Editing Brian May (section)

====Guitars====
[[File:Queen + Adam Lambert 5 (38119549814).jpg|thumb|upright|Brian May (pictured in 2017) playing his custom-made [[Red Special]]]]
[[File:Brian May's Signature Red Guitar.jpg|thumb|upright|Replica of May's Red Special in the shop window, [[Denmark Street]], London]]
From 1975 onwards, May had some replicas made of the Red Special, some of which were also used for live and recording purposes, others being mainly spares. The most famous replicas were made by John Birch in 1975 (May smashed it during a concert in the US in 1982), [[Greco guitars|Greco]] BM90 (featured in the promo video of "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy" in 1977), Guild (back-up from 1984 to 1993), Fryers (1997–1998, used both live and in the studio) and Guyton<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guytonguitars.com/rsintro.php |title=Guitar Builder (Luthier) in East Anglia, UK – High Quality Hand Made Custom Electric Guitars by Andrew Guyton |publisher=Guytonguitars.com |access-date=15 July 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140203025707/http://www.guytonguitars.com/rsintro.php |archive-date=3 February 2014 }}</ref> (back-up from 2003 to present). On stage, May used to carry at least one backup guitar (in case he broke a string). He occasionally would use others for specific songs or parts, such as alternative tunings. Currently, May owns a company that makes guitars whose design is modelled after the original Red Special guitar.

*July 1973&nbsp;– May 1974: [[Fender Stratocaster]] CBS era (thought to be 1972)<ref name="MR"/>
*October 1974&nbsp;– May 1975: [[Gibson Les Paul]] Deluxe, and the Stratocaster from the previous tour.<ref name="MR"/>
*November 1975&nbsp;– May 1976: Same two guitars as before, plus a natural finish John Birch replica of the Red Special.<ref name="MR">{{cite web |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/in-pictures-brian-mays-other-guitars-384279 |title=In Pictures: Brian May's Guitars |website=MusicRadar |url-status=live |access-date=10 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430081212/https://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/in-pictures-brian-mays-other-guitars-384279 |archive-date=30 April 2019 }}</ref>
*September 1976: Same three as before, plus a Martin D-18 acoustic for "'39".
*January 1977&nbsp;– August 1979: Just the Birch replica plus an Ovation Pacemaker 12-string acoustic on some numbers ("'39", "Love of My Life", "Dreamer's Ball").
*November 1979&nbsp;– June 1982: Birch replica (back-up), [[Fender Telecaster]] ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love" 2nd verse, middle-eight and solo), Ovation (acoustic numbers).
*July&nbsp;– November 1982: Added a [[Gibson Flying V]] as second back-up. On 9 August 1982, May smashed the Birch guitar, so the Flying&nbsp;V became the only spare.
*August&nbsp;– October 1984: The Flying V became a second back-up again as his main spare was the Guild replica. He also used Roger Taylor's Gibson Chet-Atkins Classical Electric.
*July 1985&nbsp;– August 1986: Gibson Flying V no longer used. The rest remained the same. May used a Gibson Chet-Atkins guitar on the 1986 Magic Tour.<ref name="MR"/>
*In 2012, he received a double-neck replica of the Red Special, with the second neck having 12-strings. He used this guitar at a few gigs with Adam Lambert now being able to play the 12-string part from the studio version of "Under Pressure" live.<ref name="Double-neck Red Special">{{cite web|url=http://www.musicradar.com/guitarist/brian-mays-guyton-double-neck-549856|title=Brian May's Guyton Double Neck|author=Simon Bradley|date=23 July 2012 |work=MusicRadar|access-date=27 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140701225039/http://www.musicradar.com/guitarist/brian-mays-guyton-double-neck-549856|archive-date=1 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

He currently has a Gibson 12-string SJ200 to replace his Guild 12-string. He previously used an Ovation Pacemaker 1615 model. Some of the non-RS electric guitars he used in the studio included:
*[[Burns London|Burns]] Double Six on "Long Away" (1976)<ref name="MR"/> and "Under Pressure" (1981).
*Fender Telecaster on "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (1979).<ref name="MR"/> May used it for the video (but not the recordings) of "Back Chat" (1982).
*Gibson Firebird on "Hammer to Fall" and "Tear It Up" (album versions only, not on stage).<ref>{{cite web |title=Album Data, The Works |url=https://www.queensongs.info/album-data/queen/the-works |website=Queen Songs |access-date=13 May 2024}}</ref>
*[[Ibanez JS Series|Ibanez JS]] on "Nothing But Blue" (1991).
*[[Parker Fly]] on "Mother Love" (1993–1995).

For acoustic, he favoured Ovation,<ref name="MR"/> Martin, [[Tōkai Guitars|Tōkai]] Hummingbird, Godin and Guild. On a couple of videos, he also used some different electric guitars: a Stratocaster copy on "Play the Game" (1980) and a [[Washburn RR-V Tour Series|Washburn RR2V]] on "Princes of the Universe" (1986).

In 1984, [[Guild Guitar Company|Guild]] released the first official Red Special replica for mass production and made some prototypes specifically for May. However, the solid-body construction (the original RS has hollow cavities in the body) and the pick-ups (DiMarzio) that were not a replica of the Burns TriSonic did not make May happy. The production of the guitars stopped after just 300&nbsp;guitars. In 1993, Guild made a second replica of the RS, made in just 1000&nbsp;copies, of which May has some and used as a back-up. At the moment, he uses the two guitars made by Greg Fryer—the luthier who restored the Old Lady in 1998—as back-up. They are almost identical to the original, except for the Fryer logo on the headstock (May's original one has a sixpence).