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

[Jon Clegg]

Wouldn't be the first time. Many 'innovations' are riffing off of something that came before that was overlooked or not quite there yet.

Yep, it was interesting to me particularly because the Roland page gives a much better description of how it works.

 

[JIO]

Speaking of WEM...

 

[JIO]

Breaking news - Pat's spraying the Vista Sonic as I type. The trans-white base coat is done and the trans-red is next. He just called to clear up a detail. He and his family are doing well and staying safe through our current situation. So maybe by the weeks end or early next week. Can't wait to see it!

 

[JIO]

Found this pic of a cool Fenton bass from 1959. It was considered a low budget guitar line of six known instruments; three solid body guitars and three matching basses. They were based on the the MIJ Guyatone/Antoria guitars.

It's pretty cool - 2 pu's, not certain if V/V/T or V/B/T with a 3-way switch for pu selector and a floating pg platform. (in red!) Love the harmony of all the shapes, forms and colours - the gestalt.

Early on, Henry Weill would supply a two-pickup control panel and Jim Burns would make the rest of the guitar. They worked on guitars/basses for a brief time under the badge Burns-Weill, but later in '59 changed to Fenton-Weill when Jim Burns became Burns of London.

 

[Novarocker]

1961 Moto Guzzi 235cc Lodola - pretty much the same as a '63 with the exception of a bench saddle. Italians do red best.

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'63 Honda 305cc "Dream" - my mc brand of choice and for reasons that began with designs like this.
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1964 BMW R50/2 - couldn't find a red '63... very much the same but only in black that year. I've read that red was not considered a proper colour for BMW's.
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'63 Harley-Davidson FLH Duo-Glide Panhead
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'63 Triumph Tiger Cub
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Seeing some of these bikes bring back memories. I can never thank my dad enough for introducing me to 60s/70s music and classic European bikes as a kid.

Another amazing build.

 

[Dynacord]

Found this pic of a cool Fenton bass from 1959. It was considered a low budget guitar line of six known instruments; three solid body guitars and three matching basses. They were based on the the MIJ Guyatone/Antoria guitars.

It's pretty cool - 2 pu's, not certain if V/V/T or V/B/T with a 3-way switch for pu selector and a floating pg platform. (in red!) Love the harmony of all the shapes, forms and colours - the gestalt.

Early on, Henry Weill would supply a two-pickup control panel and Jim Burns would make the rest of the guitar. They worked on guitars/basses for a brief time under the badge Burns-Weill, but later in '59 changed to Fenton-Weill when Jim Burns became Burns of London.

View attachment 3781270

That's beautiful. Love the minimalist/primary aesthetic and sort of 3-D layering with the two contrasting pickguards.

Was anyone using a blend that early? Burns obviously pushed beyond what was 'normal' so entirely plausible. The earliest I've seen (which is obviously not everything) is the Meazzi but that's the weird Rube Goldberg lever and gears operating two pots - but I think of balance control knobs on early stereo receivers so it would seem there would have been pots which could have been used.

 

[JIO]

Seeing some of these bikes bring back memories. I can never thank my dad enough for introducing me to 60s/70s music and classic European bikes as a kid.

Another amazing build.

Thanks! Yah, this stuff (music and motorcycles in this case!) has to be passed down - such good design. I'm pretty psyched about re-assembling the Vista Sonic - maybe by the end of next week. My oldest bass right now is a '64 T-bird and before I owned that I had a '63 II (stollen) so the '63 VS will be my oldest bass.

It'll look like this if all goes as planned -

 

[JIO]

That's beautiful. Love the minimalist/primary aesthetic and sort of 3-D layering with the two contrasting pickguards.

Was anyone using a blend that early? Burns obviously pushed beyond what was 'normal' so entirely plausible. The earliest I've seen (which is obviously not everything) is the Meazzi but that's the weird Rube Goldberg lever and gears operating two pots - but I think of balance control knobs on early stereo receivers so it would seem there would have been pots which could have been used.

It is isn't it? Jim Burns released his first serially produced guitar under the Supersound brand in 1958. He joined Henry Weill in '59 and went on his own late in that year. That similar layout (guitar design) stemmed from those years and I'm pretty sure under JB's creative input/direction from what I've read. Once you study someones design-sense, you can see the logic that lead one thing to the other. The segmented scratchplate is pure Burns. The Meassi was happening at a parallel to Burns throwing down their very Italian version of the same sensibility. ("of the time") I mean - look at a Moto-Guzzi from 1962 -

 

[JIO]

This is a RP2G Super Streamline bass from 1959 by Burns-Weill. It's knick-name was the Martian Cricket bat. It was the bass that inspired my Gilaxis a couple years ago -

 

[Fender_Bender]

I think I remember reading that The Ox’s first bass was a Fenton.

 

[JIO]

I think I remember reading that The Ox’s first bass was a Fenton.

It's very possible. There were many British players who played Burns products, but since the US was the epicenter of R&R all eyes were on Fenders as the holy grail. It was cool that Burns kept their unique if not quirky style instead of trying to conform to Fenders 'look'. Burns did have a Jazz Bass, but at that point I don't think Fender copyrighted such.

'65 Burns of London Jazz Bass - only the most peripheral similarities to a Fender Jazz Bass.

Late '65 J with pops - interesting tort. Not my favorite varietal out of usually "classic" 'vintage 60s tort - just an example of the many versions. Probably Fender using different sources when looking for a new distributor. As CBS owned Fender at this point - maybe it was from a new source that was "cheaper"... One big difference between Burns and Fender was that Burns never did tort 'scratch-plates'. I don't think they ever did 3TSB finishes either.

 

[JimmyM]

I think I remember reading that The Ox’s first bass was a Fenton.

Second. The first was a P copy he built that wasn't very good.

 

[JIO]

Found another pic of what looks to be a Fenton bass similar to the one I posted above from '59. I don't have a pic of one like it in my Burns book but it has all the details of a Fenton including pu's, controls, floating pg raiser and floating bridge-plate.

 

[Dark Horse]

A bass version of this would be super cool....

 

[JIO]

A bass version of this would be super cool....

View attachment 3788693

What maker/brand?

 

[Dark Horse]

What maker/brand?

Found it while searching Fentons

 

[JIO]

Found it while searching Fentons

It's Fenton-esk

 

[Dark Horse]

It's Fenton-esk

Its definitely in the ballpark .... got the Burns-Fenton touches. Just thought it’d be a cool bass

 

[JIO]

Its definitely in the ballpark .... got the Burns-Fenton touches. Just thought it’d be a cool bass

Oh yah - for sure it would! Jim Burns especially loved "pointy horns" with his Bison and Scorpion designs. Really set him apart as a "look". I want to say "brand" but because of his up & down spotty career, it's difficult to say "brand". Jim Burns made a mark on guitars/basses that's indelible - like deep indigo blue dye. The term "Burns-esk" is solid as ROCK.

 

[JIO]

Another what-looks-to-be a Fenton - they had a number of different designs going on back then. Very elegant in its simplicity. With the spit pg, possibly Jim Burns had a hand in designing it.