Nelsonic May Queen Atomic Series

This guitar looks alot like the original Brian May guitar in that Nelsonic did not spend alot of time on the details. This thing was probably made out of a piece of firewood.

This guitar has some generic pickups and sounds pretty crappy. Don't expect to get that Brian May tone from this thing.

This guitar is quite nice to look at. No complaint there. However, this guitar rates lower than any other guitar I ever played as far as playability.

Considering that I immediately put it back in the box for return, I can't say much about the reliability or durability of this guitar.

They are a rip off! No customer support whatsoever. They did not return phone calls or reply to my letters. I eventually had to report them to the BBB of Milwakee, still to no avail.

In the end, you might put this guitar in you Queen museum on a wax dummy of Brian May, otherwise you should go get yourself that Brian May pedal if you want to get that Brian May tone.

This is an update to my previous review...

I purchased recently another Nelsonic Queen Brian May copy, to replace the previous one that I sold for some dumb reason. This one is better! Apart from the usual nut problems noted by myself and other reviewers, and a little fret overhang on the treble side, this axe is terrific.

This one came from a private seller on ebay, and seemed to be in new, unplayed condition.

I immediately got to work carving out a space for a full-size Yamaha humbucker (just something out of my junk box) at the bridge pickup position. Man, does this beek up the sound of this axe. Using the bridge-side edge of the original pickup cavity as the guide is was able to mount the hum close to the bridge, which produces a neato bite with super-cool overtones/harmonics. This is still a punchy, open-sounding guitar, versatile, too.

see my previous review. A PRS dragon it ain't, but its an absolute killer for two C's.

A solid hunk of wood, indeed

Can't beat this puppy with a stick!

Nelsonic no longer shows this model on their website, so I'm not too sure of their current availability; ebay's the better bet for tracking one down, which I'm sure to do eventually.

First off, Nelsonic does NOT make this guitar. They just distribute it with their name on it. Watson guitars marketed the same guitar in a very limited run 2 years ago before the burns came around and had a street list of $1000. The company could not keep up with the orders (I know first hand) and it disappeared into obscurity. The body and neck are indeed honduran mahogany. Some of the warly ones of these were Japan-made and then they seemed to shift to Korea. The 5-way switch does limit the guitar but it's a very stable instrument. They managed to get the pickguard right though. With regards to the Burns model vs. this guitar, I've noticed that people have compared the Burns and claimed it to be superior. I, frankly, am shocked. The neck profile on the Burns is completely wrong, the laquer makes it feel like a toy, and they mounted the pickups to the pickguard which completely defeats the purpose of the chambered body (not to mention the black switches which are wrong). I just think that for $1000 (now $800) that the guitar was totally half-assed. Then you look and play this thing for $340 and it's a whole lot of guitar. If you don't like the sound, mod it. I did. The finish quality is excellent and with replaced, correctly-mounted pickups it has beautiful tone. I've cut a new pickguard for mine, used the correct 6 white switchcraft switches (requires routing), Omeg 220k pots, Duncan Brian May pickups (like their flavor better, personal preference, also requires routing)and a Les Trem which I purchaced from Stew Mac. Anyone wishing to get the template for the "trem cover" which sits under the tailpiece, email me and I'll provide a template.

Tonally, the guitar is not bad. The pickups are NOT Chinese as someone has mentioned and are not that bad. For an easy out, contact Dimarzio and get a DP206/DP206N pickups set for about $90 (These are the Dimarzio Brian May signature pickups which they've been making since the 80's and never stopped making)

Finish is excellent, couldn't be happier. The have a tendancy to NOT cut the grooves in the nut low enough so they don't make contact with the zero fret. Every one of these I've worked on (Watson/Nelsonic) have this problem, so just get the small exacto-knife saw blade and groove it deeper without scoring the fret.After I re-setup the guitar, the action was low and easily playable.

I have never been let down by this guitar. It is my number one gig guitar because of it's tone and reliablity and because of it's cost, I'm not afraid to take it anywhere. Don't get me wrong, I'd be VERY UPSET if it ever went missing!!!

Fast email responses, but because they don't build the guitar - just distribute it, they know little beyond the description on the website.

