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The new Guyton RS 'Time warp' guitars

4/10/2019

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We are very pleased to announce, with Brian's complete backing, another limited edition of the Guyton Red Special. As the guitars that we built for the film Bohemian Rhapsody, these guitars are being built to replicate two iconic periods in Queen's history, the recording of 'Night at the opera' and Live Aid. They combine everything I have learnt about building and studying the Red Special over the last sixteen years.
I have tracked down a stock of many original parts including the 80's design Schaller M6 tuners and the Bulgin jack sockets. The Jean Renaud switches have been faithfully recreated in every detail possible as has every other part. The 'Burns' Trisonic pickups will be equipped with genuine magnets from the 1960's, all built by the capable hands of Adrian Turner of Adeson.
The guitars will all be painstakingly aged to mimic the years of touring and recording. They will also be period correct with the level of wear and tear. All the guitars will be built following Brian and his father's methods as well as using identical adhesives and finish.
Included with each guitar will be an aged replica of Brian's strap and a luxury boxed and signed (hopefully by Brian...) book detailing my history with the Red Special and the development and manufacture of the Guyton RS 'Time warp' guitars. Each guitar will be supplied in a custom fitted Hoffee carbon fibre hard case.
My aim with building these guitars is to create THE most accurate RS replica that will EVER be built.
I will only ever build 21 of these guitars, twenty for customers and one for myself.
All of the 2019/2020 production run are now sold. I have ten left for 2021/2022. Because of wait, I am unable to guarantee prices at this point, but they will be around £14,500 plus any local taxes and shipping.

Full details will be on the website in the next couple of months.


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Videos and exciting new projects...

28/8/2019

1 Comment

 
Work has been frantic these past couple of years, and the website has been sadly neglected. I have been so preoccupied with with work, that I'd forgotten to update. Anyway, I have now added a video page and uploaded/linked many videos, containing interviews, live performances, customer guitar reviews and guitar overview videos. The RS refurb video is still at the back of my mind, and I get weekly requests to post. Please bear with me everyone, one day it'll surface.
Keep checking in to the website, as I'll soon be announcing a very exciting and huge BM project. Another will follow towards the end of next year...all very exciting stuff! In fact the next four or five years will probably be the most productive and exciting yet for RS related Guyton guitars and projects.
The Guyton RS Transporter, www.guytonrstransporter.com, is almost sold out, with only 4 of the 25 units left. So if you intend to have one in the future, it may well be worth getting in touch.

More news soon.

Bye for now.

Andy.
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Will's blog: The 2017 Red Special meet.

19/10/2017

2 Comments

 
Last weekend saw the Annual Red Special meet up happen in a local village hall in Reading. The aim was to be a central point for the majority of members which proved a fair compromise in terms of opting for a gig ready venue. The setup was fantastic with Jon and the guys organising equipment for all to use, including Tom Jacksons impressive KAT rig courtesy of Nigel Knight. It was my first time at an RS meeting, so it was great for me to meet existing customers and put faces to some of the guitars, we have had in over the last few months. I also decided to bring my son Alexander with me which made for a fantastic family excursion. The day started off with everybody showcasing their various examples of the Red Special from custom miniatures, Burns, Guilds, KZ and of course our own Guyton RS. 

Each meeting Andrew attends, he tries to bring something exclusive along to treat those that are interested in Brian and the legacy. This time was no different. Before we arrived we stopped by Pete Malandrone’s to pick up Dr May’s Badger and newly acquired RS Transporter, designed by Martin Pitcher. Pete also lent us his ‘Pete Special’ Badger guitar too. As soon as the cases opened they quickly gathered attention with cameras snapping away and the brave ‘may I have ago?’ Of course we were delighted for everyone to strum away on these unique, one of a kind guitars that, belong to the man himself. That’s why we are all here. To show our appreciation. 

