Baldwin Double Six

[mgeek]

Hi All

Just scored a '67 greenburst Baldwin Double Six for a killer price- needs a bit of tweaking (the bridge and pat no plate are missing), but it's otherwise complete, and unmolested.

Couple of thoughts it's raised

1/ Has anyone got a spare backplate for one of these? The serial no is written on the base of the neck, so I guess I could get one cut, but original would be cool.

2/ Has anyone got a circuit diagram? A couple of toggle switches have been added, to allow for bridge + middle and middle + neck. Will probably remove them and plug the holes. EDIT: Actually, just poked around and sorted this. The switches were just added on, nothing else was changed, so I removed them.

3/ Aren't these MASSIVE!? Totally dwarf all my other guitars. Often see these referred to as twelve string versions of the Marvin, but aren't these bodies more like a 'marvin bass'...which is a different shape. Given the huge size, I'd actually guess they are the same body, maybe with slightly different routing?

[mgeek]

oh- and my main 'geek' pondering.

Did Burns Baldwin REALLY keep making these, and the Marvin's etc all the way up to 1970?

Has anyone got or seen either from that year? I sort of can't imagine it somehow. The italian bodied models maybe, but I just don't recall hearing of or seeing one of the regular models from after '67/68

[JimN]

oh- and my main 'geek' pondering.

Did Burns Baldwin REALLY keep making these, and the Marvin's etc all the way up to 1970?

Has anyone got or seen either from that year? I sort of can't imagine it somehow. The italian bodied models maybe, but I just don't recall hearing of or seeing one of the regular models from after '67/68

Baldwin were definitely shipping guitars as late as 1969 (Hessy's in Liverpool took delivery of a GB66 and a Vibraslim that year).

If they were shipping those models (to spectacular lack of interest), they must have still been sending out a few Marvins and Double Sixes.

In 1971, just after the liquidation of Baldwin, Top Gear in Denmark Street took delivery of about half-a-dozen Baldwin Shadows basses, which they sold at £59 each. There were other models as well, nut no Marvins.

Just imagine what they must have paid the receiver for each bass...

[mgeek]

Interesting. So they were clearly still shipping product. I guess I'm casting doubt on whether they were still manufacturing as late as '70.

Or if they were, were the US assemblers using scratchplates and bodies with much earlier dates on them?

Would love to hear from anyone who's got a Marvin, Double Six, Bison etc with a '69 or '70 sticker date under the scratchplate.

[ErikMAMS]

Hi Will

Original neckplate: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BURNS-London-Vintage-Jazz-Bass-Original-1965-60s-Project-Neck-Plate-Parts-/200942103236?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_186&hash=item2ec9152ac4#ht_5230wt_1230

Pricey - but you could make him an offer (I think it's the 4th or 5th time he has the parts up for auction).

Neckplates do come up on ebay from time to time. Alternatively I have a contact which might have one for sale. Drop me a PM if interested (I prefer not to put other persons private contact details up in public).

A reputed Burns collector once told me the DS body is identical to the Burns bass bodies.

What are you going to use for the missing bridge?

Erik

[JimN]

A Gretsch bar-bridge (or copy) should be similar enough to the original provided that the correct radius can be found.

[cockroach]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GOLD-12-STRI ... d8e&_uhb=1


The above link is for a gold 12 string tunematic bridge for 12 string electric- the link is to eBay Australia (where I live) but I'm sure they would also be available in the UK or USA from eBay.

I have a double neck 6/12 which uses the tunematic type for both necks, they are quite OK.

Hope this helps.

[mgeek]

Bridge is a tricky one. Were there holes drilled in this originally, or did the bridge just rest on top?

Mine has a couple of holes, so I'm tempted to ignore the original bridge style and splash the cash on one of those ABM fully intonatable 12 string tuneomatics. I know it's not even close to original, but I'm planning to use it for recording, and I can't really deal with iffy intonation.

Erik- thanks for that! I never really think to look for Burns stuff outside of the UK. Might send that guy an offer

Will pm you re the other one...

[mgeek]

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/GOLD-12-STRING-TUNEMATIC-ELECTRIC-GUITAR-BRIDGE-GB-T12-G-/330955607438?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item4d0e7dcd8e&_uhb=1


The above link is for a gold 12 string tunematic bridge for 12 string electric- the link is to eBay Australia (where I live) but I'm sure they would also be available in the UK or USA from eBay.

Cool- what's the intonation like? I was thinking of trying one of those first, as a stopgap, and then if I wasn't happy splash the hundred quid on the fully intonatable ones


Funnily enough, it only seems to be the gold ones here too...I want chrome!

[mgeek]

Oh! One other question re these.

The neck has a slight backbow. I've only ever worked on guitars with a 'reinforcing rod'- so had to resort to heat treatments to fix this sort of thing before now. In fact, I'm way more comfortable doing that than with any kind of truss.

Is it possible to fix backbow with a Burns truss? Or do they only work the other way?