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Identify this bass guitar - it won't be easy

Not a Burns Bison; so many things are different on it, like, virtually, everything.

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Not a Burns Bison; so many things are different on it, like, virtually, everything.

View attachment 4346192

There were different iterations of the Bison (The Bison, Black Bison, the Bison with the two+two headstock) and there were also slightly customized versions that went around for a time. There were also slanted pickup covers that came and went at one point. They looked like little grills.

Note also that "long-scale" for Burns was 33 1/4, not 34.

It wouldn't surprise me if that particular bass in the player's hands wasn't even a production model.
 
One of the things that is confusing is that the lower horn looks much sharper than it likely is, with the wood part almost completely invisible in the shadow. Perspective is also making those horns look longer than they likely are. I don't know what it is but I still think Burns something or other is a pretty good place to start.
 
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As previously stated - not the same bass. Bass in video has white multiple-piece PG and one pickup.

To be clear, what you're seeing is the pickup covers which looked like diagonal rails. There are actually three pickups in that bass and they are black which is why it looks like a one-pickup bass.

Here is a slightly different version with the 2+2 headstock. You can pretty clearly see the gnarly pickups that were installed in this bass. They would be basically invisible on black and white TV.

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To be clear, what you're seeing is the pickup covers which looked like diagonal rails. There are actually three pickups in that bass and they are black which is why it looks like a one-pickup bass.

Not so sure about that either... this looks to me like a single, single-pole slanted pickup with exposed pole pieces. It's a grainy pic but that's what I see, and I even put my reading glasses on :)
 
@Matt O for the win. Here's my call:

That's not a Burns Bison. That's some sort of Burns-styled homebrew with a neck off some other bass.

The picture Matt posted shows that the body shape is all wrong: the horns are way too big, even for a Bison.
Now look at the headstock and the tuners. That's not a Burns neck. Someone with a more encyclopedic knowledge of old basses than I have ought to be able to figure out where that neck came from.
Now look at the pickguard: it's multi-piece, but not in anywhere near the same configuration as a Legend.
Now look at the square bridge cover: that screams "homemade," or at the very least "low volume hobby builder."
The pickup might be a Burns pickup, but Burns never made a bass with one pickup in that position.

I think someone made a body that was sort of Burns-inspired (unsurprising given the time period), salvaged a neck from some other bass, and built their own. Could have even been a very early Burns prototype...I have no idea. But it's not a Bison or any other production Burns.
 
@Matt O for the win. Here's my call:

That's not a Burns Bison. That's some sort of Burns-styled homebrew with a neck off some other bass.

The picture Matt posted shows that the body shape is all wrong: the horns are way too big, even for a Bison.
Now look at the headstock and the tuners. That's not a Burns neck. Someone with a more encyclopedic knowledge of old basses than I have ought to be able to figure out where that neck came from.
Now look at the pickguard: it's multi-piece, but not in anywhere near the same configuration as a Legend.
Now look at the square bridge cover: that screams "homemade," or at the very least "low volume hobby builder."
The pickup might be a Burns pickup, but Burns never made a bass with one pickup in that position.

I think someone made a body that was sort of Burns-inspired (unsurprising given the time period), salvaged a neck from some other bass, and built their own. Could have even been a very early Burns prototype...I have no idea. But it's not a Bison or any other production Burns.
Hagstrom neck?

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