by dusty fretz » 22 Feb 2011, 12:15
Hi Graham,
The holes you mention (three, rather than two) were for the screws securing the original Burns bridgeplate. I found that the 'bowtie' style Bigsby bridge base neatly covered these, but still allowed an angled location that improved overall intonation, which was why I chose this more expensive solution at the time.
That 'original bridge', accompanying the Burns vibrato unit currently on eBay, is actually a a home-made string tension bar. Burns subsequently introduced something similar (but much better in quality) that accordingly increased downward string pressure over the bridge, thus helping to eradicate those aforementioned buzzles and rattles. This component usually accompanied the later type vibrato tailpiece, although I've seen quite a few transitional Vibra Artists where it was paired with the original flat-plate unit. Just as an aside, the same piece of metalwork, equipped with a rubber strip, also saw service as a string damper on some Burns basses.
Your neck can be repaired by installing a new rosewood fingerboard, suitably shaped and fretted to counteract the twist and provide a suitably straight surface. The spiral warp will still be visible, but the guitar will actually play properly. A decent repairer can perform this pretty common restoration job and it would be a good time to also address any action problems via the same method, as these old Burns often tended to differ in the neck-to-body angle department, with the more extreme cases causing string height hassles.
Predictably enough, Vibra Artist circuitry also varied. Early versions were wired comparatively conventionally, presumably as per Cockroach's example, but Burns later discovered various electronic tricks and incorporated them accordingly. The end results were often quite confusing, as the six rotary controls then interacted and no longer corresponded to an obvious three volume/three tone configuration. This meant that turning one pot affected another etc., even changing their actual functions. The idea was to provide greater sonic versatility via series, parallel and out-of-phase operation, long before such aural options became fashionable. Mine was wired in this manner and I soon learnt not to fiddle too much with the controls, especially on stage, as a preferred sound was easily lost and could prove equally tricky to recover! Having recently re-acquired this oldie, I don't intend to suffer in the same way again and have accordingly concocted an updated, far more logical layout.
Despite its drawbacks, the Vibra Artist was an innovative electric that certainly boasted an advanced feature count for the time, including a double-octave neck with heel-less body join, comprehensive controls, fully adjustable six-saddle bridge and a usable vibrato unit. Of course, such a spec didn't come cheap, and at almost £80 this model obviously targeted the pro player, not the beginner market favoured by most UK makers.
