1. Why does Brian angle his amps into the wings? and why only 3 amps? if an amp goes down on stage, what happens next?





2. I notice that if I plug my BM guitar using my Electrolead treble booster on my AC30CC2 (with a Weber MiniMass Power Attenuator) on the normal channel, I always get some hiss?





3. When Brian has played through the Digitech Red Special Pedal what levels has he set the treble, bass (and most important) gain to?





4. Hi Pete, I was wondering if you had any preference to which of Brian's guitars you work on? Is it more 'stressful' working on the 'Old Lady' than say one of the Guyton's or do you approach all Brian's guitars the same?





5. I read that Brian uses light gauge strings in his guitar. That makes me wonder that the Brian May Guitar I just bought (dream come true) fits better with the 0.9's it comes with but is it mandatory? I'm actually used to 0.10's.





6. Pete, what part of your job do you enjoy the most, and what part do you find most difficult?





7. Why does Brian use a six pence coin and not a metal or regular pick? Is there a story behind it, or is it only used for the sound it creates?





8. I'm considering purchasing a half moon plate accessory - could you please advise me on how to attach it to my old Burns model Brian May guitar, which came without one on it?





9. I own a Brian May guitar which I bought from you. The volume pot has worked loose on my guitar. By this, I mean that it is wobbling from side to side when one touches it. How can I rectify this?





10. I recently purchased the limited Vox AC30 BM edition and fired it up full volume. The overall sound seemed very distorted and not the usual creamy sound you would expect. Could it be down to mic placement or do 3 amps create smoother tone?





11. In a live setting does Brian use the Green or the Blue back speakers?





12. Thanks for the photo of the Deacy in the 'Roadie Cam' section. I would be grateful if you could tell me, where and when was this taken and what song was being recorded at the time?





13. Regarding the Vox VBM1 White Deacy Amp, can you wire more than 1 to back each other in a series, and thus perhaps stack three of them similar to the way Brian does on stage?





14. What are the differences between Brian's real Red Special (or a Guyton replica) and the signature model? How do the changes effect the sound? And it also seems to me that Brian's guitar is smaller in size than the BM replicas, is this true?





15. I own a new Brian May Guitars RS. It is generally fantastic, but when I bend the third string I can feel it cliat the nut and then when I let the bend go it pings loudly. Could the nut be double cut? Can I fix this myself?





16. I own a left handed BHM Burns and am struggling to find someone who can set it up properly. The top E string catches under the 4th or 5th fret and the trememdous struggle to keep it in tune. Can you help?





17. The photo on the Roadie Cam section showing the window breaking wall of Vox. The guitar in the background to the right of stack, is it the green backup?





18. When I was at the Q+PR show in Basel, I spotted some kind of Box on top of BMs Amps. Some electronic device with a lit up display. What was that? [from Sam - a self confessed 'Anorak']





19. You have shown a a picture in Roadie Cam section showing 9 AC30 amps but only 3 have a mic. Why is this?





20. What effects does Brian May use to play Brigthon Rock Solo live?





21. Where can I find the strap that Brian uses?





22. Is there a "neutral" setting that I should have my Red Special guitar switched to when using my Digitech Signature Pedal to maximise the pedals preset models?





23. Would it be possible to provide details of the best way to setup the guitar, in terms of pickup heights in relation to strings etc, to give the best interpretation of Brian's?





24. I've a left hand Red Special, with big problem of tuning if i use the tremolo. How can i solve that?





25. I have a fantastic BM Digitech pedal. Do you know if Brian is using this pedal in his new record or live?





26. I was just wondering what are the main differences between the new Brian May guitars and the Burns version?





27. What effects pedals does Brian May use?





28. Where can I find electronic diagrams of the Red Special?





29. I have a Brian May Guitar and was wondering what position are the phaser switches when they are in/out phase?





30. Where can I buy a Brian May Guitar?





31. Are there any plans to produce these guitars with a satin finish?

The hiss is there to stay i'm afraid. It is the nature of the beast.

[Pete Malandrone]

This was the setting on the Meatloaf session. Pick ups , bridge and middle in phase.

[Pete Malandrone]

Stressful doesn't even begin to describe working on the original. Even with a simple job, the thought of a screwdriver slipping and putting a big gouge down the middle of the body, does not bear thinking about.

No pressure there then..........

[Pete Malandrone]

No problem using 10's. You will need to stiffen up the trem to make it 'float' using a heavier gauge.
Never tried heavier strings on the original.

[Pete Malandrone]

The best bits are generally any live work, they give me the most pleasure and feeling of achievement.  The most difficult part is when I have to be away from my wife and kids for long periods.

