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The Eclipse guitarSo called because of it's use of 'Eclipse' magnets, the Eclipse guitar is slight re-think of how Brian's famous Red Special was when it was first built.
Early in 2017, I was carrying out some work at Brian's house, when Pete Malandrone (Brian's then guitar tech) showed me the original pickups that Brian and his father had wound for the original incarnation of the Red Special. They were shortly removed and replaced by a trio of Burns Tri-Sonic pickups due to a rustling noise when the strings were bent from one magnetic pole to another. Brian suggested I build a new guitar to re-test these pickups. Brian specified a build exactly as his original guitar but with an ebony fingerboard, and a series/parallel switch. Brian took delivery of this guitar in July 2018, and it was quickly used to record a (40 track!!) version of 'Asteroid', the 'Pearl and Dean' tune to go with the Bohemian Rhapsody movie. |
In November 2018 I was summoned to Brian's house to have an in-depth chat about this guitar and several other jobs. The pickups were on the weak side and also, the rustling noise was a problem. I brought the guitar back to the workshop, got my head together with pickup maestro Adrian Turner and devised a plan to make some new pickups of the same design but with the same polarity across the strings.
While the guitar was in the workshop, I was asked to carry out a few modifications. These included a new pickup mounting system, a KAT superpot and to dress the frets to they felt worn by years of playing.
This project was soon to be put on the 'backburner' due to Covid 19 rearing it's ugly head...and I also had more important work to carry out for Brian, namely, lightly restoring his original Red Special.
The day came in October 2023 when I headed to Queen rehearsals with the revised guitar. Brian plugged it in and used it for 'Machines (or back to humans)'...and it sounded enormous!!
While the guitar was in the workshop, I was asked to carry out a few modifications. These included a new pickup mounting system, a KAT superpot and to dress the frets to they felt worn by years of playing.
This project was soon to be put on the 'backburner' due to Covid 19 rearing it's ugly head...and I also had more important work to carry out for Brian, namely, lightly restoring his original Red Special.
The day came in October 2023 when I headed to Queen rehearsals with the revised guitar. Brian plugged it in and used it for 'Machines (or back to humans)'...and it sounded enormous!!
