Brian May Guitars BMG Special Art Series- Frank

Product Description

Marking the launch of BMG’s brand new BMG Art Series range, this exclusive, limited edition guitar celebrates Queen’s 1977 masterpiece, “News Of The World” with a stunning original image of Frank, the child-like robot with murderous tendencies from the classic album’s cover, his piercing, red eyes staring ominously from an all-black, Special style instrument, with matching black hardware.

The result of a unique collaboration between Sir Brian May, his long-standing guitar tech Pete Malandrone, and House Music, the best-selling BMG Special combines the distinctive aesthetics and sound of the legendary Red Special with a wealth of modern appointments and superb quality, production-line craftsmanship.

All the foundations of the trademark BM sound are present and correct, with construction, pickups and electronics faithfully reproducing the original’s unique character and tonal versatility. But this is so much more than just a replica… With a price-tag and a range of new colours driven by Brian’s concept of a guitar “for the people”, the Special is designed to provide modern players of all musical persuasions with an affordable pro-grade instrument that is the perfect go-to guitar for any performance environment.

ACOUSTIC CHAMBERED MAHOGANY BODY
The double cutaway mahogany body shape features an acoustic chamber modelled on Brian’s original design that enhances the Special’s natural resonance and decreases weight.

24″ SCALE MAHOGANY NECK
Engineered with a decidedly contemporary feel, and considerably less deeply contoured than the somewhat gargantuan proportions of the iconic original, the glued-in mahogany neck sports a generous 45mm nut width, comfortably spacious “D” profile, and wonderfully smooth 24 fret ebony fingerboard.

TRI-SONIC STYLE PICKUPS
Modern replicas of the vintage ’60s Burns design units that are so fundamental to the Red Special’s powerful sonic character, the three series-wired, single-coil pickups feature the same retro-styling and magnet alignment as the originals.

ORIGINAL BM SWITCHING SYSTEM
As per the original BM design, it is equipped with six white-capped slider switches controlling individual pickup on/off and phase reversal, providing a vast range of tonal variations.

WILKINSON KNIFE-EDGE TREMOLO
Trevor Wilkinson’s “Wave” tremolo-bridge provides a striking modern look to the BMG Special as well as smooth, comfortable performance with exceptional stability and sustain.

LOCKING TUNERS
The distinctive BM style headstock sports 3-a-side locking tuners with an 18:1 gear ratio for precise tuning and a thumbwheel locking mechanism that clamps the string securely. These superb quality machine heads allow for quick and easy string change with fewer string wraps and will maintain rock-solid tuning stability and more accurate return-to-pitch, even with lots of vibrato and string bends.

BODY Acoustic chambered mahogany with mahogany top
FINISH Gloss polyurethane
BINDING 6-ply pinstripe, front and back
NECK 1-piece mahogany
NECK JOIN Set neck construction
TRUSS ROD Dual action / 440mm
FINGERBOARD Coromandel ebony
FRETS 24 x medium jumbo 18% nickel/silver vintage size frets + zero fret
FRET WIRE Crown Height: 0.914mm (0.036″) / Crown Width: 2.7mm (0.106″) / Radius: 230mm (9.0″)
INLAYS BM pattern white front + side dots (Φ 6mm / Φ 1.5mm)
STRING GUIDE PPS (45mm x 6mm)
PICKUPS 3 x BM brand custom Tri-Sonic style series wired single coil pickups
SWITCHES White slider switches – 3 x pickup on/off / 3 x pickup phase in/out
CONTROLS Master volume / Master Tone (A500K / B500K) with BM replica aluminium control knobs
BRIDGE Wilkinson WVP 2-point, knife edge tremolo (36mm block) with brass saddles
TREMOLO ARM Custom BMG arm with plastic tip
MACHINEHEADS 3-a-side chrome thumbwheel locking tuners with 18:1 gear ratio
PICKGUARDS Plastic main control plate and half-moon tail plate with matching truss rod cover, black tremolo cavity cover
OVERALL LENGTH 98.8cm (38.9″)
BODY LENGTH 40.63cm (16″)
BODY WIDTH 35.67cm (14″)
BODY DEPTH 40mm (1.57″)
WEIGHT Approx. 3.2kg (7lb)
SCALE 610mm (24″)
FINGERBOARD RADIUS 250mm (9.8″)
NECK WIDTH AT NUT 45mm (1.77″)
NECK WIDTH AT 12TH FRET 53mm (2.09″)
NECK WIDTH AT 24TH FRET 57mm (2.24″)
NECK DEPTH AT 1ST FRET 22mm (0.87″)
NECK DEPTH AT 12TH FRET 24mm (0.94″)
STRING SPACING AT NUT 36mm (1.42″)
STRING SPACING AT 12TH FRET 45mm (1.77″)
STRING SPACING AT BRIDGE 54mm (2.13″)
STRINGS D’Addario EXL120 Nickel Wound Super Light – Plain Steel .009 – .011 – .016 / Wound .024 – .032 – .042
INCLUDED GIG BAG Premium quality BMG gig bag with twin shoulder straps, side/front grab handles, dual zipped front pockets and stitched logo
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN World Musical Instruments Co. Ltd., South Korea