[Pete Malandrone]

I think he prefers the feel of a sixpence, also, a metal pick has no serrated edge, which Brian uses for certain sounds. At this stage of his playing career, I think any changes in gear are pretty unlikely. It ain't broken so we don't fix it.

[Pete Malandrone]

If I was fitting a half moon plate, I would do it with double sided tape, in case I didn't like it. If you are brave, use a very low speed (or hand) drill to pilot the holes, being very careful not to crack the finish, and then whack some screws in.

[Pete Malandrone]

Ahhhh! The old wobbly pot problem. Remove strings, remove all screws from scratch plate, remove knobs (Ohh err missus), lift of scratch plate, tighten lock nut on underside of wobbly pot, clean all pots and switches while you are in there with switch cleaner, drop all the screws you have removed on the floor, swear a lot, find them all after about 20 minutes, replace cover, and Voila!

[Pete Malandrone]

Brian uses Blue speakers

[Pete Malandrone]

05/05/07 when we were testing and A/B ing the Digitech pedal, in the studio.
[Pete Malandrone]

You can use two at once, but you need either a stereo pedal/rack unit, or a signal splitter (Boss line selector for example) You may well experience mains hum, doing this due to earthing (or grounding, if you're a yank) loops. We use isolated transformer outputs on Brian's gear to stop this. 

A  cheapish way to get 3 amps going, like Brian's rig, would be. Guitar-Treble boost-line selector(set on outputs A and B) A goes to middle amp, B goes to stereo effects pedal(chorus etc) left out of this to left amp, right output to right amp. This would work, but will probably hum like an angry bees nest. I don't know what the rules are regarding ground lifting with US 110v(girly power) You may be able to do that over there to get round the problem. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS WITH 240V, EVER.

[Pete Malandrone]

Yes, it's the Green Guyton.
[Pete Malandrone]

Dear Anorak.... sorry, Sam. The box you are referring to is a Korg DTR 2000 tuner, permanently wired from the rack. This is used by Brian for mid gig/song silent tuning, by use of a mute switch on the floor in front of the amp stack.

[Pete Melonhead.... sorry Malandrone]

P.S
The first person I see with an ' I AM AN ANORAK' t-shirt on, gets a set of strings and some BM picks!

The three amps you see on the bottom row are the ones that are in use, the middle being a clean sound and the two outside with added effects. The next row are spares, one for each position, wired up and on standby, used in case of amp failure. The top row are cabinets which are used to carry the spare speakers we need. I would also have three other AC30's round the back of the stage ready to go if needs be. This configuration of amps not only looks good, but also provides excellent camouflage for any running about behind the scenes that needs to be done.

See the photo on the ROADIE CAM section.

[Pete Malandrone]

Okay, in order, from 'Return of the Champions DVD With timings in brackets, for all the anoraks.... sorry experts.

Brian goes from Loop one (CHORUS) on pedal board to loop two (DELAY)

(1.04.24) Delay, from a Rocktron Intellifex XL, 1st repeat 800ms, 2nd repeat 1600ms. Clean signal to middle amp routed straight through the set up, un-effected, via Mike Hill custom switcher. Brian then hits loop number five on his pedal board, marked, strangely enough as 'PITCH'

(1.08.22) 3 part harmony, using the pitch shift section of a TC Electronics G-force. There are 5 different harmony settings for this part of the solo , each programmed on a different pre-set, with one pitch going to the left amp and the other pitch to the right. You can hear the pitch's changing at (1.09.02).

This is switched by Brian, when ever he feels like it, (sometimes on the tour he didn't use this on the solo) via an on-stage Korg midi foot controller. The middle amp is again 'straight through'.

(1.09.52) Back to loop two for end ' Top of the Palace' section.

(1.11.56) I switch Brian to loop one, from a remote off-stage pedal board.  I have to be on the ball here, because sometimes I have to guess when the first note of 'Last Horizon' is coming, depending on whether or not I get a nod from the Boss. It doesn't look like I did get a prompt at Sheffield, so in this case, I was brilliant. (Unless I was rubbish, and it was fixed in the mixing stage at the studio)

It's really strange that I had to watch the DVD to remember what went on here. I guess I was in 'Gig mode' at the time, kind of an auto pilot thing, where the laughing and mucking about stop, and responses are so automatic and rehearsed, that you don't actually think about what you are doing.

[Pete Malandrone]

The strap is MSS2 from Levys Leathers ... www.levysleathers.com/

With a few added extras by me, Slide holder, pick holder and custom made treble boost and transmitter holders.

