When you change the flux you get an EMF generated in the coil, which effectively makes a current, and that’s what you amplify to make the guitar electrified. SB: We’ve spoken about this before, but please remind us of how you approached their design and constructionīM: I figured out that the principle behind a pickup must be that you have a coil or wire around some magnets that create a magnetic field and when the string vibrates within that magnetic field it causes a change in the flux that links the coil, as a physicist would describe it. Pic (c) Pete Malandrone/Queen Productions They were, of course, original features of the guitar and they did work really well. Looking at them, it reminds me of a lot of stuff.

But it’s great that Pete found them and here they are, which makes me very happy. Simon Bradley: It must feel strange having the pickups back in your hands again…īrian May: Yeah, I was worried that we couldn’t find them: it was one of those things that eats away at you in odd moments. The interview was conducted by Simon Bradley in October 2017 Part of the following interview forms sections of the feature published in TGM and we’re grateful to them for allowing us to publish this content in full. As part of an interview with Brian May that was published in the UK by The Guitar Magazine on 1 st December 2017, one that first announced to the world that the Red Special’s original pickups had been found, we asked him to talk – in hitherto unrivalled depth – about the pickups, their design and what ultimately led them to be replaced by the now iconic trio of Burns Tri-Sonic single coils.

Odd guitar pickups