We’ve been reading a lot about the forthcoming Arielle signature guitar, the first non-Red Special model from Brian May Guitars.
But now we can finally hear the electric guitar in action, courtesy of demos from two YouTube players, Eric Johnson and Brian May (perhaps you’ve heard of ‘em)?
Johnson is up first, playing some, um, Johnson-esque licks in a “beautiful, laid back, chill-out style,” as he characterizes it in the accompanying caption.
May, meanwhile, takes things in a rockier direction, and throws in some heavy whammy bar abuse on the guitar's Wilkinson WVP 2-point tremolo to boot, with the Arielle holding up rather spectacularly.
As we’ve previously reported, the BMG Arielle is the signature guitar for Austin-based singer-songwriter and player Arielle.
The instrument is based on the handmade Two-Tone guitar Arielle built at 16 years old, and boasts an asymmetric design with a solid Limba body with a raised center strip for increased body mass and sustain, as well as a split, three-ply parchment pickguard and two-tone orange-and-blue diagonal finish.
Features include a mahogany neck and 24-fret ebony fingerboard with abalone diamond snowflake inlays, and much like May’s Red Special, the Arielle features a shorter 24” scale.
Pickups, meanwhile, are May’s Tri-Sonic single coils, with the same switching system found on the Red Special, consisting of six black DPDT switches that engage each pickup individually as well as provided dedicated phase reversal.
Other features include Grover 406 Series Mini Locking Rotomatic tuners, a "stagger-drilled" solid steel sustain block and chrome hardware.
The Arielle will be released on March 28. For more information, head to Brian May Guitars.
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