Name | Country | Year | Group | Colour/Special |
| -Brian May | U.K. | '63 | Queen | The Original! |
| -Stephan Möller | Germany | '82 | Burns Split-sound pickups | |
| -Darran Potter | U.K. | '85 | Solid mahogany, DiMarzio pickups | |
| -Stephane Cote | Canada | '89 | African padouk body and neck, ebony fretboard. Hand wound pickups. | |
| -Diego Laurenti | Italy | '94 | Mahogany body, teak neck, ebony fingerboard, 50s pickups | |
| -Laurens Gardeniers | Netherlands | '96 | DiMarzio Pickups & Schaller Tremolo | |
| -Samule Bueno | Brasil | '97 | Based on the Red Special | |
| -Kai Schonefeld | Germany | DiMarzio Pickups | ||
| -Jeremy Turner | U.K. | DiMarzio Pickups | ||
| -Adam Marshall | U.K. | Oak wood and brass dots and pickguard, Dimarzio Pickups | ||
| -Gary Taylor | U.K. | |||
| -Mark Reynolds | U.K. | '97 | Brian has seen and played Mark's guitar! | |
| -Iñigo Latasa | Spain | '98 | ||
| -Andrew G. Reid | Canada | '98 | 2 single coils + 1 humbucker | |
| -Barry Savage | U.K. | '99 | Kahler trem, Tri-sonic pickups, thinner neck than Brian's guitar, no binding on back of body | |
| -Jason Walsh | U.K. | '99 | 2 Humbuckers | |
| -Scott Humphrey | U.S. | '00 | 2 Burns Tri-Sonic + 1 Kent Armstrong pickups | |
| -Javier Moldes | Spain | '00 | Left handed, DiMarzio pickups, handmade tremolo | |
| -Esteban Anderson | Argentina | '00 | Oak and mahogany construction, Original 60's Tri-Sonic pickups, Schaller locking tuners with Gotoh perloid tips | |
| -Doron Markowitz | U.S. | '02 | Two copies! Feature exotic woods like purple-heart, zebra and cherry. 25.5" scale length. | |
| -Frankie Calgaro | Argentina | '03 | Dios Salve a la Reina | Floyd Rose Trem, DiMarzio pickups |
| -Iain Angell | U.K. | '03 | Blockboard, oak and mahogany construction, KA Burns Tri-Sonic pickups. Bridge, tremolo and knobs made by Esteban Anderson | |
| -Sami-Petri Salonen | Finland | '03 | Cedar wood with oak centre block, Kent Armstrong Burns Tri-Sonic pickups, Schaller bridge and tuners | |
| -Matt Wickham | U.K. | '03 | Mahogany body and neck, rosewood fretboard, Graeme Walker trem, Adeson pickups | |
| -Nigel Reilly | U.K. | '04 | Oak, mahogany and blockboard construction, Burns Tri-Sonic pickups | |
| -Esa-Pekka "Pete" Parviainen | Finland | '04 | Mahogany body, alder centre block and rosewood fretboard, Burns Tri-Sonic pickups. |
This one-off copy was built in 1997 by fan Mark Reynolds. Mark was involved in Greg Fryer's restoration of the Old Lady herself and the pictures here show Mark with his guitar at Brian's house. The lucky guy got to meet Brian, who actually played Mark's guitar (and liked it!) and he got to try out his guitar on Brian's amps, including the fabled Deacy amp! Some people have all the luck...
This guitar was made by US-based fan Scott Humphrey in 2000-2001. Scott has also built several treble boosters and amps using different circuits and his website features mp3's of his guitar/booster/amp setups in action.
This guitar was built by Esteban Anderson from Argentina. He did such a fantastic job of copying Brian's design that when Brian saw photos of this guitar, he thought it was his original Red Special! Great job Esteban!
Esteban is currently building a new improved Red Special copy. Click here to see pictures of his new guitar under construction.
Iain Angell completed his guitar during 2003. He built his guitar using oak, blockboard and mahogany, so the construction is very close to Brian's original. The bridge, knobs and trem unit were made by Esteban Anderson. Another excellent job!
Sami built his version of the Red Special with his father - just like Brian did nearly 40 years earlier! The wood is cedar, because they couldn't get good quality mahogany and the centre block is oak. The overall look and finish of the guitar are excellent.
Nigel completed his guitar early in 2004. The construction is very close to Brian's original and features wood salvaged from an old door frame, an oak table and a window architrave. The pickups are Burns Tri-Sonics and it is another excellent copy. Nigel is planning to make another two guitars in 2004 - that should keep him busy!
I'm continually amazed by the high quality guitars that so many people have made and got incredibly close to Brian's original. Pete's copy shown here is no exception and it features an alder centre block, mahogany body and rosewood fretboard. Lovely!
This is youngster Matt's first attempt at guitar making! The body and neck are mahogany, with a rosewood fretboard. The guitar also features a Schaller bridge, Graeme Walker trem and Adeson pickups. An excellent job, Matt!
Stephane's guitar is one of the really early copies, built in 1989 when information about the Red Special was very hard to find. Stephane built the guitar whilst at highschool, which included milling the trem and hand winding the pickups himself. Not as accurate as some of the later copies, but still an excellent guitar.
Doron's guitars are based on the Red Special, but customised to his personal preferences. The top guitar features a neck-through-body makore wood construction, purpleheart fret dots, paduak scratchplate and wonderbar tremolo. Both guitars have 25.5" scale length.
English luthier John Birch produced a custom copy of the Red Special for Brian. This was a one-off and was not sold commercially. The Birch guitar was a gold colour and certainly looked the part, but Brian was never happy with the sound. He threw it off a high stage in frustration and it was smashed to pieces.
John Birch also sells a commercially available copy of the guitar he made for Brian. See my guide to commercial Brian May gear for more info.
This beautiful guitar is a Japanese custom copy of Brian's Red Special. The guitar is from Kids custom guitar shop in Tokyo and it was sold a while back by Malden Guitars. Thanks to Malden for giving permission to show these great pictures.
Main Menu | Commercial and Custom Brian May equipment
Web pages by Matthew Pickles