First and foremost, one of my personal favorites and most influential guitar players of all time has been Brian May. With that being said, I'm sure you can understand why this review provides a significant amount of personal satisfaction in reviewing the Burns Brian May model guitar! Brian May's "Red Special" is as legendary as the player himself, and producing a signature model to Brian's personal specs is not an enviable task. Several companies have tried, but London's based Burns USA has not only found the formula, but can deliver the goods at an affordable price. The original "Red Special" was built by Brian himself and his father, utilizing motorcycle parts and an old oak mantelpiece! Not only is Brian's tone unmistakable, the creamy violin like singing melodies and pop metal riffs are produced from the fingers of a master player, and from a very unique guitar. So as always, we grab a six pack and to the rehearsal studio we venture to give you the low down on the Burns Brian May model...

First Impression:
Out of the box, the first impression is a lasting one. Although I've been an admirer of this guitar for many years, I've never actually held one in my hands. The unique body style is immediately very well balanced as I sit and proceed to check this bad boy out. Vintage cherry finished body and headstock, cream binding on both front and back of the body is a nice touch, black pickguard, chrome hardware, sporting standard volume and tone controls, six on/off switches for individual pickup selection and phase selection, (more about that later), chrome Burns London Deluxe floating tremolo bridge, three on a side chrome locking Grover tuners, ebony fingerboard with pearl dot inlays, three chrome Burns Tri-Sonic Pickups and the patented Brian May Signature on the headstock finish out the Burns Brian May Model cosmetically.

Body And Neck Please:
As I sit and check out the Brian May Model acoustically, two aspects of this guitars construction impresses me immediately. How well balanced this body style feels and how comfortable the radius of the neck feels. The neck is a round beefy chunk of mahogany that has a Les Paul feel. Personally, this is my favorite type of neck, something to really grab on to! Les Paul players will undoubtedly agree with the Burns neck. The neck is actually a bit thinner depth wise then the original, so it's just perfect, not too much, not too little. Grade "A" polished ebony fingerboard with a 24" scale and 24 medium jumbo frets with zero fret to complete a full two octave neck. Nut width of the Brian May is 45mm, which is identical to the original. The body is solid mahogany with tone chambers. This varies a bit from the original "Red Special" with utilized oak and mahogany. Obviously an all mahogany body ensures great tone and enables the guitar to stay affordable. Acoustically, the Brian May Model rings strong. Set up work includes exceptionally low action, intonates well and thus far stays in tune! A very important detail. Really is inspiring to play because the neck to me is so comfortable. But enough of the foreplay! It's time to...

Plug That Bad Boy In:
As always this is obviously where the rubber hits the road. I have selected my favorite testing tool for testing purposes. My Line 6 POD, ran through an 80's ADA Mictrotube 100 power amp into a Marshall 4x12 cab loaded with stock 75w G-12T Celestions. Testing levels are moderate and by using the POD, we can obviously select from its incredible selection of amp models, both clean and dirty. What do you think I dial up for my first testing model? That's right boys and girls, a Vox AC-30! Reward yourself with a beer if you guessed right! I was most curious to check out this model in a high gain mode. In setting the guitar's pickup selection to bridge and middle pickup "on", and "in phase", Boom, dere it is! That creamy, singing, almost violin like tone of Brian May cuts through like a freight train. Tons of sustain and well balanced tone with a tight low end, cutting mids and warm top end. I bust out "Tie Your Mother Down" to check out the grit, and let me tall ya, it's all there! By adding the neck pickup, the guitar produces more of a bluesy type tone with a bit more low end, but doesn't waffle. "Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the fandango?" A.K.A...Bohemian Rhapsody melody lead tones can be found with this setting.

Because the Burns Tri-Sonic Pickups are wired in series, almost endless tonal variations are possible. These are the very same Tri-Sonics that are in the original "Red Special"! I tried several different pickup selections, individually and together. I must say, my favorite combination is the bridge and middle pickup together in series. This position is fat, warm and gnarly!

Experimenting with the phase selection switches only adds to your choices of tones, bringing your total tonal possibilities to almost mind blowing proportions! By reversing the phase selection to any or all of the Tri-Sonic pickups, it adds some what of a gnarlier almost funky like tone.

Next, I experiment with clean, low gain settings and this is where I am the most pleasantly surprised. In dialing up a Jazz Chorus setting, the Brian May retains a squeaky clean, sparkling, warm, clean tone. Further experimentation utilizing a Fender Blackface Princeton setting, produces anything from SRV blues tones to 70's Funk Twang. Incredibly versatile. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love"! Yea, probably!

Final Mojo:
Burns USA undoubtedly did their homework on this one. This was no "wham bam, thank you ma'am" signature model. Two years of intensive research and 22 separate prototype's later, Burns now showcases a signature model worthy of the scripted signature of Brian May on the headstock. I found the Burns Brian May model to be down right fun. Well balanced, great neck, great tone and sweet looks is Trents final mojo on this guitar. Enough tonal variations for any style of music and affordably priced, makes the Brian May Model a "must play" guitar. Already voted "Guitar of the Year for 2001" by Guitarist Magazine, definitely deserving of the award I would attest. With a MSRP of $1125 and a street price of $800-$900, the Burns Brian May is a "Must Own" guitar. I would strongly encourage you to check one out at a dealer near you, very soon. Register to win this guitar at www.musicianshotline.com.

Information:
Burns USA
P.O. Box 269
Bethel, CT 06801
Tel: 203-205-0056 l Fax: 203-205-9062
www.burnsusa.com
Email: sales@burnsusa.com