Red Special Super arrival (Finally)

Finally after 30 years of waiting for the most accurate version of the RS, my 'Super' arrived today. Barry Moorehouse delivered the guitar to after it's arrival last week.
It has been set up by his team and if full working order ready to go.

This is one of the first 10 guitars from the new run built in the Czech Republic, and the spec he tells me is exactly the same as before, with dimensions and spec taken from the Brian's 'Super' built in Japan.

The pick-ups are hand wound and the trem and bridge built specifically for the guitar.

The neck is as huge as everyone tells you and will take some getting used to but the attention to detail is excellent and the tone full and rich just as you'd expect.

They are not cheap at £2950, but significantly cheaper than a Guyton, so unless you are in that market this is the one for you.

The pick-ups are much more powerful than the lower spec version for general release, also the first thing you notice is the tone and volume pots make a huge difference, particularly the vol pot, which moves the guitar gently from sparkly clean to full throttle, this I found to be the biggest difference between the two.

The tone is very similar, hardly much to choose between the two in the middle but at low volume the guitar is more sparkly and at high volume which can get much higher! the tone is slightly fuller.

I am playing through a new AC30 with a gain control, so I slightly struggle to get Brian's tone as it's not so simple as to just the the volume up, however combined with a Fryer booster and the classic sixpence you are away.

After literally 30 years of waiting (from deciding I had to get a proper copy to now) this is a truly amazing instrument.

Not sure about the choice of hard case colour, but hey ho you can't have everything!

Even the nut is to scale. Note how close the high E string is to the edge of the neck. This is the full monty, undoubtedly the closest you'll get to the old lady.

Enjoy !

Great!!

what serial number do you have on the back of the headstock?

I have BMS08010

Looks to be a very nice guitar. It is a shame that they still haven't found a bridge which is closer to BM's own guitar.

Another thing that is worth looking into is the pickup wiring. On Brian's guitar, old interviews would indicate, the middle pickup is reverse wound, however on the Guytons and Super it is the bridge pickup that is wired like this. This means that when the mid and bridge are selected in phase they act on each other a bit like a single humbucker and become hum canceling. However with the middle pickup reversed the hum canceling also accrues with the neck and middle selected. This also helps with the famous Bo Rhap guitars solo sounds and We Will Rock amongst others.

Another fact that escapes most people is that BM 99% of the time doesn't use his tone pot, and plays with it wide open (treble up full)

I remember a few years ago Brian sent his guitar away to be 'restored'? What did they actually do to it? Apart from the aesthetic properties, can a guitar 'wear out'?

[QUOTE] [b]mooghead wrote:[/b]

I remember a few years ago Brian sent his guitar away to be 'restored'? What did they actually do to it? Apart from the aesthetic properties, can a guitar 'wear out'?[/QUOTE]

One problem I believe is that the frets are brass and the strings steel (which are harder). So as Brian bends the strings to bend notes, the strings wear the brass frets away. Eventually there is too little fret left and they need replacing.

[i]"Another thing that is worth looking into is the pickup wiring. On Brian's guitar, old interviews would indicate, the middle pickup is reverse wound, however on the Guytons and Super it is the bridge pickup that is wired like this. This means that when the mid and bridge are selected in phase they act on each other a bit like a single humbucker and become hum canceling. However with the middle pickup reversed the hum canceling also accrues with the neck and middle selected. This also helps with the famous Bo Rhap guitars solo sounds and We Will Rock amongst others.

Another fact that escapes most people is that BM 99% of the time doesn't use his tone pot, and plays with it wide open (treble up full) "[/i]

The original RS has the middle pickup Reverse Polarity (RP) and Reverse Wound (RW) as do the Guyton Red Specials. Brian did use his tone pot whilst playing in Queen but has not used it much since! The tone pot was important for some of the orchestrated tones (e.g. studio version of LOML).

The new Super looks interesting. I have a prototype of the first issue (by KZ and Fryer) which also has the un-lacquered fret-board.[i] [/i]However the productions models were painted and lacquered. Screw above the centre pickup is in the wrong position!                       

[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE] [b]The Real Wizard wrote:[/b]

Even the nut is to scale. Note how close the high E string is to the edge of the neck. This is the full monty, undoubtedly the closest you'll get to the old lady.

Enjoy ![/QUOTE]

Which nut is to scale?

The nut to the left of the zero fret. The high E is closer to the edge of the neck than the low E - just like the old lady.

Ooer, nice purchase! If I worked often enough to justify it, I'd plonk for something like that. My Burns is in dire need of some TLC; I knocked a machine head off during a big finish and the output jack is crackling - as much as I've dug around inside the thing, I can't seem to really diagnose the exact issue.

Anyone have an opinion on the quality of the current BM guitars? I want a Baby Blue myself.

PS. to bring this post back to relevance, that's a lovely looking thing you've got there and upload some stuff with it.

Does it go up to no. 11 ?

The serial number is BMS003 this is because it's a new run from the new factory, they have not been making them for 3 years due to issues with cost from Japan mainly. So they started from scratch and looked for a new supplier.

In an ideal world I would have liked it to have had a lacquered fretboard but that would be for accuracy rather than speed, I'm no speed demon when I play.

However this purchase has made me realise that to get the most accurate Brian tone you need a vintage amp. The new AC30 is great and is probably 93% there. I would say that the full on tone lacks just a smidge of clarity and the tone at lower levels doesnt shimmer to 100% accuracy. We are talking very slightly off but if you want the genuine tone I suspect only a vintage AC30 will do, the wiring is slightly different and the creamy tone just that bit richer, this sounds a little more modern in my opinion.

[QUOTE] [b]OwenSmith wrote:[/b]

[QUOTE] [b]mooghead wrote:[/b]

I remember a few years ago Brian sent his guitar away to be 'restored'? What did they actually do to it? Apart from the aesthetic properties, can a guitar 'wear out'?[/QUOTE]

One problem I believe is that the frets are brass and the strings steel (which are harder). So as Brian bends the strings to bend notes, the strings wear the brass frets away. Eventually there is too little fret left and they need replacing.[/QUOTE]

Brian's guitar went through a major restoration in the mid 90's. Greg Fryer built three copies of the Red Special, BM has two, Greg kept one. They are beautifully put together, one was an evolution of the original, using different woods, hotter pickups and a slightly longer headstock. I believe that this guitar was damaged at last years Olympics closing ceremony.

Brian seemed to favour these guitars a backup instument and a drop D guitar over his Guytons!

The standard and care Fryer took in building these led BM to ask him to restore the Red Special, which at the time was not in good condition. Peeling veneer cracked binding, worn out lacquer, miss matched machine heads, problems with the wiring, damaged scratch plate. Greg worked in a work shop at BM's house, he stripped the guitar down completely, repaired what needed doing, even scarfing in some veneer to replace damaged bits. He was able to use the original stains that BM had kept when refinishing the damaged parts.

The one thing that he and BM decided didn't need doing was a refret. Although I believe that since that the Zero fret has been raised slightly to compensate for wear

Andrew Guyton replaced the original's worn zero fret around 2005. Because the zero fret had worn irregularly it influenced the tuning of the guitar (intonation). Andrew spent many days trying to replicate these 'positive flaws' in the zero fret replacement.

Togg, check out www.red-special.com/forum (if you're not there already!).