Burns Sonic models ,early 60's

[RayL]

Hi Lionel

As the risk of repeating things that i've written elsewhere on this forum, the guitar in the avatar is truly the Artist that I've been describing. The Bigsby was fitted to the guitar when I bought it in 1963 - the assumption is that when this very early Artist was made, Jim Burns had not actually produed his own design of tremolo (none of the Artist guitars had tremolo) so this must have been a 'special order' and Jim used the only commercially-available solid-body trem, whcih was the Bigsby. There are no other screw holes in the body, so it did not start life with the fixed Burns tailpiece.

The reason for the change in body colour is described in my earlier message and the electronic have been changed many times over the years.

However, the body is still the same unique Artist shape and the wood is a rich red-brown mahogany under the paint. (Paul Day has said that Jim used to salvage old saloon-bar mahogany counters). The neck has the offset contour that only the early guitars had and the machine heads and strap buttons are original (along with the pickups, of course). The frets are a bit worn in places but all 25 are original. Tucked away in a jiffy bag are the original pickup selector with parts of the wiring harness attached, along with the rhythm-solo switch, the original bridge and the special 1/8" jack socket and matching plug. In my 'pots graveyard' box I might even have some of the original pots (if only I knew what they looked like)

Maybe one day I will have the body sprayed cherry-red again and return the guitar to the original condition in which I bought it!

Ray

[Graylion]

Thanks Ray. As you say this may have been a special order ex works but by 1963 it could have had the Bigsby added by an owner who was desperate for a trem. That wouldn't explain the lack of holes from Burns 'hardtail' bridge though. What controls does your have - apart from "a lot" as I can see from the small avatar?
It's odd that only the cherry red seems to have the crazing problem. It was originally semi-translucent and had clear topcoats, which would be the main suspect for crazing, but you would expect the clear coat to have been applied to the whole guitar. The crazing on mine is fairly minimal and I retouched it with Humbrol maroon enamel when I was 16! I had a fair choice of colours from my 1/72nd scale Airfix kits! I also made the mistake of using a spray can of clear "lacqueur" over some of the duller and slightly scratched areas! It was only then I realised that Burns did NOT use cellulose paint on their guitars! All cars and virtually every can of spray paint was cellulose in those days. (Much of it still is so always test first!) It partially "melted" some areas but I managed to polish it out after a month or two when the paint had hardened (6 weeks recommended for cellulose) I knew about spray painting before I played guitar; I was 15 when I sprayed my first car! "What do you mean dad? I thought you wanted it cream." - "No! GREEN you pillock!". Only joking! I did spray it green!
Cheers, Lionel

[RayL]

Lionel,
The cracking/crazing on mine was quite deep - rather like crazy paving, which may look nice on a front garden path but doesn't suit an electric guitar. In The Burns Book, Paul says
Derek Adams
Pioneer of the original, renowned Burns polyester finish, he has of course been involved throughout the Jim Burns saga, and is still in very great demand, from many quarters of the guitar business in this country, for his quality spraying work.

Even pioneers have to start somewhere and I have the feeling that something wasn't quite right in the mix of the cherry-red on the day my Artist was done.

Controls? Funnily enough, you're the second person who's asked me in a couple of days. Rather than doing it from memory as I did for Harry, this is the Authorised Version, done after checking with the circuit diagram.
The basic idea is to offer the three pickups in both series and parallel mode, with phase reversing between pickups and dual-channel output.

Burns Artist controls.jpg (12.01 KiB) Viewed 13408 times

The green switch on the left mutes both channels
The upper socket and volume control are for Ch.2
The lower socket and volume control are for Ch.1
The blue switch (lower row) bypasses the volume controls for both channels and sends the raw output of the pickups straight to the amplifier.
The three white switches (lower row) are for pickup on/off and channel switching
The two yellow switches (upper row) switch pickups between series and parallel
The two red switches (upper row) switch pickups between in-phase and out-of-phase

As was mentioed elsewhere in this thread, TriSonic pickups with polepieces are louder than the Sonic guitar ones with a bar magnet. Putting all three of the Artist pickups in series, in phase and with the volume control bypassed gives a very big output indeed!

