Baldwin - Burns Bison Solid Body Electric Guitar (1966)
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Item #7115
Baldwin - Burns Bison Model Solid Body Electric Guitar (1966), made in London, England, black polyester finish, African mahogany body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, original black hard shell case.
This 1966 Baldwin-branded Bison guitar represents a fairly late stage in the evolution of this most fantastically eccentric of 1960's English guitars. The original 1962 model was a 4-pickup, gold-plated set neck marvel, but proved far too complex for factory production. A simplified bolt-on neck model with three pickups followed, and was produced in small numbers up through mid-1964.
In the fall of that year, the Bison inherited many of the distinctive features of the new Hank Marvin signature model, including a scroll headstock, Strat-inspired Rez-O-Matic pickups, 3-piece segmented pickguard, and the elaborate Rez-O-Tube vibrato unit designed specifically for the Shadows' guitarist. While this shared layout did cost the Bison some of its unique charm, it did not diminish the guitar's very eccentric visual appeal -- the flashy body with the unique forward-curving horns remained as unmistakable as ever.
The Bison also offers a much wider tonal range than the Marvin, thanks to a second pickup selector switch offering a range of extra pickup combinations, including some very "wild dog"-like out-of-phase combinations. All Bisons are quite rare, especially in the US, and both visually and sonically very impressive guitars. This one, dated to March 1966, is a fine example of the early Baldwin variant.
Overall length is 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/2 in. (622 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar remains 100% original, complete, and very clean overall. There are some small finish dings (mostly to the edges) but otherwise very nicely preserved. The finish has clouded a bit but is free of the typical Baldwin checking that plagues many surviving Bisons. We actually corrected a factory error on this instrument; the mounting bar for the unique Rez-O-Tube vibrato unit was originally set a bit too far forward, causing the sprung plat to hang up and not work properly. We reset it in the correct position and now everything works as intended; the marks can be seen just ahead of the unit if you look closely, but the guitar is much happier!
The dating of this one makes it likely it was one of the first assembled in Baldwin's Boonville, Arkansas facility, and perhaps the employees there took some time to get used to the assembly quirks of this fairly complex instrument. This one, glitch-corrected, is one of the nicest examples of this rare guitar we have ever seen, complete with a clean Baldwin-branded OHSC. Excellent Condition.
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This 1966 Baldwin-branded Bison guitar represents a fairly late stage in the evolution of this most fantastically eccentric of 1960's English guitars. The original 1962 model was a 4-pickup, gold-plated set neck marvel, but proved far too complex for factory production. A simplified bolt-on neck model with three pickups followed, and was produced in small numbers up through mid-1964.
In the fall of that year, the Bison inherited many of the distinctive features of the new Hank Marvin signature model, including a scroll headstock, Strat-inspired Rez-O-Matic pickups, 3-piece segmented pickguard, and the elaborate Rez-O-Tube vibrato unit designed specifically for the Shadows' guitarist. While this shared layout did cost the Bison some of its unique charm, it did not diminish the guitar's very eccentric visual appeal -- the flashy body with the unique forward-curving horns remained as unmistakable as ever.
The Bison also offers a much wider tonal range than the Marvin, thanks to a second pickup selector switch offering a range of extra pickup combinations, including some very "wild dog"-like out-of-phase combinations. All Bisons are quite rare, especially in the US, and both visually and sonically very impressive guitars. This one, dated to March 1966, is a fine example of the early Baldwin variant.
Overall length is 38 3/4 in. (98.4 cm.), 13 3/4 in. (34.9 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 24 1/2 in. (622 mm.). Width of nut is 1 11/16 in. (43 mm.).
This guitar remains 100% original, complete, and very clean overall. There are some small finish dings (mostly to the edges) but otherwise very nicely preserved. The finish has clouded a bit but is free of the typical Baldwin checking that plagues many surviving Bisons. We actually corrected a factory error on this instrument; the mounting bar for the unique Rez-O-Tube vibrato unit was originally set a bit too far forward, causing the sprung plat to hang up and not work properly. We reset it in the correct position and now everything works as intended; the marks can be seen just ahead of the unit if you look closely, but the guitar is much happier!
The dating of this one makes it likely it was one of the first assembled in Baldwin's Boonville, Arkansas facility, and perhaps the employees there took some time to get used to the assembly quirks of this fairly complex instrument. This one, glitch-corrected, is one of the nicest examples of this rare guitar we have ever seen, complete with a clean Baldwin-branded OHSC. Excellent Condition.