Seeking Opinions: Baldwin Burns Vibraslim

cliddell

I have a mid-sixties Baldwin Burns Vibraslim, which I got in the 1980's, and I would like to move on. It's just too big for me to play comfortably.


Unfortunately, that "poker chip" under the switch on the upper horn is covering a hole probably 2cm x 2cm - clearly the guitar was knocked over (long before my custodianship) and the switch punched through. There are cracks in the lacquer on the top, too. It would also need a fully setup.

Normally, I'd stick it on e-bay, and let it find its value, but due to the dimensions (it's a "w i d e" guitar!) the only hard case I found for it is a massively heavy affair that would make posting/couriering problematic.

So, I'm soliciting opinions on value before advertising - any thoughts?

I'm not looking to eke the most pennies out of it, just not get ripped off. FWIW, my feeling is that with the right kind of TLC, it could make a decent "player" guitar for someone.

guitars4you

I've seen them around £800-1000 mark - obviously condition, fret wear, originality come into play for a clean example to acquire that type of price so maybe adjust your price accordingly based on your comments

In terms of quaint, odd ball or cool, such a price is within the realms of sensible compared to some 'silly prices' you can see out there - It won't be for everyone but it does have a vibe and character

tampaxboo

at the other end of the scale a pretty solid (sold as project) gb66 went for £160 this summer.
a great price but was collection only. had it been local-ish to me i would have definitely gone for it. the necks on all the burns guitars are fabulous. slim and smooth and superior to any fender or gibson i have played.

interestingly the switch on it seems to have suffered a similar fate to yours.
perhaps the ply top was generally thinnish and the switches pushed through when abused.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Baldwin-Burns-London-GB66-Semi-Hollow-Vintage-Guitar-for-Restoration-/282545967747

cliddell

Looking at reverb.com and e-bay, I get a sense of the value of these in good nick, but I've no idea about adjusting for the damage.

FWIW, here's the damage under the switch:

Edit: hmm, it won't let me post the photo:
https://www.ghostscript.com/~chrisl/20171108_135026.jpg

guitars4you

an issue with such a guitar on reverb is they are isolated instances of a sale as so few exist on the market - sure a guide line but a bit of a snap shot - 

when you look at your last pic so you focus on the issue it doesn't look so good - but on the pic of the whole guitar it looks far less of an issue and not out of place - £600 is IMO to low so around £800ish ?????

impmann

It may well be worth checking out the Burns Guitars group on Facebook - they are a fanatical bunch and someone may well be happy to jump in the car and come get it.

Fabulous sounding guitars - a friend bought a similar guitar (but natural finish) after seeing this performance... not quite the same guitar but it was close enough for him! Not sure what happened to the guitar, though...

cliddell

Ah, Facebook - never thought to look there, thanks!

FWIW, I'm a big fan of Burns guitars, and I'd put in the time/effort/money to sort out the Vibraslim, if I could play the thing comfortably. As it is, I'm rather happier playing my Baby Bison, ('90s) Marvin, and Hayman guitars!

ICBM

It would look much less horrible with a black plastic plate instead of a cream one, even if you change nothing else - it would go with the rest of the hardware much better. Whether that would add anything to the value I don't know, but it may make it an easier sale.

guitars4you

ICBM said:

It would look much less horrible with a black plastic plate instead of a cream one, even if you change nothing else - it would go with the rest of the hardware much better. Whether that would add anything to the value I don't know, but it may make it an easier sale.

eagle eyed - yes you are right about looking better and blending in with black

impmann

cliddell said:

Ah, Facebook - never thought to look there, thanks!

FWIW, I'm a big fan of Burns guitars, and I'd put in the time/effort/money to sort out the Vibraslim, if I could play the thing comfortably. As it is, I'm rather happier playing my Baby Bison, ('90s) Marvin, and Hayman guitars!

Hayman? Cool - which ones? I’m a huge Shergold nut and have owned several Hayman guitars too my fave being a wine red 3030H.

cliddell

impmann said:

Hayman? Cool - which ones? I’m a huge Shergold nut and have owned several Hayman guitars too my fave being a wine red 3030H.

I've got a 2020H:
https://www.ghostscript.com/~chrisl/guitars/previews/010-DSC_0027.jpg.medium.jpeg

tampaxboo

cliddell said:

impmann said:

Hayman? Cool - which ones? I’m a huge Shergold nut and have owned several Hayman guitars too my fave being a wine red 3030H.

