Brian May's John Birch guitar
The guitar that starred in the Queen videos for 'We will rock you' and 'Spread your wings', and also, the only guitar that Brian May destroyed.
The story goes that Brian was so frustrated with it's tuning issues, that he threw the guitar to his guitar tech, who in turn failed to catch it resulting in the damage you see here. The John Birch was then shipped to the US to be copied for a future replica. After this, things get a little hazy and after a few years the guitar was assumed to have been stolen.
In 2004, the guitar was uncovered and shipped back to Brian. I was asked what I thought was the best plan of action, seeing as the damage was part of it's history, I thought it best just to repair enough to get it playing again, but leaving the damage still visible. Unfortunately, the build of the guitar is fundamentally incorrect to maintain stable tuning. The headstock angle is too steep and the trem/bridge has way too much friction and play. But it still proudly holds is place in Queens history.
The guitar that starred in the Queen videos for 'We will rock you' and 'Spread your wings', and also, the only guitar that Brian May destroyed.
The story goes that Brian was so frustrated with it's tuning issues, that he threw the guitar to his guitar tech, who in turn failed to catch it resulting in the damage you see here. The John Birch was then shipped to the US to be copied for a future replica. After this, things get a little hazy and after a few years the guitar was assumed to have been stolen.
In 2004, the guitar was uncovered and shipped back to Brian. I was asked what I thought was the best plan of action, seeing as the damage was part of it's history, I thought it best just to repair enough to get it playing again, but leaving the damage still visible. Unfortunately, the build of the guitar is fundamentally incorrect to maintain stable tuning. The headstock angle is too steep and the trem/bridge has way too much friction and play. But it still proudly holds is place in Queens history.