As it turns out, the crew for tonight's Queen + Paul Rodgers concert stayed at the same hotel as me in Riga, Latvia. So I managed to spend a few minutes with Brian May's long time guitar techs including Pete Malandrone. They're the ones charged with making sure that all of Brian May's guitars (five electrics plus two acoustics) are in tip top shape for the show and that there are no "Van Halen" style meltdowns. But most importantly, they were hand carrying May's original "Red Special" guitar --the guitar that was handmade by May and his father back in the 60's with the neck being made from an 18th century mahogany fireplace. No, not one of the fine replicas, but the original. Needless to say they didn't offer to let me play it. In fact, when I asked what it costs to insure, Pete said it was more than they were worth. No wonder they were so protective!
The Red Special is about as custom a guitar as you can get. It's unique tone and sustain is immediately recognizable and has powered more hits for Queen than I can count. You will never get your hands on the original, but you will be able to see it on the current tour.
But there have been a number of high quality replicas over the years by Guild Guitar and Burns Guitars respectively. The latest and greatest replica is from no less than Brian May Guitars in the UK, a venture that leverages the combined guitar talents of Brian May, Pete Malandrone and Barry Moorhouse of House Music.
Pete reported that the gigs in Ukraine and Russia went well. But I couldn't get him to divulge a whole lot more about tonight's show. My guess is they'll start with either "One Vision" (about the 1986 Live Aid concert) or "Cosmos Rockin'" from the upcoming CD. Stay tuned!
- Amazon: The Cosmos Rocks, Greatest Hits, Return of the Champions, DVD
- Queen: Official site, Paul Rodgers site, Tour Dates, News
- Brian May Guitars:Main, News, FAQ w/Pete Malandrone, RoadieCam
Lucky guy, huh? Staying in the same hotel and speaking to these guys! How about interviewing Brian May?This would be a great thing to do, I guess!! But also not that easy to obtain, is it? ;-)
Posted by: Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com | September 19, 2008 at 03:15 AM
Believe me, I asked! But I'll see if I can't get an email interview going...
--Zack
Posted by: ZUrlocker | September 19, 2008 at 03:48 AM
Jon from GuitarNoize.com seems to have guts in this direction, I haven't tried so far, he likes to interview guitar players by email and seems it works ;-) Good luck!
Posted by: Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com | September 22, 2008 at 05:08 AM