19. The Shadows

Please take a look at these clips on YouTube and the Baldwin guitars The Shadows are playing on in 1967. I
got info from John Pokorny. Thank you.
It is not the "S-type" Marvin guitars they are playing. These are different. If you know anything about them
please advise.

//www.youtube.com/user/CliffShads "In the Mood".
http://www.youtube.com/user/CliffShads "The Rise and Fall of Flingel Bunt" (the one from Australian Bandstand, 1967).


18. New Burns guitars







Of cours I will present all guitars produced after 2002. Both from Burns USA and Burns London.
Many really nice guitars. Here is a picture from a player in Norway who has bought a Dream guitar 2011
in cherry burst (to the left) and a Legend Dream 2001 in black cherry burst. He was very satisfied with
the guitars and really enjoyed the Dream 2011, which he prefered. There are many more
both guitars and basses from the 90:s company. The new burns company has survived much longer than the Burns London company back in the 60:s. I will try to get comments on each guitar from Barry Gibson.




17. Missing guitars

There were some serial produced Burns guitars I unfortunately did not had any pictures of in "Pearls and
Crazy Diamonds". I have collected a lot of pictures during the last years and now I hope
I will show pictures of  these guitars in my coming book. I appreciate that different players
and collectors send pictures to me. Today I got a picture of a Nu-Sonic Bass from Steve Rockwood. (Thank you Steve!) In my book I just had a picture of George Harrison (the Beatles) playing one Nu-Sonic Bass, 
but no colour pic.
Please send me more pictures. I really appreciate it.

16 Burns picks

Did you know that a lot of Burns picks were made in Sweden?
Here is an add for Burns picks and one special pick made for Hank Marvin. I will write more
about them in the book
.

15.Readers wishes

Please write me some lines what more you want me to write about in the book.
Which guitars do you think are the most interesting. Anything else.
If you have any story about Burns I would be happy to put it into the book.
I am also looking for more information about the Burns company in the 80:s.
I have talked to some people working with Jim Burns at that time but the picture
is not clear.
Maybee someting about Aristone guitars? Here is a pick of the head of one an Aristone guitar made by Burns
........

14. Strange Baldwin prototype

Now I have started working on my book again.
I have got this picture of the Shadows playing a strange Baldwin prototype in 1967 (from a film)
)
I have tried to find some facts about this guitar but not succeded. If anyone knows
anything about it, please contact me (per@addit.se) asap.

13. Scratchplates and drawings

Edward Cross and Son was an important supplier to Burns over the years. I have got
a lot of interesting drawings for scratchplates and panels from Eddie Cross. One important
part of the book will be a number of drawings (among them some for the Shadows).
I have also got some letters from Jim to Edward Cross which you also will see copies of.
A piece of guitar history.
Among other things you will see an ashtray made by Jim Burns in the shape of a Flyte. This was made for
Mr and Mrs G Wright (the owners of Burns UK) by Jim Burns in the early 70:s.
And much much more......

New Marvin T-shirts

We now have cool Marvin T-shirts in black. A Marvin 64 on the front and a Burns logo.
Very high quality. Packed in a plastic bag. Sizes: L to XXXL
Price: 11.99 GBP + shipping 3 GBP
We don´t have som many so please hurry.

Buy a Burns Flexi-cap

We have some black Burns Flexi-caps left. Really nice and with a wowen logo on the front. One size.
The price is only 7.99 GBP + Shipping 3 GBP. Please send me an e-mail if you are interested.
(per@addit.se). We only have a few so please hurry.


12. Lap-steels and other kind of guitars

Burns did not produce only electric guitars and basses. Back in the 60-s you will also find lap-steels, a guitar-organ (never released) and some other more or less  strange instruments.  We will show some really nice Crazy Diamonds. 

Burns is 

11. Famous players during the 60-s

Burns is a really important part of the British sound during the 60-s. Allmost all famous British guitar-
players have used Burns sometimes during their career. We have a huge lot of photos from the
60-s which are going to be a part of the book. And the Double 6 was an important part of the British
invasion in the USA. Here are some examples of bands from the 60-s.: The Searchers, Hermans Hermits,
The Lords and Peter Budd. Look at the beautiful 4 pick-up Black Bison. It is stunning. This is music history!

10. Fakes

Guitars are entertainment. Compared to other well-known brands, there are not so many Burns fakes
out there. Anyway some fakes are worth taking a closer look at. Here is a picture of a double neck Flyte
guitar/bass. According to Jim Burns the only Burns double-neck ever made was the Super-18.
This double neck must have been made by someone from a Burns Flyte bass and a Burns Flyte.
Good work but unfortunately a fake.
Below you will also see a very special Jazz Split Sound made from Burns parts by Jens Persson from Sweden. A really nice guitar and he told me that this guitar was for sale in a shop in Stockholm as a very rare Burns.
Rare - absolutely but not an original Burns. Jim never made the "hot cat" sound - but Jens did. Anyway I like
this guitar.
Watch out when you find a really rare bird.
yte

9. Rare birds

I have tried to find pictures of some very rare Burns, Baldwin and Hayman guitars which I did not
had any pictures of in my book. My target is to cover all Burns serial produced guitars with good
photos. Here comes a photo of the rare Burns-Weill Fenton Bass.

8. Oddballs

In the book we will show a lot of strange oddballs in the Burns family. Guitars you have never seen.
Many of them are really "Crazy Diamonds". Here you can enjoy a picture of the Marval. A guitar built by
Brian Eastwood as a tribute to the Shadows. The hardware was supplied by Burns London Ltd. Two
guitars and one bass were made. The guitars caused a sensation  at the "1998 Mad About Guitar Show in
Birmingham. One of them was played by Jet Harris.

7. Supersound

The story about the very first serialproduced Jim Burns guitars. Supersound Electronic Products
was formed by Alan John Wootton and Annie Mary Patricia Wootton In 1952 from very humble
circumatances. Alan was repairing, building and designing tape recorders arid sound equipment.
Later they made among other things amps in their own namn and for Vox.
Jim Burns joined the company in 1958. The first guitar to appear was  a two pick-up, singel solid
cutaway guitar, rather similar to a Les Paul, called the Ike Isaacs Short Scale´ model.  About 20
guitars were made. Jim also designed a few more guitars and basses and also made strings.
Unfortunately I am unable to verify if these guitars in fact ever appeared on the market.
The relationship ended on a somewhat sour note as  Jim started making strings to rival companies.
Jim left the company in 1959 and joined forces with Henry Weill under the Burns-Weill banner.

In the book we will go deaper in the Supersound part of the Jim Burns story, hopefully with a
contribution from Trevor Migley, who knows the story best.
The guitar below is a Supersound prototype made by Jim Burns.

Central to the philosphy of Burns is the concept of "massproduced one-offs", very high craftmanship and quality. Some of these guitars are wonderful to play, whereas on others, the design is more important. In several cases, Burns was also the true source of origin for innovations later claimed by other producers as their own. Between 1960-65 only about 15.000 Burns London guitars were made. I hope you will enjoy my blogg.

Per Gjörde, the author of "Pearls & Crazy Diamonds".
RSS 2.0