Brian May unveiled his rather luxurious Gibson SJ-200 12-string acoustic signature guitar last month, and the instrument came fitted with a subtle, wholesome tribute to the late Freddie Mercury that you might have missed.
The Queen guitarist was, in a surprise move, unveiled as a Gibson signature artist last year as he helped cut the ribbon of the Gibson Garage store in London alongside Jimmy Page and Tony Iommi.
The partnership has led to talk of a Gibson-made Red Special, which May hopes will happen, but in the meantime, the 12-string represents his first creative venture with the historic firm.
“The 12-string I was accustomed to wasn’t performing,” May previously recalled of his signature's origin story. “Gibson kindly said, ‘We’ll make you something special.’”
While the SJ-200 stands out by reversing the order of the octave and regular acoustic guitar strings to suit May's strumming style, it also features a subtle but classy nod to Freddie Mercury, the iconic frontman with whom he and Queen took over the world.
Discussing the guitar in an extended video during which he muses on his love for both art and astronomy, May revealed how his Mercury tribute comes via his namesake planet, which has been etched onto its beautiful pickguard art.
“I believe that the best science is done artistically, and the best art is done with a knowledge of the universe. Look at the science of this guitar,” he purrs. “Look how much technology and craftsmanship has gone into this.
“They were able to put the universe here in some figurative way, and look what's right here in the middle: The planet Mercury. That's a little nod to a friend of mine.
“Freddie's always with me,” he continues, “because he was like a brother. The relationships in Queen lasted longer than any of our marriages. It was a big, big thing. We still carry Queen around with us, even though we don't have Freddie. But I have a Mercury on the guitar now, which makes me very happy.”
Since Mercury's passing, May has performed Love of My Life solo (with the help of old footage of the vocalist) with a 12-string guitar as a tribute to the singer, and so it's fitting that his new guitar will carry his spirit into the band's future live performances.
“Love of my Life was written by Freddie on a piano,” he says of the song. “I played harp on it, and in the intro a Japanese Koto.
“We wanted to play it live on stage. I picked up a 12-string and found that I could make it sing with Freddie quite easily, but probably even more importantly than that, it became a staple feature of our set. We would always quit the bombast, come down very small, and just Freddie and I would play together. It was always a lovely feeling.
“When we lost Freddie, I wanted to play Love of my Life just the way we used to, so it became an audience thing where they all sing it and I hardly need to sing it at all. It just seemed right to involve Freddie.”
The acoustic guitar's release comes after May admitted he had originally wanted a rhythm guitarist in Queen and how Jimi Hendrix put an abrupt end to his experiments with Marshall amps. His career has been underpinned by his love of Vox AC30 amps, a gear recommendation he got from none other than Rory Gallagher.
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