by dusty fretz » Sun Jul 12, 2015 1:50 pm
Will,
I'm glad you like the info on Fenton-Weill etc. In terms of instrument manufacture, this company’s story is obviously much shorter than the Burns saga, but it's no less convoluted, as Henry was a 'jobber', i.e. equally happy to make components and complete instruments that were respectively employed and marketed by numerous other companies. Some such guitars were also re-badged as Fenton-Weills, but never officially appeared in company catalogues, which makes research much trickier! Photos of Henry’s Frankfurt stand in the early 60s show FW instruments of various vintages alongside each other, plus plenty of separate scratchplate assemblies etc., all available to any interested importer or distributor.
That Burns-Weill ad appeared in November 1959 and was repeated in March 1960, with only the name now altered to Fenton-Weill. Regarding exactly who made what and when: operating from his landlady's basement, Jim and a small team of helpers handled the woodworking and assembly for ALL Burns-Weill instruments, while Henry provided pickups etc. After the pair split, Henry built bodies in-house, but necks proved more problematic, so these were instead supplied by a gunstock maker and the parts were then put together in the FW factory.
The catalogue initially continued unaltered, apart from a brandname change to Weill London, as the ever-frugal Henry simply chopped ‘Burns’ off the existing head plates. Once stocks were exhausted he used the new Fenton-Weill version, before eventually switching to a small metal badge. Henry didn't think much of Jim's design ideas and soon set about re-vamping the range, adding cutaways and curves throughout.
At the risk of boring other message boarders to death, here’s a brief rundown of instruments that appeared during 1959 and into early 1960:
1. Jim Burns’ revised Supersound Ike Isaacs model: single-cutaway body, plastic back. Initially used Besson pick-ups, but later employed Henry Weill electrics and branded Burns-Weill.
2. Burns-Weill Fenton: derived from above, with Guyatone-like body & headstock. Matching bass. Both became Fenton-Weill Deluxe models & were subsequently re-styled.
3. Burns-Weill RP/Streamline 'mk.1': offset body, plastic back, controls on raised scratchplate section. Matching bass.
4. Burns-Weill RP/Streamline 'mk.2': all-angular, bigger body. Matching bass. Both became Fenton-Weill models, subsequently re-styled & re-named.
Add to these various evolutions and odd variations as Jim tweaked in already typical fashion, while construction quality improved via increasing experience and the acquisition of better equipment, e.g. a router rather than just fret saw, auger and other equally basic tools!
Last edited by dusty fretz on Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
