1st Burns guitar help?

[dusty fretz]

The newly published Burns 2010 catalogue shows the Marquee Pro as part of the Club series, along with its other Marquee mates, Shadow Special, Shadow, Drifter LG50, Barracuda, Bison 62, Bison 64, Bison bass, Cobra, Steers and Double Six. The Custom Elite section comprises the following models: Double Six Apache Special, Sonic, Marvin 1964, Dream noiseless limited edition, Apache Special Noiseless limited edition and Shadows Bass 1964.

[Bojan]

Oh, OK . . . I read you loud and clear Nick (and I also envy you ), although I agree that "elite" is obviously misleading.

But all the same, I have Barry's newest catalogue, which he sent me a few days ago, and on page 3 there is a picture of a red and black Marquee Pro and it is listed under "Club Series" (there are no "Custom" series guitars at all). The "Custom Elite" series include the Marvin, the Double Six Apache, the Dream (which is a stunningly beautiful guitar!!), the new Apache noiseless, the Sonic, and the Shadows Bass . . . So I am still puzzled which Custom Elite Burns guitar costs £550 . . .

[Bojan]

I just realized that dusty said the same thing . . .

[Nick Allan]

Hi Bojan,

I know that Barry is not encouraging sales of "custom" guitars, because he told me they do not make money - no doubt because they are not mass produced and are tailored to the individual's requirements to some extent. This view seems to be born out by what you have said about the catalogue not containing reference to any of these, also by Dusty's comment, by implication.

Interested to see that the "Dream" is now a custom elite as well - as you say, a gorgious looking guitar. Ironically that was the model that, as a custom, was quoted to me at £2,500. Great to get it much cheaper as an "Elite", because, as I have said elsewhere, I cannot tell any difference between the "Elite" model Apache and the custom version in terms of quality, whereas there is a noticeable difference when you go down to the club range.

Get yourself a "dream" and I will be the envious one !

All the best,

NIck

[sgstandard]

I recently bought 2 Hank Marvin Signatures. The Shadows White "Marvin 1964" is pretty faithful to the original, with Van Ghent tuners, rosewood fingerboard, etc. The same model in Fiesta Red has a maple fingerboard, straplocks, Sperzel locking tuners, etc. They sound VERY different, with the Fiesta red one sounding livelier. The Rez-O-Tube vibrato is HEAVENLY on both, but more responsive on the red one. It's a unique, shimmering sound, that sounds kinda Hawaiian. Strumming gives you a very warm, acoustic sound. Individual notes have great clarity, especially with the maple fingerboard. The notes are bright and musical, without being piercing. Either guitar will encourage you to use little or no gain, although, with proper EQ, it's certainly OK. Each guitar was around US$1,200 (shipped across the pond)- not bad for such an exotic beauty. I'll post some pics later, but according to Barry Gibson, these new red ones have an anomaly. My neck backplate should say "Marvin - 1964", but instead, it's white, with the Shadow's silhouettes, and it says, "The Shadows". It's the same logo that's on the vibrato plate on the Legend Custom Deluxe. These were made in error. But trust me, I'm not sending mine back!! My only gripe is that they removed the thin slab of wood at the bottom of the neck pocket, making it more Strat-like. No big deal, but it sure looked better before. Buy one of these - you will never regret it - If you buy the Club Series Shadow, you'll probably always wish you had waited and gotten the Marvin. Life is very short.