burns sonic restoration

[David Martin]

Where are you James... I have a Sonic you can check out...

Burns Sonics.jpg

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[burnsbonkers]

Hi, I'll
The vibrato - tremolo is known as a mark 9.
(I'm after one of them buggers)
Also the body would be made from mahogany, or utile..?
Email me.. jamfreakpoe@hotmail.com and I'll draw up a fret board plan.

[mgeek]

I've used this guy before to great effect.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GUITAR-FINGER ... 2a2be4fd67

I wouldn't sweat the maple/beech difference.

Only tricky thing might be finding one to the exact scale length, BUT there are fretboard calculators about http://www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/f ... alculator/

So if you do a bit of maths it might be possible to lose the first fret of a longer fretboard and end up close enough. As sonics have a movable bridge anyway, as long as you don't end up with the bridge falling off the edge of the scratchplate or something, it's all good. Incidentally- I'd get someone to double check the scale length. I remember them being longer than 23 3/8's, but I don't have one to check at the moment so might be my memory playing tricks.

If losing the first fret means you end up at like, 23 5/6's or something...it's close enough imo. Just move the board along a bit.

This might all sound a bit fudgy, but I sorta bodged my way through this on one of these http://cdn1.gbase.com/usercontent/gear/ ... wot_so.jpg

and it plays fantastically now. To blow my own trumpet a bit, probably better than when it was new

In all you'd be looking at 15ish for the fretboard, 10 for a radius profiling block to get the curve of the fretboard (these were about 7.25) another tenner for frets...lots of info online and it's pretty satisfying!

[burnsbonkers]

Here's a pic of my sonic with the dimensions from the 2nd fret upwards, I've measured from the centers of all the slots with vernier gauges so the dimensions are spot on.
The gap from zero fret to the guide nut varies, so take measurements from the 2nd fret and work up to the first, then finally to the zero fret .that should get you there.
personally, I'd grab some fret wire, bodge up the fret positions, whack some strings on and see if it works out okay, then if it does, you can use that information when ordering the board - that in conjunction with the info mgeek uploaded, you'll be fine.
Also just checked in Paul days book, the scale length of a sonic is 23 and three eighths of an inch.

Hope that helps

[jamesblagg]

hi gents, its been a long time.. hope all is well.

had a bit of time off work so I have managed to work on my sonic restoration

so heres a quick pic of my progress so far;


(sorry for the spammy pic hosting & the poor photo from a prehistoric camera)

*stripped paint & had pal paint in *almost* original colour with black neck, probably a better finish than it was out the factory its slighty darker than original, but you can still faintly see the wood grain through it & has a nice tough glossy finish now like my modern guitars - you should have seen some of the quotes I got to refinish this!!! in the end it cost; 1 can nitromorz, some sandpaper & nice bottle of scotch for my pal to repaint it in his spare time at work - bargain.

*cleaned & sorted electrics, all good except neck pickup volume is a little temperamental (pot not working at max vol, have to turn it down a touch to get working - am going to try & clean again!) - sounds like black sabbath on tap, love the boost function on this guitar!

*binned jagged old frets, very poorly replaced at some point, got new ones on the way & an experienced pal is going to fit them

*reprofiled neck & blended in poorly replaced fret one as best I could, recut to 33.2 or 34mm cant remember - it tunes up nice now! - *if* it reaaallllyyy needs it later on I am going to look into getting the fretboard replaced, noone seems to want to build me one though! - dont fancy making one myself!

*tracked down & fitted a badge

*fitted & blended in a new top nut - i have removed the zero fret completely, it seems pointless to me, I have got the action really nice & low over the frets, it plays really nice now - should be even better when refretted next week

*got a new leather strap & some new matching screws, with a bit of luck it should be fully usuable in the next few weeks

.............

i have few questions as usual though;

1. am i right in thinking there should be a ground wire from pot 3 (by the jack) to the tremelo? (there is on my other guitars & I seem to remember this when I took it apart, there is a hole drilled in the body of the burns)

2. I have just rested the adjustable bridge behind the pickup, to make it; 23 3/8" from the top nut > where the string rest on the bridge, is this right?
i see some of you other guys rocking the bridge further back more towards the tremelo...where should it be?? surely moving it about in this are would cause scales to be wrong lengths/strings to not tune properly?

3. i know its cheeky, but has anyone even a low res scan of the info/pages on the sonic from 'the burns book? I cant afford to pay £80 for a book haha!

any help appreciated, my other guitars are through bodies so have never had to use my brain to set them up to be honest

will upload some more pics & maybe even some soundclips in the coming weeks, keep up the good work!

cheers! JIM

[David Martin]

If you check my pic above you can see the correct bridge position according to a Petersen tuner. If you haven't got a correctly placed zero fret, then your bridge position will be different...

I seem to remember that the earth write just runs out under the scratchplate where it touches the tremolo base, under the base and round a screw head...

BTW that's not a boost switch, it's a rhythm/solo switch...

[Billyboygretsch]

Hi there best ask author if he wants anyone to put a scanned picture up as he is a member of this site. I currently have a Sonic stripped down. You are correct that the wire comes off the pot and like the Ariste has a hole from inside the control cavity drilled through to the tremolo cavity if you want to be accurate.
If you need a picture can PM one

[Billyboygretsch]

It looks pretty good but I think the tremolo arm needs rechroming

[Billyboygretsch]

What shade of red did you use ?

[jamesblagg]

Thanks David & billy

I moved the bridge more in line with yours & it sounded better, even w/no frets

Ground wire made the buzzing worse, can you send a pic if u don't mind billy?
I soldered the wire from connection 3 on the master vol pot > wrapped round a screw under the trem unit.
Going to get my uncles help with the electrics, seems my amp might be the prob, all 3 of my guitars can be dodgy, right? haha

I'm not sure of the paint code, I asked for 'translucent cherry red' & gave him some photos of other sonics off the net, quite pleased with it myself but it is a tad more dark than originally

How much would a piddly bit of chroming cost? I'm worried it lose the 'burns pat app' enscription on the whammy bar if I did, its faint as it is... ? Hmm

Will update when I've done frets & got electrics checked out

Nice one all