Baldwin - Burns Double Six Model 12 String Solid Body Electric Guitar (1967), made in London, England, serial # 16965, green sunburst finish, sycamore body, maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, gig bag case.
The Burns Double Six is one of our very favorite electric 12-strings and a true -- if slightly offbeat -- 1960s classic. With its wide comfortable neck and three powerful Tri-Sonic pickups this British-made 12-string is a versatile and great-sounding instrument for many applications. It is also a supremely striking looking machine, a large solidbody guitar with a really eye-popping green "Martian" sunburst finish on the sycamore body with a natural neck.
The Double Six is equipped with three single-coil Burns Tri-Sonic pickups giving it a clear and very powerful sound, controlled by a straight-from-the-Strat single switch and three knob wiring rig. The big wide neck is a treat for players who feel constrained by the typical narrow Rickenbacker-style 12 string fingerboard, and the long 25 1/2" scale offers a lot of room to get around. The neck has some very nice flame figure to the wood. That long headstock mounts 12 individual covered VanGent tuners, and sort of resembles the snout of some primordial crocodile!
This particular guitar is not dated internally but was likely assembled in late 1966 or early 1967, around a year after the American Baldwin company took over London-based Burns operation in September 1965. There are no major differences on this guitar from the original Burns-logo'd version, just small detail changes. The dot-inlaid rosewood fretboard has binding added, and the finish on the neck no longer matches the body which at least made assembly of the imported parts easier. The lower pickguard section has "Baldwin" engraved on it; the Burns logo is still seen on the pickup covers.
The Double Six remains one of the very best Burns-designed instruments and a mucho cool guitar, one of the company's genuine successes. It was popular in the 1960's when electric 12-strings had their shining moment, favored by bands since 1964 including the Searchers, The Zombies, The Troggs, and even Elvis! We feel this is still one of the best instruments of its type ever designed and are always pleased to have a nice original example.
Overall length is 42 1/4 in. (107.3 cm.), 14 1/4 in. (36.2 cm.) wide at lower bout, and 1 1/4 in. (3.2 cm.) in depth, measured at side of rim. Scale length is 25 1/2 in. (648 mm.). Width of nut is 1 7/8 in. (48 mm.)., 10.09 lbs. This is a super nice all-original example with no notable damage, repair or alteration. The all-original finish still shines like it is the Summer of Love with hardly any of the heavy checking often seen, retaining a very bold color in the green/black sunburst with virtually no fade. It does show some minor wear with a few noticeable random scrapes to the top but really does not look much played.
The hardware has some light wear and minor corrosion here and there, the hard plastic pickguard has a couple of stress marks off the treble sides of the pickups that are visible but not cracked through. Even the oft-missing chrome tailpiece cover and securing bolts are still intact. Considering it is now 55+ years old this is a very well-preserved guitar, an excellent player with a low, comfortable action and one of the nicer of these we have had in quite a while! Overall Excellent - Condition.
