The Red Special is an electric guitar owned by Queen guitarist Brian May and custom-built by May and his father. The Red Special is also sometimes named in reviews as the Fireplace or the Old Lady, both nicknames used by May when referring to the guitar. A guitar that would define May's signature style, the Red Special was purposely designed to feed back. May has used it on Queen albums and in live performances since the late 1960s. The name Red Special came from the reddish-brown colour the guitar attained after being stained and painted with numerous layers of Rustins' plastic coating. The name Fireplace is a reference to the fact that the wood used to make the neck came from a fireplace mantel.
Read more about Red Special: Manufacturing, Appearances, Replicas, Variations, Restoration, Unusual Features, Specifications
Famous quotes containing the words red and/or special:
“O my luve’s like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June;
O my luve’s like the melodie That’s sweetly play’d in tune.”
—Robert Burns (1759–1796)
“And weren’t there special cemetery flowers,
That, once grief sets to growing, grief may rest:
The flowers will go on with grief awhile,
And no one seem neglecting or neglected?
A prudent grief will not despise such aids.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)