toon86
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Post by toon86 on Jun 19, 2020 13:07:21 GMT
Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has bought off the BrianMay Guitars website. Just about to order the Antique Cherry Red Special, but wondering if they all come autographed and any general experience of ordering off them.
Cheers,
Al.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Jun 19, 2020 14:50:21 GMT
Can't comment on buying from the Brian May Guitars website, as I bought mine from Andertons, but I can confirm it's a nice guitar. I use mine through a Marshall, but if you happen to be using a Vox amp, I'd be curious to hear your feedback. No pun intended. 😄 If you've not played one before, then all the little phase switches take some getting used to, but you should be able to get some good sounds out of it. Unfortunately for me, it doesn't help me play as well as Brian May! 😁
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nickip
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Post by nickip on Jun 19, 2020 15:47:24 GMT
I bought mine second hand. It also doesn’t help me play better😂 I plY through a vox modelling amp with an AC 30 TB setting. I’d quite like either the vox bhm amp or the pedal that was made that incorporate the treble booster/dealt amp modelling but they are hard to come by.
Mine is the most expensive guitar I’ve ever played and as such also has the best action etc. I was impressed the tuning pegs which keep it in pretty much perfect tune all the time. As for the autographs - as far as I was aware you order those as extra...
mine is the cream coloured one with the red tortoiseshell scratch plate etc. It is a thing of beauty and I love playing it. Even if I am crap!
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Post by eddiespaghetti on Jun 19, 2020 16:28:31 GMT
Any actual guitar players here who have bought a BM signature red special? Very curious how they sound, feel, etc.
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nickip
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Post by nickip on Jun 19, 2020 16:43:09 GMT
Any actual guitar players here who have bought a BM signature red special? Very curious how they sound, feel, etc. I am an actual guitar player. Just because I’m not great doesn’t mean I am inexperienced or that my opinion of the guitar is less valid. It has a great action, the quality of the parts make it a far better instrument than any I could afford before. The sound is good, plays well enough unamplified to be worth not plugging in when I don’t want to disturb others. Amplified of course it is reasonably dependant on the stuff in the line to the amp... when my son in law comes over with his pedal board he makes a noise like Brian would. The in/out phasing system is well discussed in reviews of the original and in the reviews of these. The trem is stable. The body shape is better suited to a standing position for playing I think. I don’t want to sound like Brian all the time. I want to sound like me. And I do. I’m just not a technically great player. My son in law is a professional guitarist and wishes he had one... |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Jun 19, 2020 17:21:45 GMT
I bought mine second hand. It also doesn’t help me play better😂 I plY through a vox modelling amp with an AC 30 TB setting. I’d quite like either the vox bhm amp or the pedal that was made that incorporate the treble booster/dealt amp modelling but they are hard to come by. Mine is the most expensive guitar I’ve ever played and as such also has the best action etc. I was impressed the tuning pegs which keep it in pretty much perfect tune all the time. As for the autographs - as far as I was aware you order those as extra... mine is the cream coloured one with the red tortoiseshell scratch plate etc. It is a thing of beauty and I love playing it. Even if I am crap! Is yours the more expensive one? When I looked there were two, one at about £700, which is the one I got, and one for about £2,200. Not sure what the actual difference is, but there obviously are differences. My one is quite light, especially when compared to my Les Paul custom, so it's possibly not a full solid body, whereas the more expensive one might be. Just guessing on that though, as I've never tried one. I bought the Brian May Treble Booster pedal but found it virtually unusable due to the overwhelming hiss at 'home' volume. Think the end of White Man. |
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pg
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Post by pg on Jun 19, 2020 18:20:47 GMT
I don't think every one bought off the website is signed - I believe that was a " tour offer", although I guess there's no harm in asking.
I have one too, although it's one of the last of the Burns, I think.
I play it through the VBM1 ( the white Deacy clone ) and sometimes out from there to a Vox 2x12 cabinet. I also have the digital pedal, and the combination of all those does produce a very good sounding bad guitarist!
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nickip
Dragonfly Trumpeter
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Post by nickip on Jun 19, 2020 19:32:47 GMT
Lord Fickle - mine is the cheaper version (I am not a rich girl - I have six kids!)
