Another Vibra Artist.

[dusty fretz]

I understand your thinking about the scratchplate, although the latter does seem to be made to the same standard as later models. Also, if Henry didn't contribute this part OR the pickups, then why would Jim put the Burns-Weill badge on the headstock? I note that the two surviving machine heads are metal button Van Gents, which are anachronistically at odds with the apparently early origins of this example. Presumably they're later replacements, which of course makes me wonder about the originality of the Besson pickups. That said, this was a more downmarket model, so maybe Jim and/or Henry decided that bought-in pickups would work out cheaper. Only a hands-on examination would provide the answers. Coincidentally, Supersound electrics also used the spindly selector switch (albeit with a white tip) employed on Burns-Weill and Fenton-Weill instruments, so back then it was obviously one of the few types available in the UK that could perform this function.

[Bill Bowley]

Dusty F,

I naturally assume you have been to http://www.trevormidgley.com/Supersound/index.html ?

Regards

[dusty fretz]

I have indeed Bill, as this is where the aforementioned anti-Jim misinformation regarding his involvement with Supersound resides, still awaiting the necessary corrections that have come to light following my recent research.

[RayL]

Paul,

Thanks for your answers to my questions. Don't know how I came to put Apache a year too early , but there you go.

There are interesting comparisons to be made between Jim Burns and Joe Meek. Both born in the 1920s, both spending time in the armed forces and using that time to build on their technical interests and both drawn towards the music business in different ways but with a streak of individualism which meant they had difficulty working for anyone else. However, when running their own business they both ran into problems because they were 'visionaries' with great ideas rather than good businessmen. Both started their 'solo' career at the very end of 1959 and had early success with products that could only be produced in small numbers - Jim with the Artist and Joe with his Triumph lable's Green Jeans and Angela Jones. Both have been unfairly compared to American contemporaries - "the British Leo Fender" and "the British Phil Spector".

Perhaps it's that streak of individualism, when combined with creativity, that appeals to the British, hence the continuing interest in Jim's 1960s guitar designs and Joe's 1960s recordings. Once or twice they were combined together, one of the earliest examples being The Moontrekkers' Night Of The Vampire, written and played by the 'Trekkers guitarist Gary Leport using his Burrns Vibra Artiste.

Ray

[dusty fretz]

Hi Ray,
Your confusion illustrates that it's all too easy to lose a year in the memory banks and that this can influence consequent conclusions. I speak from experience, which is why I always try and rely on cold print from the period or anything equally concrete.

As you say, Jim and Joe Meek were very much individuals, both coming to the fore in a time when being a maverick could lead to success. They also shared an incapacity for consistency, preferring to act on emotive instinct and gut feeling rather than good business sense. I plead guilty to coining the 'British Leo Fender' description of Jim, but with the benefit of hindsight I would say Semie Moseley offered a closer comparison, as he was an equally mercurial character who suffered similar, often self-induced problems.

Night Of The Vampire certainly rates as a prime example of Vibra Artist work, although Meek's trademark production ensured the end result sounded like any electric guitar he recorded!

[cockroach]

I agree with that last comment Paul...Joe made Richie Blackmore's Gibson 335 sound like a Burns too...!

[burnsbonkers]

Hi there, i may be able to help out with your restoration.
I currently am working on restoring 2 V Artists, one an earlier 60 - 61 model - ( which is very similar to yours) and a later 62 model.
I will be taking the scratchplate off to re do the wiring on the 61 model, so i will be happy to trace an accurate outline of it for you if you wish, with all relevant dimensions, thicknesses etc. ( i am an engineer/draughtsman) so i assure you it will be accurate.
the pickups in my 61 model are way much smaller than the ones fitted to the later 62 model. Also the later tri sonics on my 62 model are more akin the size of the ones in the sonic models, although it has staggered polepeices.
any help you need , please dont hesitate to ask!
Pat
jamfreakpoe@hotmail.com

[burnsbonkers]

Also, does anyone have any pictures of an early Artist model? the only one ive seen is the picture of the one in the case in Pers book, and the white scratchplated prototype in Pauls green bible?

[RayL]

Hi,
One of the very, very earliest Artist guitars is the one hanging on the wall of my studio.
Here is is (as it looked originally) in 1965, It is the only one I've ever come across (apart from the prototype in Paul's book) that had a 'reversed' colour scheme (cream/black instead of black/cream) for the plate and pickguard. (That's me attempting a chord of G major).

BBC Roofcats 1965crop.jpg (16.76 KiB) Viewed 13574 times

A letter written to me by Phil Storm (Chief Technician for Ormston Burns Ltd) in 1964 confirms it as "a very early design made about 1959". Note that it was fitted with a Bigsby tremolo from new (there are no screw holes that would have been left if the normal fixed bridge/tail had been replaced). Obviously one of Jim Burns' earliest "mass-produced one-offs" (Paul Day quoting Les Andrews).

Back in the 1960s there was no thought (and certainly not on my part) that such guitars would have an enhanced value if they were left untouched so I started experimenting with phase-reversal and bass-cut circuits to get a guitar with more 'bite'. Although it diminished the value of the guitar, it enabled me to write an magazine article about the changes I had made. This article, 'Electronics And The Electric Guitar' for 'The Radio Constructor' of November 1966 was, I believe the first-ever article published anywhere on the subject of electric guitar modification. Here's a sample of the first page:

burnsarticle1.JPG

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.
This Artist went through many modifications over the years and many changes of plate (aluminium, reflective plastic, etc) until it reached it's present form:

Burns Artist July 06.jpg

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This has a plate of black trafolite (supplied to me by Jack Golder from Eddie Cross) and the various switches and controls offer:
Channel selection with centre off
Phase reverse
Series/parallel
Two-channel output ('Stereo') via two volume controls and two output sockets
Mute switch

Hope that's of interest.

Ray

[burnsbonkers]

Wow, that's some awesome stuff Ray!.