Brian May>Richard Thompson
I don't remember the details but I think that was an award from Gibson when he was in Nashville for the Americana Music Festival a few years ago.
He did used to play a goldtop LP with P90s for about 15 minutes while he was in Fairport Convention, but that didn't last long.
He's also played telecasters and the Ferrington with the tele/strat/P90 pickup configuration.
I miss the Ferringtons. No tone knobs and no pickup selector switch, but each pickup had its own volume knob. Those guitars sounded incredible.
Fireworks start at 5:37...
Only Hendrix is higher on the list.
Yes. Middle pickup win.
My experience of his shows during the 90s is that it was the period where he was playing the most angular, deconstructed, outer space stuff. Some nights were breathtaking.
Brian May>Richard Thompson
Naaaah.
Yeah, but you don't even like May. I think their both stellar players, I just like the vocals from one far more than the other. As I've said before, if I don't like your singing and you do vocal music, I'm out. All the guitar I've heard from Richard is great. He's a top player with a excellent playing voice...if he'd just keep his mouth shut we'd all be better off.
I think Brian May's relevancy and veneration is largely due to the death of Freddie Mercury, which shot them back into the spotlight and public consciousness. That's not to say that he hasn't written some classic riffs or didn't have great tone, but we all know who the star was in that band and anyone that says otherwise is engaging in historical revisionism.
To be fair, Brian May is not a great singer either.
Brian May contributed some pretty terrific rhythm guitar, but his leads never blew me away, even if there were a couple of iconic ones. They were dramatic and suited the songs, but they were mostly adequate. Nothing too imaginative, nothing that makes you stand up or hold your breath. And his lead tone was thin and shrill.
Anyway, I know that he was brought up by tompetty, and I don't doubt that it makes perfect sense to him, but this discussion has been specific to strat players from the get-go.
I mean, May used Strat pickups from some British knock off (Burns) on his guitar, so maybe that's the thread connection?
Oh, and you need a thin and shrill tone when you're going to quadruple track it every. damn. time.