Once Jon brought order to the proceedings we all sat down for a QnA session with Andrew Guyton and Martin Pitcher, in regards to the design and process of the RS Transporter, released earlier this year. Martin talked about his own issues with finding the perfect travel guitar during his trips to the East, realising that his travel guitar just couldn’t give him what his full size RS could. This got him thinking. Why can’t I have that full Brian May sound with a smaller body. I believe the idea had been floating around for a number of years with correspondence between Martin and Andy changing subtle details to get the guitar as accurate, but fundamentally different, as possible. It wasn’t until last year (2016) that we were able to present this idea to Brian himself, although only in paper form, but Dr May was blown away by the design and all too happy to see it come to life. The shape of the guitar is tribute to the ‘two triangle’ style Star Trek logo with the reversed horn lending to design and comfort whilst positioned on ones lap. This striking feature also houses the Treble Booster switch which lights up when in use. The circuitry is rather ground-breaking too. Designed by Nigel Knight to fit the route perfectly and save masses of wiring. More information can be found at www.guytonrstransporter.com. 

Next we had another little treat prepared in the form of a video. A version of the Red Special Refurbishment. Complete with voice-over by Andy, purely for the meet up group only. At times the video was met with ‘ooo’s and ahhh’s’ especially when scalpel blades or sand paper was applied to the body. As you can imagine, with all the appreciation in the room for that special guitar, some of the refurbishment was horrifying to watch. But rest assured the master luthier Andrew brought this most amazing guitar back to its former glory and ready to tour for another 50 years. We have detailed the refurb work in a previous blog and we will release the film when perfected!

Once the formalities were out of the way it was time to make some noise. Kicking this off was Tom Jackson and his ‘one man band’ rig. Hugely impressive and neat set up, the power that rig has was expertly controlled by Tom, backed by master toy maker Nigel Knight. Its great to see a Red Special guitar used as a covers guitar as a posed to some of the more obvious choices available. The guitar sang loud and proud. Tom kicked off with his rendition of ‘Misirlou’ followed by a quick demonstration of the types of effects he has setup. A few members were allowed to get up close and change settings while Tom played, an unusual honour, before he finished his segment with a full rendition of ‘Purple Rain’ by Prince. 

It was now time for all the members to jump on their Red Specials, test out each others gear, test the latest pedals and rig enhancements before the Queen jam commenced. Baby Alex did fantastically well considering the noise. He is definitely a Rock fan.

Back at the hotel there was enough time for a drink before we sat down for a group meal. The relaxed atmosphere made for great casual conversation about our stories with the Red Special, seeing Queen in the past and plans for the future. If you want to know anything about Queen, Brian May and the Red Special the combined knowledge of the group is immense. Endless facts about wear and tear, design changes, gigs, recordings you name it. Interesting design ideas popped up too, with a few potential orders being made. The legacy of this guitar will live on long after Brian May and Queen, thanks to this group of highly respectful individuals.

Will Gatley

Slideshow photos courtesy of Doug Short
Slideshow photos courtesy of Gerben van Dooremaal
2 Comments

New items in the Guitar store

24/4/2017

2 Comments

 
Well it's been a furiously busy few months at Guyton guitars and the blog has taken a real hit. Hopefully in the coming months we'll try and get that sorted. In the meantime, we have just updated the Guitar Store with a customers old Guyton that I've been entrusted to sell. Full details are on the 'Guitar' section of the store. Also, we have a new section of the store in the form of Downloads. Over time, we hope this to be home to audio and visual downloads as well as images etc. To open it up I'm proud to present the track 'Get Guyton'. As many of you will know, this is the track written, recorded and played by Martin Pitcher, and it features on the Guyton RS Transporter videos.
Over the next few months we have a few guitars that will be for sale in the Guitar Store . All being well, details and build pictures should feature in the blog soon.

​Oh, and the RS videos shouldn't be too much longer.... 


Picture
Picture
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The original Red Special, the 'Ruby' special and the 'Rosewood' special.

12/10/2016

6 Comments

 

Red Special refurbishment video

First of all, apologies about the delayed release of Brian May's Red Special refurbishment video. Seeing as this is a once in a lifetime chance, we've had a bit of a rethink, and Brian has agreed to help with a few facts and figures. The video series will probably be a series of four or five ten minute videos, and will document the whole process from disassembly to final polish. We're hoping to get the first instalment uploaded in the next couple of weeks....but please bear with us, we're terribly busy!

