For 50 years, Brian May played the Red Special on every Queen album and live show. May and his father started to hand-build that guitar in 1963––a year-long project. May dreamed of a guitar that would outperform any commercially made electric guitar; his father had the knowledge and skills to help that dream come true. They were resourceful: the neck constructed from wood from an 18th-century fireplace mantel and each position inlay hand shaped from a mother-of-pearl button. Unseen sketches, diagrams and notes accompany the text.
Brian May's Red Special: The Story of the Home-made Guitar That Rocked Queen and the World | By Brian May, Simon Bradley
(hardcover) $30.00
