I've been looking for decent video review of this guitar. My grandad found one in a skip and gave it to me when I was around 12 years old. I brought it out of the loft during the 1st lock-down as a bit of project to get it playing again. I really enjoyed bringing it back to life; the only non original part is the bridge. It sounds great, just like this one here (although my playing is nothing like this 😉)
What a great review of a fabulous vintage Burns. I bought a Sonic for £10 from a second hand shop in Chesterfield, probably in 1969. It's definitely not anything like a Teisco, it's a genuine British legend. I modified the bridge on mine, because as said, it used to move around on the scratchplate with heavy playing. I also took off all the red paint and left it natural (oops!). My pal had a (also legendary for its vintage germanium transistors) Shaftesbury Duo-Fuzz, and the Sonic sounded absolutely awesome through the Duo-Fuzz and Vox amp. The only slight down side to the Sonic was its unbalanced shape but, so what. I sadly swapped the Sonic for a BSA Bantam, what a mistake, as I'd love to play one again, those tri-sonic pickups are in a class of their own. 🤘
I had one of these in the early 60s. It cost 52 guinees (£54.50 in todays money). It was used with a Selmer Truvoice tape reverb and a WEM Dominator amp. Eventually our band had two of these and a Burns bass.
Martin, a friend had one of these in a band we put together at school around 61/62. Cost about £50 I believe. Only problem in those days it was going through a 15 Watt Selmer amp, no effects. Would never believe in those days it could make such a great sound. Oh, and I had a Hofner Colorama, red, it was the closest I could get to a red Strat at the time.
nice to see someone with so much enthusiasm for guitars . the bridge looks uncomfortable , a bit like an old bass with the metal tray to rest your wrist on. i would expect it to sound good with those pickups but id expect a high action like on most British 60s guitars.
I have one of these from about 1963. All original but missing the small white scratch plate around the pickup switch. As far as I understand the three knobs are independent volume controls for the two pickups and a common tone control.
Hi Chris...you can source a scratch plate, incredibly, from the supplier / manufacturer who manufactured the originals for Burns back in the 60’s. I have a Sonic of a similar age to yours and I sourced one a few years ago. He’ll manufacture one for you, not vintage of course but it is original in that it comes from the same place...not that expensive either as I recall. 👍
@@chrismedley2352 hey Chris…sorry it’s taken me this long, but did you still need the contact details for the pick guard manufacturer? I’ve found it now…
It looks like an English guitar in the style of Teisco. I saw one once in a second-hand shop. On closer inspection it had suffered a neck-break, badly repaired with a wood screw. Is it a set-neck design or a 1-piece body/neck? If it is the latter does it have a truss-rod? It doesn't have horrifically microphonic 'pups like a Teisco would.
@@familyvoid Hello, the original bridge has been kept- the closest bridge I can reference this to for your imagination is a Bigsby bow-tie style, or similar to a vintage gretsch with a bigsby. It was a solid metal piece, non-adjustable. However, in my opinion this was not fit for purpose by modern standards with regards to intonation and stability. To make this guitar playable again to a decent standard, a custom made plate was fashioned, following the shape of the scratch plate, and attached via the original bridge positioning. A roller saddle bridge and tension bar was then added to the plate, it is fully adjustable to achieve better intonation, and the roller saddles assist tuning stability from use of the vibrato arm (similar to Brian May's approach with the Red Speical. Also a good study and very similar instruemnt). So yes, this guitar could be returned to original as this modification was as uninvaisve as possible and made no permanent changes to the guitar. However, it is a big improvment and I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to go back. I also enjoy the aesthetics. Thank you for watching and all the best with your guitar.
