They began making it in August 1963 when Brian was 16. The neck is made from mahogany from an old fireplace, the body mostly from an oak table, and the tremolo assembly includes a knife edge and two motorbike valve springs. The fret-markers were carved by Brian from mother of pearl buttons from his mothers sewing box. The total cost was approx £17. It's now priceless.

Copies (of the Red Special).

Below is a list of both official and unofficial copies of the guitar. The fact that some are unofficial bears no reflection upon their quality. The same goes for the official copies - all have good and bad points as far as being truthfull replicas.

In the 1981 a Japanese company known as Greco produced an unofficial version (the BM 900) and little information is available about this model (few were exported out of Japan) except the price was then around 90,000 Yen (£450), and were high quality copies, but not identical. Another reproduction from the same period is the Fresher BM270, and shared many of the Greco's constructional details and probably came from the same guitar factory as the Greco.

The Japanese company Kid's have produced the 260BM model (1991 to 1994 at 260,000 Yen / £1300) and the BM Special (produced until 1998 priced at 200,000 Yen / £1000). For those with 500,000 Yen (£2500) in their savings account, Kid's made the BM Dragon in 1995, a Brian May / PRS hybrid.

Guild Guitars originally made 316 BHM1 commercial copies (but not perfect replicas) in 1984. Brian owns 3 of the prototypes. Once can be seen in the One Vision video. Now discontinued, you may buy a second-hand one for £1000-£1500.

In 1993 Guild Guitars created the BM01, BM02 and BM03 Signature models (later called the BM Pro). Original cost? £1750 with the BM Special (£1299) and the BM Standard at (£845).

Brian used the BM Pro model on his 1993/4 Back To The Light tour (they also did a green version which Spike Edney used live). Fender bought out Guild in 1997 and scraped the BM guitar.

More recently (2001) Burns have made commercial copies, (after 22 prototypes) and is available in Cherry Red and Sunburt (at Brian's request). The band in the WWRY musical use the Burns Brian May.

Greg Fryer has made 3 copies of The Red Special (named John, Paul and George [Burns] ). Greg was originally given the task of cleaning and maintaining the original. He has made 3 copies since 1996 - two of which are owned by Brian. The third which use different wood for the body and neck is owned by Greg.

John Birch Guitars made a single (gold) duplicate copy as a back up for Brian in the late 1970's, but this was damaged one night when Brian got so annoyed at the sound he threw it off stage and there was no one the to catch it. This guitar can be seen in the We Will Rock You and Spread Your Wings videos and made an appearance at Milton Keynes. There is also a John Birch BM commercial model, but at the moment I have no info about this.

Sixpence
Another peculiarity in Brian's equipment is his choice of plectrum. He uses an old English sixpence coin which has a ridged edge. These coins have not been in circulation nor legal tender since the early 1970's.

Prior to Brian's 1993/4 Back To The Light tour, the Royal Mint made Brian some comemorative sixpence coins with his image on (not legal tender). The coins were sold on Brian's Back to the Light tour and through Adrian Hopkins, the merchandise company that works with the Official International Queen Fan Club. but they sold out of them in 1994. They were also available on Brian's Another World tour in 1998. Cost - £5.

Websites about Brian's guitar:

www.brianmaycentral.com (which includes lots of Interviews with Brian).

Other websites suggested by fans:

Tornado's Page (not checked)

Scott Humphrey's Page (Scott makes and sells a Treble Booster)

Brian Booster (This site down 22-03-2006)

Did Brian Harold May (of Queen) compose film scores?

Except the Queen related films, (Flash Gordon and Highlander) Queen's Brian May is not responsible other film scores which credit a Brian May, i.e. Mad Max, Road Warriors and Nightmare on Elm Street (Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare)

The Brian May who is responsible for the above titles (and more) was an Australian, although passed away in 1997.

The only soundtracks Brian Harold May has done are the Queen-related one's, plus more recently for the French film Furia which is available on CD (2000).

Brian Harold May composed the music for Shakespeare's play Macbeth (1990) performed by The Red and Gold Theatre Company in London. The music is not commercially available. It is not a single piece, but atmospheric pieces that are played via the theatre's PA system at the appropriate juncture in the play. Original copies are on computer floppy disc with some copies selling at record fairs on audio tape.

Brian created incidental music for the UK Spiderman radio series (a 5-track CD single is available). This music was released under the pseudonym MC Spy-D and Friends (1995).

Brian also did music for the computer game Rise of the Robots. The song Cyborg from Brian's Another World album (1998) originated from the Rise of the Robots session, although in a different form.

Apparently he owns about 365 pairs! One for each day of the year. No just kidding. :-)