Brian May Shares How He and His Father Built the Famous ‘Red Special’ Guitar That He Still Plays

In a 1991 clip from the BBC Two series Guitar Legends, the incredible Brian May of Queen shared the really wonderful story of how he and his father, whom May called a genius, together built his now famous “Red Special” guitar.

I was very poor and the thought of a Stratocaster was way out of my price range so me and my dad took it into our hands to make the guitar and this is it. It took about two years and we made it from all kinds of scraps and bits and pieces.

13 years later, May spoke with Absolute Radio where he told the same story but with a bit more details about the guitar’s hardware.

via Open Culture

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.