# Brian May on what he'd play without the Red Special

> The Queen guitarist explains why Fenders and Gibsons never quite worked for him.
- Title: Brian May on what he'd play without the Red Special | Shortify
- Summary: The Queen guitarist explains why Fenders and Gibsons never quite worked for him. Brian May built the Red Special because he found Fenders too thin and…
- Keywords: brian may, queen, red special, fender, gibson, guitar building, planet rock, telecaster, les paul, stratocaster, murphy lab, william shatner
- Source: Guitar World — https://guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/brian-may-if-he-never-made-the-red-special
- Published: 2026-09-17T11:56:26+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: brian may, queen, red special, fender, gibson, guitar building, planet rock, telecaster, les paul, stratocaster, murphy lab, william shatner
## Fenders too scratchy, Gibsons too dark
May found Fenders too thin and scratchy for his sound. Gibsons were too dark and lacked the crispness he wanted.

> I always found the Fenders too thin and scratchy for the sound that I was trying to get.
## The Red Special sits in between
His homemade guitar sits between Fender and Gibson. It has a wide tonal range from bright to dark thanks to pickups wired in series, in and out of phase.

> My guitar, partly by design and partly by good luck, sits somewhere in the middle
## He owned Fenders and Gibsons anyway
May has owned guitars from both brands over the years. His 1978 Telecaster for Crazy Little Thing Called Love is the most notable.
## Only used them as backups
He occasionally used a Strat or Les Paul as Red Special backups in Queen's early days, but they didn't really work for him.

> Neither of them really worked for me, though they work just fine for other people.
## Built from fireplace wood
The Red Special was made from leftover wood his dad saved, a piece of someone's fireplace. May still has the rest of it and could make another neck.

> It was a piece of somebody's fireplace that my dad had saved
## Gibson partnership and Murphy Lab replicas
May recently signed with Gibson, which is working on Murphy Lab recreations of his Red Special. He also got a signature 12-string acoustic.
## Key takeaway

Brian May built the Red Special because he found Fenders too thin and scratchy, and Gibsons too dark for the sound he wanted.