Project Vista Sonic (rut row, JIO's at it again!)

[Fender_Bender]

From '64 - The Shadows with matching Burns guitars - the bass most favored then was the Bison Bass - HUGE and heavy... but kinda' cool looking in its extravagance and fitting to the name in black.

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The white one being played by Jet Harris in this vid was called the "Shadows Bass" which was a signature model based on the Model 519 "Split Sound Bass" and companion of the "Marvin" guitar, which Hank Marvin is playing.

I’ve only seen images of Jet playing Fender gear, especially a beautiful Fiesta red p bass. It’s possible this bass could have been resprayed by Selmer, as Fiesta red was “the colour” for Brits to have back then. About Jet, he and Tony Meehan had an instrumental hit called “diamonds” in the early 60’s that not a lot of people are aware of. It has wonderful drumming in it and I believe Jet is playing a Fender jaguar.

 

[Fender_Bender]

1965 Burns factory insight with cheeky (condescending) British voice-over; "...all this to make a bedlam of adolescent noise" Note they spray a couple of trans-red bodies.

I’ve seen this one before. It shows good useage of how the overhead pin routers work. That cutter must have been super sharp to hog out that amount of waste that quickly.

 

[JIO]

I’ve only seen images of Jet playing Fender gear, especially a beautiful Fiesta red p bass. It’s possible this bass could have been resprayed by Selmer, as Fiesta red was “the colour” for Brits to have back then. About Jet, he and Tony Meehan had an instrumental hit called “diamonds” in the early 60’s that not a lot of people are aware of. It has wonderful drumming in it and I believe Jet is playing a Fender jaguar.

I just listened to an interview from last year with Hank Marvin. He said the red Strat that Cliff Richards ordered for him in '59 was referred to as "Roman Red" - which is interesting because I always heard/read it referred to as "Fiesta Red". Since they were all about matching gear - sounds like they all were "Roman Red" (Fiesta Red)

 

[JIO]

I’ve seen this one before. It shows good useage of how the overhead pin routers work. That cutter must have been super sharp to hog out that amount of waste that quickly.

The Fender Factory Tour from 1959 also show some amazing handwork by the body-cutters. Just flying around the contours on the band saw. The way the Burns guy was routing looked like it was on a grid/form... if he did that freehand - that was amazing.

 

[Fender_Bender]

The Fender Factory Tour from 1959 also show some amazing handwork by the body-cutters. Just flying around the contours on the band saw. The way the Burns guy was routing looked like it was on a grid/form... if he did that freehand - that was amazing.

There had to have been some sort of a pattern on the underside of the piece that the body blank was affixed to. Even so, it was impressively fast.

 

[JIO]

There had to have been some sort of a pattern on the underside of the piece that the body blank was affixed to. Even so, it was impressively fast.

I'll say - and I think you are right about a sharp/new bit. They must have had a big box of them replaced regularly.

 

[Fender_Bender]

I'll say - and I think you are right about a sharp/new bit. They must have had a big box of them replaced regularly.

My guess is that the speed of the feed was a bit of a a show for the cameras as a hss bit would not last very long at that rate.

 

[Fender_Bender]

The Fender Factory Tour from 1959 also show some amazing handwork by the body-cutters. Just flying around the contours on the band saw. The way the Burns guy was routing looked like it was on a grid/form... if he did that freehand - that was amazing.

With practice (and a steady hand) a person can cut out the tummy cut with a bandsaw while tilting the body blank. As I don’t have a bandsaw, I had to invent my own “log cabin” technique. I lay out the parameters of the cut and make multiple cross cuts by hand to the proper depth and chop the waste out with chisel and hammer.

 

[JIO]

With practice (and a steady hand) a person can cut out the tummy cut with a bandsaw while tilting the body blank. As I don’t have a bandsaw, I had to invent my own “log cabin” technique. I lay out the parameters of the cut and make multiple cross cuts by hand to the proper depth and chop the waste out with chisel and hammer.

I have done the same. (cuts/chisel/rasp/file/sandpaper) It works good even if a bit laborious. I have also used the band saw method using an angled platform for the body. There's a G&L factory tour vid showing a worker doing just that which is where I got the idea. You have to have a big industrial band saw to pull it off.

 

[JIO]

My guess is that the speed of the feed was a bit of a a show for the cameras as a hss bit would not last very long at that rate.

Which reminds me I need a couple new router bits...

 

[JIO]

'64 Albino Bison Bass - imagine cutting a scratch-plate for this bass.

 

[Fender_Bender]

'64 Albino Bison Bass

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Those horns creep me out, they look like earwigs.

 

[JIO]

Those horns creep me out, they look like earwigs.

