As headless guitars continue to rise in popularity, one creative luthier's Red Special-inspired take has been dividing opinion online.
Though avant-garde virtuosos like Allan Holdsworth and Eddie Van Halen were early supporters of sans-headstock axes, it took a later generation of players, with Plini at its head, to help the tradition-skewing guitar get its big break.
As such, Brad McDowall's Brian May tribute headless guitar has been turning heads on social media. Comments on his post unveiling the guitar, which tips its (headless) hat to the Queen guitarist's iconic homemade six-string range from “felony” to “need.”
The Instagram post has gained some fun traction, with the headless build following a more like-for-like recreation.
“Finished my newest creation,” his post reads. “My Red Special now has a little brother.”
Granted, the inclusion of an F-hole in the guitar is a little surprising, but otherwise, this writer think it works pretty well. McDowall seems to have brought in a little of Strandberg's semi-hollow Salen Jazz model, which helps convert May's funky body shape of choice into the headless realm, and might explain the F-hole.
Yet, more broadly, the jury is out. One commenter says it's the “first headless guitar I’ve seen that I really like,” while another begs for a seven-string multi-scale model. Then there's one person quoting Dr. Ian Malcolm’s immortal line from Jurassic Park: “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.”
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The guitar looks to feature Guyton/OEM Series parts, designed to help guitarists build their own Red Specials, as well as Guyker parts.
It's the third Red Special-like guitar made recently. First, May had a special left-handed model made for his friend, Tony Iommi, then there was Steve Vai's heavily personalized take on the recipe. Choice changes had to be made after he said he was like “a giraffe on roller skates” while playing the real thing.
This headless edition completes an unlikely trilogy of Red Special tributes. But it's a crying shame we can't see and hear the guitar in action.
In related news, Brian May has explained what happened when he played through Iommi's rig once, and Ola Strandberg has a fascinating prediction for the evolution of headless guitar designs.
