{"id":225625,"date":"2026-01-07T16:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/225625\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T16:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T16:23:09","slug":"i-saw-the-red-special-i-pointed-and-said-is-that-it-brian-said-yup-want-to-try-it-steve-vai-says-he-once-played-brian-mays-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/225625\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI saw the Red Special. I pointed and said, \u2018Is that it?\u2019 Brian said, \u2018Yup. Want to try it?\u2019\u201d Steve Vai says he once played Brian May\u2019s guitar \u201clike a baby giraffe on roller skates\u201d \u2013 now the Queen icon has gifted him his own custom \u2018Green\u2019 Red Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian May<\/a> has given Steve Vai<\/a> the gift of a lifetime. It\u2019s a Red Special replica, custom built by Andrew Guyton, with some signature Vai-style twists on the Queen<\/a> guitarist\u2019s DIY custom electric guitar<\/a> \u2013 not least a change of colour, reimagining the O.G. Red Special<\/a> as the \u2018Green\u2019 Red Special.<\/p>\n

\u201cI own a lot of guitars, but this one stands alone. Its soul and history are baked into it and topped with a healthy smattering of love,\u201d says Vai, writing on his Instagram<\/a> account. \u201cI will treasure it for the rest of my life, and yes, I\u2019m taking this one to the grave with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vai is not the only high-profile recipient of a Guyton-built Red Special replica from May. Just before Christmas, Tony Iommi received a Red Special<\/a> built to the exact specifications as May\u2019s original, only with the neck profile based on Iommi\u2019s Jaydee Old Boy SG-style electric.<\/p>\n

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Vai\u2019s \u2018Green\u2019 Red Special is a more radical take on the instrument, with the jumbo EVO-gold frets, yin-yan inlays on the birds-eye maple fingerboard, and that translucent Green finish revealing all the eye-popping details in its quilted maple top.<\/p>\n

But like Iommi\u2019s Red Special, perhaps the most significant update to the Red Special formula is the neck, with Guytone giving Vai\u2019s instrument a mahogany neck that\u2019s shaped a little more like those he would find on his Ibanez<\/a> signature guitars<\/a> \u2013 and this is definitely for the best, because Vai has a little history with the Red Special.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the 1970s, when I was a kid in Carle Place trying to figure out how to play anything in tune, Brian May was one of my absolute heroes,\u201d writes Vai. \u201cHis tone and touch oozed of rock and roll class, and the songs he wrote and the notes he chose dug deep into my psyche and helped shape a future fantasy image of myself in my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Red Special played a starring role in this fantasy. Vai even entertained ideas of making his own guitar. A \u201ctotal lack of expertise\u201d put paid to that. But still, the Red Special was the one. More than a guitar, it was \u201ca mythical object, an alchemical wand built by a young genius and his dad\u201d. Growing up, Vai studied everything about it. Little did he know he would get his hands on it, and sooner rather than later. He got his chance not long after moving from to the West Coast in 1980.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAt 20 years old I move to LA, landed a tiny apartment at Fairfax and Sunset, start working with Frank Zappa, and one night I walk into the Rainbow Bar and Grill and see Brian just standing there. Alone. Like a normal human,\u201d says Vai. \u201cI thought I was hallucinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was not. And being a 20-year-old kid Vai said hello. May being May, i.e. a mensch, he \u201cdid the unthinkable\u201d and invited Vai to Queen\u2019s rehearsal, where he got to see the Red Special up close.<\/p>\n

\u201cSitting in a room with the entire band was already unreal enough, but then I saw the Red Special. I pointed and said, \u2018Is that it?\u2019 Brian said, \u2018Yup. Want to try it?\u2019 Time definitely slowed down,\u201d recalls Vai.<\/p>\n

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This was his chance. But as is often the case, our imagination doesn\u2019t meet reality. The Red Special is like Thor\u2019s Hammer, an Excalibur built from the ground up and tailored to May\u2019s unique playing style. It felt weird in Vai\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

After idolising that guitar my whole youth, holding it was seismic. I thought, \u2018This is it, I\u2019m finally going to sound like Brian May.\u2019 But much to my chagrin, I didn\u2019t of course. I sounded like me<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter idolising that guitar my whole youth, holding it was seismic,\u201d continues Vai. \u2018I thought, \u2018This is it, I\u2019m finally going to sound like Brian May.\u2019 But much to my chagrin, I didn\u2019t of course. I sounded like me. And between the gauge .08 strings, ultra-low action, and a neck the size of a small tree, I played it like a baby giraffe on roller skates. Still, it was heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vai never forgot that moment. Neither did May, though he did forget some of the details. In 1991, when the pair were playing Guitar Legends in Spain, May was recounting the story of when one of Zappa\u2019s young prot\u00e9g\u00e9s came to a Queen rehearsal and played the Red Special, \u201cwho who played amazingly well\u201d. Vai kept his powder dry.<\/p>\n

\u201cI let him tell me the whole story and then said\u2026 \u2018Brian, that was me.\u2019 This stands as one of the most satisfying full-circle twists the universe has offered me,\u201d writes Vai.<\/p>\n

And now he has another, a \u2018Green\u2019 Red Special, one of one, \u201cbeyond beautiful\u201d \u2013 and a guitar that Vai finds a little easier to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt somehow honours the spirit of the Red Special while allowing me to feel completely at home inside it,\u201d writes Vai. \u201cMust be the green.\u201d<\/p>\n