Granted, I've made lot's of mods on my guitar, but I never was much for an off-the-rack setup anyway. I believe in a guitar's potential, not it's shortcomings. Anyone who wants to see what can become of this guitar, go to "members.aol.com/bm20147/body.jpg"

New instrument, purchased through Ebay. Inexpensive (no doubt Korean-made, very similar to Cort products in most respects) copy of the Burns Brian May signature model. Solid 3-piece mahogany body w/ mahogany veneer top, Cherry red finish, cream one-ply binding. Neck appears to be one piece mahogany (rare on an import--most have spliced-on headstocks), nice rosewood board, dot inlays, Grover mini machines. Scale length is 24.75". Electronics include 3 single-coil pickups, 5-position switch, one volume, one tone control. Tune-o-matic style bridge and bar tailpiece. 3-ply black pickguard.

This instrument is very similar to the Burns model at first blush, but many distinct features are apparent after looking it over. The neck is much wider and shallower, with less radius to the fretboard on this model--more set-up for the metal player perhaps. The pickups are pretty standard Strat-types, but servicable, and use a standard strat-type switch instead of the 6 switches on the Burns. The body seems to be solid, while the Burns is chambered. Interestingly, the routing for the pickups is the old-fashioned 3-cavity design, unlike the usual modern shortcut method or routing a "swimming pool" under the pickguard. Obviously, this one lacks the trem, but do all guitars have to have trems?

I play Rock, blues, and some jazz/fusion. This guitar does the job. The stock pickups are bright and snappy one at a time, and little warmer (hum-cancelling) in the in-between positions on the 5-way. However, I immediately removed the bridge pickup and replaced it with a Seymour Duncan 'lil 59, and boy does it KICK. It has a very open, bright tone, with better-than-average sustain. Cranked up, its tone is much heavier than a strat, but with more separation between notes and "ZING" than on your average gibson. The other pickups can produce a decent Stevie Ray tone, ot Rickenbacker-style jangle. Neato.

Here there were a few evident problems.

1. The Grover minis wer installed somewhat askew, off-center. The jig that drilled the positioning peg holes must've been a little out of whack that day. I'll fix that myself later, no sweat.

2. The nut was cut so high that the strings did not touch the zero fret. I tapped it loose, sanded it down a tad, and now its fine.

3. There is some slight bleed-over of the red stain onto the body binding in a few places, but that's no big deal.

4. The last two frets are too far into the body to be of much use.

This guitar may have been a factory second, but I'm not complaining. I got'er cheap, and it is a great axe--even for more money it would be great.

On the plus side:

1. Near-perfect fret installation and neck woods. Didn't need any clean-up. Those Korean manufacturers have got this stuff down cold.

2. Neat neck joint at the heel, and no spiced-on head.

3. Very neat wiring job inside.

4. Action is super-low, w/o buzzing.

5. apart from a little bleed onto the cream binding the cherry finish is near-perfect.

Looks pretty durable to me.

Purchased directly from Nelsonic via ebay. Got prompt, courteous service. We'll see how it goes if I ever need any assistance in the future.

Played and done repair work since the early '70s.

If I lost it I would replace it with another.

Love the sound; not much to hate.

Brian May style body, 24 frets, wide neck, Mahogany neck and body, 3 strat style pickups, 5 way switching.

I play mostly classic rock and have a Vox AC30 and Marshall JCM800 2x12, for effects I use a Boss delay, a tube screamer and a treble booster. The guitar is very noisy compared to my other guitars, and has very low output pickups that sound rather small. If you want a good tone you`ll have to replace the pickups and pots. I am not very pleased with this as it will defeat my original intention on getting this guitar, more on that below.

Actually this guitar isn`t that bad quality wise, I would say on par with other budget instruments in the $200 price range, setup was good. No major flaws that I could see, and let`s face it for $200 you are NOT going to get BURNS quality.

As far as gigging, I would never use this guitar live, but it makes for a very inexpensive practice guitar for home use.

I got this guitar used, and planned to put Dimarzio Brian May pickups, change the pots etc, etc in it as a low cost alternative to the Burns, I already own the Guild BM, but now you can buy a used Burns Brian May for as little as $500. So when you do the math it would cost me just as much to get this guitar to sound good. This guitar looks pretty good but the pickups, pots, electronics etc, have to go.