The Ruby special

Many of you will have heard of electronics wiz Nigel Knight. Nigel is responsible for Brian's boosters, stage switching and also  upkeep/upgrades of the original Red Special's electronics. A while ago, Nigel commissioned a luxury version of the Red Special. This included heavily figured Bubinga veneer, gold plated hardware, gold frets, gold fretboard inlays and of course, gold Optima strings. Other special requests were an Ebony fingerboard, gold toggle switches in place of the regular white slider switches and a slimmer (60's Gibson) neck. Last but not least, what gives the Ruby special it's name, a pair of Rubys set into the volume and tone knobs in place of the regular red indent. Will and I have filmed a short promo video on the guitar....see below. A full picture gallery will be on the website shortly.

The Rosewood special

Built as a one off for a serial Guyton guitar owner in the US. This guitar is a version of the limited edition Guyton 'Badger' guitar. This guitar features a carved Indian Rosewood top on an African Mahogany body. The neck is Indian Rosewood with an Ebony fingerboard bound in Indian Rosewood. The fingerboard inlays are Sterling silver with Ivoroid centres to match the body binding. Again, we've shot a small promotional video (see below), with a photo gallery coming very soon.
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Working on the original Red Special

11/8/2016

1 Comment

 

The 'Before' video.

A few months ago, I got the nod from Pete Malandrone and Brian May to carry out some restoration work on the original Red Special, see my previous blog post here.
During the work, Will and I filmed the process. The first short video is now online, and just chronicles part of the wear and tear that the guitar has sustained since being restored by Greg Fryer 19 years ago.

Just a taster at the moment, but the full video is coming out in September. I hope you all enjoy it.

1 Comment

Young guitar magazine and the RS Transporter.

10/8/2016

0 Comments

 

Young Guitar magazine

Published last Wednesday (10th August) is the latest issue of Japanese magazine, Young Guitar. Inside there is a feature on Brian May and his guitars. Earlier last month they contacted me and we conducted an email interview about my history in guitar building and the guitars that I've built for Brian.

http://youngguitar.jp/yg/yg-201609

The RS Transporter

Since releasing the RS Transporter last Friday, I've been amazed at the positive reaction to the guitar. This has been backed up by a steady stream of orders. It seems to have really captured peoples imagination, and rather than going for the traditional red as the prototype, customers are specifying finishes that a little more 'out there' with metal flake and pearlescent colours. Roughly a third of the production run of 25 guitars are now spoken for, so if anyone is planning to order one, it may be wise to contact us fairly quickly to avoid disappointment.
On the RS Transporter page, there is a link to it's own website... www.guytonrstransporter.com. Some people seemed to have missed this, it's well worth a visit.
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The Guyton RS Transporter

5/8/2016

3 Comments

 
Very excited to announce another Brian May related limited edition guitar....The RS Transporter.
This guitar was designed by customer and Guyton RS owner, Martin Pitcher. As soon as I saw it, I loved it and knew that one day it had to be built.
We are releasing it as a limited edition of 25 guitars. Amazingly 6 are already spoken for. BM has given us his blessing on the project, his first words were, "I Love it and I want one!"
For full details click on the 'guitars' tab above and select 'The RS Transporter' this will take you to the promo video. Clicking on the button will 'transport' (sorry!) you to our sister site www.guytonrstransporter.com.

Below is the Youtube version of the promo....make sure your headphones are on and the volume is UP!
Over the next couple of weeks we have a few modifications to make before production begins. We are having new stainless rollers of our own design made to fit the JCustom bridge, as well as a new tremolo arm and spring. 

The Youtube video was shot by myself and Martin Pitcher. Martin also took care of the editing and recorded the music track that is actually called 'Get Guyton'.

Below are a few behind the scenes pictures of the filming process.
3 Comments

Part 2 of the 'Badger' guitar video series is live.

