Wes and his Brian May Guitar - Plus a Little More

Everybody that knows me knows I've been a fan of Brian May since I was just a kid. My uncle, then a drummer, used to blast Queen's "News of the World" album and play along; I was only 7, so I had to sit outside his bedroom door and just listen.

The first LP I bought as a teenager was Queen's double-album concert set "Live Killers", and that's where I got the bug for Brian May - his playing just blew me away, even at the tender age of 13.

I started playing guitar at age 15, in 1984, which was not only when Queen released "The Works", but was also the same year that Guild released the first BHM edition. I never saw one, let alone played one. I muddled along with my cheap electric and 60s (nigh unplayable) acoustic, happy to put on Queen albums and chugga-chugga along with the rhythms.

In 1993, Guild released a second edition of Brian's fabled "Red Special" guitar, and I was almost able to get one. It was still a bit out of reach, and I was sad. However, in 1997 I had the opportunity to buy a used one, and I nearly sold my soul to get it. Soul - or - two Strats and a Tele - pretty close to the same thing. Overall two guitars lighter (including one Strat that I had built from parts that had the early-issue DiMarzio Brian May pickups in it!), I was nonetheless the happiest blighter in the States.

Spreading on to 2003, I decided to have my friend Ron Thorn build me a hyper-BHM - my choices of woods, the infinitely superior Seymour Duncan Brian May pickups, and Ron's exquisite inlay work on the fingerboard.

The guitars are my main stage & studio instruments now, they are never far from me. People are kind of amazed to see a guitarist in an original band playing a Brian May guitar, but I just let my tone do the talking for me - THEN they understand!

Enjoy some pictures. If the photo is small, click it to get a larger one.

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Questions? E-mail me!