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.
Dear BMG Team I am a guitar player from Germany and I play now for more than 40 years. Like many other guitarists I own or owned a number of guitars, including a Red Special model from Guild in the '80s, which I didn't like too much. But I was fascinated from that Special sound from the very first moment I heard that guitar on LP. I never even got close to it... So, when those BMG Guitars became known more and more, I decided to try once more and ordered a green one. That was a good decision! I am still miles away from that very sound (maybe I got the wrong fingers?), but this guitar gives me new ideas. Many others are often one like the other, only details differ. But this one shows me new sounds and makes me rethink my playing. It enriched my music and still gives me a smile everytime I play it. Thank you for this instrument!
Ever since I learned guitar as a kid, marvelling at Brian's tone and harmony, I've lusted after that guitar. All the better I could buy it in my favorite colour!
My BMG arrived fast and well packaged on the other side of the world. It's absolutely stunning! I'll treasure it for the rest of my life.Now, if only I could play as well as the good Doctor, that would certainly be something.
Love the emerald green! I enquired asking if the team would ever consider a limited edition sapphire blue, but, sadly, no reply
Response:
Thank you so much for choosing a Brian May Guitar and for taking time to leave your 5 star review, Jason.With two fabulous shades of blue already in our palette of alternative colorways for the BMG Special, it is unlikely that we would consider adding another similar finish right now, but we will certainly consider your suggestion.Who knows what the future may bring to the LE Series?
Really very nice guitar, well designed and really crafted with a lot of ethusiasm and tendency to perfection regarding the woodwork and the finish of the body. Unfortunately the plastic covers of the pickups and tuners, the "placebo" tremolo cover and the back tremolo cover do not fulfill this ambition at the cut edges. They really look like they were directly from the cutting saw assembled to the guitar, without any finishing or smoothening / sanding them before. This is a bit disappointing, especially as the other parts are so well made.
To get it out of the way - I am not a gigging guitarist, I am a step-dad type playing for myself for my own enjoyment. Please bear this in mind.Build quality appears solid. It's a very beautiful guitar, nice fretwork, slightly rounded fretboard edges, very pleasant to play. The knobs look better than in the pictures on the site. The neck is thick-ish (check the specs). If you like thick necks you'll enjoy this one. If you prefer Ibanez slim neck types you might be frustrated here. I find it quite comfortable.I mostly play straight into a 4W Plexi-style amp. This can be a little dark and this guitar really wants a treble booster (or something) to liven it up. With a treble booster though, it is very nice sounding and also very touch sensitive. It has a very dynamic response and adjusting the volume knob while playing makes sense.I find the tremolo bar is slightly in the way of the switching system but it may be a question of getting used to it. (I am not really used to a trem-system at all). I am not done investigating the tones I can get. This guitar will produce both humbucker and single coil type sounds - and more, thanks to the switching. It was playable out of the box (obviously after acclimatization and tuning).Does it sound like the real thing? I don't know and don't really care. I mostly got it for its features. I suspect you can get very close if the rig matches that of Brian May - and your skill,playing style and heavy-/light- handedness does as well.Taking the price point into consideration, I think this is a very good guitar indeed. I am happy to have gotten one. 5 stars.
Lovely balance, comfortable neck and a delightfully rich tone even unplugged. Arrived very quickly and played beautifully straight out of the box. The gorgeous Emerald Green finish is top quality and absolutely flawless... fell in love immediately and I’m sure I’ll be playing my Special for many, many years.
Very pleased with the guitar, sound, action, playability all superb! If I had to make one negative comment, it would only be with regard to the colour; don't get me wrong - the finish is great! I chose the Emerald Green version and, although it still looks wonderful, the green is very much darker than it appears on the website photographs... It actually looks black under most light conditions, and I've always avoided black guitars as I don't like the colour personally. I certainly wouldn't call the colour Emerald Green, it is a very, very dark shade of green.
Love it.
The guitar and gig bag arrived in perfect condition from England in a box that had protected it. I was initially struck by the beauty of the finish. It is a gorgeous instrument. I have really enjoyed playing it. The neck is thin, but a little wider than I am used to, which makes complicated chords more comfortable to play. The pickups have a very balanced tone - with all three on, you have neither the exaggerated brightness of a single-coil or the midrange hump of a humbucker. This allows you to shape the sound any way you want. I guess my only very minor complaint was that it came strung with very light gauge strings, which I plan to replace. I really love this guitar!
As standard issue, all BMG Special models are supplied factory strung with D'Addario XL Nickel Wound EX120 Super Light gauge strings (.009 - .011 - .016 - .024 - .032 - .042).
Great build quality, playability and tone for the price, even better than expected, backed up by a first class service - thoroughly recommended!
Sold my green Guild back to a friend. Read up on your current product and chose BMG special LE. Arrived in great condition and within a few days stayed pretty much in tune. Would have liked to see Brian May's produced in U.K. but as one who build guitars know Vietnam has a lot to offer luthiers. Noticed the Guild was mis-wired from Guild, But the May I received from you was correctly wired in tandom series. Works great, sounds great, feels good in the hands. Rocks through all my variety of amps. Thanks.
The Brian May Guitars Special range is actually manufacturered at the internationally renowned facilities of World Musical Instruments Co. Ltd. in Korea.
Beautiful, unique sounds and easy to play. Feels just right in spite that I am used to Fender guitars. The only negative experiance was the delivery, It took a while from order (January 25) until delivered at my home (February 18). By then I was abroad. Had also some problems with UPS to get it delivered to my neighbour. Finally I own a very nice and special guitar. Thank you for making it.
It has great sustain and a wonderful tone... and that's before you plug it in. On plugging in, what can I say, it's a kind of magic - it really is! With the switching setup you can get at least a dozen really useful and beautiful tones from this thing. The finish is flawless, the fretwork, fingerboard and tremolo are all really well done, the tuners are smooth and precise and after stretching the strings she holds tune really well. The neck feels really comfortable to play and the 45mm width at the nut is a really good idea, especially when playing open chords. I got mine with the free case upgrade, and It's a really good case tooPROS - HOW LONG HAVE YOU GOT? / CONS - I'VE ONLY GOT ONE OF THEM (at the moment!)
Very pleased with this guitar, looks good and sounds good too! Also the service received from you was 1st class and fast.
