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Electric · Red Special

1993 Guild Brian May Signature

1993 Guild Brian May Signature — body front in transparent green with TriSonic-style pickups, six switches, and tremolo

About this instrument

In 1993 Guild teamed up again with Brian May to create a very limited number of hand built guitars that were meant to reproduce, as accurately as humanly possible, his original Red Special. One of Brian's requirements was that he be given 2 transparent Green versions of this guitar. And green is the most rare color by far as they made only 40 of them in history.

Guild spared no expense building these guitars. They hired British Airways to X-Ray the original Red Special to determine the size and placement of the hollow body chambers. They contracted Seymour Duncan to make only 300 sets of pickups that would sound identical to the original Burns TriSonic model and the switches for phase and pickup selection. Guild also contracted Schaller, one of the most respected German guitar parts suppliers in the world, to produce approximately 300 roller bridges and accurate red special tremolo reproductions including motorcycle valve springs!

Because of all of this low production and high degree of customized design, the cost of the Brian May Signature model was an extraordinary $2800 in 1993. Collectors snatched these guitars up knowing that only about 330 would ever be produced. All of the Signatures were of exceptional quality. Of the 330 Signatures only 40 were Transparent Green and of those only 38 hit the open market (since Brian himself took hold of 2). That makes this baby rare.

This guitar has woman tone like you cannot imagine and is easily one of the most versatile guitars in history. It sounds incredible. Each of the 3 pickups can be turned on or off individually by using the top row of switches. The bottom row of switches are individual phase controls for each pickup. This allows for a minimum of 22 distinctly different sounds to be achieved. It is fair to say that this guitar can convincingly sound pretty much like any electric guitar ever made.

The unusually short 24" scale length makes the guitar very easy to play as does the low profile Nickel frets. Both the Mahogany grain and finish is very beautiful. The Nitrocellulose finish is thin and you can see and feel the wood grain beneath.

Specs

  • BodySelect semi-hollow chambered Honduras Mahogany, transparent green
  • Neck1-piece D-shaped mahogany
  • FingerboardPolished Gaboon ebony, 24 frets, bound
  • Scale24"
  • NutTusq with zero fret
  • PickupsSeymour Duncan hand-wound Brian May (Burns TriSonic-style)
  • Controls3 on/off + 3 phase switches; master volume & tone; chrome knobs
  • Bridge/tremoloSchaller roller bridge; knife-edge tremolo with motorcycle valve springs
  • TunersSchaller (Made in Germany)
  • BindingBound top & back
  • FinishUltra-thin nitrocellulose
  • OtherEngraved BHM truss rod cover; Brian May signature on back of headstock; Switchcraft jack
  • SerialBM20338 · Made in U.S.A.

Personal instrument — not for sale.