A VERY rare Burns

[ErikMAMS]

...The original trem would not be a Rezo model as this guitar predated that design. More likely to have been a surface mounted unit like the one shown on the Burns Jazz prototype also illustrated on page 54 of Paul Day's Green Burns Book.

I don't have The Burns Book - alas. I'd love to see that Jazz prototype - can it be found anywhere else?

It was on the PICATO string packets- see the book '17 Watts?' page 118 hard back- pictures of vintage guitar string packets. It is pictured at left together with a Burns bass and a Gretsch double cutaway Nashville 6120...

A Burns bass and a Gretsch are on the Monopole picture too - are the Picato/Monopole pictures identical (I don't have the "17 Watts" book either)?

Erik

[dusty fretz]

Thanks Brian for unearthing these 'before' shots of that old Thinline Mk.2 prototype, and I'd forgotten what deal we did to enable me to add it to my collection all those years ago. As you say, it's pictured in the book, with the photo modified as best as possible at the time to show what the guitar originally looked like - publishing life is certainly a lot easier these days! The even poorer pic alongside it on the same page was indeed taken from the illustration employed on Monopole and Picato string packets back in the '60s, this being a green finished version (shown in glorious monochrome in the book of course), complete with the missing segments crudely filled in, as again I had to work with what I could find.

I subsequently restored your blond example, including installing the correct, suitably modified vibrato unit (pretty much as I visually estimated in fact), and the end result made a pretty impressive instrument. It was an obvious precursor to the TR2 and I now have details of three other similarly styled, but previously unknown semis that Jim & Co came up with before settling on their active-ingredient equivalent. In typical Burns manner, each of these exploratory models displayed distinct differences, with one adopting a Bison outline, complete with long and curvy horns, while another featured controls located on BOTH sides of the bridge - a far from practical arrangement! Such finds still fascinate me, ensuring that my research is an on-going process, but I fear diminishing market interest (and money) means there's now little chance that all this additional information will ever be put to practical use.

[BrianD]

Thanks for the update Paul. Great to hear from you in this context. Is that guitar still in your collection?

I had neither the knowledge or wherewithal to put it into proper original working order so I am glad to hear you were able to sort it out. As you say there can't be too many similar finds lurking around out there.

Brian

[dusty fretz]

Sorry to say Brian this particular rarebird no longer roosts in my collection; I sold it on some years ago to a Burns fan who I knew would give it an equally affectionate home. These days my guitars number far fewer than in the past and more are due to depart, as I need to sell now while there are buyers still standing who possess sufficient funds and interest. This ideal combination is fast becoming far less common, with supply increasingly outstripping diminishing demand - a situation that's unfortunately very unlikely to improve in the foreseeable future.