Why Nobody Can Copy Queen’s Guitar Sound

You can identify Brian May’s guitar in half a second. It’s the thick, warm, choir-like wall of sound on “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “We Will Rock You,” and guitarists have tried to copy it for fifty years without getting there. The reason is that his sound doesn’t come from a guitar you can buy. It comes from the “Red Special,” a guitar he built by hand with his father starting in 1963. They used wood from a 100-year-old fireplace, filled the worm holes with matchsticks, cut inlays from a mother-of-pearl button, and used motorbike springs in the tremolo. Add the out-of-phase pickup wiring, the sixpence coin he plays with instead of a pick, and a cranked Vox AC30, and you get a sound no factory could reproduce. This is the story of the most recognizable guitar tone in rock. Explained from the perspective of someone who’s spent 50 years as a working musician. Sources: Wikipedia (Red Special), Guitar World, Brian May interviews.