The Gibson Garage London – the guitar giant’s first flagship store outside of the US – officially opened its doors today, accompanied by two longtime champions of the brand, Jimmy Page (who announced his own multi-guitar partnership at the event) and Black Sabbath legend Tony Iommi.
But standing between them was someone less associated with Gibson headstocks: Brian May.
“We are so proud to have him in our Gibson family,” enthused Gibson President and CEO Cesar Gueikian. “From a little band called Queen… Brian May!”
For us grizzled guitar journos, the curly-haired virtuoso’s entrance was a surprise, to say the least. The Queen icon is rarely seen without the Red Special, the guitar he built with his father – and he’s been selling mass-produced versions of it under his own brand, Brian May Guitars, for 20 years.
(Yes, history buffs will note that May did play a Chet Atkins SE nylon-string back in the ’80s, while a Flying V and Les Paul Deluxe acted as backup electrics, but given that’s not exactly common knowledge, we don’t think that’s what ushered him into Gibson’s inner circle.)
So what does this all mean? Try as we might, Gibson reps were tight-lipped about what their relationship with May had in store. But we have our theories.
As of 2004, Brian May Guitars manufactures mid-priced, sub-$1,000 versions of May’s trademark instrument, assembled in South Korea and produced under the watchful eye of May’s longtime tech Pete Malandrone and House Music’s Barry Moorhouse. They come in a wide variety of colors, with idiosyncratic pickup switching faithful to the Queen icon’s original.
But what BMG doesn’t do is build the kind of awe-inspiring, meticulous replicas that the Gibson Custom Shop and Murphy Lab are known for. And wouldn’t that be a smart idea?
We know May has had slavish Red Special recreations built in the past for the Bohemian Rhapsody biopic, but those were very much not-for-sale. If Tom Murphy and co can lend their considerable talents to reproducing every nook and cranny of one of the electric guitar’s most truly unique instruments… well, that’s very big news indeed.
May is no stranger to partnering with other firms, of course – he has licensed his guitar designs to Guild and Burns in the past. But it’s been over two decades since he last released a guitar that wasn’t under the Brian May Guitars banner.
We’d wager May’s old buddy – and jamming partner – Tony Iommi had something to do with the new partnership, having worked with Gueikian and Gibson on the ‘Monkey’ 1964 SG Special replica back in 2020. May was clearly impressed with the results.
But assuming a replica is on the cards, what could be next? Given Gibson’s trickle-down release schedule – known as ‘anchoring’ in the biz – we might reasonably expect a USA-built Red Special in the coming years.
But surely an Epiphone version would compete with May’s own brand? We’re fascinated to see what the partnership has in store. Watch this space…
For more on the Gibson Garage London, including what makes it quite unlike any other guitar store, check out our exclusive behind-the-scenes coverage.
