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"Brian May's Red Special" was
published on 1 October 2014, and was written by Brian May with
guitar journalist Simon Bradley. It is based on a series of
interviews with Brian, assembled by Simon Bradley, rather than
being specifically written together.
The book features 144 pages, and explains how Brian and his
father Harold built his iconic guitar, featuring original design
drawings and sketches, photographs of it's construction and
restoration, and numerous photographs of various performances. It
contains the following six chapters:
Chapter 1 : Father To Son
This concentrates on Brian's early life, musical influences and
his relationship with his father
Chapter 2 : A Guitar Is Born
This covers the design of the guitar itself, featuring some of
Brian's original drawings and sketches
Chapter 3 : The Works
This looks at the construction of the guitar, covering each part
in turn, with photographs of it's disassembled parts, many taken
during Greg Fryer's restoration in 1998
Chapter 4 : The Queen Days
This includes interviews with Brian's guitar technicians Richie
Anderson (1975-8), Brian Zellis (1978-92) and Pete Malandrone
(1994 onwards)
Chapter 5 : On The Roof
An account of the Buckingham Palace concert, written by Brian
immediately after the show
Chapter 6 : The Red Special In Production
This features the various reproduction models which have been
manufactured, including the Guild, Burns, and Brian May Guitars
models
An Italian version, titled "La Red Special di Brian
May" and translated by Raffaella Rolla, was released on 29
October 2015.
Scans of the book appear at the end of this page, while more
information can be found at the book's website, http://www.theredspecial.com/.
See also the Red Special
page, which features details of the guitar and photographs of a
reproduction copy.
The following is taken from the back of the book itself:
“My dad and I decided to make an electric
guitar. I designed an instrument from scratch, with the intention
that it would have a capability beyond anything that was out
there, more tunable, with a greater range of pitches and sounds,
with a better tremolo, and with a capability of feeding back
through the air in a ‘good’ way’.”
Brian May and his father Harold started to hand-build an electric
guitar in 1963. Brian dreamed of a guitar that would outperform
any of the existing commercially made electric guitars; his
father had the technical knowledge and skills to help make the
dream come true. Brian played this guitar on every Queen album
and in all of the band's live shows around the world. In this
book you will discover everything about Brian's unique
instrument.
Brian talks about every aspect of the Red Special, from his
original design to making his own tools, and from sourcing
materials around the house to the legendary performances; Live
Aid, the closing ceremony of the 2012 Olympics, and on the roof
of Buckingham Palace. All of this is accompanied with original
diagrams, sketches and notes, as well as a great selection of
photographs including close-ups, X-rays and Brian performing.
Front and Back Sleeves.....
....and Italian Front Sleeve (titled 'La Red Special di Brian May')
Note: some images can be clicked for hi-definition versions
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