The result of a unique collaboration between Sir Brian May, his long-standing guitar tech Pete Malandrone, and House Music, the best-selling BMG Special combines the distinctive aesthetics and sound of the legendary Red Special with a wealth of modern appointments and superb quality, production-line craftsmanship.
All the foundations of the trademark BM sound are present and correct, with construction, pickups and electronics faithfully reproducing the original's unique character and tonal versatility. But this is so much more than just a replica... With a price-tag and a range of new colours driven by Brian's concept of a guitar "for the people", the Special is designed to provide modern players of all musical persuasions with an affordable pro-grade instrument that is the perfect go-to guitar for any performance environment.
True to the look and spirit of the "Old Lady", the instantly recognisable pinstripe-bound, double cutaway mahogany body shape features an acoustic chamber modelled on Brian's original design that enhances the Special's natural resonance and decreases weight.
Engineered with a decidedly contemporary feel, and considerably less deeply contoured than the somewhat gargantuan proportions of the iconic original, the glued-in mahogany neck sports a generous 45mm nut width, comfortably spacious "D" profile, and wonderfully smooth 24 fret ebony fingerboard.
Modern replicas of the vintage '60s Burns design units that are so fundamental to the Red Special's powerful sonic character, the three series-wired, single-coil pickups feature the same retro-styling and magnet alignment as the originals.
As per the original BM design, the Special is equipped with six white-capped slider switches controlling individual pickup on/off and phase reversal, providing a vast range of tonal variations.
Trevor Wilkinson's "Wave" tremolo-bridge provides a striking modern look to the BMG Special as well as smooth, comfortable performance with exceptional stability and sustain.
The distinctive BM style headstock sports 3-a-side locking chrome tuners with an 18:1 gear ratio for precise tuning and a thumbwheel locking mechanism that clamps the string securely. These superb quality machine heads allow for quick and easy string change with fewer string wraps and will maintain rock-solid tuning stability and more accurate return-to-pitch, even with lots of vibrato and string bends.
Coinciding with the 60th anniversary of the completion of the Red Special and 20 glorious years since the launch of the Brian May Guitars brand, every BMG Special now comes complete with a FREE 2024 Sir Brian May "Official Queen Pick" in a perspex collector's case.
A premium quality, padded gig-bag, made from durable showerproof material, with twin rucksack-style shoulder straps, side and front grab handles, dual front pockets and stitched BMG logo, is supplied as standard with all Special models. An optional BMG Custom Fitted Hard Case is also available.
An exclusive demonstration of the first iteration of the BMG Special by the maestro himself.
A superb demo of the Brian May Guitars SPECIAL from young, Brazilian guitar ace Lucas Vianna, a performer in the 2016 São Paulo and 2017 Danish touring productions of the smash hit Queen musical "We Will Rock You".
Lucas uses the Special to demonstrate some of Sir Brian May's favourite switch settings.
Here, Lucas shows off the Special's unique, genre-busting tonal dexterity.
Great playability, finish, tone and balance. The tonal combinations alone are incredible! The tone goes from shimmering to ballsy at the touch of a switch, and there are more switches than you shake a stick at! It’s the guitar that does everything.
Well, what can I say... this guitar it absolutely fabulous!It’s well made. Excellent setup. Stable trem. Fantastic pickups. Huge number of tonal variations which are very simple to access and toggle between thanks to the clever switches. I plugged mine into straight into a Fender Champ, sounds ace. Then I put a tube based drive pedal and pushed its treble a bit, and straight into some heavy rock heaven.There’s nothing else at this price point that competes with it.Buy one and play it!
I have never held an electric guitar before, and never even dreamed of owning one until... the moment I saw the sold-out Baby Blue BMG Special LE on the website. I knew I had to have it. I was informed that it won’t be available for purchase until early 2021. As luck would have it, I was notified over a week later that one was available. Of course, I purchased it the same day. So glad I did because it is sold out again. It was shipped and arrived within a week in California.My Baby Blue is even more beautiful in person! It is a thing of beauty! Excellent craftsmanship! It is a Christmas gift from my husband I am a QUEEN fan and a huge Brian May fan. Owning a BMG makes me feel so special! Looking forward to learning my favorite Queen and Brian May songs. I am a beginner and my guitar sounds great. Love it! The gift pack and gig bag are a great bonus. Special thanks to Dave G. for all his help and prompt email responses. Excellent customer service! I highly recommend this website and will be a repeat customer.
I own two BMG Special LE guitars, and I think the quality is fantastic - playability, weight, balance, sonic variety. Just great guitars for the price. I'm a bit of a tone wonk, so I immediately voided the warranty on this guitar by rewiring the guitar for series/parallel tone options (thanks to JohnH's wiring diagram on guitarnuts2.proboards.com). The BMG's are just really nice guitars, and priced well below their value.
Every time I make a purchase with you guys, your customer service amazes me! Thank you for the update, all of you there are amazing. Thanks for all your help.
I have a Natural finish BMG guitar and it is absolutely stunning in looks, sound and feel to play. If I was to buy a second it would without any doubt be the Baby Blue with the gold hardware. The pictures really do not do it justice, seeing it in person I can say it's an absolutely beautiful looking guitar that anyone seeing it will fall in love with it. And of course, as with all the BMG guitars it will sound and play unbelievably great. Go on spoil yourself!!!!
It is a beautiful guitar, finish is immaculate and could not ask for better playability, tone is awesome. Very, Very happy customer.