I've got a 2020H:
https://www.ghostscript.com/~chrisl/guitars/previews/010-DSC_0027.jpg.medium.jpeg

'mummy says tidy your room.
she also says used toilet rolls go in the bin, not in the drawer next to your bed.
she says she insinuates nothing...'

top marks for the hayman. it's a fine one. strange to see the swimming pool rout and humbuckers, but cool all the same. i've only seen the solid bodies with swimming pool for singles and routs for hums.

to my tastes haymans/shergold were great woodwork handicapped by clumsy 1970s brit electrics. a ferrari via british leyland. that may be unfair. the single pickups work good. i haven't tried the hums but i once read a 3030H review that described them as 'restrained' which was obviously the journo pulling punches. but you have kept it stock so they must work for you.

good luck with your burns sale. burns are out of my league sadly. though i constantly look for a cheap burns project, hence my spotting that gb66. so frustrating it was collection only. price, guitar, condition would have been ideal.

ps. i agree with ICBM re black switchplate. black sit back, white pops out. best to subtle-ize it.

cliddell

tampaxboo said:

'mummy says tidy your room.

she also says used toilet rolls go in the bin, not in the drawer next to your bed.
she says she insinuates nothing...'

Well, I find tidiness repulsive!

That was taken some time ago, but, in my defence, you might also notice there's a bottle of Night Nurse by the bed, which rather suggests I was suffering from a cold (probably a bad one if I resorted to medication), and also suggests the real reason for the bog roll being there!

top marks for the hayman. it's a fine one. strange to see the swimming pool rout and humbuckers, but cool all the same. i've only seen the solid bodies with swimming pool for singles and routs for hums.

to my tastes haymans/shergold were great woodwork handicapped by clumsy 1970s brit electrics. a ferrari via british leyland. that may be unfair. the single pickups work good. i haven't tried the hums but i once read a 3030H review that described them as 'restrained' which was obviously the journo pulling punches. but you have kept it stock so they must work for you.

The Hayman 'buckers are, ummm, "their own thing".... They work okay with something like a top boost Vox, or an amp with a pronounced bright channel.

I also doubt (after speaking to Jack Golder on the subject) that the potentiometers are properly matched for humbuckers, although I haven't yet gone to the trouble of checking. Since I got it, the 2020H has suffered from an almost total lack of fret material, and it's currently off being refretted. The behaviour of pickups/pots may bother me more when the thing is fully playable.

impmann

tampaxboo said:

to my tastes haymans/shergold were great woodwork handicapped by clumsy 1970s brit electrics. a ferrari via british leyland. that may be unfair. the single pickups work good. i haven't tried the hums but i once read a 3030H review that described them as 'restrained' which was obviously the journo pulling punches. but you have kept it stock so they must work for you.

I think thats a touch unfair about the electrics - in fact the switches and pots were higher grade manufacturing than anything that the US made. The switches, for example, can be found in classic recording consoles and high-end hifi of the 1970s so they can't be that bad... And after collecting these for nearly 30 years I've never found a broken/unuseable one - it may need a spray with some switch cleaner if it hasn't been used for a while  but they they are super-durable.

The pickups were designed and manufactured VERY differently to our US bretheren - and this gives them a different tonality to those guitars. Ash rebuilt one of my ReAn humbuckers and could give you chapter and verse on this - the build thread is elsewhere on this forum. One thing that didn't help them was the use of 100k pots with the humbuckers - this didn't allow them to shine in the accepted sense, and could make them sound a touch dark, couple that with the known fault of magnet degauss on all Shergold and Hayman guitars this can lead to a slightly 'cloudy' sound. A quick swap out to 500k log pots (all other components kept the same) and they sound huge.

Do they sound like a Gibson or a Fender or even a Rickenbacker? No - nothing like. They sound like a Shergold (or Hayman) and if you aren't trying to sound like these other manufacturers its a *GREAT* sound - they sit very well in mixes (live and recorded), especially when used in conjunction with one of the 'great' makes as they don't get in each others way. I've got great Fenders and Gibsons and I've usually got a few Shergolds as well - they hold their own, but in a different way. I wouldn't take a Shergold to a blues gig necessarily as thats not their forte, for example.

Sadly the days of picking them up out a skip (like my first Shergold) are over - as they are finally being appreciated for what they are... and that is a well made, great playing guitar that genuinely offered a different sound to anything else available at the time. Therefore the prices are on the rise - and there is genuine interest in them from people who want to sound (and look) different from the herd.

PS: VERY nice 2020H. I've had two - and wished I never sold my walnut coloured one. Has it got a bound fingerboard - hard to see on this computer?
 

cliddell

Yes, it's a bound fretboard (and heavily lacquered, as was the style of the time!). Makes the refret a less than easy proposition.

impmann

cliddell said:

Yes, it's a bound fretboard (and heavily lacquered, as was the style of the time!). Makes the refret a less than easy proposition.

Actually - it makes it easier than a US guitar...

When John at Noiseworks Coventry refretted my Masquerader 12, he found that the neck had been lacquered prior to the fret install. He made a cracking job of mine, and I'd highly recommend him for such work if yours needs doing and if you're localish.

guitars4you

cliddell said:

impmann said:

Hayman? Cool - which ones? I’m a huge Shergold nut and have owned several Hayman guitars too my fave being a wine red 3030H.

I've got a 2020H:
https://www.ghostscript.com/~chrisl/guitars/previews/010-DSC_0027.jpg.medium.jpeg

thanks one from the memory bank - can't recall when I last saw one