Like I said, I sorta am drawn to it because it's so outrageous. And not in the way a BC Rich is outrageous, or a hot fuchsia '80s Jackson or leopard-striped Kramer.. it's more like a same year Rolls Royce - big, heavy, ostentatious and instantly outdated. It's a marvel of British design excess. I rode in a Rolls Royce once hitchhiking from KC to Boulder. (true) It felt like you were in a truck, regardless of leather seating.

Also very aggressive & male - I mean.., Bison Bass? Not very "feng shui" I'm afraid...

This is the original sketch by Edward Cross (who made the scratch-plates) for the Bison that appeared on Bison bass & guitar hs badges.

 

[Fender_Bender]

Like I said, I sorta am drawn to it because it's so outrageous. And not in the way a BC Rich is outrageous, or a hot fuchsia '80s Jackson or leopard-striped Kramer.. it's more like a same year Rolls Royce - big, heavy, ostentatious and instantly outdated. It's a marvel of British design excess. I rode in a Rolls Royce once hitchhiking from KC to Boulder. (true) It felt like you were in a truck, regardless of leather seating.

Also very aggressive & male - I mean.., Bison Bass? Not very "feng shui" I'm afraid...

Legend has it that Ronnie Hawkins walked into a RR dealer and upon seeing the RR logo asked a salesman “does that stand for rock and roll ?”. No mention of how the salesman reacted but the Hawk supposedly bought one.

 

[JIO]

Legend has it that Ronnie Hawkins walked into a RR dealer and upon seeing the RR logo asked a salesman “does that stand for rock and roll ?”. No mention of how the salesman reacted but the Hawk supposedly bought one.

Funny - like the Grace Slick Mercedes story. Seriously though, later RR's got more 'up to date' but a mid '60s RR drove like a truck - no power steering for a big lumbering hulk of a car. Next to the Albino Bison - a suitable match.

'64 Albino RR

 

[JIO]

...and speaking of R&R RR's -

 

[JIO]

Was part of a popular British band - a fellow George...

 

[JIO]

Just discovered another British guitar maker from the '60s and they look a lot like Burns of London - Watkins and later WEM. Watkins Guitar World - Guitars - Basses Interestingly, WEM became associated with Guild as Burns did in the mid/late '60s.

Overlaps; same knobs, (at least as shown on the WEM model) similar engraved multi-piece scratch-plates, similar plastic key tuners with small posts (early models), zero-nut (early models), similar red poly finish as Burns. Differences: 24 frets, (!) closer to a Fender body shape, big post tuners (later models), standard nut (later models), Gibson-style bridge/tailpiece. (1st pic has a Fender P bridge cover) I read the Watkins thread I posted but saw no direct correlation to Burns which is a bit strange. Another similarity is the way the chrome pu plate is on the (Rapier) model I posted - later ('80s) Burns used that same motif on a number of their models. (like the Scorpion Bass) It's like the companies are trading off designs to each other over the years. (???)

'66

Check out this cool Watkins/Guild/WEM/Kent-Hagstrom tape echo unit

Guess who used WEM amps (and Copycat tape-loop echo for sure) ... how I would study (lust after) this picture as a young teen.

 

[JIO]

Neck plate with my basses serial # done and in the post from the UK - of all the parts that were missing when I got it I had no idea I could have one made for it by the son of the original maker of them on the same machinery. Pretty cool. I can't imagine Fender having that reach into their past at this point in time.

 

[Axstar]

Just discovered another British guitar maker from the '60s and they look a lot like Burns of London - Watkins and later WEM. Watkins Guitar World - Guitars - Basses Interestingly, WEM became associated with Guild as Burns did in the mid/late '60s.

Overlaps; same knobs, (at least as shown on the WEM model) similar engraved multi-piece scratch-plates, similar plastic key tuners with small posts (early models), zero-nut (early models), similar red poly finish as Burns. Differences: 24 frets, (!) closer to a Fender body shape, big post tuners (later models), standard nut (later models), Gibson-style bridge/tailpiece. (1st pic has a Fender P bridge cover) I read the Watkins thread I posted but saw no direct correlation to Burns which is a bit strange. Another similarity is the way the chrome pu plate is on the (Rapier) model I posted - later ('80s) Burns used that same motif on a number of their models. (like the Scorpion Bass) It's like the companies are trading off designs to each other over the years. (???)

View attachment 3746410 View attachment 3746411
'66
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Check out this cool Watkins/Guild/WEM/Kent-Hagstrom tape echo unit
View attachment 3746455
Guess who used WEM amps (and Copycat tape-loop echo for sure) ... how I would study (lust after) this picture as a young teen.
View attachment 3746452

In the Pink Floyd gear photo the little device on top of the two Binson Echorecs is a WEM 'handful' noise generator/synth unit. Very very rare, complex little device that made preset analogue sounds.