These days I don't take the Artist out on gigs and that level of complexity is acceptable when the guitar is used for recording as it was, for example, on the opening notes of The Triumphs' version of Night Of The Vampire. Gary Leport recorded the Moontrekkers original with a Vibra Artist so I felt I had to use the best guitar match that I had.

[burnsbonkers]

Ray,
After carefully gawping at the prototype artiste picture in Paul Days book, it appears that the knobs would have been the white radio style knobs. They look by what I can make out, almost the same as the picture you previously posted.
Being that your guitar would have been made not long after in '59, the white knobs you found must be the originals!.
God, I'm such a geek!, I need to get out more !.
I've been given a very good quote by Martin at Hania guitars to fit and fret a maple fretboard .
The original rosewood board is rough as a ducks arse, with deep dings and scratches in it, although salvageable, I may as well go and have a proper job done , and have something I really want....an artiste with a lovely maple neck! .
Pat

[RayL]

Patrick,
A maple fingerboard will go well with colour scheme - the lighter wood sets off the cherry-red better. The frets should have a low profile.

Ray

[cockroach]

If anyone is interested and/or needs them, I think I've still got a few Vibra Artiste bits in my parts boxes- some Van Ghent tuners (possibly not a full set of six)and the vibrato tailpiece (just the plate with the revolving shaft, but no arm or springs, I did also have some control knobs - the small smooth tapered cream coloured type.)

I'm in Australia, but I could post them over to the UK...

Let me know.

[burnsbonkers]

Cockroach,
I'll be very interested In ANY vibrato artiste parts! Please email me - jamfreakpoe@hotmail.com
Thanks!
Pat

[cockroach]

Sorry to those who sent me PMs about Artiste bits, all I've been able to find so far are three machine heads - they do not have covers, but I think they are Van Ghent type from my Burns Vibra Artiste.

If I find any more bits I will post a thread.

(I've also misplaced other music bits lately- I'm getting old and losing it!! There are not one, but THREE harmonicas hiding somewhere in this house, but do you think I can find them?!! I bought a neck harness so that I could try and play a harp whilst playing guitar- found the harness, but not the harps! )

[Graylion]

Thanks for the info and pic of your Artiste's controls Ray. Someone was VERY busy doing those mods eh? It seems logical that the individual pole type TriSonic is a higher output than the bar type. Mine's all-original so no probs there. Fascinating to learn that The Night of The Vampire was done on an Artiste I used to play it (only to myself!) using the reverb-only setting on my Bird amp. (A weird effect that would need miking up if done on stage.) I only ever heard it on Radio Luxemburg and never had the record, so I played by ear from memory. As the reverb section (crystals!) expired many years ago, that isn't possible now.
Cheers, Lionel

[mgeek]

Any natural wood finishes would not be original. You've got to imagine the situation back in those days. Solid electric guitars were fantasy instruments - things of power and glamour compared to those mouldy old spanish-style acoustics in natural wood finishes that had been used for the skiffle craze of two or three years earlier. People wanted strong colours that said 'rock'n'roll'. After all, Hank's Fiesta Red Strat wasn't just popular because Hank played it - it was because it stood out - it made a statement. Plain wood finishes just wouldn't have sold.

Ray

Just found this after a time away from the forum...

Way to state the obvious you guys! (Lionel/Ray)

I know all that Burns 101 stuff- was simply pondering whether I'd spotted one of their occasional anomalies, like the Sycamore Vibra Artiste, or the Black V/A Deluxe, or the White Sonic on blackguitars site.

In the Burns-Weill era they switched between black and white plates seemingly at the drop of a hat, so I see no reason to doubt the possibility of this continuing in the very early days of Burns (to reiterate= what I saw was...natural body, white plate, black mini plate and a maple fretboard)

Also FWIW there certainly were naturally finished electrics in the early sixties- Hohner Amazons, some Vox Aces, lots of german imports, though I admit it would be easy to overlook those if just scratching the surface...sonics, rapiers etc.