RED SPECIAL RUNDOWN

Hand-made by Brian and his father in the mid-60s, the Red Special is amongst the most iconic guitars ever made, and the ingenious pickup-switching system the pair designed allows it to produce some unconventional yet instantly recognisable sounds. We asked Simon Bradley, the man who quite literally wrote the book on the Red Special, to tell us how it works and how to dial in some Queen-esque tones equipped only with a Strat or a Les Paul-style guitar.

VOLUME AND TONE POTS

Unusually, the volume pot is set furthest away from the switch array and is one of the secrets to how Brian gets so many different tones from a single boosted Vox