Basically this is advertised as a Brian May style guitar, 3 single coils, 5 way switch, mahogany body and set neck. Rosewood fingerboard. Tune o matic bridge and tailpiece Grover tuners, nice touch. No phase switches like a Burns. Made in South Korea 2002? 24 frets.

I wouldn't say it sounds like May's actual guitar because his sound is so much more than the guitar itself. It sounds decent, not sure what the previous review meant by noisy, but my American made strat is much noisier than this guitar (got to do something about that). Overall I'm happy, I'm not a May fanatic, but I always liked the shape of this guitar, so copying someone elses sound doesn't really interest me. I was going to buy the Burns, nice guitar, but it's not worth it to me to spend the extra $700 to try and sound exactly like Brian May.

Wow, this is what is truly amazing, this guitar is perhaps the best setup and flawless guitar I've witnessed right out of the box. The action is perfect, no excessive buzzing, great fit and finish, if it were a car it would be a Honda, this guitar really shines where it counts!

Very solid hunk of wood with quality hardware, I think this guitar will be very dependable, great tuners.

I emailed Nelsonic before ordering them and they answered all of my questions quickly and honestly. When I read the review that said this was a "nato" guitar, the Nelsonic sales rep told me I had a 5 day trial and to take it to a dealer to verify the wood, my trusted dealer showed me a Gibson LP and this guitar had the same wood, yup, it's mahogany, unless Gibson is using nato!! HA!

I would definately replace this guitar if it were hocked. Been playing for almost 20 years and have owned just about everything, it's amazing how much better Korean guitars are now than 10 years ago. For $339.95, I am very happy.

Brian May ripoff. The body style is like Brian`s but nothing else is. Cheap Chinese single coils, Cheap wiring and pots. 24 frets, 5-way. Advertised as Mahogany, but it looks like Nato.

This guitar sounds very weak, and really doesn`t have much tone. It reminds me of a beginers Strat sound.....very thin.

Fit and finish was about what you`d expect in this price range, workmanship was a little sloppy. Frets were unevenly seated, THIS GUITAR IS NOISY!!!!!!!! because of the poor quality pickups. The nut is both poorerly cut and seated.

Well I guess any guitar could last for a while, but I would not gig this guitar, because of the poor sound quality.

If your looking for a Brian May guitar buy the BURNS...I also heard that BURNS is in the process of taking legal action because of the Trademarks owned by Brian May. I`m ashamed now that I bought a copy.
THIS GUITAR GIVES BRIAN MAY AND BURNS A BAD NAME. Shame on you Nelsonic for ripping BRIAN MAY off!!!!!with such a poor product.

This guitar is brand new. I don't know where it was make. It is a solid body with 24 frets, 3 passive single coils with a Strat-style selector switch and a Gibson-style Tune-O-Matic. It features Grover tuners. It is made of Mahogany with a set-neck. I am not sure what the fret board is made of, but it is very nice. It is supposed to be a copy of Brian May's Red Special. The neck is very similar to other models made by Guild and Burns. I have owned both of these. Although it includes a guitar cable, no case is available just yet. Nelson told me that one would be available soon.

I play many styles of music including rock, blues and country. In the studio I play progressive rock. The pickups are pretty weak and appear to be wired in parallel like a Strat. I would rather have and will have series wiring later. I intend to install a set of Burns Tri Sonics.

The finish on the guitar is flawless and very attractive. I have no complaints about fit and finish. The neck is quite wide like Brian May's guitar and all of the copies to date. The one odd thing is that the volume and tone controls are in opposite positions from Brian's guitar and the other copies. Perhaps they will fix this soon.

Everything on the guitar seems well built and solid. I always use a backup so this isn't a real issue.
However, I won't gig with it until I replace the pickups and install a Floyd-Rose(no locking nut needed). A case would be a good thing too.

So far, they have replied to my emails very quickly. Shipping was incredibly fast. I have heard on Harmony Central that they are very fast with customer support. Since my guitar is flawless, I don't know if they are that fast to support it.

This guitar is so inexpensive that I don't mind the modifications to make it just the way I want it. I intend to add Burns Tri Sonics with Brian May's switch setup and a Floyd Rose. I can do that and it will still cost a lot less than the Burns copy. I have the Burns and I love it, but for the difference in cost, I will fix the things that I must.