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'Marvin' at Glastonbury!

PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 8:47 am
by drakula63
I didn't really watch any of Glasto this year. However... I switched on the telly at about 11.30-ish last night and took a quick look at the 'highlights' on BBC2. Literally the first thing I saw was a close up of a guy playing what looked like a white/black Burns Marvin. It looked as if the Rez-o-tube tremolo system had been replaced and also the volume/tone knobs. Apart from that, it looked just like a typical 'Marvin'. Anyone else see it? I shall investigate further...

Re: 'Marvin' at Glastonbury!

PostPosted: Mon Jul 01, 2019 11:23 am
by JimN
It may have been a Littleport-built Marvin from the Jim Burns Actualisers era (circa 1981).

The white-finished models (they also did black, in keeping with the Strat Hank was using at the time) had plain black scratchplates with no engraving other than the embossed Burns logo and in-house pickups made by a colleague there called Feinstein. The pickups were encapsulated in resin, with no separate covers and had adjustable hex-screw polepieces. The scratchplate was arranged in four separate pieces (the parts containing the pickups was separate from the part containing the controls).

The biggest difference was the use of a MIJ Strat copy bridge adapted for use with a small brass insert which provided the knife-edge bearing.

Most of them were made with applied maple fretboards, though there were some made with rosewood and a few with ebony fretboards.

http://blackguitars.com/IMAGES/gallery/burns-early-reference/1982%20Jim%20Burns/burns-sheet-2.jpg

http://blackguitars.com/IMAGES/gallery/burns-early-reference/JB-trade-fair-3.jpg

http://blackguitars.com/IMAGES/gallery/burns-early-reference/1981-Burns-Marvin-810182/1.JPG

Re: 'Marvin' at Glastonbury!

PostPosted: Sun Jul 07, 2019 1:07 pm
by Uncle Fiesta
I've got one! It's white with black scratchplates and a maple fingerboard which I can confirm is separate from the rest of the neck and glued onto it. There is also a switch to add the neck pickup thus making all seven combinations possible.

I am considering a refret at some point as it is currently fitted with wide flat ones, which frankly don't suit it.