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Has Brian May only ever used one guitar?


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Getting back to the title of the thread. I saw Queen twice, once in 1976, at Edinburgh Playhouse and again at Newcastle city hall in 1979. At the Edinburgh gig, he had a Les Paul as his back up, though as I recall he only used his Red Special. (and they didn't play Fat Bottomed Girls like the BR film suggests) At Newcastle he used his Red Special and a Telecaster for Crazy Little Thing, he also had a what looked like a sandy coloured replica of the Red special that remained on it's stand. Brian used a Satellite Strat for the Video of Play The Game, I'm sure I read somewhere back in the day that he also used a Strat on the song itself. There's also footage out there of mimed performances on European music shows where he's uses a Les Paul and a Strat though miming doesn't count does it?

oops I forgot about his acoustics.

Edited by pst62
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I saw Queen in '74 (Sheer Heart Attack tour) as my first ever live gig. That red special sounded pretty awesome. Pretty sure he's used many guitars over the years, but I saw a video interview with his tech on YouTube and he said that Brian prefers his Red Special whenever he can and that he uses an old sixpence as a pick. Has a jar of them apparently.

Steve Howe has or had a big collection of guitars, but he's been using his Gibson ES175 since the 60's. Still has the original frets I think.

 

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In the early 70's, before their very first tour, Queen did some warm up gigs. One of which was at the Windsor Castle in the Harrow Road. They brought along their whole touring rig and there was hardly room for the audience.

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James Jamerson and the Funk Machine.

Wes Montgomery and his Gibson L5.

Mick Karn and his fretless Travis Bean and his fretless Wal(s).

Toots Thielemans and his Gibson ES 175 even if he introduced the Rickenbacker's to the Beatles and in the U.K. He told me the story himself when I lent him my ES 175 for a concert because his own "Bobonne" arrived with a broken head at the show...

Jaco has used lots of basses including the Guild Pilot, an acoustic bass, another Jazz Bass, a fretted Jazz Bass with a P-Bass maple neck, and so on...

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15 hours ago, sykilz said:

Steve Harris P bass, though it's been refinished a few times, also think Dave Murray of Maiden has used that black strat for years.

His original black strat belonged to Paul Kossof and he bought it, stuck in some humbuckers and played the crap out of it but it has been retired for a few years now.

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Willie Nelson has been pretty faithful to Trigger over the years. There's a YouTube video of a guy "repairing" bits of it, which apparently happens quite a lot. 

Johnny Cash also had a guitar that he was so attached to, he didn't want to take it in the light aircraft that he crashed in order to kill his wife.

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1 hour ago, MacDaddy said:

Check out the bass in the 'Aces High' video. It may surprise you :) 

Yep, Steve Harris has been playing and owning a few Lado basses, not only this one... People seem to have forgotten that. 😉

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6 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Yep, Steve Harris has been playing and owning a few Lado basses, not only this one... People seem to have forgotten that. 😉

Remember clearly the shock when I first saw that video!! I guess most players have had a dalliance with other guitars but considering the volume of shows Maiden do the P bass has some miles on it, though it's probably like Triggers broom now....new frets, new neck, new paint job, new body bits....😆😆

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On 29/06/2020 at 17:10, gjones said:

Well Paul Mccartney has only used his Hofner, a Rickenbaker, a Jazz Bass during the White Album sessions and for a short time a Yamaha Precision. These days he sticks to the Hofner.

When you mean "his" Hofner, that suggests he only had one.  McCartney had several Hofners.  He used Stuart Sutcliffes briefly at one point, then bought his own, then when the Beatles started to hit the big time he bought a second and relegated the first to back up status. Then he was presented with another by the Hofner importer themselves in October 1963, who were doubtless feeling very grateful for the hike in sales for which he was responsible.   So that was 3 within the space of 3 years, and at the time of the White Album he still owned all 3.

 

Then the first one he had bought himself was stolen from Abbey Road in the 1969, and he since has played various Hofners that visibly differ in detail and pickup placement throughout the rest of his career, but is still known to play the second one he bought regularly.  In an interview with Hofner for their in house newsheet in 2011 he claimed to own 3 Hofner violin basses of various models.

Edited by Bassfinger
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Maybe not the most famous of names,  but Chuck Prophet (ex-Green on Red, many very fine solo albums) has played, toured and recorded with the same MIJ Squier Telecaster since 1984.

It's definitely a working instrument, but he gets a great sound from it.

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