Queen guitarist Brian May has gifted Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi a left-handed model of his Red Special replica that merges elements of the two guitarist's custom guitars.
Built by master builder Andrew Guyton, the electric guitar was placed in Iommi’s hands last week, which led to his celebratory Instagram post over the weekend.
“Huge thanks to my best friend @brianmayforreal and master builder Andrew Guyton @guyton_guitars for this incredible left-handed Red Special replica,” Iommi wrote on Instagram. “Andrew personally delivered it last week — a true gift from Brian, two years in the making. Christmas came early! 🎸🎄 - Tony
“Andrew said ‘It’s built with the exact vintage construction of Brian May’s original Red Special, but shaped to match Tony’s iconic Jaydee Old Boy neck. Features a built-in treble booster and authentic vintage-style pots and pickups to replicate the classic tone.’”
The original Red Special was built by May and his father in the early 1960s and became a key part of Queen’s sound and identity.
In creating Iommi’s guitar, Guyton carefully matched the neck profile of Iommi’s Jaydee Old Boy electric, the custom guitar built between 1975 and 1978 by John Diggins, the founder of JayDee Custom Guitars as a successor to Iommi’s original Gibson “Monkey” and black John Birch SG. The Monkey was itself a heavily modified Gibson SG Special that defined the sound of the early Black Sabbath albums, which in turn became a hallmark of the heavy metal genre.
Iommi and May’s friendship goes back decades and began out of mutual respect — Iommi has been a fan of May’s guitar sound, and May has rightfully recognized Iommi as the father of heavy metal. May has called Iommi his "dearest friend in the business,” while Iommi has dubbed May a "rock god.”
Although the duo have never released an album together, Iommi appeared at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert to perform on "I Want It All" and "Stone Cold Crazy,” while May has played on Iommi’s self-titled 2000 solo album.
