19th December 2025:
Kazutaka Ijuin has sent me photos of the latest ‘final prototype’ Astronaut guitars which he and his skilled team have recently completed at Kz Guitar Works in Japan.
- New Guinea Rosewood model: this guitar uses New Guinea Rosewood in the body and the back of neck, plus a Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard.
2. Mahogany model: this version of the Astronaut guitar uses Honduras Mahogany in the body and back of the neck, plus an Ebony fingerboard
In January 2026 the Astronaut guitars will be a part of the Kz Guitar Works stand at the USA NAMM trade show.
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16th December 2025:
Kazutaka ijuin sent this photo to me last Friday which shows one of the new Astronaut guitars which he and his skilled team at Kz Guitar works have just completed. Kazutaka said that he will have more photos later this week.
This particular guitar is made from New Guinea Rosewood in its body and neck, and has a Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard. Kazutaka used some of the New Guinea Rosewood that we selected when he visited Sydney in June this year. Lovely work Kazu-san! 
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20th November 2025:
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16th November 2025:
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7th November 2025:
Update re final prototypes of the Astronaut guitar:
Kazutaka Ijiun has sent me these photos of one of the final prototype Astronaut guitars being manufactured by the skilled luthiers at Kz Guitar Works in Japan.
The guitar below is being made from New Guinea Rosewood, and is using some of the New Guinea Rosewood veneer and solid New Guinea Rosewood timber that Kazutaka, Daizo Tokuda and I selected in Sydney during their visit in June this year 😊
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10th October 2025:
First draft version artwork of the Astronaut guitar sticker and sleeve embroidered patch. Bit like the sleeve patches you see on real Astronauts!😊
Thanks to Luke Holwerda for the great artwork!
And there’s a possibility of producing jackets like the artwork mockup version 😍
251010 Astronaut jacket mockup by Luke Holwerda
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8th October 2025:
Please note: for all Astronaut guitar sales and enquiries please contact Kazutaka Ijuin at:
Kz Guitar Works 3-1-6, Sakurayama, Zushi, Kanagawa, 249-0005 JAPAN
Tel: +81 (0) 46-801-3150 Email: info@kzguitarworks.com
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Astronaut guitar concept, development and name:
Concept and development:
‘Astronaut’ is my version of the Brian May Red Special guitar redrawn and re-imagined in Fender® scale length and with placement of items such as knobs selector switch etc to suit Fender Stratocaster® players.
** For the reasons why I thought it was worthwhile to design this new version of the Red Special guitar please see:
https://fryerguitars.com/why-did-i-design-the-astronaut-guitar-short-answer/
The concept and development:
“Imagine that Leo Fender and Brian May got together to design a guitar”. With the Astronaut guitar I have drawn heavily upon inspiration from these two giants of guitar design.
In particular I have tried to design the Astronaut guitar so that when a guitarist is using a guitar strap, the instrument feels very similar to how a Fender Stratocaster® feels to play. This is regarding the neck shape, and the neck to body balance on the player when the guitar is worn with a strap – and also how far out from the guitar body the position of the nut (or zero fret position) and headstock is.
So for example, when the guitarist strikes a big A chord, my objective has been to make the Astronaut feel as if the guitarist was playing a Stratocaster®
The origins of the concept in 1998 and beginning of making prototypes 2023
And why is the guitar named ‘Astronaut’?:
My answer to this question is usually ‘it has to be called something’ ……maybe ‘Son of George Burns’ is better?? 🙂
Brian and George Burns at Rio 2008
For me though, there is a dual connection in the name – both guitar related and also sailing related.
- Guitar connection:
In March 1996 I bought a second hand 1993 Guild BHM Red Special guitar and shortly after that, I wrote to Brian May about my proposed Red Special building project. Notes I made at the time show that I was beginning to think of an Astronaut style concept back then.
In 1996-97 I built the the 3 Red Special replica guitars ‘John’, ‘Paul’ and ‘George Burns’ for Brian May, and during 1998 completed the restoration of Brian’s original Red Special guitar at his London Allerton Hill studio.
It was in early 1998 while I was at Brian’s Allerton Hill studio that the Astronaut guitar concept properly formed in my mind.
Allerton Hill studio July 1998: me noodling away on Mark Reynolds’ guitar with Deacy Amp in foreground
George Burns at Allerton Hill July 1998
After I returned to Australia in August 1998 I began thinking more about the idea, but unfortunately was too busy with the Brian May related work to take it any further until later.
This BM-related work included the development and making of the Brian May/Fryer Treble Boosters and other pedals, Deacy Amp research prototypes and amps, Vox AC30 custom builds for Brian’s own use and for the WWRY shows worldwide, and development of the Brian May Super guitar which was made by Kz Guitar Works in Japan.
Guitarist 1998 cover Brian and George Burns
Fryer Red Specials Guitarist July 1998: Paul, George and John
In 2005-2007 I began drawing up various body and neck designs for the new guitar. At this time I visited Brian May twice in England – in November 2005 and again in March 2007. During the 2007 visit I presented the ‘Brian May Super’ guitar concept to Brian and discussed the project with him. This guitar was the mid-priced version of Brian’s Red Special guitar which was soon after produced in Japan by Kz Guitar Works.
