Bison like - Where do I go ?

[julien1946]

Hello all,

With the help of Ecca, I bought a Burns neck on eBay, then I bought a Bison pickguard and a Rez-o-tube tremolo still on eBay.

Last week I started to make ​​a basswood body with all routers and chamfers (still arm chamfer and belly cutout to do).
I also made the back plastic plate as well as the plate going at the bottom of the tremolo.

Here is where I am.



I'm still missing the electronics and tuners but as Burns pickups are virtually impossible to find, what PUs and electronic circuit could I use to get a sound close to the Burns one ?

I will use Wilkinson tuners but I don't know which ones to use.

I still don't know what color it's going to be

Thank you in advance for your help.

Julien

[JimN]

You can buy new "Burns" pickups of UK-build quality (as fitted to the Essex-built Marvin and 1964-1969 Bison) from Jim Cairnes.

JN

PS: With that scratchplate colour, it's got to be white or black.

PPS: The Bison is one of a very few guitars which look right in black. Strats certainly don't.

[George Geddes]

Jim, I disagree. Some black Strats can look great...

All black, black with pearloid scratchplate...

George

[julien1946]

You can buy new "Burns" pickups of UK-build quality (as fitted to the Essex-built Marvin and 1964-1969 Bison) from Jim Cairnes.

JN

PS: With that scratchplate colour, it's got to be white or black.

PPS: The Bison is one of a very few guitars which look right in black. Strats certainly don't.

Thank you for your answer but where can I buy these new Burns PU ? I am in Belgium so my only way to find something is Internet

As for the color, I don't really like black nor white and I already have 2 Fiesta red Strat...

Julien

[RayL]

You can buy sets of Trisonic pickups directly from Burns London
http://www.burnsguitars.com/accessories.php

For 'Burns-style' electronics, you could choose between
a) 5-way lever switch with volume and two tone controls
b) rotary pickup selector switch with 'Wild Dog' etc plus volume and tone controls
Both of these styles have been used on Burns guitars
I don't know Alfons Lahaye but he is not far from you (in The Netherlands)
http://www.burns-guitars.nl/
He has a large collection of Burns guitars. Perhaps he might let you hear some so that you can choose what sounds best to you.

As for colour, Cherry Red was the colour that Jim Burns chose for his first guitars when he started on his own as Ormston Burns Ltd. Cherry Red would look good with your scratchplate.

Ray

[David Martin]

I have a set of vintage original 60's Burns pickups for sale Julian. Please contact me...

David

[ErikMAMS]

Julien
Interesting project - and nice work on the body.

Colours are a personal thing, and I see your point about white/black - but your particular scratchplate seems (judging from the pic) to have a bit of a bluish hue to it which I personally find difficult to go with anything but a white body. On the other hand, the maple neck would go better with a black body IMO. YMMV If you deside on the white be sure to check an original Burns if you want the vintage look - the original white Burns I've seen are more of a cream colour with a yellow tint.

I second Ray's idea about contacting Alfons Lahaye (Alfons is a very nice and helpfull guy).

Looking forward to your further progress - and which colour you deside on. Please keep us posted.

Erik

[julien1946]

Ray, thank you very muh for your answer.

i knew the Tri-Sonic PU were available but I don't know if they sound like the old Rez-o-matic.
I've been thinking of using Ironstone gold pickups to stay in the range of the Shadows's sound.

But as you say, I'm going to contact Alfons Lahaye to ask him advices. He may provide me a wiring diagram as well, who knows...

Cherry red color seems a very good idea, my wife already told me to use a dark red like eggplant (aubergine) but I though it's too dark.

Thanks again
Julien

[julien1946]

David : PM sent

Eric : Thank you for your appreciation on the body work. Quite difficult as I started from pictures found on the web.
In fact, when I bought the neck, I was thinking to fit it on a SG body which I did but it was awful, the neck pocket wasn't long enough to have a strong junction between body and neck so I gave up with this idea.

Then I thought to build a Burns Marvin body but the shape was to close to the one of the Stratocaster and so my choice went to the Burns Bison shape. I had no specification, no drawing, just pictures.

In the late 60's the bass player of our little group bought a white Burns Bison bass. Even new, it wasn't really white but more yellowish. It was also heavy so I'm not surprised with the weight of my basswood body.

So I think I'm going to follow Ray's idea about the Cherry Red. Still a long way to go on bodyworks then I'll make some tests. I'll keep you updated.

Julien

[RayL]

Julien,

Which pickups to choose? For his current range of Bison guitars, Barry Gibson at Burns London has put Trisonics on the Bison 62 and Rez-o-matics on the Bison 64. Having now heard the Ultra Sonic pickups that were fitted to the original 4 pickup Bison (see the 4 pickup Bison whaaat thread in the Burns section) I would say that their sound is closer to the Trisonic than to the Rez-o-matic. However, it is your decision. Jim Burns made many variations to his guitars ("Mass-produced one-offs' as the saying goes) so whatever you make will be in the Burns tradition!

Ray