1962 Burns Sonic Vista Bass wiring?

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1962 Burns Sonic Vista Bass wiring?

Postby The Groke » Sat May 26, 2018 11:53 am

Hi. Just picked up a Burns Sonic Vista bass. The pots and jack were replaced and in the process one wire was left unconnected. Can anyone on this list help me figure out where it should be connected?

The wire in question is located on the right side of the leftmost beige colored capacitor.

The left side of this capacitor is connected to the output of the left transformer (I drew a red line to show the connection - don't be fooled by the bare wire in back of it going to ground. That is NOT connected to the capactior - it's just an illustion).

The right side is floating in the air and covered with black shrink tubing. I also marked it in red with a question mark.

I think it maybe goes to the top lug on the pot on the right.

Please advise!

Or perhaps someone could send some photos of the guts of their sonic vista? I'm confused by the transformers....

Also, is any of the other wiring incorrect?

Thanks so much.
Attachments
IMG_5213.1.2.jpg
Last edited by The Groke on Sat May 26, 2018 12:29 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The Groke
 

Re: 1962 Burns Sonic Vista Bass wiring?

Postby The Groke » Sat May 26, 2018 11:58 am

Um... my picture looks bad. The red line on the right is a real wire. That's going to the output jack. Ignore that.

The two red lines that I drew in are on the beige capacitor that is visually right in between the two transformers. The red line on the right represents the connection in question. The arrow indicates where I'm guessing it might go (mostly based off the fact that the other beige capacitor connects the output of the right transformer to that point), but I really have no idea.

Thanks!
The Groke
 

Re: 1962 Burns Sonic Vista Bass wiring?

Postby The Groke » Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:42 pm

It seems that the answer is that both capacitors should go to the top lug (where the output of the right-most transformer connects). So, the one cap that was wired up was wired up wrong. If anyone cares....
The Groke
 

Re: 1962 Burns Sonic Vista Bass wiring?

Postby cockroach » Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:05 am

HI Max,

Glad you sorted your problems! :)

As I commented on the current Baby Bison thread regarding the pickup electronics etc, Jim Burns and his people were pretty innovative with advanced designs way back then..

Even Gibson didn't introduce low impedance pickups with small transformers and /or adjustable impedance outputs, enabling use with high impedance input amps or going direct to recording and PA desks etc until the late '60's/early '70's..and these were Les Paul's personal designs...Jim Burns introduced low impedance pickups in 1961 with the original Bison and then subsequent models like your Sonic Vista..

Although low impedance pickups never really took off, except the later active types made by Bartolini and of course EMG, Les Paul always insisted they were superior (at least for the hi-fi tones he wanted)..he used to say that nobody professionally used high impedance microphones, so why use high impedance pickups?
cockroach
 
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