Interesting info about the pedal - maybe I won’t go there. I do quite fancy the little vox amp though.
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Post by queen1970s on Jun 19, 2020 19:40:44 GMT
if it's ok with the creater of the thread I want to make a thread about Brian's guitars. I planned to make that thread but time and works didn't let me
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Jun 19, 2020 21:04:26 GMT
Lord Fickle - mine is the cheaper version (I am not a rich girl - I have six kids!) Interesting info about the pedal - maybe I won’t go there. I do quite fancy the little vox amp though. Nothing wrong with that. Hope you didn't have all the kids at once!  Through the Marshall amp, there's only one or two settings where I think, yeah, that's Brian (the sound, not the playing!). I may once day invest in a Vox amp, the trouble being where to put it, as space is limited. |
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toon86
Satyr
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Post by toon86 on Jun 20, 2020 4:54:05 GMT
Thanks for all the feedback guys, really appreciated. I'll be trying to play through the Vox, and no it won't me a better player, but it'll help in the learning curve. At almost the ripe old age of 50, I'm just starting out.
queeb1970s, got for it mate, it'll make an interesting forum.
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nickip
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Post by nickip on Jun 20, 2020 7:43:18 GMT
Thanks for all the feedback guys, really appreciated. I'll be trying to play through the Vox, and no it won't me a better player, but it'll help in the learning curve. At almost the ripe old age of 50, I'm just starting out. queeb1970s, got for it mate, it'll make an interesting forum. Learning at that age is good for your brain! I started learning as a teenager (Classically taught - can read the dots and everything 😂) and because the guitar I had then was a nylon strung Spanish guitar with an action of what seemed like half an inch I didn’t make much progress beyond the third position ( completely unable to do barre chords for example) and gave up. Picked up the guitar again in my 20s, didn’t improve, had the kids (not all at once !) and then had no time til my 40s with a cheap fender copy. The neck was smaller and the action lower and I realised I could still play - and better than before. So I invested in the BM guitar (actually a 50th birthday present) and have improved again. I put that down to two things 1 - more time to practise 2- the fact that it’s an easy guitar to play Enjoy your learning |
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scallyuk
Wordles & Heardles 
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Post by scallyuk on Jun 20, 2020 8:26:45 GMT
Its not a solid bodied guitar at all and is really quite light when compared to an LP. There are large "acoustic chambers" on both sides of the body. Th "real thing" has an insanely thick neck which makes it almost impossible for us small handed people to play. No wonder the Doc was nicknamed banana fingers .. |
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Post by queen1970s on Jun 20, 2020 9:16:09 GMT
Thanks for all the feedback guys, really appreciated. I'll be trying to play through the Vox, and no it won't me a better player, but it'll help in the learning curve. At almost the ripe old age of 50, I'm just starting out. queeb1970s, got for it mate, it'll make an interesting forum. Thanks mate. I'm gonna do this very soon |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Jun 20, 2020 9:45:25 GMT
Its not a solid bodied guitar at all and is really quite light when compared to an LP. There are large "acoustic chambers" on both sides of the body. Th "real thing" has an insanely thick neck which makes it almost impossible for us small handed people to play. No wonder the Doc was nicknamed banana fingers .. Yeah, I've got very short fingers and that's always been my excuse. 😄 |
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DasTarD
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Post by DasTarD on Jun 20, 2020 10:42:30 GMT
Hi all, Just wondering if anyone has bought off the BrianMay Guitars website. Just about to order the Antique Cherry Red Special, but wondering if they all come autographed and any general experience of ordering off them. Cheers, Al. I bought one in 2005, it was the "in between" version, so some parts are from Burns (who was building them up to 2004), and some parts of the Brian May Guitars. I payed €600,- for it, After 14 years I am not sure if I actually like this guitar and I might sell it one day when my "homemade" Red Special is finished... |
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Post by 85guild on Jun 20, 2020 16:21:59 GMT
Is the neck thicker than the Guild models were? I heard one of Brian's comments about having to scale down the original Guild neck was a compromise and affected playability.
