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Hi folks,
I recently acquired a 1961 Vibra Artist Deluxe, and I don't know how rare those are in the UK but here in the States I think they are seldom seen. Anyway, mine unfortunately has schaller minis rather than the gold Van Ghents. I think it unlikely that I would find the correct tuners (or is someone making reproductions?) , so are there any suggestions about what I could put on it that would look more correct? The gold is almost completely off the metal parts, unfortunately, and I need to get some work done to make it more playable but it's not broken. It is also missing one of the volume knobs, I wonder if anyone is reproducing those? I know it's unlikely since there can't be many of these around. Needless to say, spares for Burns guitars are not plentiful here compared to those of any US makers. If anyone is interested I can put some pictures up later. Thanks!

Hi John

I have a set of standard Vibra Artiste tuners- these are the 'open' type with cream plastic buttons.

If you are interested, please respond.

I am located in South Australia- but postage is no problem.

The vibra artist de luxe had the standard vibra artist gold plated as we're the covers. The tuner buttons were pearloid you might find something similar at Stewmac. These are very rare guitars and are seldom seen for sale you were lucky to obtain one. Pictures would be nice. I have one of the early ones with the Artist bridge the latter models had the floating bridge. I have recently had mine refinished and the gold replated . Good luck with the project
Bill

Hi, here's a link to a couple of pictures. That's all for now as I have it in the shop for some setup work and probably will be gone for awhile. Thanks for all the information. Now, I wonder about a knob? You can see I have something in place of the one that is missing but I'm not happy with it. I couldn't figure out how to get the image directly into this reply so if anyone has suggestions let me know.
http://s604.photobucket.com/user/jkchrome/library/vibra%20artist%20deluxe

I also have a full set of (six-per-side) Van Ghent tuners, with nickel-plated back covers.

Same as used on the Marvin, and (later) Bison except that they're all the same handedness and exactly the same as used on early Artists and Sonics except that they have the metal button and a cover.

You, John, (or anyone) can PM me to discuss.

Thanks for the offers. I think I'll hold off a bit and decide what to do once it's out of the shop. The gold is almost completely off the hardware so nickel would probably be consistent with the way it looks now. Since Van Ghents were used on Gretsches and Guilds here in the US, they do sometimes turn up here.

I have recently cast some from an original using Alumilite moulding and casting materials. Just takes a little patience and practice

Hi, this is a bit off topic and a bit late? But as you have a Deluxe, and I hope did manage to sort it out, I wondered if you happened to take a diagram or good photos of the control circuit? Failing that, a verbal description of what each control does, particularly the two volumes and how they work with the three pickups. I also assume the three toggle switches are centre off, and reverse phase up or down? Any info would be great.

Thanks to Jules am able to post this here for future reference