Brian May Rig Rundown

Moltisanti

In case you haven't seen it

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21168-rig-rundown-queens-brian-may

RocknRollDave

Have only managed the first 4 mins so far, cos of being at work, but already I'm really enjoying this. Thought it would be just trotting out what we already know, but I am actually learning a lot. Will deffo be watching the rest later.

Jalapeno

thanks ! B-)

MDKV

Saved for later. 

EricTheWeary

That was good. Small bodied semi's usually make me go meh but that's a stunner.

DrBob

Did I mention that I've actually played the Red Special ?

siraxeman

....At the RS meetup 2yrs ago perchance??

DrBob

No, a few years back we were doing the screens on a gig for Nelson Mandela's 4664 foundation in Tromso up in the Arctic Circle and in amongst a slightly random cast of acts was Brian May playing alone with a Duduk player.

So anyway on the morning boat transfer over from the mainland to the spit of land where the show site was I got talking to a bloke who turned out to be Steve Prior (Jeff Beck's regular tech ) who was covering for Pete Malandrone, I asked him what was in the gig bag he was carrying on his back...

Said he'd let me get a photo holding it once he was set up so went to see him an hour or so later and he hung it round my neck and plugged it in!

Evilmags

Cool video. His tech has a hell of a lot of work cut out to get that extra 1% of tone. Running old AC30s full out is a great way to start a fire.

Roland

"The main part of the body is block board covered in veneer" (at about 18 minutes in). So much for tone wood.

siraxeman

Evilmags said:

Cool video. His tech has a hell of a lot of work cut out to get that extra 1% of tone. Running old AC30s full out is a great way to start a fire.

2 of 'em are Greg Fryer amps (the wet wing amps)....new AC30s heavily modded. All the circuits taken out except for the normal channel all to aid reliability on the road. And yes Brian runs his AC30's flat out always and controls it all from the guitars volume pot. Proper old school player he is really.

siraxeman

Roland said:

"The main part of the body is block board covered in veneer" (at about 18 minutes in). So much for tone wood.

Yep! There's an oak insert in there as well. But then think ES335 is just cheapo laminated maple!

Evilmags

I suspect that set up in the hands of anybody other than Brain May would sound fucking awful. To him it is basically a part of his body, to anybody else it looks like a nightmare to play. When he was playing it unplugged and the mic was on it the sound was plinky as hell. Sounding like Brian May is impossible for anybody other than him, he just has such a unique tone and style. That guitar is a big part of it, although if anybody in the crowd notices when he plays his spare I´d be surprised, but I´d bet good money that it is only valuable in the hands of Brian May, and the rest of us would sound awful on it.

That said the only other serious player who uses Oak guitars that I can think of is Frank Usher. Would be interesting if any of the Luthiers could shed some light as to why Oak is never seen in guitars.

Deijavoo

Not a massive Queen fan, like them to a certain extent but loved this.

It does make me think though, if I was a big time rock star, I think I'd still want to do my own soundchecks, do my own tap dancing, set my guitars etc.... I'd trust other people to get it right but I just enjoy the whole process so much.

Then again this is maybe one of the many many reasons while you'll never be sick of me being on the front of Guitarist magazine.

Deijavoo

Loved the "girly voltage" comment.

Zodiac51

Evilmags said:

That said the only other serious player who uses Oak guitars that I can think of is Frank Usher. Would be interesting if any of the Luthiers could shed some light as to why Oak is never seen in guitars.

It weighs a fucking tonne mate... too dense..

Octahedron

Wow. 

I had no idea Brian May played with coins instead of picks?! That's cool. That was an interesting watch from start to end, really! Better than some of those other PG/Guitarist rig rundowns out there. 

It's just when May hesitates over dismissing that he doesn't experiment with other guitars. He's kinda like... uhhh jee I dunno about that, sorry, yknow, as if to say "you must be crazy" but not wanting to casually (but abruptly) dismiss that he doesn't experiment much! Does anybody know if he actually owns other stuff? Like we see all those photos of the huge guitar collections of players like Slash and Bonamassa and they have stuff that they haven't really been seen with on stage in those collections. Does May too?!

I mean I could say "wow what a boring guitar collection" (it is...) but he's done something pretty impressive with just one guitar and some various luthiers' attempts at replicating it, so can't really complain can we?!

impmann

There was some footage, taken at the Guitar Expo in the mid 90s of Joe Satriani and Brian May where they had swapped guitars back stage. Joe was playing the RS and Brian playing an Ibanez.... Both sounded like themselves. It's in the fingers. The guitar is just a comfortable tool of expression for each player...

RocknRollDave

Thoroughly enjoyed watching this, fascinating stuff!
That semi-hollow version of the RS! Just....wow.
A pleasant surprise to find so much stuff in there that I didn't already know.
And how has it never needed a refret?! Stainless steel frets or something...?

Si_

Good stuff.. love these rig rundowns.

Evilmags

No refet in 40 years. He must be a really light touch player. If I used one guitar for 40 years it would be utterly worn.