!??? That's what hand craftsmanship gets you!!!!

[MrUltraworld]

I've been a Luthier since 1980, and I think the Red Special is a truly remarkable instrument when you consider when it was made (1964) and how it was made, and who it was made by. It has a unique homemade tremolo/bridge system that worked better than any other on the market, I don't feel it was improved upon until 1980. It has a very short scale length that made string bending easier and gave the guitar a very unique voice. It has a very unique (for the time) switching system that when combined with the scale length and construction technique, gave Brian the most unique and instantly identifiable guitar tone of any guitar player in the world. It's also unique looking. To think this was made by a father and son who had never built a guitar before or since is really amazing. It worked so well that Brian still uses it some 53 yrs later.

[jesusguerra]

What a pleasure to hear this man talking. A true humble gentleman.

[datdang]

"There are too many other things I need to do in this life" -said a 70 year-old man

[dandogzbutt]

With the wood over a hundred years old a boy built a guitar with such power even he couldn’t know what it would yield. The guitar found him

[mongoosemotive]

Nothing better than a father and son building stuff together, the best bonding moments are those

[dicebagdaryl]

They say that the 1959 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst is the holy grail of guitars, but I'd dare to say that the one and only Red Special would TRULY be it, being that there's only one.  Also, that it was built and wielded by the lead guitarist of the greatest rock band to ever walk the face of the earth, and play the greatest song ever recorded (Bohemian Rhapsody). :D

[juanperez-jkvu]

I wonder if he ever thought he would record some of the most known songs in the world with that guitar while he was building it.