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Brian May's tone is unique, thanks especially to the guitar he and his father built all those years ago - the Red Special. Quite a few different tributes of May's guitar were produced through the years. The Brian May Guitars label now graces several models, including this BMG Special.
The guitar offers some incredible flexibility. The three pickups are wired in series for increased output and a fuller signal. When more than one pickup is active the resultant tone is more akin to that of a humbucker, with considerably more warmth and gain than a traditional parallel wired single-coil arrangement.
In addition, the middle pickup is reverse wound and reverse polarity (RWRP), emulating the configuration employed by Brian and his father. The pickup's magnetic pole is reversed and its coils physically wound in the opposite direction compared to the other pickups. Hence, when the middle pickup is selected in combination with either or both of the other pickups in phase, a hum-cancelling effect is created, reducing noise and hum in the output of the guitar.
In combination with the phase switching system employed on The BMG Special, the sound of the selected pickups can be tailored to produce an incredible variety of tones.
Use of the volume and tone controls also allows for subtle coloring of the response.
The BMG Special and Super models both feature two banks of three switches which control the pickups, with the orientation of the switches matching the pickup location - bridge to middle, left to right.
The top bank of pickup switches provides simple ON/OFF control for the three Tri-Sonic style pickups - Each pickup has its own dedicated switch... DOWN is ON, UP is OFF.
Just one of the tricks that maximizes the incredible versatility of the BMG Special, this system allows for the pickup combinations of ALL 3 PICKUPS ON and NECK + BRIDGE, configurations not usually available on other, more conventional three pickup instruments. It also provides a true stand-by option, handy for both stage and studio performance. Simply flick all three switches to the UP/OFF position to silence the instrument's output signal.
The bottom bank of switches controls the phase of the signal from each pickup - Engaging the switch reverses the phase of each pickup individually, allowing the pickups to be either IN PHASE or OUT OF PHASE relative to each other in any pickup combination.
Without taking a deep dive into the science of sound waves, it's probably easiest to adopt the convention that with its switch in the UP position, the output of the pickup has a POSITIVE phase, and in the DOWN position it has a NEGATIVE phase. Hence, when two pickups are selected and both phase switches are in the same position (either both UP or both DOWN), they will be In phase - if one switch is UP and the other is DOWN, the pickups will be out of phase
When two pickups are selected and in phase, their signals work together and sonically reinforce each other with the resultant output louder than either pickup on their own. When they’re out of phase, they work against one another, cancelling many frequencies. The resulting tone is the “leftovers” from these cancellations, typically rich in mid to high frequencies with the low frequencies reduced, giving the sound a characteristic thin, sharp quality.
For example, with the bridge and middle pickups active: sliding BOTH phase switches to either the UP or DOWN position will put the pickups in phase and produce the same, full sound favored by Brian for much of his rhythm guitar work. Sliding the bridge pickup phase switch DOWN and the middle pickup phase switch UP will produce a thinner, out of phase tone. If the positions of the phase switches are reversed, the out of phase output will be broadly * the same.
Although the switching matrix ostensibly provide twenty-one different pickup/phase combinations, there is a degree of apparent redundancy due to the fact that some settings produce similar results as explained above. Of course, that still leaves an abundance of 13 possible unique combinations (14 if you include the "kill-switch" function), making the Special an extremely versatile and powerful creative instrument.
This particular example is in extremely clean condition with few signs of prior use. The frets look new. There are no issues, changes or repairs to the guitar. The original gig bag is included.
Mahar's Vintage Guitars is a brick-and-mortar and web-based retailer. We are happy to talk with you before you make a purchase. Please reach out if you feel so inclined! We cross market our items here and on our own site, so items are subject to sale elsewhere at any time (however we will never cancel a sale if it happens here first). See our profile here, our Google reviews as well as our 100% positive Reverb feedback. Also, Reverb limits us to only 25 pictures of our items. There is a good chance we have more. Contact us if you’d like to see them.
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Shipping policy:
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