All Of His Own A-Chord!

Inspired by Queen legend Brian May, Collegiate pupil Sam G has made his very own electric guitar.

May famously crafted his Red Special from an old Victorian fireplace, whilst Sam’s solo effort, based on the classic Flying V model, was made entirely from a wood stock in his grandfather’s workshop.

The instrument took 18 months for the 18-year-old to fashion, including hours of painstaking sanding at his home in Stoke Gifford.

The effort was worth it, though, and Year 13 pupil Sam can now say that he has his very own creation to rival that of his musical hero.

“Brian May was a huge inspiration for this project,” said Sam. “I grew up listening to Queen music, thanks to my dad, Robert, and last year I played lead piano in the band that provided the live soundtrack to our school production of We Will Rock You which is, of course, based around Queen’s music and May’s iconic guitar sounds.

“I saw the wood just lying around at my grandfather Ray’s house in Essex and we got to work, firstly by dividing it into three pieces with which to make the V shape. The electric components were bought online, but we ended up having to take them apart and totally rebuild them. My school friend, Miles, also helped by 3D-printing a tool that helped with the manufacturing process.”

As well as Queen, Sam loves listening to – and playing – songs by Metallica, Linkin Park, Aerosmith, and Pink Floyd, listing his other influences as Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits, Slash of Guns ‘n’ Roses and the late Randy Rhoads of Quiet Riot, who also had a Flying V guitar. His favourite song to play is the Metallica staple Master of Puppets.

Sam joined Collegiate School, in Bristol, in Year 7 but just one year later his cohort was locked down due to COVID. To pass the time, Sam decided to teach himself how to play piano.

“I’d had a couple of guitar lessons on a classical Spanish guitar but didn’t really like it, then I decided to search up how to play piano on YouTube. I found lots of videos and basically taught myself to play.”

At the time of writing, Sam is about to take his Grade 8 piano exams and, during his time at the school, has won the Collegiate’s Got Talent contest, travelled to Normandy in France for an inter-school concert and played with the school band - The Collegiate Collective - at the stunning venue of the Clifton Observatory and starred in the school’s regular Live Lounge events.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without the band and my friends and our Head of Music Mrs Williams. One day, it is my dream to share my music on stage to millions of people, whether that be guitar, piano, or even both!”