[Pete Malandrone]

Bridge and middle pick ups in phase is how we tested the prototypes, so try that for starters.
[Pete Malandrone]

Here's the LONG "too much information" answer - bear with me because this info might help you  to understand the other sorts of things that often need to be done when setting up string and pickup heights - but if you're experienced in guitar setting up, go straight to the measurements at the bottom!

The pickup heights are generally the last item to be adjusted when a guitar is being setup by a professional repairer - many of the other things that I mention below may need to be adjusted in order to get your guitar playing well so that you can then set up your string and pickup heights - otherwise you might end up saying; "Brian sets his strings at 2.0mm/1.5mm but when I do the same, it sounds buzzy and terrible like I'm playing a sitar"

There are many things that you can adjust and repair yourself on your guitar, and your ability will be dramatically helped if you bone up on the subject and buy tutorial books/DVDs etc from people like Stewart MacDonald in USA (they also have a lot of good free info on their website www.stew-mac.com and there is other good stuff out there on the net), and if you develop a good feel for it you can end up doing a very good quality job.

Its always a good idea at some point to take your guitar to an experienced guitar repairer for an overall checkup on whether your guitar might need more serious work like fret dressing/levelling and changes in zero fret height, recutting of nut slots or the making of a new nut (the Graph Tech nut material is excellent for low friction which is important on any tremolo system), or even refretting and reshaping the surface of the fingerboard (serious stuff and costly but more commonly needed than you'd think), and some of these things might need to be done so that you can THEN best set up the height of the strings to get the guitar playing well so that you can then lastly set up the pickup heights.

OK hopefully your guitar won't need any of those things, but I'm saying all that first because in nearly 30 years of guitar making/repairing I've rarely if ever seen just a so-called "simple job" - if you want a great result it ALWAYS seems to be more complex than you first expect - so keep your fingers crossed, persevere, and know where your starting point was so you can always come back to it (ie write down how things are adjusted/set before you plunge in and begin!)

As a DIY guide, this is what I would suggest:

1. Tune the strings to A440 concert pitch - or whatever pitch and tuning you're using.

2. Make sure that the truss rod is adjusted properly (if you don't know how, look at web info for a start - or better still get an experienced guitar repairer to do it - although this is a simple job, there's nothing like experience...)

3. Adjust height of the strings by measuring at the 12th fret - this measurement is from the top of the fret "crown" to the underneath of the string.

Set the thick bottom E 0.042" string to have a 2.0mm gap here (but adjust to best suit your guitar - or your playing style - the harder you bash the strings, the higher you're going to need the string action.)

Set the thin top E 0.009" string so that this gap is 1.5mm

Set the rest of the strings so that they "flow" evenly in height from 2.0mm to 1.5mm as they go across from the bottom E to the top E. Suit yourself here to what looks and feels right for you - loads of guitars that I've repaired over the years didn't have very good fretwork (uneven to begin with or worn with playing etc) or consistent well made necks, and this limits what a repairer can achieve when setting up a guitar's action...if in doubt blame the manufacturer of course haha!

4. (Optional) Adjust the harmonic lengths of the bridge saddles - again see web info if you don't already know what to aim for.

5. Adjust the pickup heights: measuring at the centre of each Tri-sonic pickup up to the underneath of the string, set pickup height relative to each E string as follows:

(Measure with string at concert pitch and not fretted)

Bridge pickup: Top E: 2.5mm Bottom E: 2.75mm

Middle pickup: Top E: 3.0mm Bottom E: 3.25mm

Neck pickup: Top E: 3.25mm Bottom E: 3.5mm

(It can be handy as a reference to fret both the Top E and Bottom E strings at the 24th fret and to measure the gap down to the pickup - this works fine with the Neck and Middle pickups but is less meaningful at the Bridge pickup)

Bear in mind that these measurements are to suit the original pickups on Brian May's Red Special and also the replica pickups that I have been recently making with Adrian Turner - these measurements might not suit the pickups on your guitar or those Trisonics that have more powerful anisotropic ferrite magnets like the Korean made Burns Trisonics and Kent Armstrong Trisonics - so as usual the rule of thumb is: fine tune to suit what you think sounds best!

[Greg Fryer]

We changed factories to get better build quality, so, yes the guitars are different in that sense. The switches are white, the tremolo is slightly different, the truss plate cover now matches the pick guard and the half moon plate on the tail has been added.
[Pete Malandrone]

There are no drawings of  the guitar electronics available as far as I'm aware.
[Pete  Malandrone]