Few guitarists have had greater impact on rock than Brian May and Eddie Van Halen. And at the core of the guitar tones of these giants of rock are two very special instruments: May’s Red Special and Van Halen’s Frankenstrat. The former is perhaps the ultimate home-built instrument. While today, aspiring luthiers choose from countless off-the-shelf guitar bodies, necks and hardware for their self-builds, Brian and his father had no such options – the Red Special was hewn out of wood and metal the resourceful pair had at home. Only the pickups and machine heads were bought in. Eddie Van Halen took a different approach, preferring to refine established Gibson and Fender ideas before fine-tuning his hybrid creation to arrive at his own special design.