At this time Brian was very busy completing his PhD in Astrophysics, and he kindly put aside time to discuss the proposed BM Super guitar with myself and then with several other ‘partners’ in the project. Brian liked the idea and gave it the OK.
Following these meetings, in June 2007 Barry Moorhouse (from BMG Guitars London) flew to Australia to kick off the Brian May Super guitar project with myself, Kazutaka Ijuin and Daizo Tokuda.
June 2007: Barry Moorhouse, Greg Fryer, Kazutaka Ijuin at Brookvale Sydney
One evening over dinner I spoke to Barry about my ‘Astronaut’ Fender® scale guitar concept, although I think he may have had a lot on his BMG plate and did not seem to grasp its potential. My intention was to take a prototype (after one was completed) to show Brian, with the view of including the guitar in our range of ‘Brian May/Fryer’ products pending Brian’s approval.
During this time I was thinking of names for my new Fender® scale BM guitar, and the first idea that I liked was ‘Astro Star’ which was obviously borrowing on the Astrophysics/Astronomy connection.
I wrote the name on one of my cardboard body shape drawings and propped it up against the wall of my workshop, and looked at it for a long time. The name was OK sounding but slightly awkward to me, however I couldn’t think of a better name and stuck with Astro Star for a few years.
In 2012 I was doing more design work on the guitar when Neil Armstrong died, and almost immediately it occurred to me that the guitar should be named Astronaut.
This name also gave a personal link to my sailing activities – my first VJ boat in 1971 was originally called ‘Astronaut’! (details below)
Immediately I very happy with the new name because of the dual connection, and I drew up a rough promo poster sketch featuring a doctored image of the famous moon walk photo taken by Neil Armstrong of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon in 1969. My facetious promo idea featured Buzz carrying an Astronaut guitar in his left hand, with of course the slogan ‘Houston we do not have problem…..’ 🙂
My Astronaut promo sketch
In late August 2014 during the Queen + Adam Lambert Australian tour I visited Brian May in Sydney and showed him the Astronaut drawings.
25th August 2014 Sharon and Greg on the way to visit Brian at his hotel at Circular Quay Sydney
The drawings also showed comparisons to Red Special, Strat® Tele® and Les Paul® body shapes, and we discussed the new guitar concept.
** Drawing coming soon **
Brian was very interested in what I had designed and in why I had developed the new guitar. He liked the way I had taken the nucleus of what he and his dad Harold had designed in the 1960s, and had changed and presented it in a way that was appealing to Fender® players.
We chatted for some time about the possibilities of such a guitar, including having versions with different scale lengths (such as Gibson), and different styles of pickups such as Gretsch® Filtertrons, Gibson® humbuckers and the Strat® style humbucking pickups that Frank Rohles used on his ‘Pearly’.
Brian asked me if I was going to bring one of the new guitars over to show him. Crossing my fingers behind my back (because I did not have the money to travel to the UK), I said ‘Yes of course’.
After that time life got extremely ‘busy’ for me in many ways, and unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to finish the design work until later.
Early in 2023 I was unfortunately preparing to scrap this guitar idea and walk away from it and the guitar business completely, and I discussed selling my business with a few people including with my friends Kazutaka Ijuin and Daizo Tokuda from Kz Guitar Works in Japan.
Sadly I thought this new guitar would never see the light of day… but during discussions with Kazutaka and Daizo, they remembered the Astronaut guitar from emails in 2007 and later. They said they thought it held great potential and suggested doing a collaboration to take it further.
5th June 2025 Greg and Kazutaka with two Astronaut prototypes
- Sailing connection with the name Astronaut:
Recently on Facebook my friend Mark Stevens asked me about the guitar’s name ‘Astronaut’ and whether there was a connection with my first sailing boat. He guessed it correctly, and with good reason because Mark Stevens was a previous owner of the VJ Astron several years before my dad Bryan bought the boat in 1971 for me to learn to skipper.
Background: the VJ (or Vaucluse Junior) is an Australian class of sailing dinghy which I have been sailing since I was 13.
In the 1960s amateur boatbuilder Keith Smith (who was then a top VJ skipper) built 4 boats at his home at Speers Point near Newcastle NSW. Keith would build a boat, sail it competitively for a couple of years, sell it and then build the next. He named all 4 VJs ‘Astronaut’.
My boat was the second of the series and was renamed Astron when Keith Smith sold it in around 1966.
Astron launching at CRSC in January 1973
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8th September 2025:
Please see the video that Kazutaka Ijuin has posted on the Kz Guitar Works YouTube Channel. When Kazutaka and Daizo visited in early June 2025 and we recorded GoPro videos of my first impressions of the new guitars. I had not played guitar in nearly a year, so these were really ‘first impressions’ for me in many ways!