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nickip
Dragonfly Trumpeter
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Post by nickip on Aug 27, 2020 5:31:35 GMT
[quote author=" pg" source="/post/8284/thread" timestamp="1592590847I play it through the VBM1 ( the white Deacy clone ) and sometimes out from there to a Vox 2x12 cabinet. I also have the digital pedal, and the combination of all those does produce a very good sounding bad guitarist![/quote] I managed to source the little Deacy clone amp for less than £200. And actually it has led to my sound being more like Brian’s. It hasn’t made me a better player 😂 |
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itsm
Tatterdemalion
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Post by itsm on Sept 2, 2020 21:20:00 GMT
I've bought the BMG Red Special and the Brian May pedal second hand and a Vox AC4 (cream colour) amp (new). I think it sounds great - also without the pedal. Really crisp and clean sound, and the Brian May-feeling is absolutely there. It's "easy" to play, wish I was better, though. I tried to buy the Tremolo arm and a set of strings from the BMG shop - and I paid - but I haven't received my purchases. That was about 3 years ago  |
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Sept 2, 2020 21:44:34 GMT
I've now acquired a Vox Cambridge 50 modelling amp, and the BM guitar does sound more like Brian (on a really, really bad day) than through the above mentioned Marshall. I haven't had a chance to play with it much yet though, so have yet to work through all the settings.
I also bought an Epiphone Black Beauty (3 pickups) a couple of weeks ago, and that also sounds great through the Vox. I really should take some lessons and learn how to play these things better. 😄
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Post by staysweet on Sept 2, 2020 22:51:12 GMT
I've now acquired a Vox Cambridge 50 modelling amp, and the BM guitar does sound more like Brian (on a really, really bad day) than through the above mentioned Marshall. I haven't had a chance to play with it much yet though, so have yet to work through all the settings. I also bought an Epiphone Black Beauty (3 pickups) a couple of weeks ago, and that also sounds great through the Vox. I really should take some lessons and learn how to play these things better. 😄 I just bought the epiphone all white and love it. I have a mini Vox (so as not to offend the neighbors) and I am enjoying it. But I do enjoy my Red Special more, it is the cheaper version but for me it is easier to play. I need to upgrade the strings though. There is just something about the size and shape of the neck that fits perfectly for me. |
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pg
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Post by pg on Sept 3, 2020 8:20:31 GMT
Since we're diverging into all guitar talk...
With all the variations available from BMG these days, does anyone else wonder about a maple fingerboard?
I noticed over the last year or so that if I want to grab a guitar and noodle, I lean more towards my Tele than the BMG, and I think that might be a factor.
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Sept 3, 2020 8:22:33 GMT
For those with the Digitech Brian May pedal - tread carefully (literally), as the treadle is prone to disintegrating. Invest in the footswitch and use that instead of the heel switch on the pedal.
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Lord Fickle
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Post by Lord Fickle on Sept 3, 2020 8:39:04 GMT
Since we're diverging into all guitar talk... With all the variations available from BMG these days, does anyone else wonder about a maple fingerboard? I noticed over the last year or so that if I want to grab a guitar and noodle, I lean more towards my Tele than the BMG, and I think that might be a factor. Would it look right, though? Maybe on the cream one? |
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pg
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Post by pg on Sept 3, 2020 11:22:03 GMT
Mine is a Honeyburst so it wouldn't be too bad
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vh
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Post by vh on Sept 3, 2020 15:36:23 GMT
Since we're diverging into all guitar talk... With all the variations available from BMG these days, does anyone else wonder about a maple fingerboard? I noticed over the last year or so that if I want to grab a guitar and noodle, I lean more towards my Tele than the BMG, and I think that might be a factor. Would it look right, though? Maybe on the cream one? There is a photo, somewhere on line, can't find it at the moment of Brian playing or at least holding a Red Special/ Tele hybrid in cream with a maple board. basically RS body and neck shape with Tele pickups and switching. |
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DasTarD
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Post by DasTarD on Sept 3, 2020 17:36:08 GMT
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pg
Queen Mab
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Post by pg on Sept 3, 2020 20:04:34 GMT
Of those, the strat looks the best, although all of them should have an angled bridge pick up.
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DasTarD
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Post by DasTarD on Sept 3, 2020 21:10:22 GMT
From all of those, the first Tele I will have build in the feature, but maybe with a Bigsby.
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