10/5/2016

3 Comments

 
It's been a while, but part 2 is now up! I've tried to cover most of the process, but due to time constraints and work pressures it wasn't always possible to spend the time to setup every stage. Make sure you watch it HD.
3 Comments

The Original Red Special, Guyton Red Special for sale and imminent Badger 'making of' video.

9/5/2016

9 Comments

 

A mini restoration of the original Red Special.

During April I was called to Brian's home in Surrey, to survey wear and tear of the original Red Special and how I planned to carry out the repairs. Once there, it was decided that the guitar as a whole should undergo a 'mini' restoration. The only real problem with this was the time frame of 3 weeks.
The work involved filling all the cracks in the body, then flatting down and re-polishing. Repairing damage to the end and edge, and touching in of the fingerboard. Also, at the last minute, replacing one of the pearl dots that had become paper thin, and was hanging by the skin of it's teeth.
Various parts, including the tremolo and bridge assembly were removed, serviced, cleaned and lubricated before refitting. The last job was renewal of the zero fret. The last time this was done was around 10 years ago, and it has played many tours since.
Some time ago, cracks in the body had begun to let in dirt and moisture and whilst on tour, emergency measures in the shape of duct tape were used. Once the guitar had been disassembled, I had to carefully score with a scalpel, every crack on the front, rear and edges of the body. This was done so the ultra thin viscosity Cyanoacrylate glue would run through the cracks using capillary action. Once sealed the glue could then be built up to the surface ready for flatting down and polishing. The back of the guitar was in by far the worst condition, and ate up hours of painstaking work. The edge of the body had also taken quite a bashing when Brian holds his guitar aloft and the end of the show. The strap mounted booster and radio pack basically used to knock into the body causing the damage.
The fingerboard had also taken a fair bit of abuse, with large grooves worn into the end of the fingerboard between the last fret and the neck pickup. I repaired this firstly with black stain to the bare oak, then built a 'dam' around the damage with tape and filling this with epoxy resin. Once this had hardened it was filed and sanded to profile and sprayed to match the rest of the fingerboard.
While the repairs in the neck and body were curing, we cleaned the parts with brushes, wire wool, oil and wet and dry paper. While I was putting the finishing touched to the fingerboard ready for reassembly, one of the dots makers showed signs of cracking, when touching this with the point of a scalpel it literally fell apart, and in parts was only the thickness of a sheet of paper. Emergency phone calls to Pete and Brian followed, and it was decided to replace the old dot, with a 1.5mm thick new one.
During this time, Will and I filmed and photographed the entire process. I'm currently ploughing through what seems like hours of footage to try and make a short documentary of the mini restoration.

With a MASSIVE sense of relief, the Red Special went back to Brian last week, and is currently in rehearsals for forthcoming Queen & Adam Lambert shows.

The video may be some time, but until then, here are a few photos...

Due to time and workload, I will be unable to answer any questions at the moment, but there may be a FAQ section added later, if there is demand.

Guyton Red Special (RSR-18) is for sale.

Guyton RSR-18 is now up for sale through Guyton guitars. It was built 6 years ago and is the guitar that was featured in the Haynes book 'Build your own electric guitar' by Paul Balmer. It features heavily in the book alongside the genuine article. A copy of the book will also be included in the sale. There are also various pictures of Brian examining the guitar, these will be presented on a memory stick and supplied with the guitar. The leather-bound photo album has been signed by Brian and contains all documentation.
The pickups have been custom built by Adrian Turner using original 1960's Trisonic covers and magnets.
The guitar is in good overall condition. It has been played with a sixpence and shows the evidence on the pick guard and the end of the fingerboard. The guitar is in it's original white Calton case, again, signed by Brian. It will be given a full service and setup prior to sale. The scuffing to the pick guard and the fingerboard damage can be made new, but this has been left for the moment, as some people prefer the more authentic used look. Additional work and shipping will be price on application.

SOLD

Part 2 of the Badger 'making of' series.

We're nearly there with this one. Work has been so busy, that editing has had to take a back seat. But, it's nearly done, I just need to put final touches to sound then it'll be up!

​Part 3 is being filmed now!
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