Not having played for so long made me feel apprehensive, especially playing the longer Fender® scale, and my fingers felt stiff and the finger tips were soft. But to my great delight, the guitars felt and played beautifully and immediately I felt ‘at home’ on them. Strings were easy to bend with the flatter 12″ radius fingerboard and the 6150 Dunlop medium-high fretwire. The guitars are an absolute joy to play in so many ways, and they also sound fantastic.
In the video I explain why I began to think in 1998 about redesigning Brian May’s Red Special guitar especially for Fender® players, and what I wanted in the guitar.
11th June 2025:
It was great to have Kazutaka Ijuin and Daizo Tokuda here in Sydney last week, and it was a very productive and enjoyable time planning the new guitar production models, and after work we discussed many things over a nice meal and a few beers
Some people may remember the Brian May Super guitar project which I first discussed with Brian in March 2007. Brian liked the concept of a ‘mid priced Brian May Red Special guitar’, and after prototypes were made the project went ahead in 2008. We had a very good working relationship with Kazutaka who produced the superb quality BM Super guitars in Japan from 2007 til around 2010.
Last Tuesday Kazutaka and Daizo arrived to discuss the new prototype guitars. The guitars play like a dream and feel like a great old worn-in Fender® Strat® – this has been one of my objectives in the design. Astronaut uses the Fender® 25.5″ scale length and has 22 frets.
The Astronaut neck is same depth and shape as the neck on Ian Moss’ guitar which I made in 1989. This neck is slightly wider than vintage late 50s/early 60s Strats® being a 1/16″ wider all the way down the neck and with a flatter radius fingerboard than vintage 7.25″.
During the years that I made bespoke handmade instruments, the ‘Ian Moss’ neck dimensions became one of the most popular necks for my custom made Strats®. To me it feels perfect for the Astronaut guitar.
Width of neck at nut: 1 11/16″
Width of neck at 22nd fret: 2 1/4″
Fingerboard radius: 12″
Fretwire: 6150 Jim Dunlop medium-high
Ian Moss with 1989 Fryer white guitar
.After discussions and assessment, we have decided on some minor revisions and are hoping that final prototypes will be completed by September/October 2025.
We are aiming to produce videos soundfiles and more photos over the next few months.
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26th March 2025:
Son of George Burns? Astronaut at left, Red Special at right
Holy f-holes Batman! 😉
2 Astronaut prototypes
2 Astronaut prototypes
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2nd February 2024:
Been a real trip the last few days dragging out my 1996 Brian May Red Special replica plans to assist with final drawings (scratchplate and layout) of my ‘Astronaut’ Red Special guitar project. ‘Astronaut’ is my version of the Red Special guitar redrawn and re-imagined in Fender scale length.
This is a guitar concept that I first properly envisaged back at Brian’s studio Allerton Hill in 1998. I began the drawings around 2005, spoke to Barry Moorhouse about the concept in 2007 here in Sydney (but unfortunately he didn’t seem interested), in August 2014 during the Queen + AL Australian tour I showed Brian the mid stage drawings with comparisons to Red Special Strat Tele Les Paul body shapes, and little by little every year or two I have come back to the drawings to refine the overall body shape and concept.
Early last year I was preparing to scrap this guitar idea and walk away from it and other things, and sadly I thought this was a guitar which would never see the light of day (because I have not been making guitars since 1997) ….. until I mentioned it again to my friends Daizo and Kazutaka from Kz Guitar Works in Japan who I had earlier around 2018 spoken to about the concept. They remembered it and thought that now was a good time to make prototypes and develop the guitar’s potential.
On Facebook yesterday a friend asked me about the name ‘Astronaut’. My answer to Mark Stevens was that yes there is a connection to my first VJ’s name (the VJ is an Australian class of sailing dinghy which I have been sailing since I was 13). Around 2005-07 because I was doing a whole lot of stuff for Brian such as building his AC30s, treble boosters, WWRY pedals and AC30s, kicking of the Brian May Super guitar project (with Kazutaka Ijuin making them in Japan), developing other Brian May/Fryer pedals etc, I searched around for a name for my redesigned Red Special which somehow also fitted in with stuff Brian was interested in. I wanted a connection in the guitar’s name. As you’d know, Brian was full on into his PhD in Astrophysics around that time, so the first name idea that came to me was ‘Astro Star’. Which was OK but a little clunky sounding. Then I was doing more design work on the guitar in 2012 when Neil Armstrong died, and straight away it occurred to me that the guitar should be named Astronaut. The link to my first VJ Astron – which as you mention was the first Keith Smith built Astronaut, was obvious! I was very happy with the new name because of the dual connection, and immediately drew up a promo poster featuring a doctored image of the famous moon walk photo taken by Neil Armstrong of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon – featuring Buzz carrying an Astronaut guitar in his left hand of course with the slogan ‘Houston we do not have problem…..’ 
By the way as many people would know, my 1996 plans were what I made the replicas for Brian from, a few photos below of those guitars 
240131 Astronaut and Red Special 1996 plans
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Fryer Guitars 
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